Thank you, Melbourne

I'm going off to have lunch with a couple of karate mates [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and Craig who has no LJ. *grins* And it's a lovely sunny day out there, albeit a bit chilly since it is winter here and temperatures dropped to around 8 degrees C last night. Yes, I know, it snows where you are. Shush - you acclimatise to what you get and I'm quite happy with consistently high 30s in summer, thank you. ;)

But yes, nice sunny day, friends who are in no way connected with fandom so I have to talk about something else other than X-Project (not that it's a bad thing, but yeah, the obsessive streak is well and truly invoked on this one and I need to prove I can use my brain for other things *wry*), and Japanese for lunch.

Life is looking good.

Don't look for me online after this, people. I'm thinking a break is in order today and I may very well look for Hell on Wheels playing in the city and go indulge myself in some Tour De France goodness once the other two go back to work.

Vive Le Tour!

Okay, so my nice sunny day lasted for all of the time it took to shower - it's been raining on and off all day - but I still had an enjoyable time. Lunch was great: we went to this little Japanese place Craig has been going to on and off for eighteen years. As was the conversation - mostly travel. And seeing old friends is always good. We're going to try and get it happening regularly again. :)

After lunch and the other two returning to work, I wandered up to the Nova Cinema in Lygon St and spent some time browsing bookshops before going to see the German-made documentary Hell On Wheels, which followed largely the fortunes of the German Telecom team (one of the teams that wear pink, tee hee) during the 2003 Tour De France.

Now, since it's hard to remember individual Tours by their years (at least for me) I didn't realise it was the Tour, the 100th anniversay one, the Tour where Tyler Hamilton broke his collarbone in a fall the first day and not only completed the full 5000km, but won a mountain stage. The year of Jan Ulrich's comeback and some truly amazing racing from Lance Armstrong - this was the year he ended up doing that little cross-country run when an accident forced him off the road. Basically one of the most exciting Tours I've seen since I started watching them.

And they made a two-hour documentary of it. *squees*

Seriously, it was almost like being there. Stacks of little peeks behind the scenes, not just with the riders but the mechanics, the journalists, the people doing the setting up, the police providing escorts, the fans... A lot of the focus was on Eric Zabel, and I have to say he's one of the most humble sportsmen there are. A nasty crash early on pretty much shattered his hopes of winning the spinter's jersey, and it was almost heart-breaking listening to him losing hope in the mountain stages. Next Tour I'm going to have a hard time supporting my Aussie boys McEwan and Baden-Cooke over him.

But I will. *grins* Sorry Eric.

Any way, excellent film, really showed the story behind the race, and really gives you insight into the insanity that is professional cycling. There's even a scene with one of the Telecom team members Rolf Aldag, their climber, shaving his legs and explaining why. ;) And speaking of why cyclists shave their legs... crashes are so much more nasty when you see them on the big screen - I'd seen some of the footage before, especially that crash which sent Lance on his little downhill MTB run and couldn't help wincing out loud (one of the other people involved in that crash broke his leg pretty badly).

There's one quote, with Zabel talking about how insane it all is... paraphrased, it goes something along the lines of "The older you get, the more of a wimp you become. You say to yourself, is it smart going downhill at 95kmh on a 2.5-centimetre tyre?" No, it's not, but they do it any way. The film wasn't about winning, it was about the Tour, and how important it is in the psyche of road racing. It's an honour to compete and complete a Tour, even if you come dead last.

It really captured my love of the sport, why I watch the Tour every year, and why one of my dreams is to one day be there in person. I have no idea if it's ever going to get distribution to the States (not enough Lance coverage, I suspect), but if it does? Go and see it. You'll understand my obsession with the Lycra that much more. ;)

Now I can't wait until July.