Julian Dean Diary
By Julian Dean
Jun 30, 2006, 22:53
Well,
it’s been a pretty strange last couple of days, to say the least. After coping
with the difficulty of leaving Carole and Tanner for a month, things have been
all go here and the race hasn't even started.
My
travel day to Strasbourg went from well-organised to chaotic
then back to under control, in under 2hrs. I arrived with plenty of time to
check-in only to be told that my original flight had been cancelled and so I was
chucked onto a slightly later flight. That was ok, as long as this flight wasn’t
delayed or else I wouldn’t make my connecting flight in Madrid….With only 20 mins
before boarding, an announcement was made. My flight was delayed 40 mins. Great.
No chance of making the connecting flight, unless that was also delayed. If I
got to Madrid
and it had already left, I would have to wait 24hrs for the next connecting
flight. Shit!…After a few frantic moments of talking to airline companies and
team management, I bought a whole new flight on another airline. That flight
didn’t leave for another 2 hrs.
After
waiting for Carole to return from recovering my luggage from the original
airline and us tag-teaming trying to keep Tanner from heading through to the
departure lounges, I checked in…again. Only this time I got charged excess…Then
after finally arriving in Strasbourg at 11.30pm - 6hrs late - my luggage
had been lost. Perfect. As soon as I arrived at the hotel I had to go directly
to the Team Director’s room and sign a piece of paper saying that if I was
implicated in the current doping scandal, I would retire from the tour. Great
start to the biggest bike race in the world…
Digesting
the whole point of that piece of paper at 11.30 at night was really difficult -
especially when all I was thinking about was leaving my family behind for a
month.
One
of the difficulties that we face living in Europe with a babe now is not having any family help at
times like these. Normally Carole would follow the Tour for a bit but now with
Tanner and no help on hand at all, it’s just all too difficult. One of the
sacrifices we have to make, I suppose. I do get envious when I talk to the other
guys with kids and they tell me that their families are coming for a few days at
some point. Carole says it’s times like this, she wishes there were
‘Rent-A-Grandma’ businesses on call…
Julian Dean (Team Credit Agricole sprinter) with his son Tanner. Photo copyright Julian Dean. Thanks for sharing.
So
anyway after getting to bed well after midnight on Wednesday, I had to get up at
7am for the medical control. May not sound early to most of you but when you are
trying to get all the rest you can before the start of a gruelling three week
stage race, it was nothing short of a pain in the arse. Following the blood
test, it was off to the medical clinic for a weight, height, E.C.G and all that
guff. Not sure what it’s all for but I could’ve just told them that I haven’t
grown any since I did the Tour in 2004.
By
the time we got out of there, it was mid-day and we had to head out on the bikes
for a 3hr ride. By this time, all of the talk was focused on the doping scandal
and whether they would they name the riders.
When
I remember being at the Tour last time, there was a indescribable buzz in the
days before, but this time it’s a different buzz and it has created a thick,
heavy air around us all. I wasn’t sure what to think about it all. I mean, there
haven’t been any arrests made and in fact, those riders supposedly involved
haven’t even been questioned by authorities yet. Anyway, I’ve just tried to
think about myself and my TDF. I didn't want to ride without the big names that
were supposedly going to be named in the case because it didn’t seem right that
they were all guilty until proven innocent, but at the same time I understood
that it couldn't be ignored. A precedent needs to be set. The whole training
ride was centred around this scandal and an air of uncertainty and anticipation
for it just to get it over and done with, hung over us
all.
In
the evening, we had the riders’ briefing where we all expected to hear something
but it turned out they were still waiting for the ‘report’ from the Spanish
authorities.
From
the riders’ briefing we went straight to the team presentation which was
something a little different. In fact, it was a nice one and it was good to see
the fans out in droves as we toured around Strasbourg’s canals in boats, waving at the
people on the bridges and banks of the canals. Had a bit of time to catch up
with some of the other riders during the canal parade, including David Miller,
who is making his return to racing. It was a little odd to see him again and
although I have no problem talking to him, I got a strange vibe from those
around me while taking the time to talk with him. Like I was being watched out
of the corner of people’s eyes. I felt as though I was doing something morally
wrong by talking with him. I guess I look at cycling a little more
philosophically than some of my counterparts. I think that this a good thing.
What happened to him, happened. He fessed up, felt remorse, paid the price and
now he’s back: motivated and as keen as mustard. That takes a lot of mental
toughness. Hats off to him. Life’s too short and cycling is too hard to waste
energy on harbouring bad feelings toward people like David. Anyway, it just
seemed like another strange moment in what was fast becoming a strange
24hrs.
Finally
the day ended after a visit from old mate, Blick, from Oakley who hooked us up
good and proper. Even gave me a dope pair of eyewear for little mate. He loves
kicking around the house wearing mine so no doubt he’ll be fizzing when he gets
his very own pair…
Today,
was a little more calmer. Finally the news came through that the riders
implicated in the Spanish affair would not be allowed to start. Still my
feelings are much the same. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing for
cycling. As I said before, I understand and agree that it can't be ignored and
something has to be done but at the same time it doesn’t feel right to race the
Tour de France without the big riders that make the Tour the competition that it
is. But something had to be done and now that it has been, hopefully we can just
get on with it. I feel really sad for cycling at the moment and I feel real
sorry for the fans who are probably more disillusioned with the whole thing than
I am…It saddens me that only cycling has been so openly named and shamed in this
scandal yet the names of the other athletes from other sports involved, remain
suppressed. There have been the odd rumours about certain footballers, etc, but
the media hasn’t bothered to have a feeding frenzy on them. Why is
that???
Anyway,
can’t waste my energy on things like that….No matter what comes of any of this
over the next few weeks, I’ll just continue to try my best and hope that I’m
going well enough to give a good performance.
All
in all, it has been an odd couple of days leading into the Tour from which I am
now just over 12hrs from starting. I have experienced a lot of different
emotions over the last couple of days and it would take me a lot more time than
I have, to write and explain them all. I’m happy and proud to be here. I’ve
worked hard and battled hard to be here and even though I’m feeling a lot of
pressure from the team to perform because I’ve had such crap season to date,
it’s just part of what I have to cope with at times like this. A lot of the time
I’ve been made to feel like I’m lucky to be here. Which is kinda funny….Haven’t
felt lucky all year!!! Bottom line is though that they know what I’m capable of
and that’s why I’m here. Even though I'm a little under done, I will be better
than I have been up to now. Of that I am sure.
Roadcycling.com® is committed to doing its part to protect the environment. Roadcycling.com® is hosted and produced on carbon neutral facilities.
Copyright 2012 Roadcycling.com® - a part of Seven Sparkles International. All rights reserved. Roadcycling.com is a trademark of Seven Sparkles International Contact us | Advertising info | Privacy policy
| bicycling app for Nokia phones
| 
|
