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Post by questa on Jan 17, 2018 22:17:24 GMT
For those who follow the Tour de France, you are probably aware of the South Australian race which is the first event of the International tour fixtures. It is in its 17th year (?) and is held in January, our hottest month. Today is the third stage and the riders are facing temperatures over 40C. Parts of the event have been shortened but there are still hills and strong cross winds to cause problems
Also, there are thousands of tourists visiting for the event. It makes me a bit nervous to see how unprepared they are for the heat and fire risk.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 17, 2018 22:36:22 GMT
Is it always held in January and do you know how that came to be? I guess some of the tourists might be of the ilk that go hiking in the Grand Canyon wearing flip-flops.
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Post by questa on Jan 18, 2018 0:50:31 GMT
tourdownunder.com.au/tours-and-news/history/history. I guess it was the only time left before the European season started...teams wanted a shakedown before the 'real' season began. Also, 20 years ago it was rare to get this heat, 35 had us gasping, now 40 is the new 35! Tourists...no hat or sunscreen and a 600ml bottle of water for the day.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 27, 2018 19:38:45 GMT
Reading the link, I see that a number of European cyclists participated, but I imagine that most of the riders are local, no? I'm glad that such events exist, but there must be a way to shift it a bit to a less brutal part of the year. I know that there are not many spots available on the world cycling calendar...
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