Bambi Francisco

Floyd Landis presser, other Tour racers

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Since Floyd Landis -- 2006 Tour de France winner -- remains in the news, I thought I'd share one final video montage from my tour of Tour de France. The first clip is of Landis. I managed to sneak into the press conference on July 10, 2006, at which Landis announced his planned hip replacement. This is well before his disastrous 16th stage performance and heroic comeback during the 17th stage. I never got to meet Landis while visiting the hotel where the Phonak team was staying during those stages of the race, but from what my group and I observed, he seemed down to earth and likeable. We were rooting for him to win. And, I am still rooting for him, despite allegations of doping. We all want heroes; those who defy the odds and are celebrated for their strength to endure. It would be a shame if he's found guilty. If the B sample turns out to uphold the A sample finding, I'd just like to know whether EPO or other forms of doping raise testosterone levels. It's still unclear to me from public reports what factors can raise the ratio of testosterone levels to epitestosterone. (Now, Justin Gatlin - reigning Olympic and world 100-meter champion - tested positive for high levels of testosterone. From baseball, soccer, cycling, etc., it just doesn't stop. I just hope Tiger Woods isn't next.)

OK. Enough about my view on these unfortunate sports scandals, back to the tour...
On that same day, my tour group (run by former racer Marty Jemison) also managed to meet a number of other riders there, including Michael Boogerd from the Rabobank team. Two days later, I would watch Boogerd tirelessly break wind for his teammate Denis Menchov during the 11th stage. Menchov won that stage, with Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis less than a second behind. I also have a shot of Phil Ligget, esteemed cycling pundit. I later would come to know about Ligget's flare for words when my riding buddies said I was a "cat amongst the pigeons," as Ligget would say. Since Marty rode the tour many times, and was twice U.S. National champion, he knew Ligget well. I also included shots of the 100 mile, Stage 9 Bordeaux to Dax day. This is the day we rode the entire stage. It wasn't so bad since it was all flat. It was a great day of riding, but I believe we averaged just over 30 kph while the Tour riders clocked in at probably 44k. Finally, the last few shots were taken during Stage 12 in Bagneres-Luchon. Here's where we meet the riders at the start of the race in the VIP tents where they prepare for the start. I'm not much of a groupie, but I played the part along with my tour riding buddies, who couldn't get enough of these guys. I have shots of me with Phonak's Axel Merckx, AG2R Prevoyance's Cyril Dessel, Discovery's Jose Luis Rubiera (aka Chechu), Saunier Duval-Prodir's David De La Fuenta (who won the king of mountain polka dot jersey), and Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd, who's done the tour 6 times, and is a noted sprinter. Enjoy.

Video blogging the Tour de France - first mountain stage

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For those who missed my post on blogs.marketwatch.com/bambi/... here it is again: Tour de France 2006 - ride from the hotel in Luz St. Sauveur up the Col d' Aubisque and Col de Marie Blanque. On this day, our tour group started in Luz St. Sauveur, a quaint little town in southern France. Marty Jemison begins the video by outlining our ride, which consisted of descending for about 12k, and then climbing for about 18k up the Col d' Aubisque, which is about 2110 meters higher. The first descent was pretty sketchy as it was raining and there were many cars on the road. Additionally, Marty - a former U.S. Postal Service rider with Lance Armstrong and who now runs this tour -- isn't exactly slow. Even though he's put on a few pounds since his racing days, he's still above-average strong. After the descent, we begin the climb. I keep up with Marty for a few miles. Eventually, he and three other fast climbers dropped me! No matter, I enjoyed every bit of it - probably because I couldn't see how much climbing was ahead of me (it was cloudy that day). I made it in good time. Here's a shot of me at the top of Col d' Aubisque. You can see the mountains behind me. We then descended down a winding road (fun!) and headed for the Col de Marie Blanque (category 1 climb with 11% grade), where the pro riders would be descending. As you can see, some of my riding buddies were in rain jackets. It was a bit cold and rainy that morning. The weather can also be very unpredictable there, much like San Francisco. It can be 80 degrees on ground level, and misty and cold enough at the top of the Col de Marie Blanque to wear leg and arm warmers and a several layers. Since we are riding the course of race day, we have to make sure we get through hours before the riders, or the police will not let you on the road. (I learned to dodge the police a lot that week). We don't have much time that day to reach the top, so Marty essentially says, "Every man or woman for himself/herself." We all go on our own to attack the mountain with baguettes in our back pocket for lunch, and warm clothes to put on while waiting on the mountain. I make it up to the top where we're handed red and white polka dot t-shirts that represent the "king of the mountain." Marty makes friends with some men from the Basque region. They offered us pasta and wine. Now how often do you get hot pasta and red wine after a grueling climb! We then descend about 3k and find a spot to watch the racers. Here's where the video of the racers are taken. You'll see that first the caravan starts. About an hour prior to the riders coming through a long parade of floats precedes them. They are floats of the many sponsors of the race. The tradition is that the kids working on the floats throw all sorts of swag - hats, gummy bears, water bottles, sweets, etc. Here's a shot of Gary checking out the latest swag. After several days of the same routine, this kind of gets old. Imagine what those on the float feel like!?! Frenchman Cyril Dessel claimed the yellow jersey at the end of the first mountain stage of the Tour de France, won by Spaniard Juan Miguel Mercado. Later in the week, I'll meet Dessel, after Marty got our group VIP passes to meet the riders at one of the starts.

Tour de France rest day

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Jens Voigt won the longest stage of the Tour de France (142.9 miles), giving the CSC team its first victory at the three-week race. Voigt beat out Oscar Pereiro Sio, of the Illes Balears team, at the finish of the 13th stage. They were about 30 minutes ahead of the main pack, which included race leader Floyd Landis of the United States, giving Pereiro enough of a lead over Landis to take over the Yellow Jersey. In this video of mine is Jens. I met him and the rest of the CSC team on the tour's official rest day (which is hardly a rest day, given that they ride about 60 miles). My group - thanks to Marty (former racer on the U.S. Postal team with Lance Armstrong) - rode with the CSC team for a brief part of their ride during the vineyards of Bourdeaux. I also caught a quick shot of the Discovery team. My handy helmet camera worked out OK for this part of the ride.

Stage 11 of the Tour de France

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Here are the Tour de France bikers climbing up Col du Tourmalet (2114 meters, 18.3 km, 7.7% grade). My group - Marty Jemison Cycling Tours - climbed this mountain a few hours before the tour came through around 1:30. It's a tough climb. But since I had my Samsung sports helmet camera on, and I was busy capturing certain moments on video, I didn't overexert myself (there were other days to do that). There are many riders who climb what's called an "hors" grade category mountain. After reaching the top - which takes the professionals 55 minutes to climb and good riders twice that time -- my group descended to about the 5k mark (from the top), and watched the tour from there. That's where this video is taken from. At the end of the day, we biked back down to our hotel in Luz and watched Floyd Landis win the stage and capture the Yellow Jersey, or "Maillot Jaune" - as they say here in France.

I've been riding parts of the stages since the tour went through Bourdeux. The first stage our group rode was Stage 9 - Bordeaux to Dax (169.5 km). I hope to post more video blogs of the tour when I get online again.

Downieville bike race

I managed to survive the Downieville 29-mile, mountain-bike race this past weekend. It consisted of a 4,200-foot climb and a 5,700-foot descent. The temperature was likely above 100 degrees! I'm certain it was the most, if not one of the most, technical rides I'd done. If we stopped the clock after the climb, I think I would have had a decent ranking, but it was the descent that killed me!  Needless to say, I'd encourage any mountain-bike enthusiast to challenge themselves. Just like I said last year with regards to the Death Ride, you just have to say to yourself: What else do you have to do that Sunday? Just do it... You may surprise yourself.
 

Death Ride

I just did the Death Ride over the weekend. What an adventure. It was the hardest century I'd done.
I didn't train as much as I should have -- about 500 miles during the prior three weeks -- but it was enough to ensure that I finished. It took about 11 hours (including rest/fueling times) to complete 129 miles and 16,000 feet of climbing.

I'd heard about this ride for a while and never thought I'd ever be ready. Well, at times, you just have to say: "What else do I have to do that Saturday?" So -- don't put anything off - just do it! You may surprise yourself.