Tour de France Stage 3 Cambridge-Londres *Spoiler*

Macaloon

The Route:


The (full fat, malodorous) Cheese:


The culinary curiosity: English 'tea'

In a cosmic irony (that would have fair tickled the inventors of yin and yang), perhaps the first, and certainly the most egregious copyright infringement in history is English 'tea'. The capital of the nation of tea drinkers based its reputation, the lubricant of empire, on a poor copy of the Chinese original. What are we like?

For thousands of years, the miraculous tea plant was revered as a unique repository of the life-force of the Universe: available to mortals through the simple act of steeping in water. Naturally such a treasure was ripe for liberation by the East India company. Robert Fortune, aka 'The Tea Thief' throughout China, a Scottish botanist and secret agent, was disguised as a mandarin and sent on a mission to acquire the secrets of tea for the glory of Her Majesty. Over two perilous journeys in the 1830s he acquired seeds, plants and farmers for transportation to the Indian Himalaya, giving birth to the English 'tea' industry.

That the resulting beverage was as sophisticated as Inverness Burgundy, mattered not to the amazed subjects of The Empire. It was cheap, abundant, and ours. And as soon as we discovered the masking properties of milk - a splash of ribena in your wine Sir? - we could actually drink it: instantly forgetting why it was worth stealing in the first place.

Back to the racing.

kleinstroker

Well done Macaloon

rick_chasey

I'll be there at the 'depart'.


Look for a short man salivating over Canc

dougzz

I was just looking at the road book and wondered about meaningless things.
What does VC mean in the route times/directions?
Do the teams get allocated hotels, do they they get any say, is budget a factor, who pays the bill, the teams or the ASO from some central pot contributed to by the teams? Tonight IAM are in an IBIS, whilst AG2R and Giant-Shim get a Novotel, and Sky and Europcar the somewhat grandly named Manoir Hotel.

peat

I sampled some of the stage through Epping on Saturday. Rather uninspiring, but should be a fun finish on the Mall.

Runtothehills

Just had a quick look on le tour website, annoyed that under 'town and cycling' for Cambridge they don't mention that Cambridge has the most regular cyclists in the UK. 43% of the population rides a bike 3+ days a week compared to 17% in the next highest place (Oxford). Might be small beer compared to Belgium etc but still. Instead they say 'cycling is not entirely unknown in the town' and go back to 1955 to mention a couple of pros.

I know that the tour is a race so should concentrate on professionals but a sentence wouldn't go amiss to point out that Cambridge is about the only place in the UK where bikes are the norm.

Cumulonimbus

Macaloon wrote:

The Route:

Caption competition? Spectators still not heeding organisers' warnings to stay off the road?

Looking forward to this, going to be around Stratford area.

above_the_cows

Here are some horses...

RideOnTime

Cumulonimbus wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

The Route:

Caption competition? Spectators still not heeding organisers' warnings to stay off the road?

Looking forward to this, going to be around Stratford area.

You won't see much in Stratford you thespian .

This picture is of the Royal Wedding crowd isn't it!!

RideOnTime

The (full fat, malodorous) Cheese:


I am now suspicious that this is Boris going to the wedding as well..... :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

joelsim

Going to head down there this arvo. Had to cycle round Horseguards/The Mall this morning as it was all closed off.

Pross

It's going to be an anti-climax but sure it will still get massive crowds, especially for a week day.

Macaloon

Let us know where to watch out for your "The Greatest" banner, FF.

Meanwhile here's a great French tribute to Spanish pugilists and unrequited love.

above_the_cows

OK own up, who turned the power off in the Chunnel?

TMR

Can't wait. Leaving work in just over an hour.

ddraver

Not easy to find anything interesting about London...

Bands of chalk form the basis of the London Basin, a syncline (downward folded, u or v shaped as opposed to n shaped) the outcrop of which is v-shaped opening to the east and bounded by chalk outcrops forming hills: the North Downs to the south of London, and the Chilterns to the north. The chalk is a soft white limestone that is different in appearance to other limestones because it is porous and earthy whilst others are compact and crystalline.



The chalk basin has been infilled with a sequence of clays and sands of the more recent Tertiary Period (1.6 to 66.4 million years old).

The Lambeth Group (formerly known as the Woolwich and Reading Beds) and Thanet Sands were deposited 60-50 million years ago during the Eocene. Southern England at this time was covered by a warm tropical sea. The sands contain animals that lived in both estuaries and freshwater. Some species burrowed into the underlying chalk.



Most significant is the stiff, grey-blue London Clay (bottom of the cliff), a marine deposit which is well known for the fossils it contains and can be over 150 metres thick beneath the city. This supports most of the deep foundations and tunnels that exist under London.

Above this (top of the cliff) is the subsoil which consists of deposits of gravel up to 10 metres deep. This was deposited during the last ice-age ½ million years ago when the River Thames was diverted to its present position. While establishing its new path, the river eroded its valley, creating a series of sand and gravel terraces. These terraces are named after the area they are best known in, for example: Dartford Heath Gravel, Swanscombe etc...



The sand and gravel terraces are made up of pebbles with flint, quartz and quartzite. In places, there are deposits of brickearth, which is a mixture of clay and sand that has supported London's long-standing brick-making industry. Atop these natural layers are the deposits of hundreds of years of human occupation. In the oldest parts the City of London and the City of Westminster this layer can be up to 6 metres deep.

RonB

Good to see a BSE rider up there at the front next to Contador ready for the off

frenchfighter

Macaloon wrote:

Let us know where to watch out for your "The Greatest" banner, FF.

Heading out there shortly. Will be somewhere between Stratford and canary wharf : )

above_the_cows

Today's PTP picks...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x_tZ5H_v-3KJN0HIFq16pWtifLGYqXHv9Y-mVALK8Ao/pub

Pross

Bretagne Seche go straight on the attack :shock:

Turfle

And that's that.

TMR

frenchfighter wrote:

Heading out there shortly. Will be somewhere between Stratford and canary wharf : )

Have fun buddy!

Don't forget to shout "Baila para mí Alberto!"

Pross

Peloton on a recovery ride.

blazing_saddles

Looks as if the peloton have decided to add an extra 135kms to the neutralised section.

Pross

Amazed there's no Cofidis or Europcar up front, 4 hours of nothing to show but the break = lots of TV time.

FJS

Never seen that, a team announcing it's own tactics on twitter?

Belkin Pro Cycling @TeamBelkin
#TDF - @lars_boom in the front during the neutralisation. Hungry to get in the break?

Pross

FJS wrote:

Never seen that, a team announcing it's own tactics on twitter?

Belkin Pro Cycling @TeamBelkin
#TDF - @lars_boom in the front during the neutralisation. Hungry to get in the break?

Obviously a bluff

Really surprised there was no battle to get in the break considering the easy terrain today.

I'm guessing there's no chance of meaningful crosswinds today? If not the only point in watching before the last 10km is to try to spot my sister outside her house, may as well go and do something productive but rain is stopping me cutting the lawn.

pottssteve

Why are all these people by the roadside not at work? Is unemployment that bad in the UK?

Give me more

2 man break and 150k of cruising.

pottssteve

Really looking forward to how Carlton and Sean are going to fill the next few hours....

TMR

pottssteve wrote:

Why are all these people by the roadside not at work? Is unemployment that bad in the UK?

Possibly because, like me, they have used some annual leave to watch it. Was that really so difficult to work out?