Paris-Roubaix

For those of you who aren't aware, there is a BIG bike race going on in France starting in about 30 hours (or so) from now. This race is on bikes that have the foot rests that go up and down and round and round. And the fuel is cheap too!

OT: There WILL be bird pics in this post too :) Bonus, eh?

Yup, Paris-Roubaix is being run in northern France! It's pronounced parry-roobay in case you are interested. And well, even if you aren't!

The great news is that SBS is televising it LIVE down here in Oz! Wee-hoo! The telecast on SBS (free tv, not cable!) starts at 10:10 pm sunday night local Adelaide time and runs till well after 2 am. I know I'll have my dvd harddrive going :)

See, I noticed on my poll so far that at least one of you likes the sports stuff, so I figured I could write a little sumtin' 'bout a bike race with lots of tanned guys in spandex huffing and puffing...

Speaking of tanned guys in spandex, does anyone remember the couple of pics from this years Tour Down Under I put up? If not, go have a quick squizz; I'll wait.

Ah, you're back.

Now I'm going to put up a few pics from the Hahndorf stage of the TDU. Specifically, the post race chaos as the guys were changing (!) and the teams were loading bikes up.

Well, except for this first one here of the sprint finish about 150 metres off the line.



Now we go "behind the scenes" so to speak. Specifically, the guys getting out of their team kit before heading back to the hotel.

We'll start with Cofidis, a french team.



Next up is Ag2r, another french team.



Notice anything? Well, firstly nobody cares about changing, it's really no big deal. And there aren't any folks around them asking for autographs or anything like that.


Now, I'll show you two pics of Caisse d'Epargne. They are a spanish team sponsored by a french bank.


Firstly, they have really cool looking bikes!



And secondly, they have really cool looking fans!


The same bevy of babes was at the team presentation too. Several of the Caisse riders just HAD to stop and chat with their "fans" after their presentation in Glenelg.

Well, that's enough about cycling for now, I hope you all enjoy watching Paris-Roubaix. I certainly will.

And here's a couple of purdy burdy pics I promised: