tomandzoe.com - live from the northside

Due to Tom being incommunicado deep in the Pantanal, I feel the responsibility to make some comments on the outcome of Le Tour 2008. Yes, I have been watching on and off… you can’t really go to bed when there’s only 16km to to. or 40. or like 60. And I wasn’t going to watch tonight, but couldn’t sleep, and it is Etampes 21 - Champes-Elysees… aarrgh, ABCD membership hanging by threads! xxx z

Cadel Cadel Cadel! What happened?! Saturday night was your time to dominate! Yes - that time trail should have been yours for the taking… and you had a bad day. Srsly?? Couldn’t you have had a bad day, say, next week? Cadel himself was surprised and disappointed with the outcome, as he write on his SBS Le Tour blog, but offers hope for next year and a gracious thanks to his supporters.. Cadel, we will be behind you again for a 1-better result for Tour 09!!!

It’s definitely sad to see this outcome, but all credit to team CSC, who have ridden a well co-ordinated and well-played tour this year. Top marks Stewy!! Good work Jens! (bad luck with your seat breaking!!!) Yet… I am still reluctant to give full credit to Sastre, sorry to be suspicious Carlos, but your sudden improvements give me a ‘juicy’ feeling.. riding the time trial of your life, just at the right point? I mean, nice performance in the mountains, it’s true… Juice? If he rides next year, I will be surprised. *cough*Contador*cough!*

In other news (tenuously related of course - guess the connecting theme!?); like Tom, Andy is not having a good time overseas AT ALL.

In the absence of our respective menfolk, Boblette and I caught up for a quick dinner tonight @ the new flat, and got our wine (in moderation!) and whine (hmmm, less moderated) on, so: ABCD membership is looking healthier!

So, ’till 09; Au Revoir Phil, Mike & Gabriel and… Merci, Christian!!!!

And now we can all get back to our regular lives, like organising our shelves!

Tomorrow we leave Cuiaba and head for the Pantanal. At approximately 500km long by 200-300km wide, it’s the largest wetland on Earth and home to a fantastic diversity of plants, insects, fish and birds (+ jaguars).

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So, Rodders, the Skol is ok. But, my mistake was to bother with beer in the first place. I mean, when there’s caipis on offer, why would you bother?

Last night we put this theory into practice and today we paid the price. Monotonal plenary lectures and shorter oral presentations will lay you down quick smart, if they’re aided by a strong rum hangover.

So, there’s not too much to report. I have a nasty cold (probably from sitting with 200 of my closest friends from Sydney to Santiago) and spent the afternoon in bed. Tomorrow we’re heading out for a snorkelling tour of the streams near Nobres (google it), which are crystal clear and full of fish.

Apparently there’s a palm grove nearby which has about 5 or 6 endemic bird species - the bus hijack plan is ready!

After 2 days of flights and taxis I´m in Cuiaba, gateway to the Pantanal. The city of 1 million people seemed relatively pristine from the air, although I´ve only see a little on the ground - including the inside of the minibar, which is stocked with no less than two terrible types of beer (I just hope it gets hot in the next few days so that it tastes better).

I spent last night at a hostel in Sao Paulo and the morning catching cabs between bike shops (lajo de ciclima) in search of cool cycling jerseys. I found a few and then went to what is basically their Cenetennial Park to get my twitch on. Stand-outs were swallow-tailed hummingbird and blonde-crested woodpecker, amongst others.

My TAM flight from Sao Paulo to Cuiaba was uneventful, which was surprising given that this isn´t the safest airline on earth. Last July, 250 people were killed when a TAM pilot landed an Airbus with one of the throttles in the ´climb´position. I´m no expert, but ´landing´position would probably have been better. The plane climbed over the runway and ploughed, somewhat ironically, into the TAM head office. On our flight I was reassured by the crew who, during the safety briefing, reminded us that although the seats weren´t fitted with lifejackets, the cushions of the seats float!

Tomorrow is a rest day, given that I have to prepare my talk for the conference. As luck would have it, my presentation is the very first of the conference, after the plenary sessions. This means I can get it out of the way and get back to the other terrible beer in the minibar.

Won’t find that tattoo on Stephan any time soon. Fuckin’ dirty doper.