Larrys Round Britain Blog stage 2

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September 13, 2009
Larry’s Round Britain Blog Stage 2Two days into the Tour of Britain and we're in Scotland, Peebles, a stunning part of the world and as we drove to the town hosting the start of stage 2, I was wishing we had more time to go out and photograph the area here. I guess that's why they, Scotland, have paid to have a stage of the round Britain race here in Peebles. I will certainly come back when I have the time to just explore and chill in the Scottish Borders.The day began badly, waking up really early, 4am perhaps, and not sleeping much after that and at 7am I was one of the first into the breakfast room where one of the Judges, Trevor Hughes entertained us with stories from many Tours of this island in the past. Then, after a good sized breakfast as I knew it was going to be late before we ate again, I packed and took the bags out to Steve at the van and we got ready for the short journey to the start.There, it was quiet except for the very loud PA system which was no doubt keeping many trying to sleep-in awake in the centre of Darlington. It didn't take long for the crowd to start building and groups of children supporting each team turned up with banners. The race soon had the buzz and colour of a big bike race and I spent my time talking to riders looking for information on the race as well as taking pictures which didn't make it into my report as the battery died on my Jobo photo hard drive as I downloaded the many hundreds, thousands even, of high res images taken during the day on the journey to Peebles.It's one reason I keep an inverter in the BC van so I can power such devices when long periods are required for downloading lots of pictures. Anyway, getting back to the start of the race in the morning, I soon started to regret not having dressed more warmly. While I stood on the start line, near the King of the Mountains that morning, Mortensen of Denmark who was shivering with the cold and saying he wasn't going to come to live in England now, I was wishing I had put a waterproof coat on as rain was forecast.At 10.15, the race left Darlington and I could soon feel drizzle falling out of the sky. Not enough to get me wet but annoying as I had forgot to pack a lens cloth in my coat in my haste to get out of the press van at the start. It was going to be one of those days! The neutralised section was just over five miles and when that had finished, the race really came alive.It was a bloody great spectacle and although I don't see the TV coverage in the evening as I'm working and the hotel doesn't have ITV4, I have the advantage of seeing the real thing and the photos in the report were a delight to take as we had a real bike race on our hands. It was great to see the Brits getting stuck in but the day belonged to three other riders who  managed that honour and knowing what a pain Newcastle was going to be to get into as the route travelled through built up areas for much of the last 20 or so miles, we left the race early, 40 miles to go, and as we travelled through Whitley Bay I was regretting my decision to leave the race. The winds were blowing hard and the scenery was great too but I had to get that finishing picture and I knew it was going to be touch and go. We made it despite having countless red lights in the deviation -- god give me strength -- they could have at least closed that off too! Never mind, I got the pictures and then after the dash for the line came the podium presentation where the podium girls Becki McGill/Lauren Bason had trouble keeping their skirts from revealing far too much leg. They managed to keep their dignity though and all the jerseys had been handed out, we had an emotional press conference with stage winner and yellow jersey Kai Reus. Then came the long drive to the next hotel. In that area of the country, there was no internet on the datacards so we stopped along the route at a cafe in Jedburgh. It had a ‘free wifi’ sticker in the window but didn't have such a luxury so we ate instead and the ham and chips went down a treat. Then we went to the local car park/tourist office and found the free WiFi! Great stuff we thought and I uploaded a few images to the report from my colleague Eddie Allen before we carried on to Peebles.There we found our hotel in the centre of the town and work began again on the report/photos and post race interviews as well as charging the netbook I use in the press bus and the batteries in the camera and phone. At 10pm, that was finished and I started this blog. To be honest, I'm pretty tired by now so am rushing through things. Overall though the lesson was dress appropriately for being on a motorbike which I will tomorrow. It has been a great day because the riders gave us a great race and for that a big thank you to them and my pilot Graham Harper for helping me be in the right position at the right time.Time for bed now!

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