18 July 2008
Bonjour! This is Messrs Stead and Pfitzner coming to you live from Paris. Current trip status:

• Stead and Pfitzner enjoy uneventful trip with our good friends Cathay Pacific.  Actually, travelling with Matt is akin to travelling with royalty; a steady stream of hostesses enquiring as to whether everything is ok and shaking their heads as to why he is back in cattle class with his companion
• Norley believed to enjoying romantic stay in inner Paris with the lovely Kaye
• The Kid believed to be burning rubber in downtown Cornwall in a covertible, Raybans securely in place.  Must be in some doubt to join us in Paris giving that still riding that illegal bike the dirty, dirty cheets from Saunier D. were riding.  Jets in  at the last moment on Sunday afternoon in true rock star style.
• Lorne; still not here

This aftenoon Matt and I took the new FRA gear to the French people (who were duly impressed) with a 40k jaunt through the French countryside out past the airport.  Plenty of serenity and its only going to get better.   Takes a while to get used to riding in the right hand gutter and navigating the many roundabouts (Pales, riding in France would be a challenge for you). 

Tomorrow will sample the delights of downtown Paris and enjoy some more French beer, baguettes and all round hospitality/style.

19th July 2008

Bonjour! Saturday saw the FRA get their fix of arts, religeon and history as they traversed inner Paris far and wide by both foot and rail.

Highlights included:

• Notre Dame
• The Pompidou Centre (modern art museum). Our main aim here was to research cuting edge designs for the new FRA kit planned to be released for Lorne's trip to France in 2011.  Hoggy, we have shortlisted down to three styles being Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism.  Perhaps a mixture of all three may be the go?  We also briefly looked at an interesting architecture exhibition featuring the work of one of Thommo's heroes, French architect Dominique Perrault.
• Champs Ellyse (checked out latest conditions and reported back to Cadel)
• Arch De Triomphe (great views and good fun watching the traffic chaos below - Heff, this is one roundabout where Pales would definitely have permission to break)
• An tower made of metal called the Eiffel Tower (we thought it was a bit over engineered in terms of support - Byrner, your thoughts?).

We also marvelled at the pronunciation of Americans i.e. "Hey, do you any of you guys want a crap?" (as in "crepe").
Today is another ride out near our hotel and catching up with Tony, Kaye and the Kid (gee I've missed that little bugger) then the Grande Departe dinner tonight then Alpe Du Huez awaits tomorrow afternoon. 
Signing off now, au revoir!  





















20th July 2008

The FRA team is re-united today. It is the first offcial day of the tour and the excitement levels are rising.

Tony & Kaye, arrive fresh with Tony ready for a ride in the country.

Briggsy arrives like a sand storm in the sahara (3.14 pm for 3.00 pm deadline, 3.19 pm needs help assembling bike, 3.20 pm Matt leaves to help, 3.30 pm Moose feels guilty). It takes another 2 hours for the kid to calm down. It seems he is worried about the "competition" being a bit too cut.



We slashed 5 minutes from the 42 km circuit time. It would be great if we could give Cadel some of our new found strength.

This is the kid: Having had a bad day of hay fever yesterday and a hectic rush to the airport I was happy to arrive in one piece and feeling almost 100%. I have a scoped the competition in the lobby whilst watching the tour. The former Gerolsteiner Rider looks intimadating but he hasn't seen the Kid, Moose and the Stealth Rider on the hills. Marty and him have already come to blows arguing over Cadel's potential to win the tour. Mr Gerolsteiner feels "Cadel doesn't have the team, they have to pay the money if they want to win the tour" Marty hotly contested this and was the centre of the attention during post stage celebrations.... stay tuned...... 

21 July 2008

This is the Kid Reporting to you live from LesDuxAlps. I am please to report all still alive and in triumphant spirits after notching up Alp De Heuz on our belts. Over 3,000m of climbing today, Alp De Heuz and other climbs and all this on day 1.

I am please to announce my form to day was solid but unspectacular. The Moose of the moutain award suprising goes to the Moose who found an inner strength today and has a new best friend Mr Gerolsteiner (Fred).
You are please to know that we have planned a break away ride as non of the optoins provided fitted our precise needs. We have invited Mr Gerlosteiner along with the promise of coffee, he was very excited, although I have my doubts as to whether he is up to the pace.

Kaye our Masseusse/ Physio/ Media Liasion Officer/ Bood Guard/ Chef and flag carrier continues to be a tour of strength and has taken every climb in her stride (in the bus).

It must be said that we are all blown away with the magnitude of the length and steepness of the hills. These are no ALp De Patawalunga that Burner can draft behind (without doing any work) and win with a sneeky sprint up the outside. Burner I think you need to re think your saturday as these hills make corkscrew look like a sunday drive.
The scenery is spectacular and the Serenity factor is an 11+. Cohenator forest does not rate.

I am really looking to ride Alp De Heuz on tour day as the fans are already lining the 21 switches back waiting for me or maybe they are waiting for the tour. Today I got a number of high fives and inspiring cheers.
This the Kid signing off.



22, 23 and 24 July 2008

Hello FRA fans and friends. This is the moose. We are back in communication. A quick run down of the last three days:
Tuesday: We rode the last 8ks of the back of Galibier.  All pretty stiff and sore from the previous day but the climb not too bad other than the last k or so that gets up to about 12% or so.  Very cold on the top.  Stunning scenery. We then rode back to Bourg Oisans and had a look around town and watched the race on tv.

I should also mention we have an ex Italian pro "Fred" leading our rides.  He had a bad crash early in his career so now not racing anymore but he has been very entertaining with plenty of stories from the peleton that we will share with you when we return.

Wednesday: Race day on ADH. We were just below the 5ks mark as some of you know.  Had a great day, looks like the FRA flag may not have made it on the telecast but we gave it a good shot.  The SBS promo camera man was around us most of the day however shooting through the Aussie flag etc so perhaps we made it onto the highlights package. 

Thursday: We rode the first 100ks or so of the leg.  The lst 20ks or so we were on closed roads which was a bit of a buzz but finally the gendarmes stopped us at the base of the main climb for the day.  So we followed some locals around the side of the mountain (warned that it was a steep) and it sure was, a k or so at 20+%.  Briggs and Pfitzner had their first push of a bike on French soil but mighty Matt Stead powered up in the 29 cog. More drama watching the race come by, a kid (not the "Kid") hanging on to a tree on a bank brought it down on our group and one of the guys next to Matt got taken off to hospital, luckily he had his helmet on so is now back at hotel, sore but otherwise ok.  Then the bus had problems so we only got to hotel at 9pm.

25 July 2008

Today we rode 130 km to the flat stage at an 30 km/hr average. It was tough but familiar flat terrain for the FRA.  Tony did the time trial course and averaged in the low 30's which he was happy with.

We were able to ride on the course before the carvan came through. We got a little carried away and had a little sprint in front of the crowd.

We located a great little restaurant with a fixed menu and fantastic lunch. After a couple of beers & wine we watched the race.

The main group came through with a rush of air.

26 July 2008

Today we did a country side ride to the end of the time trial course. It was a relatively easy 58 km with total to date of 540 km riding in the week. Total climbing to be confirmed by the judges as there is some dispute over the stead superseeded Garmin computer results.

The rough roads meant the FRA rider chod regions took another battering but we are happy to report, and in true briggsy style our form was "solid but un spectacular".

While the TT result was of course disappointing, a good day was had by all with plenty of sights to see.

The FRA flag made another nano second appearance on global TV coverage (just after Bernard Kohle's finish). 



27th July 2008

It was quite hot in our VIP seats 50 m from the finish, so the first half of the afternoon was spent in the nearby restaurant with beers and hotdogs with the "Phil Liggett of American cycling" Bruce. Back at the race and with Cadel out of the running, the largest cheers from the enormous Aussie contingent were reserved each lap for the portly tow truck driver.

Farewells to our travelling companions (including chief mechanic Spencer) that night and now that we have got rid of the hangers-on, Stead and Moose are about to embark on their assult of the Pyrenees tomorrow.





28th July 2008

11 hours of travelling today (a lot of stairs, 1 shuttle bus, 1 metro, two trains (problem with one) and then a bus to finish off with) but happy to report Pfitzner and Stead now safely in France's religeous centre of Lourdes.  Time on the train was well utilised coming up with a new algorithm to correctly report the climbing metres being reported by Matt's Garmin computer (patent pending) and sleeping.  One thing we have found with a bus trip on the TDF is that as the stages finish late in the afternoon and are often quite a way apart, you end up having late dinners e.g. 10 - 11 pm and then get up early the next day to get to the next stage etc. so it gets a bit tiring after a while.

Tomorrow we hope to find St  Campagnolo and have him bless our bikes and the FRA flag. The weather here is quite cold and wet again but we will get the flag to the top of the Tourmalet for the first time even if it has to be by car.

Au revoir!





29th July 2008

This is Le Moose.  Today the FRA came out to battle the mighty Tourmalet.  Watchers of the recent TDF will recall this was the stage where Evans took yellow by one second. It's hard to say who came out on top, the mountain or the FRA.  The first few ks of the climb are only about 4% and during a quick call to the Chief to make him feel jealous (and to give us inspiration), we had a laugh about "How easy is this?".  For the last 7ks or so however we were reduced to somewhat of a rabble, dodging moo cows (four legged ones), goats, sheep and manure and stopping at each km marker for a rest and to compose our thoughts.  It was very humid and there was so much sweat pouring off me that at one stage I thought I had came back in a new life as Thommo!  But we made it to the top and a great sense of accomplishment was fealt as the FRA flag was once again rised in triumph (see photo below).   After a beer and a coke (the choice of all champions) and the traditional FRA call of "It's all down hill from here", we set off down the other side which is incredibly bumpy and this did not really show when watching the stage on tv.  It was a great descent though, stunning scenery and we then tried to do a Jens Voight/Cancellara team CSC impersonation as we charged down the valley back to Lourdes to complete a 102km circuit.  







30th July 2008

Today we swapped the two wheels for four and took off to climb mountains. First we visited Hautacam which was a very significant climb. There were many cows, horses etc greeting us at the top. We agreed that we made the right decision not to ride after the grueling Tourmalet the day before.

The other purpose of the day was to start planning for Lorne's 2015 trip to TDF. We highlighted some important rides that should be included:

• Col d'Aubisque (stunning scenery and a brute of a climb coming the other way)
• Hautacam (un ride-able with our current state of fitness)
• Alpe Du Heuz (significant climb helped by crazy TDF fans)
• Galibier (a must do - but don't stay too long in the death zone)
• Tourmalet (50 km of climbing, 50 km od decending !)

Later in the day we went to explore the religious significance of Lourdes. We could not find St Campagnolo or St Record / Chorus, but we did find the Holy Grotto where the virgin Mary was said to have appeared to Bernadette the shepherd. The cheap Shimano souvenirs were plentiful. On this occasion we felt that it was not appropriate to have a photo of the FRA flag.    

Tomorrow is the TVG express to Paris for a last farewell, prior to flying back home to all our family and friends.

31st July and 1st August

A long journey back from Lourdes to Adelaide. The TGV hit the magic 300 km/hr and then there was a fault with one of the doors. They however managed to get it going again and we made it back to Paris. The next step was navigating 3 railway stations, lots of walking with bikes and checking in. Thankfully Cathay Pacific rewarded us by upgrading Moose & Stealth to Business class for the flight to HK.

We found time to do some comparisions.....



This is the last posting for the FRA in FRA 2008. Thanks for putting up with us going on & look forward to seeing you soon.