Go Tom Go

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The Men’s Elite Time Trial did not disappoint … much. My favorite, Chris Froome, took third; but it was an exciting race. Tom Dumoulin won in convincing fashion - and he looks just like his picture on the pavement. Tony Martin had a top 10 finish - and rode better than expected in some really tough conditions.

We talked yesterday about the potential for riders to change bikes before the 3.4 km climb. This morning when we were having our coffee at Starbucks – right by the base of the climb, they were putting down red carpet on the cobbles to make the official bike change zone. You had to change bikes in the area of the carpet; you could have 3 people assisting you – and one could give you a push – but only up to a certain spot on the carpet. Before you could change your bike – it had to be inspected to make sure it didn’t have any motors in it. Finally, because the climb was so narrow – your only support on the climb was one mechanic, with a bike for changing and a couple of wheels on the back of a motorbike.

Sounds complicated – doesn’t it? Add the fact that it rained last night and then off and on this morning – made those cobbles slick – and you had the makings for drama. And there was some drama in the first few batches of riders as some of them executed a bike change. There were some changes that went very smoothly, the rider jumped off his time trial bike and leapt on his road bike, clipped his feet in, got his push and was off. Then there were the changes where the rider jumped off his time trial bike, fumbled to get on his road bike, got his push, and then couldn’t get his feet in the pedals. We watched the first 10 riders and then moved on to another part of the course. The commentators said that about 65% of the riders changed bikes; I think only 1 of the last 10 changed though – but by then it was raining again.

All of the kids were out of school for the race. The high school kids set up a human bicycle and danced for the crowd; the elementary school kids had their own race; and so did the senior citizens. Tomorrow 2000 people are riding the course in race conditions as well.

You are probably wondering how Edvald Bossan Hagan fared .. he did pretty good and finished I think 16^th. Huge fan support for Eddie the Boss here – we could tell where he was on course by the louder than normal cheers. The crowds up on the climb were amazing – and they were there all day. I think if you were going up there you had to be there by 1000 or so – and the race did not finish until 1800. Those are some dedicated fans.

By the end of the race, Dave and I were a little cold, and ready to come home and have soup and watch the interviews of the podium winners on TV – even if we could not follow all of the Norwegian. You know before we came, we started watching the NETFLIX series Lillyhammer[- Dave did remark today that it had not done much to teach him Norwegian – but sometimes you can follow what they are saying – it helps that the names are not Norwegian.

Tomorrow is an off day – and we are doing a tour called Norway in a Nutshell. We start out on a train about 845, and then we take a bus to a fjord, and then we take a boat through the fjord before climbing one of the highest peaks in a train and coming back to Bergen tomorrow night about 1900. Our tour book says it is amazing - and we are looking forward to it. We even found the train station yesterday so we know there is a coffee shop there for breakfast.

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