I am often amazed at my French club-mates’ apparent insouciance to watching live bike racing. Generally, if the race goes past their door – as it does in this Saturday’s Paris-Nice – they’ll watch. But, if not, like as not, after having ridden in the morning, they’re more than happy to watch the live action unfold on their HD screens. They would never think of driving an hour or two to watch live racing. It’s fair to say that my cycling capers provide them with much amusement.

A lot of my club-mates are still very good riders who in their younger days liked nothing better than racing against the professionals who would decamp to the South of France to both train and race. Continue reading →