Tour de France Feminine 2003

Wednesday 30 July
The SATS team left Copenhagen at 1pm and drove to Odense, north of the city, to visit our bike sponsor before heading to France. We grabbed a few spare helmets (just in case anyone crashes during the tour), race tyres and other items and were then on our way to Germany by mid afternoon.

We stopped enroute to pick up Katrina Grove (Mobile) who was joining the SATS team as a guest rider for the Tour de France. We stopped periodically for petrol and ate sandwiches in the cars for dinner.

We eventually arrived in Duane, somewhere in Germany at 1.30am in the morning. Everyone was so tired and ready for some sleep. I crawled into bed and slept like a log until 8.30am. I could have done with much more sleep but dragged myself out of bed and headed downstairs to experience my first German breakfast.

Thursday 31 July
After a breakfast which consisted of sausages (which I passed up on), yoghurt, cereal, boiled eggs and bread, we were on the bikes by 9.30am. We rode for 2 hours with our escort, Noel, an acrobatic friend of Chad, the mechanic. Noel, an American native, has been living in Germany for several years and knew some great mountain roads to take us to. He is heading to Monaco to climb poles in a circus act and is going to meet us in Grenoble on his way, to watch us race through the French Alps.

My legs felt horrible during the ride but after an hour of solid climbing they started to open up. After our ride, the team showered in record time, packed the cars and were on our way to Marseille. And although we were drove on the Autobarns, we didn't reach Marseille until 2am. I was starting to wonder if the journey to the Tour start was going to be harder than the actual racing.

Friday 1 August
We needed to be up by 7am, and after only 5hrs sleep I was contemplating skipping breakfast to get a little extra sleep. Now that we were in France, our breakfast consisted of croissants, coffee, baguettes, cereal and yoghurt. It only took 20 minutes and one U turn to drive from our hotel to the ferry terminal at Marseille and we rolled through the entrance gates at exactly 9am as requested by the Tour organisation.

At 9am it was already 35C and we knew we were going to experience even hotter weather once we landed on the island of Corsica. The confusion at the ferry terminal over the next 5 hours was unbelievable. The day was known as Black Friday, the first day of holidays for many French travellers. The congestion caused by an inordinate number of travellers brought the ferry terminal to a halt. In addition to this chaos, the car ramp used to drive the cars onto the ferry was broken so cars were unable to be loaded. The Tour organisation paid for one car per team to travel by ferry to Corsica so each team had to join a huge queue to buy additional car tickets.

The band members that were hired to play at the start of each stage decided to use the wait as a chance to practice and soon the car park was filled with the sounds of trumpets, saxophones, drums and clarinets. After sitting amongst the chaos at the ferry terminal for 5 hours, the ferry was finally loaded and headed away from the port at 2pm, only 3 hours late. I took a few photos of the French coast and then moved inside to put the feet up. Shortly before dinner, there was an announcement that the ferry was experiencing mechanical problems and would be arriving at Ile Rouse well after midnight. As partial compensation, all food purchased on the ferry was reduced by 25%.

We arrived in the town of Corte and found our accommodation, simple university dormitory rooms at 1.30am. I was so tired that I would have slept in a dog kennel by this stage. My room was at least 35C and after opening the window in the hope of getting a breeze, taking a cold shower, I pulled on an eye mask to block out the light and collapsed until 9.30am.

Saturday 2 August
I had missed breakfast but went into the kitchen and asked for some cereal, juice and bread. The temperature was already 40C and combined with my lack of sleep, I was feeling less then ready to start the tour. The team trained for 1.5 hours at an easy pace but I was breathing hard and struggling. I was so sleep deprived that my head throbbed and I just wanted to curl up on the edge of the road. I told our director, Chris, how badly I was feeling and turned back early to lie down.

I left my bike with the mechanics, and headed to the cafeteria for lunch before planning my afternoon nap. I was just finishing lunch when Chris arrived and as I speak French, suggested I attend the managers meeting with him to translate it for him. After 2 hours of translating I was struggling both mentally and physically. I was craving both rest and more food. The meeting finally ended and I was given 5 minutes to grab a SATS jersey, before we headed to Ajaccio for the presentation of all the teams, participating in the tour. The drive to Ajaccio took 2 hours on a narrow goat track through the mountains. Most of us felt car sick and it was impossible to get any sleep. We were presented on stage and within 30 minutes were back in the cars for the 2 hour return journey to Corte, arriving back at 9pm.

Meanwhile, my husband Bob had spent 2 days travelling from Melbourne to join the team as the soigneur. We found him at a cafe in Corte, only 300m from our accommodation, jetlagged and tired. We hadn't seen each other for 3 months and it was awesome to be in the same country again. After a 10pm dinner, we headed to our dormitory rooms for some much needed sleep with day one of the tour starting tomorrow.

Tour de France Stage-1

Sunday 3 August

Sartene - Ajaccio 107km

I woke up feeling hot, tired and nervous. It was also 42C without a cloud in the sky and with our race starting at 3pm, I knew staying hydrated was going to be very important. I was also hoping the other riders were feeling as tired as me. I have never started a major tour with such slept deprivation and wondered what level of fatigue I would have by the end of next week and the week after if I made it to Paris.

We were in the team cars by 10am, for the 3 hour drive to Sartene. Again, we negotiated the narrow twisty road towards Ajaccio and had to stop twice for Christine who was car sick.

The course profile showed two category 4 climbs in today's stage. A climb is categorised according to its steepness and degree of difficulty. Category 4 climbs are typically the easiest to climb and usually do not cause the peloton to shatter. The hors category and category 1 climbs are the climbs that all the non-climbers fear the most. Apart from the two climbs of 7km and 8km, respectively, the stage looked fairly flat and so we predicted a sprint finish and had plans to set things up for either Katrina, Mette or myself.

However, we could not have been more incorrect in our predictions on how the day would go. In the first 12km after completing a loop of Sartene, I found myself dropped from the peloton. I had absolutely no strength in my legs and was fighting to stay with a small group of riders who were all chasing hard to get back on. I had dreadful thoughts riding the remaining 100km alone, which could risk me being time cut on Day 1. All tour riders must finish within a prescribed time, and on today's stage, the limit was calculated as 25% of the winner's time.

Our little group was still chasing as we came upon a 5km descent. I can descend quite well and used this downhill section to try and close the gap to the peloton. I nearly wiped myself out though as I hit a sharp right hand corner too fast and had to unclip my foot as I slid through the gravel with both wheels locked up. Somehow I kept the bike upright and amazingly avoided a group of spectators who were right on the edge of the road. Their look of panic as I slid towards them, turned to amazement as they realised I had kept the bike upright. They all applauded me for not hitting the deck and then passionately screamed "Allez, allez" (go, go).

After a few more minutes I rejoined the peloton but not for long. At the 24km mark, there was a climb of 6km that shattered the peloton. I was frustrated that the course profile grossly underestimated the difficulty of these climbs. I was passed by all the team cars and found a group of 12 riders who were suffering as much as I was.

We all worked together until the 72km mark when I started cramping in the quadriceps (thighs). I could hardly ride and watched my group disappear up the final 8km climb. My speed had dropped to 8km/hr and if I didn't pick up the speed it would be dark before I finished. With 2km of the climb left, all the muscles down the back and inside of my legs started cramping too. My legs were locking up and it was just agony trying to pedal. I clutched one leg at a time with my hand and helped push and pull it through the pedalling motion. I was trying to be brave but I couldn't help moaning from the pain. I eventually caught a fellow Aussie, Hayley Rutherford, whilst a Colnago rider caught us so the 3 of us worked together. I pedalled with cramped legs for the remaining 25km and luckily made it home without being time cut. Meanwhile, team mate Katrina, had ridden superbly to finish a credible 5th.

I drank nearly 3 litres of a weak Extran mix as we did our 2 hour transfer back to Corte. We arrived back in Corte at 9pm and in a state of fatigue, ate the soggy pasta, showered and collapsed with relief on the thin little mattress in the dormitory rooms. Lets hope tomorrow brings better things.

Tour de France Stage-2

Monday 4 August

Corte - St Florent 106km

We started today's stage in Corte so it was a treat not to have to travel by car to the race start. It was also our last day on the island of Corsica as we would be transferring to Nice after the race today.

After yesterday's disaster I decided to have a good warm up, particularly since the stage started with a 4km category 4 climb. The race was due to start at midday but at 10.30am we were told the race was starting 30 minutes earlier. This meant that with riders called to the start line at 11.15am, there was little time to sign in and warm up. The sign in procedure involves each team coming up onto the stage to sign in with each rider being individually introduced. There is always a lot of activity at the start line, with the band playing, fans hunting for autographs and photographers trying to get that pre-race shot. I really enjoy the atmosphere at the start and particularly love the french's passion for cycling.

After the sign-in, we rode part way up the climb to wake up the legs and to see what we had to look forward to. I climbed at 15km/hr but knew the pace would be much higher during the race. In fact, we climbed at 25km/hr which nearly ripped my legs off.

After this climb we had a flat to slightly downhill section for 50km which was great. There is nothing more enjoyable than riding downhill! The next hill came after a sharp right had corner and caught me completely off guard. I was near the back of the field and gaps opened up as someone at the front attacked. The gradient wasn't steep but at 40km/hr I couldn't' stay with the mountain goats. I ended up in a small group of 20 riders who were climbing at my speed. Our group rode conservatively and tried to ignore the 51C heat that was beating down on us. We had a long final category 4 climb of 16km which took us through the recently burnt out areas of Corsica. The terrain was completely charred without a blade of grass or a tree in sight. The last part of today's stage was a 12km descent which had some really tight hairpin turns. I love descending if I am at the front and don't have to worry about riders slamming on their brakes. I went to the front and followed the line a Gendarmerie (French policeman) motorcyclist took through each corner. He took the corners so fast and leant his bike so that the panniers on either side of his bike were scrapping on the road. I was scared he was going to wipe out in front of us but he just grinned back at us after each sharp corner and I am sure he was having more fun than we were. In fact, these cops work fulltime for the organisers of French cycling races. They go from race to race, protecting the cyclists from traffic and ensuring the race course is safe. They are the ones that stand bravely in the middle of the road with a flag and a whistle to warn us of traffic islands or roundabouts that are hard to see from the middle of the peloton. It must be unnerving for the peloton to ride straight at the policeman at 50km/hr and at the last second deviate either side of him to avoid whatever he is warning us about.

My legs felt better today and I finished in a higher group than yesterday. My aim is to ride within myself for the first week, survive the alps and have something left for a few good stages in the second week. After the race, we drove to Bastia to catch the ferry to Nice. The organisers gave us a baguette for dinner so we headed out to find a restaurant that served pasta. The ferry was due to depart at 7pm but didn't leave until 9pm. Nothing ever happens on time in France! The ferry arrived at Nice at 2.30am. We found our accommodation in the town of Grasse with only 4 laps of a particular roundabout. It is a bit of a joke within the team that we enjoy doing at least a couple of U turns each day and a few laps of the roundabouts. We crawled into bed at 4am and I wondered how on earth I would be able to race tomorrow, well..... later today.

Tour de France Stage-3

Tuesday 5 August

Fayence - Valberg 122km

We were able to sleep in until 11am and so after 5 hours sleep we all stumbled down to breakfast and tried to be positive about today's stage. Fortunately all the riders were sleep deprived so I was hoping that today's stage would be raced at a more sedate pace.

A policeman gave us bad directions to the race start and as we did our second U turn for the day, I was on the phone to Pierre Boue, the French Director explaining to him that we were lost. He promised to wait for us and we screeched to a holt in front of the start line at 1.50pm for a 2pm start.

Rumour has it that all teams, except one, protested in relation to the difficult transfer last night and wanted to make today a rest day. As a compromise, the race was shortened by 25km.

So we rode 4km out of Fayence at a neutral pace, then stopped, loaded up the bikes, got into the team cars and drove for 25km. With no warm up we jumped on our bikes to race the remaining 90km. As usual, the race started at a blistering pace. It was 43C but there were storm clouds gathering in the alps and it looked like we were going to get wet.

A group of 8 attacked up the first category 4 climb and opened up a gap. My legs were stinging and I ended up a few hundred metres off the main group as they crested the top, but a group of chased on the descent and got back to the peloton just as the first drops of rain started.

Trine had also been dropped and as she chased back on she wiped out on a slippery corner, taking off a fair amount of skin. She jumped up quickly though and after chasing hard, eventually rejoined the peloton.

It hadn't rained for many weeks and the roads were so slippery. Christine got caught in a crash that I narrowly avoided. My wheels slipped out a few times and I really backed off the speed to make sure I kept things upright. We were asked to sit up and help get Christine back on so I was nearly 1km behind the peloton. I radioed to Meredith who had also dropped back, and told her I would get back to the peloton to support Katrina.

I chased for about 10km in the pouring rain and eventually caught the race caravan. This section of road followed the contour of the mountain and had at least 10 single lane tunnels to negotiate. Riders are allowed to draft behind the team cars discretely to help get back to the peloton. The rider should not spend too much time behind a single car and must progress forward to the next car. Most team cars will slow down and then pace the rider towards the car in front. I leapt from car to car but had to be really careful of the tunnels. On two occasions I was right behind a car when the car decided to pull over and allow me to go through the tunnel in front. They gave me no warning they were stopping and forced me to swerve violently in the wet.

Almost immediately after catching the peloton, Katrina dropped back for a wheel change so I dropped back to help her get back on and was in amongst the cars again when Chris told me to stay in the peloton. He must have realised how knackered I was after just getting back to the peloton. I continued to yo yo in and out of the caravan for the next 20km as I battled to hang with the main group. There were a couple of riders driving it hard on the front of this group and I was amazed at how hard they were riding. They brought the break back to 15 seconds by the base of the final 15km climb .

I got dropped again on this ascent and climbed with a Kookai rider from Spain to the finish. I finished about 45th and was grateful for the 13-29 cassette I had decided to use today. I can't wait to get through these alps and get out onto the flat country.

Tour de France Stage-4

Wednesday 6 August

Puy St Vincent

Today we did the fictitious neutral rollout of 4km and then again got into the cars. It was a shame for the spectators who had lined the switch back climbs and then sadly watched us all drive past in the cars. I am sure they think we just drive from stage to stage and don't ever ride!

Today's change of plan was supposedly due to a bad landslide which had completely blocked the road. This section of road had no possible detours so the stage was changed and we again piled into cars and drove nearly 100km to detour the apparent landslide. The entire race caravan drove in convoy under police escort. It was actually great fun to have the traffic at every intersection stopped so we could drive through without stopping. With the temperatures still above 40 degrees and many of us drinking litres of water, about half the caravan pulled over for a pee break. It was an amusing sight to watch, with the policemen then helping us to catch up to the cars who hadn't stopped. I am sure the speed limits were bent on several occasions.

As I speak French, I watched the news that night to see the report on the landslide, but the incident was never mentioned. Apparently, the landslide was a story fabricated by a few individuals who were not happy with the way the race was organised and they wanted to make life even more difficult for him.

So after driving nearly 100km we pulled up in drizzling rain at 5pm and were told our stage would now be 35km. I grabbed our race bible and the profile of the final section looked all uphill. Great! Some riders started to protest. They were chanting "hotel, hotel - lets just go to the hotel. The commissaire sensing that we would refuse to race, suddenly popped his head out from the sunroof and blew his whistle.

Fellow aussie Sara Carrigan wasn't even on her bike so she completely missed the start. Without any warm up, the Russians threw their bikes into the big ring and started driving it hard. The entire peloton was strung out in a single line and was soon smashed into little groups.

Gaps were opening up everywhere and I found a small group with team mate, Christine and we worked really hard to chase the front group. I worked too hard because just as we caught them, the climb started and I had nothing in my legs. I blew into a million little pieces and was soon passed by the entire field. I eventually found my legs and rode from car to car and until I reached the grupetto - the flat land riders who survive the climbs and excel on the flats.

I found my rhythm and soon found the tempo in the grupetto too slow, but it was foolish to ride away and expend sacred energy to finish 50th instead of 60th when there were still 8 hard days of racing left. After the race, we only had a 45 minute transfer which was a huge change from the many hours of travelling we have succumbed to so far.

Stage - 5

Thursday 7 August

L'Argentiere - La - Bessee 102km

Happy Birthday to me - Happy Birthday to me. My husband brought some great aussie treats over from Oz for my birthday which I thoroughly enjoyed. The entire team also sang to me at breakfast which was really cool.

After signing in today, I was rolling around to warm up when I heard the announcers calling my name. I returned to the stage and was thrilled to have the entire crowd sing Happy Birthday to me. The organiser presented me with a coloured book about the history of the Tour de France and then wished me good luck in the stage. He hoped I rode well for the entire tour and emphasised that he wanted me to make it to Paris - so did I.

I felt hungry before the start and should have grabbed some food. I hadn't eaten enough for breakfast. After a neutral lap of the town, the race took off at a clapping speed up a 10km climb. My legs were dead. The entire field passed me and then the cars. A rider from Power Plate actually pushed me a bit and tried to encourage me to ride with her but I had nothing in my legs. I found one other rider from the French team and rode with her. We caught 3 riders and as a group of five we started to make up ground. Two French policemen on motorcycles kept encouraging us to go faster as there was a group only 1.5km ahead of us. After 40 minutes of hard riding we eventually caught the grupetto where I joined fellow aussies Margaret Hemsley, Sara Carigan and Alison Wright.

The next climb of 15km took us over several glaciers which looked magnificent in the brilliant sunshine. I kept thinking - this is my birthday, I am riding through the French alps, I am really hurting but where else would I want to be. After this climb, we descended for 20km which was the best part of today's stage. It was scary through the tunnels and around the hairpin corners. There was a 2ft brick wall along the edge of the road and then just a sheer cliff. If I misjudged a corner and went over the edge, it would have been very ugly.

The final climb to the finish was only 6km but it was 17%. The profile had it as 7% but I climbed it in the 39x29 which is almost a mountain bike gear. Most girls had 39x27's and had to stand most of the way. I had been really worried about making time cut today but our group finished 30 minutes down and were well inside the time limit.

We drove to our hotel in Grenoble and past many beautiful castles and other spectacular mountains. If I wasn't so exhausted I would have taken a few photos of this amazing scenery.

Stage - 6

Thursday 8 August

Vif - Davezieux 129km

Today was 43 degrees and really hot. I actually felt good today when I woke up. Maybe it was my coming of age! We did a neutral 10km loop on some really narrow lanes that were barely wide enough for 5 bikes. It was a tight squeeze and I was happy to get out onto the slightly wider roads when the race commenced.

The attacks started almost immediately. As I felt good, I decided to have a dig and went hard after a sharp left hand corner. I got a gap and was then quickly joined by Madelene of Nuernberg. We worked well for a few km's before we turned a corner and the road went up. I hadn't remembered any hills in the profile but this little beast was killing me. I sat up and rode tempo as the peloton started passing me. I had used up a lot of energy in that attack and was suffering up this climb. I used the cars and stayed in touch with the peloton. Alison Wright was very active and I joined her in a few moves. Eventually the right combination happened that included a team mate Christine.

Today's stage had some very different terrain to the alps we had just ridden. We were now in amongst corn fields, lush forests and hills that didn't hurt the same way as the mountains had.

Unfortunately, Christine was eventually dropped from the break and was soon caught by the main group. After the energy she had expended in the break, combined with the heat, she struggled to stay with us, and was eventually back in the cars, where I have been on so many days of this tour. Meredith dropped back to push her back to the peloton but got fined for physically assisting a team mate. Personally, I don't see much difference between letting a team mate sit behind to get a draft and pushing, but that's the rule and we broke it. I think it cost the team 100 Swiss Francs. Given we only had 10km to the finish and we had a team mate high up in the overall general classification, it was more important that we stay near her to protect her and just let Christine ride to the finish.

The stage finished with a 5km climb. I got dropped on this climb and came in a few minutes down but happy that I was feeling much stronger than earlier in the tour.

Funnily enough, we stayed at an airport hotel and although we listened to planes coming and going all night, we had air-conditioning and when it is 40 degrees that is more important than anything else. This was the first time we had the pleasure of cool air and it was awesome to sleep without sweating.

Stage - 7

Friday 9 August

Royat - Commentry 107km

And guess what - yes, another day of 43 degrees but with a very strong wind to add to things. I cannot believe this weather. I am fortunate to be accustomed to hot weather but racing at 2pm such extreme heat is starting to make us all feel tired.

The stage commenced with a 4km climb, which I rode during my warm up so I knew what to expect. This climb was categorised as a category 4 climb but it felt more difficult than that. In fact, most of the riders found it difficult and by the top, there were only 7 riders in the front group. You guessed correctly that I was not one of these 7. I was back in the grupetto again with all my team mate, except one. The climb had shattered many of us and after 6 days of racing we were starting to feel the fatigue.

No-one in the group wanted to work and our speed was ridiculously slow. About 2 hours into the race, the commissaire (race judge) dropped back and told us to pick up the speed or we would be time cut. With 20km to go, he dropped back again and told us we had 17 minutes to get to the finish or we would be eliminated. I panicked and started driving it on the front. I wanted more than anything to finish this race and was getting frustrated that no-one else would pull a turn.

As it turned out, we easily made time cut and it was a trick by the commissaire to get us to ride a little harder. I was angry that I had used up valuable energy unnecessarily.

I was wearing new Carnac's that Bob had brought over from Australia for me. They are the new 4 strap Elipse model that are so comfortable but in 43 degrees I was starting to feel hot spots under the balls of my feet. Several times during the stage, I had to squirt water over my feet to keep them cool.

We had a lot of spectators today, sitting on the edge of the road in the little villages, or on the tops of hills where they could see us weaving up the climbs. This area of France had many castles as well as forests and open fields.

It was a requirement that the hotels provided all the riders with food as well as accommodation. That night our dinner consisted of boiled (blanched) chicken and boiled green beans. I couldn't believe it. Where was the carbohydrate in that? After 100km and 7 days of racing we were given a tough piece of inedible chicken. Our director rang the UCI to complain while the rest of us started pinching food from a buffet in an adjoining room. We found a platter with couscous on it and devoured it before the waiter could take it from us. I found some yoghurt, cereal and bread and ate this to fill up the empty spot. I bet in the men's Tour de France they don' t have to endure the burdens of horrible food.

Stage - 8

Saturday 10 August

Aubusson - St Leonard de Noblat 87km

I am counting down the days until the Rest Day. I only have to get through today and tomorrow and we have a day off. It will be so blissful to not be racing and travelling.

Today it was really hot - 47 degrees. Our neutral section of the race, 13km was done at such a slow pace that it took nearly an hour. All the riders insisted that we stop after the neutral section to pee and fill up our water bottles. The officials just turn there heads while we shamelessly drop our knicks.

Given everyone in our team was there to support Katrina, who was our GC rider sitting well up in the overall standings, our plan today was to set something up for her. Our director told us to cover the early breaks and hopefully get Katrina into the winning move.

An Italian rider jumped behind the commissaries car as he blew the whistle and drafted behind the car for nearly 1km. I watched in amazement as the commissaire did nothing about this blatant form of cheating. The rest of us chased hard and eventually caught her. The terrain was sloping steadily upwards and yet we were maintaining over 40km/hr.

I saw 5 girls attack and after a moments hesitation, burst out of the peloton in pursuit. After a few minutes of hard riding, I caught them and sat on the back of them, gasping for air. I was unable to take a turn. I had used up everything to get across to them. I was definitely feeling tired as I usually have more than one attack in me per stage. The peloton caught us and with the following attack, I was popped out the back of the group. Six of us started working turns but the others were reluctant to work. They had already given up the chase. Meredith was with me and I told her if we could get back to the cars then we would make it. She was having a hard day and I told her to stay on my wheel until she felt ok. A French chick joined us in our chase while the other 3 shouted out "piano piano" ("slower, slower") to us. It took us 20 minutes to make it to the cars and then we progressed from car to car until we made it back to the group. I had used up a lot of fluid during my chase back on, so after I'd caught my breath I dropped back to our team car to get some water. I took 3 bottles for myself and another 3 for a few team mates. Usually the riders up on the General Classification don't drop back for water. They conserve energy and stay up near the front of the group. It is the duty of the workers on the team to go back for fluid and bring it back. It is quite a skill to stuff 4 or 5 water bottles down your jersey and then get these back to your teammates.

Three riders had broken away which included aussie Margaret Hemsley, whilst I had been chasing back on. Our director suggested that some of us bridge across to these riders but I had used up everything. I was really tired today and the 47 degree heat was making me feel pretty lousy. With 3km to go, Meredith attacked and as she got caught, Christine had a dig. She was swallowed up with 200m to go which is always an unfortunate way of getting caught. I rolled home safely in the peloton but with no top 10 result that I had set as my own goal for the tour.

Rest Day

Sunday 11 August

Most of the riders stayed outside Niort in what appeared to be one star facilities. The bedrooms were so tiny that many riders dragged their mattresses outside and slept on the grass. It was certainly much cooler this way as it was nearly 40C in the rooms and of course no rooms had any air conditioning. There wasn't enough room for our whole SATS contingent which had now grown to 16 people due to parents, friends and support staff who had joined us to watch the concluding stages, so several of us opted for an alternate hotel in downtown Niort. I should emphasise downtown as this hotel was on the main drag and it was so noisy. I don't think I slept a wink.

The room Bob and I stayed in looked over 200 years old. It had an ornate 4 poster beds, fancy carved bedside tables, French windows (ie I guess all windows in France could be called this!!), flowered wallpaper and a very old antique looking bathroom. However, because it was so old, air conditioning was a wishful extra and I estimated it was about 43C inside. I lay on top of the sheet, sweating and listening to the trucks roar by.

During the day, all the riders moved to an empty boarding school (as it was the holiday period in France) which was going to be our home for the next two days. There was an above ground pool and shady trees so it was a step up from last night. Interestingly, the French team chose not to stay at the school and received a fine from the UCI for seeking other accommodation. I continue to be amazed at what cyclists get fined for doing. Most teams decided to do massages outdoors under the shady trees and to anyone passing by they would have been amazed to see half naked women lying on these tables, flaunting flesh and funny suntan lines, but we didn't care - we just wanted a rub to encourage the legs to ride 5 more stages.

Climbing stairs is always my indicator of how the legs are doing and today I had to climb them really slowly. I felt so hammered today and was gratefully that we didn't have to race today.

The school canteen food was tolerable and I only ate it because I was so hungry. I soaked the stale bread in gravy and washed it down with plenty of chilled water.

Stage - 10

Monday 12 August

Niort - Bressure 84km

I woke up with stomach cramps and decided on only a small breakfast. I headed back to bed for another 2 hours to rest as we only had a 20 minute drive to our race start today and didn't need to leave until 12.30pm. Some little beast had bitten me all night and I was covered in bite marks and itchy spots. But on a positive note, it was only 35C today so it was much more pleasant.

After a rest day, my legs felt heavy so I did a few hard 2 minute efforts to open up the system. My legs didn't appreciate these efforts and I could feel every km of these last 9 days of racing.

We had a 5km neutral roll out and then off we galloped at 30km/hr up the first climb - ouch. I sat in for the first hour and then started to find my legs. In fact, I felt pretty good and on a windy narrow section of road, attacked hard and Ali Wright came with me. We were quickly chase down. I was then given instructions to sit in and wait until the end while Christina, Meredith and Trine were to cover any moves.

The peloton were keen to keep it together until the end and it wasn't until 6km to go, that Margaret Hemsley flew off the front and got a 200m gap. Although the initial plan was for Katrina and I to wait for the final 2km to have a shot at the finish, we were subsequently told to close the gap to Hemsley, and as Katrina and I were at the front, Katrina a dig. A Pratto rider countered Katrina's move and I shot out with her. A Powerplate rider and 4 others got a across to me and Katrina yelled in the radio for me to keep going. No-one else pulled through and with 3km to go, I decided to ease up rather than drag everyone to the line. In hindsight I should have kept going and let one or two go around me to sit back in 2nd or 3rd wheel. The last 3km took us onto really narrow roads with sharp dangerous turns. It was so fast and strung out that it was impossible to move up. I was 10th wheel with 2km to go but on a steep 600m power climb I was passed by 4 riders and finished 15th. I was disappointed that I hadn't dug harder with 4km but tomorrow is another day so maybe things will turn out better.

Stage - 11

Tuesday 13 August

Saint Martin - Trelaze 146km

I know I have mentioned that I have felt tired but today I felt really really tired. I hoped many of the other riders felt as fried as I did today. I went back to bed after breakfast and tried to get as much rest as possible.

Today's stage was nearly 150km and I didn't want to even think about how much it was going to hurt. I looked at the profile and luckily there were only two climbs which I knew I could drag myself over. We had a 15km neutral start and my legs warmed quite well. As soon as the flag was dropped from the commissaries car, Petra Rossner (Nuernberg) attacked solo. I thought about going with her, but I was struggling to just stay in the peloton so I would have been useless out in a break. After 25km she sat up and we rolled along as one group for a while. Mette got into a break a little while later with two other riders but radioed back to say she couldn't work. The headwind was reducing the success of any break away attempts.

As Mette was caught, Meredith and Katrina were in the next move and they spent the next 20km trying to get their 11 rider break to work. I patrolled the front of the peloton and did my best to shut any attacks down. I used up so much energy doing this and was concerned about not making it in with the peloton if I didn't ease up a bit. When this break came back, an Aurora rider headed out alone and spent the next 80km riding solo into the headwind. The peloton set a steady tempo of 45km/hr to keep the time gap down. I couldn't imagine how she could maintain over 45km/hr and stay away from the peloton. I was feeling light headed and counting down the km's until the finish. At the final feed zone, Bob handed me an electrolyte drink which gave me the boost I was looking for.

With 20km to go, Nuernberg decided they wanted a stage win and had 4 of their riders on the front swapping turns. The entire peloton was in a single line trying to get some protection from the headwind. The Aurora rider was caught with 8km to go and Nuernberg continued to drive it hard to set up Rossner for the win. And their plan worked to perfection with Rossner taking the stage, Wright (Australia) coming in 3rd while team mate Mette finished 4th. I finished 23rd and had nothing left in me for a dig at the end.

Stage - 12

Wednesday 14 August

Trelaze - Gorron 129km

The commissaries took us down the wrong ride during our neutral section and so we had to do a U turn. For some reason my radio wasn't working today, so during the commotion of all the team cars doing U turns, Meredith had a quick look at my radio and tried to get it working. I couldn't hear or receive any information from our Director so it felt strange riding a stage without knowing what the other riders were being told.

Only 5km into the stage, my back wheel exploded. The one day I didn't have my radio working and really wanted to let our mechanic know I needed a wheel change. I pulled over and took out my back wheel and waited. Our car was one of the last cars to get to me. Chad did a really fast wheel change and pushed me out. I built up speed and then our team car pulled up beside me. Chad lent out and told me to hang onto the car while he adjusted my brake callipers. Our team car was driving so slowly and I was falling further and further behind the peloton.

My other team mates didn't know I had flatted so no-one dropped back to me. I knew I had to get back on. I didn't want to ride 75km alone and with the flat open stages it was possible to lose a lot of time and risk getting time cut.

I dug deep and rode as hard as I could. I skidded through a roundabout but luckily kept it upright. It only took me 10 minutes of chasing to get back to the caravan and then I used the cars to get back on. After this effort, I sat in and rested for a while. I wanted to conserve energy and have a dig at the end.

The Biskai team set such a strong tempo that most riders were content to sit in and wait for the sprint. With 5km to go, a Road Runner rider attacked and as she was caught, her team mate tried a solo dash to the finish at the 3km mark. This rider was the World time trial champion and to her credit she held off the chasing peloton to win the stage. My team mate, Katrina, broke away with 2km to go, but we caught her in the final 50m. Fellow team mate, Mette had found the right wheel and finished 4th behind Alison Wright (Aust) again.

And the best news of all - only 2 stages left - yippee!!!

Stage - 13

Pays de Flers

Individual Time Trial - 36km

Today's time trial was the most technical and hilly course I have ever ridden. Bob drove us around the course in the morning and we all took note of the off camber corners, steep climbs and twisty narrow descents. Fortunately there were no cobble stone sections, but there were a number of roads which were barely 5ft wide and were little more than goat tracks. These would be tricky on the aero bars and after seeing the rough descents I wanted my hands near the brakes for these sections.

As I wasn't a GC contender (ie. not in the top 15) and am not a world class time trial specialist, I did not bring my time trial bike to France nor any disk wheels which help shave a few seconds off a reasonable time. Each rider is allowed a follow car in case of mechanical problems and I was glad to have Bob sit in the car to encourage me through the pain barrier. After 12 stages, and a long year of racing, my legs were feeling quite ordinary but with the vision of seeing the Eiffel Tour tomorrow I was spurred on to ride my hardest.

I rode my Salsa with clip on aero bars and finished 31st which was about 6 minutes behind Judith Arndt (Germany) who won the stage. With time I believe I can become a strong time trial rider but it is a real skill to learn to push yourself to the point of blacking out and throwing up.

Stage - 14

Versailles - Paris

Road Race - 52km

I woke up to the sound of rain - unbelievable!! After endless days of incredible heat trust France to turn on the rain on the last day. However, the dreary weather could not dampen the joy I was feeling about riding into Paris. I had been thinking about today for 2 weeks and I was in awe of girls that have ridden this tour several times over. We drove about 2 hours to Versailles and with a magnificent backdrop of the royal palace, we eat our lunch and posed for photos for our sponsors. A number of tourists also wanted autographs and photos so it was fun to enjoy the feeling of being a celebrity. I didn't bother to warm up at all and laughed at someone who asked if I had wine in my bidon to drink for the final stage.

We cruised along for the first 30km and it was agreed amongst all riders not to officially start racing until we arrived at the Champs-Elysees circuit. I sat up the front to spin the legs over and felt surprisingly good. We were to ride 4 laps of a 7km circuit so I wanted to feel ready to go hard for 28km. The overall leader, Joane Somaribba proudly wore the yellow jersey and providing she safely finished the stage she would win the tour. Many riders were still hungry to experience the glory of a stage win, and so when we arrived at the Champs-Elysees, the attacks started.

Our team plan was to keep it together for Mette who was sprinting well, but she was sitting too far back in the peloton when the decisive break was made and couldn't get across to it. With consistently solid riding throughout the whole tour, Katrina Groves made it into the break of 9 riders and soon had over a 1 minute lead on the main field.

Meredith, Trine and I worked hard on the front, along with a few Nuernberg riders and stopped anyone getting across to the break. The break included top sprinters Anita Valen (Bik Powerplate) and Petra Rosner (Nuernberg). Margaret Hemsley (Nuernberg) did an awesome lead out for Rosner while Katrina sat glued to Rosner's wheel. In the final few metres 2 riders edged past Groves with SATS taking another 4th place result.

I helped position Mette in the closing 1km and she took the field sprint in convincing fashion for 10th place. And finally it was all over. Gone were the endless mountains we had to crawl over and the stifling 40C weather. All that was left were deep suntan lines and memories of a 'really tough tour'.

Bob and I spent the next 4 days sitting in cafes in the Latin Quarter of Paris, sampling bottles of Bordeaux wines and eating delicious French food. This was certainly a more leisurely experience than grovelling up the Alps and a thoroughly enjoyable way of recovering.

And to anyone that is contemplating riding the 'tour' it is obviously one of the toughest tours in the world but the experience will make you a stronger and tougher person. For many riders, just to finish the tour is an accomplishment in itself and this was certainly my goal. I never thought I would race the tour in my second season of fulltime racing and so I was happy and relieved to ride into Paris. Until next time, au revoir.