I'm still waffling about cycling...

....but not always on here. For a sensible guide to the Olympic Road Race and (soon) the Time Trial, check this out:

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-07-24/how-to-watch-the-olympic-cycling-road-race---a-beginners-guide

But if you want swearing, injury pictures and google-baiting mentions of Peta Todd, stay right here.

Shameless Plug

Check out the August 2012 issue of Cycling Active. I hunt Martians on a bicycle on pages 124-127. I may or may not have pitched the story that way.

Tour de France 2012 Photos

The last time I came to France for the Tour was 1997, and a bunch of Danish fans told me, in a friendly but forthright fashion, exactly which part of the female anatomy they thought Chris Boardman was.

Fifteen years on and the British hopeful is Bradley Wiggins, and after a week in France not one person made a disparaging remark about him. One Frenchman at the roadside took a look at our "Allez Wiggo" banner and said with a smile: "Meilleur".

Arts and crafts hour.

Double-sided multi-purpose wonder-banner.

The 1st timecheck was at the top of this hill, we were at the foot of the descent.

Luis Leon Sanchez catches teammate Bram Tankink.

Look at my f*ck*ng red T-shirt! Not to mention my sweet hat.

Two Argos Skil Shimano riders.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Nick Nuyens

I wonder if he's still free?

Steven Kruijswijk

Still Steven

Chris Froome. The man who does for loyalty and discretion what John Terry does for race relations.

Poor Cadel, the defending champ is not having a good time.

Then, a few days later, we went to Macon for the start.

The publicity caravan vehicles weren't quite as weird as they used to be.

If only the car made of baguettes had been followed by a car made of sausages and a motorbike made of brown sauce.

"You have the man for Paris" said one Frenchman, as he took a photo of his daughter in front of our banner. I did my best not to shriek "Stop jinxing it!" Mainly because I don't know the French for "jinxing".

Here they come.

My father-in-law got this awesome shot of the KOM, World Champion, Maillot Jaune and Maillot Blanc leading the pack.

I went in for the detail shot. I like to think Cav is saying: "Just publicly refer to all his wins as 'shit small races' and then he'll shut up."

Spartacus and Edouard Vorganov, among others.

It's oh so quiet....

Yeah, I've been a bit quiet lately, trying to get jobs, packing and work sorted before my holidays. Where am I going, you ask? Well check out the beginnings of my banner and take a wild guess. I haven't seen the Tour since 2007, and haven't been to France for the Tour since 1997, so you can imagine how excited I am.

Keep you eyes open for a blue and red banner being held aloft by a bunch of people wearing INBFC badges from stage 8 onwards, maybe sooner if we make our journey in good time.

Well, you can't dodge bullets forever...

USADA have sent a 15 page letter to Lance Armstrong that formally charges him, three Doctors (including Michele Ferrari), team manager Johan Bruyneel and one other unnamed associate with doping. The letter cites the testimony of ten different cyclists and claims that Armstrong and others engaged in a "massive doping conspiracy" between 1998 and 2011.

I'll put proper thoughts down later this evening, but for now, here's the whole story:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstrong-charged-with-doping-by-usada

Vulpine Summer Fete: Linkstasy

Back in 2003, I turned on ITV's Tour de France coverage and asked myself the same question as everyone else - who's this bloke who looks a little like Chris Boardman but is doing Gary's job?

Ok, there were probably some people asking themselves whether it would be the year when Armstrong peed in the wrong bottle, but most long-time viewers were wondering about the new boy. As it turned out, it was Ned Boulting, a reporter rather more affable and far less cutting than Gary Imlach. He took a little getting used to, but his drollery and enthusiasm provided a perfect contrast to the avuncular tone of Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen, and cycling fans took him to heart. Some more than others, as in the case of @INBFC, the International Ned Boulting Fan Club, whom we met at the Vulpine Summer fete at Balham Bowls Club on Monday.

In addition to amusing twitterings and the maintenance of a Ned-centric tumblr with commendable forays into Dr Hutch worship, @INBFC also makes official membership cards and badges which have even been worn by Team UK Youth during races. That's right, Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt wears one of these...

...so how could we not buy one? Or, more to the point, one for every member of the family?

It wasn't just Ned appreciation, of course. We picked up the latest issues of The Ride and Boneshaker, bought some Look Mum No Hands t-shirts and caps, got this rather tasty piece of wall art from Dominic Trevett, and, of course, leched over lots of bikes.

Old fashioned looks and unusual paint jobs from Foffa.

There were some absolutely gorgeous frames and full bikes on display from Foffa and Racer Rosa, but what unexpectedly stole my heart were the Pearsons. I mean no disrespect to Foffa and Rosa, as their particular flavour of old-fashioned frame always looks good to me, but the Pearsons were modern frames: curves where there should be straight lines, flat bits where there should be curves. Exactly the sort of thing I usually hate. It was an unexpected pleasure to be blown away by their imnotanumber.

Bjarne Riis at Sigma Sport

I was a little starstruck last night. Bjarne Riis might not be the biggest name to have ever won the Tour de France. In fact there are some grumpy sods who reckon he shouldn't even be counted as a winner. These people are wrong, as I've explained at tedious length and with awesome video evidence here. He's one of my cycling heroes, and it genuinely felt a little unreal to be sitting three feet away from him.

He did a lengthy Q&A with Ellis Bacon (who unsurprisingly failed to recognise me from our days at Future Towers) followed by an audience Q&A in which he talked, often very frankly, about everything from bikes he's liked to climbs he's hated (notably, Mt Ventoux), his thoughts on Bradley Wiggins' Tour chances, and how he won the Tour by losing weight, changing his training and finally, getting a little 'help'.

I shot two videos of his Q&A, one short, one quite lengthy. You'll have to forgive any problems with the quality, I was using a phone rather than a proper camera, and was doing my best to concentrate on the man, not the shooting.