Four Days of Dunkirk

5/3/00 Steffen Kjaergaard and I think we are pretty cool, on the high tech side of things..... in our small way.... I called Dirk our director for my flight info to 4 Jours Dunkirk... he was in the car traveling at 165kph from Switzerland. I was to have received an e-mail but it was sent to an incorrect address. Stephan was in the car..... he and I both have Psion 5 handheld computers + cell phones with modems inside... Stephan sent me the team itinerary (my flight info) as an e-mail while traveling at 165 kph.... Dirk had told me he would access his laptop when he arrived at the hotel.... then I hung up. Stephan then sent my phone an SMS message...... my phone beeped..... I got a small message indicating that he had sent an e-mail... So within 5:00 minutes or so I had the e-mail,.. being downloaded to my Psion 5 via cell phone ( infrared of course!!) Who has time for someone to drive to a hotel boot up some PC (5lbs....heavy) etc .etc..... times are changing... apparently Sony loves epoc as well... 4 Jours of Dunkirk is not 4 days long..... it is 6 and it is 7 stages long....... titles can be deceiving....... We are in the same area as 3 Jours de Panne...... two of the dreariest races on the calendar... it is miserable here... grey , cold , tsunami winds..... bad roads.... fast racing with many crashes and many many more near crash incidents... How I wish I had a helmet cam....coming onto the circuits...... single file..... echelons , quacking..... nervous etc, etc.... Imagine going 65kph into the last 10m of a 150 degree turn.. Slamming the breaks and then enter a very small cobbled street. On the second lap, the last lap, these variables are increased and position is sooooo critical... I was just racing my bike, but later at the dinner table Levi gave an account of what happened. I punched it as we approached this hairpin turn, moving up the outside.... I dove into the turn and hopped up onto the sidewalk..... because those diving into the turn as well were knocking into each other. I avoided a quack and moved up nicely... I had great position.... 3-4kms to go and in the top 10. (small group off the front with Steve usps) Apparently Levi was on my wheel and a line of others.... the racing was exciting enough.... but funny as well..( we saw humor in it anyway).. Levi noticed , pinned against the wall standing on the sidewalk face against it... a woman shaking uncontrollably............ not really a good place to be standing... riders will ride any line to better their position. Also on the circuit several riders dove for the bike path.... including Cedric........ oops this path took them away from the road and to the other side of some train tracks........ not to mention a small fence...... of course we were singe file 60+kph.. They had to stop and walk across.... Cedric made it back but, I think he was the only one..... Stephane stopped for him. Robbie McEwen lost time today , he tried to take a shortcut as well but was confronted by stopped cars and a median separating us..... I heard laughter .......laughter even at top racing speed... he did not make it back. Lucky for him ,the circuits were near. After yesterday, I am back in the groove. I felt much better today. The peloton seems to be more in the groove...... everyone again adjusting (always) to this nervous racing.       Marty Managed some culture last week in Girona..... the London Chamber Orchestra was in town.. We joined what seemed like 200 persons for an incredible performance... held in an 1000+year old (very small) converted church. The acoustics were outstanding...