Friday, June 20, 2008

Giro di Jersey 2008 : stage 1 Ringoes ITT

Yes, the Giro di Jersey, not quite the Tour de France, but very entertaining ... and typical of the world's cycling fraternity ... and sorority for that matter.

The first stage of the GdJ took off today; an Individual Time Trial on the roads around Ringoes, NJ, USA.

The ITT is a very European event, but it was obvious to see that just the same guys turn up as turn up on those cold, windy days on the A38 in the UK ...

And women too for that matter. In fact, quite a few more than you're likely to see on the lay-by out of Almondsbury.

The route was rather good. Out and back over 15km on a very nice sweeping, well-surfaced road, which started out with a forgiving, slightly downhill curving start, but ended up with a short, but vicious hill towards the end, made more miserable by a polite, but persistent headwind.

I passed a pleasant couple of hours watching the riders set off on their pursuit of themselves.

Just a couple of points; I couldn't get a start sheet anywhere, even on-line, and it seems to me the police turn up whenever a gutter needs cleaning here ... well, they could have done with one or two at the start zone and turning point ... let's just say not all car and truck drivers see the benefits of attracting a great sporting occasion to their bit of the backwoods ...

Tomorrow; The Rocky Hill Cycling Classic.

You can see some uncaptioned images here.

* I've looked everywhere for results. I'll post them if I find any.

* see my Bike Index here