Etape Time Again

Wow, one whole month since the last post.  Either I’ve been lazy or training too hard.  Guess which.  We’re packing for the flight back to Edinburgh, then I’m off to do Etape du Tour number 7, this time up the fearsome Mont Ventoux on July 20.  This mountain is famous for two things - the death of British cyclist Tommy Simpson in 1967, and the hailstorm which closed the road when the Etape last finished here in 2000.  I still remember that descent as one of the coldest, scariest things I’ve ever done.  Some of the things I saw riders do to warm their hands up enough to grip the brakes can’t be repeated here.  Anyway, this year the sun will be shining, guaranteed.

It seems to have been the month for interviews too.  The Amaury Sports Organisation, organisers of the Tour de France and the Etape du Tour called up out of the blue, hunting down survivors of that freezing day in 2000 for an article in the Tour de France programme.  I don’t know if my French was up to the task of explaining to M. Louis Doucet quite how cold it was, but I managed to describe the descent as a ‘zone de guerre’ becasue of the number of bodies at the side of the road!

Second interview was with the delightful Helena Frith Powell of the National newspaper of the UAE, followed by a photo shoot with the hugely talented Philip Cheung.  We started the photo shoot outdoors in 42 degree heat, then Philip politely asked how I trained in that heat.  When I said I trained indoors, we beat a hasty retreat to the flat and continued the rest of the shoot there.  I should see on Saturday what the results are, but surely photographing some kitted out cyclist riding like a dervish in the comfort of his own apartment must be one of the more bizarre photo shoots he’s done.