|
7/26/2022 0 Comments TdF 2022 There were no great expectations for the Tour this year before the grand depart: there were only 2 people capable of winning it, people said, and they turned out to be right about the number but wrong about the people. More
0 Comments
7/20/2021 0 Comments TdF 2021, Week 3 The final week of the Tour is generally a see-saw ride between working out who is going to win the whole thing and the date you realise you won’t hear that song again for another year. Unless you download it as a ringtone to see if you trigger anyone. I normally hope that day comes towards the final weekend, but with the GC being wrapped up so early I found myself being wistful at almost every ad break for a week. More
7/12/2021 0 Comments TdF 2021, Week 2 If the opening week felt like a month, the second week seemed closer to a one day classic, a race being rushed through on the way to a palmares entry and the next opportunity to cause mayhem. Which is probably not far from the truth, actually. More
7/6/2021 0 Comments TdF 2021, Week 1 First weeks in the Tour are always boring, aren’t they? Everyone says so. Oh, and there are too many crashes in the first week too.
Well, one of those things was correct. More 8/4/2020 0 Comments The EnvelopeWe were at the supermarket, the big one we had to catch a bus to reach, when we saw it on a discount shelf at the end of an aisle, sitting opposite the checkout and waiting for an impulse buyer to come along. And we did. A handful of still new Polaroid cameras, ancient stock taking up valuable space and marked at 80% off with 3 free films, with another shelf below containing more film going for a song. We looked at each other, and it was placed carefully, wordlessly, into the trolley next to the red onions. More
9/12/2019 0 Comments The Funeral You walk up the hill from the carpark towards the cathedral, you and all of the others emerging from all corners into the square. You’re all arriving in fits and starts, two here, three there, and you feel alone arriving by yourself until you see them in the cafe, until they see you, until she walks across to hug you. The hug last forever, because neither of you want to be the one to end it: if you end it, maybe it will be real. Maybe you will actually be here for the funeral. More
9/2/2019 0 Comments Anthoine Hubert, 1996-2019 Anthoine Hubert has died after succumbing to injuries sustained during the Feature Race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The BWT Arden rookie was 22 years old. More
8/31/2019 0 Comments For Anthoine It turns out that you can stare at a blank page for far longer than you thought. Because the alternative is writing this, and if you write it then it must be true. If you don’t write it, does that mean it didn’t happen? Have a drink and start. You know that’s it’s true, as much as you want to believe that it’s not.
Anthoine Hubert died today, in Race One at Spa-Francorchamps. More 7/27/2019 0 Comments TdF 2019 Part 3 It's bullshit, of course it is, but realistically what could they do? The weather gave the organisers no choice but to call off the stage, and the need for a result of some sort meant rolling back to the last time zone, but no one was racing to that spot and the result, such as it is, could probably satisfy nobody but one man alone, the man who was handed the overall win on a plate. More
7/23/2019 0 Comments TdF 2019 Part 2 The final week is here, and have we ever had as exciting a Tour as this one has been? Not as I can recall, and I do spend a bit of time thinking about this sort of thing. At the second rest day there are 6 riders from 5 teams in with a genuine chance of being crowned champion next Sunday, and no one predicted that at the start of the whole thing. More
7/9/2019 0 Comments TdF 2019 So it’s time for the Tour once again, and if it’s been a somewhat underwhelming build up given the injuries to the presumed favourites it’s still the bloody Tour, right? Once it kicks in we’ll all be hooked once again. Here’s a quick start list with a few comments of mine: feel free to add yours below. More
12/12/2018 0 Comments More News From Nowhere It’s strangely difficult to go back to something you’ve done at length after a break away: everything is innately familiar but only as it occurs, like recognising a song that you used to adore after a minute, rather than on hearing the opening bars as you used to when it spoke to your soul. Continue
12/7/2017 0 Comments The Way to Go Out I guess it’s the nature of final races that people leave: it’s the end of the season, the natural place to move or make a break, and when I was looking in my inbox for an email just now one popped up from 2007, written by a different communications chief for a differently named series, addressed to some teams that no longer exist, tyre suppliers who no longer do, people who’ve gone on to F1 or off to retirement (or both), but enclosing the same sort of media schedule as we still use. The more things change. Continue
11/29/2017 0 Comments 2, 1, Go Normally the final weekend of a season goes 1 of 2 ways: either the championship is going down to the wire and everything is pointing to the battle to come, or it’s already decided and everyone can let their hair down, have a free weekend of fun and just race for the sake it. But this weekend in Abu Dhabi was something different: the drivers’ title was already decided but there was still a fight for P2, as well as the teams’ championship to settle. Which made the weekend a little … complex. Continue
10/10/2017 0 Comments Close to the edge I’ll admit, when we were first talking about a standalone race I thought it would be great: none of those F1 types filling the planes and hotels, we get to work in the big paddock and have more space for everything, we might even get to stay at the fancy circuit hotel for once. What’s not to like? Continue
10/9/2017 0 Comments Some like it hot For Charles Leclerc, Monza was a bit of a disaster: if it didn’t quite have the emotional resonance of Monaco, he was telling everyone who would listen in Jerez that Monza was a weekend to learn from and put behind him while he worked on getting back to business. That his main rival also failed to score points there didn’t enter into the equation for the Monegasque driver: he was determined to make up for the problematic weekend in the only way he knew, by getting back to winning ways. Continue
9/8/2017 0 Comments Prepare to Launch I know, I didn’t write a blog for Spa, but here’s the thing: when on earth could I have done it? I couldn’t write it beforehand, obviously, and we were in Belgium from Wednesday to Sunday and then back home to start the Insider. So, writing Sunday night, all Monday and most of Tuesday, and then on a plane on Wednesday again to go to Monza. Oh, and there was that pesky car launch: that filled up any time left over, and then some. Continue 9/7/2017 0 Comments Dai ragazzi! Coming fresh on the heels of Spa, the teams were probably hoping for a drama-free race weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, but if that was the case they had come to the wrong place: Italians are addicted to drama, particularly in racing, and it’s simply impossible to think of a weekend passing without comment at their national circuit. Continue
8/30/2017 0 Comments Back to the Future The weather is the biggest question at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps; it always rains at some time over a race weekend at the fabled Belgian track, so the teams spend much of their time there wondering whether the rain will arrive while they’re on the circuit or not. Continue
8/17/2017 0 Comments 84. Natural Blues - MobyHe was just everywhere for a while: it was impossible to escape Moby for a couple of years, and it didn’t help that he sold the rights to every song on this album for commercials. Everyone’s got to make a living, I guess. Continue
|
Archives
July 2022
|
RSS Feed