Tour de France '08 Review - UPDATED

I recently wrote a Tour de France 2008 review for VO2max, a Kiwi endurance sports publication. The magazine should be out shortly, but here's a sneak preview:

Carlos Sastre (Team CSC – Saxo Bank) put in one of the rides of his life on the Tour de France’s penultimate day to preserve his hold on the Maillot Jaune and become the third consecutive Spanish winner of the world’s greatest bicycle race.

A well-designed route helped the 2008 event be one of the closest and riveting in decades with Sastre providing the fireworks on the key L’Alpe d’Huez stage to take the leader’s Yellow Jersey. Sastre was expected to lose his top position to Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) in the final 53km time trial, but instead rode brilliantly to limit his losses and defy all predictions.

Evans had to be content with being runner-up for the second year running, while mountains prize winner, Austrian Bernhard Kohl (Gerlosteiner), was a magnificent third, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) was fourth and Christian Vande Velde fifth.

Read the full article here.

Check out the magazine for more cycling, athletics, triathlon and endurance sport news.

Ellmaustein

Fuschl village and Fuschlsee lake taken from the Ellmaustein on a balmy July evening.

Wanderlust interrupted

A good friend and ex-work colleague of mine, Jon Duval, is now a staff writer at the Idaho Mountain Express. He's also a big cycling fan and recently wrote a hilarious opinion piece for his paper previewing the Tour de France. Click here.

I'll be posting my Tour de France review written for a New Zealand magazine in the next few days - check back later!

A1 Shops

While queuing in Austria is never much fun in the first place, since most locals think replicating a rugby scrum is the best way to stand in line, the A1 shops take the cake.

One of the country's primary mobile phone network providers, A1 has about 50 shops across the country where patrons can theoretically buy phones, discuss payment plans and get other matters dealt with.

The problem begins with the shop's layout. Each one has a large rectangle bar type arrangement positioned in the centre of the shop floor where the 'service representatives' work in the middle.

Unfortunately this leaves customers unsure of where to queue, instead milling around wondering who to stand behind in order to try and get served quickest.

Consequently the shops are a nightmare to visit. Usually you get stuck for ages behind some old duffer who put his battery in the phone upside down and can't figure out what's wrong, and without fail someone who came in after gets served before you do.

Once you do get to speak to someone, the service is often hopeless. A friend told me she needed a phone fixed, but the assistant told her there were none available, come back another time. My friend insisted that one was reserved for her, but the assistant merely wrote her name on a scrap of paper and put it in a draw, advising her to try another shop.

At the second shop after another 20 minutes of queuing, my friend eventually got a replacement while hers was sent off for repairs. However the new phone was not compatible with the charger supplied and the battery kept falling out of it. My friend couldn't face going back into the stores again and instead just switched it on only sporadically to preserve power - not exactly an ideal solution.

"With a total of 54 A1 SHOPS in Austria's most important population centers, mobilkom austria offers expert service for mobile phones, mobile phone accessories and applications," says A1 Service rep David Stockinger. "We ask for your understanding that we have a lot of customers who visit our A1 SHOPS and therefore there is sometimes a tailback and time of waiting."

Basically, don't expect a change anytime soon, just the same scheiße service.

Bikes again

Image from a recent photo shoot done for a work client. In the 'official' photos you just get to see my legs and feet. This one was a bonus shot courtesy of photographer Mauricio Ramos, who also did the photoshop effects.

Unfortunately the bike was only on loan..