Yellow Shoes & White Handlebar Tape

Helen, 26, UK. A passion for watching cycling, a soft spot for Spaniards and hard-working domestiques. I've been watching cycling for years, a passion started by the Tour de France in the late 90s. Slight bias for the Movistar team that dates back to the Iles-Balears days. Blog will be for thoughts, photos, videos, gifs or editorial pieces I want to write. 

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Nairo being adorable and thanking Alejandro

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My three favourite Murcian riders in one photo.

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Favourite Domestiques?

I'm going to write up a piece about my favourite Domestiques of the peloton. But I'm curious, who are yours?

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Naw! What a great race for Orica BE!

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Things I've loved this Tour de France

(In no particular order)

• Geraint Thomas’ gif reactions on Twitter • Movistar making it back to back wins in the team classification • The British domination • Peter Sagan’s interviews • Some of the descending on display • The mountain TT • Chris Froome’s downhill attack • Adam Yates’ winning over everybody • Romain Bardet making the podium • Mark Cavendish’s comeback • Dan Martin’s first proper GC crack • The scenery • Imanol Erviti being the captain for Movistar • Thomas De Gendt winning on Mount Ventoux • The moment the race hit the Champs-Elysees. Always. • Another year of Alejandro Valverde doing his best to pave the way for Quintana • Peter Sagan holding his green glass trophy over his shoulder oddly on the podium • Greipel’s celebration after his win in Paris • Pantano’s attacks! • How much joy cycling brings • How the TdF rallied around for the French people after Nice • Cows! The cows you get for being the best team • The Twitter exchanges teams and riders have • The Chateaus! • The unexpected

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Proud 🙌🏻 Especially for El Capitano - Imanol Erviti

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Tour de France 2016 - Team Sky. 

Chris Froome wearing  Maillot jaune. 

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Jon Izaguirre was outstanding today. He got up to 85 k/ph on that descent in the pouring rain. He was fearless and used every skill in the book. Considering that usually daredevil descender Vincenzo Nibali eased up on it shows how dangerous it looked. He was a man possessed while hunting down Nibali and this was after he charged past Alaphilippe and Pantano! It's not been the tour that Movistar hoped for but despite that they now have a stage win, the best team classification and Nairo Quintana made the podium. Today was about loyal worker Izaguirre though, chapeau

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Final top 10 in this year's Tour de France. A very classy one too! Congratulations to the two Brits making history. Chris Froome celebrates a third overall victory. Perhaps even more excitingly is Adam Yates being the first Brit to carry the white jersey into Paris. So proud! It's a shame he couldn't get his podium spot back but he's had an incredible tour and I'm sure we'll get him in yellow soon.

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Didn't see this previously. Gotta love Yates! And his cow smuggling.

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I finally got a pic of the boys with the cows!! 😁 Easily one of my favourite things about the Tour is the thought of the team leading the best team classification's bus just being covered in cows. Movistar have held the classification for many days now and must have a fair few of these things. I wonder if they just give them all away?!

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Time-trial Fascination

Those of you with non-cycling interested friends or family know how it feels when you try and talk a race to them and they give you the ‘what’ face and look disinterested. Explaining why you find watching men or women ride bikes competitively is too much for some of my friends.

Try explaining what you find so brilliant about a time-trial! Watching one or two men or women at a time go out onto a course on their own to try and beat the clock. It likely evokes the same reaction that my face makes if somebody tries to get me to watch Formula One so I get it.

So what is it about a time-trial? They’ve long fascinated me. They’re one of cycling’s art forms. Often set to a stunning backdrop, it’s the shape of the riders, the desire for them to achieve the ultimate aero-tuck. The attention to detail that leaves nothing to chance from the bike to the helmet to the skimpy skin-suits. Time-trials have long provided me with some of my favourite cycling images. Stage 18 of the Tour de France not only gave us a time-trial in week 3, but a mountainous one nonetheless, producing more great imagery.

There’s some awe inspiring about watching somebody go out and push themselves to the edge of the limit entirely alone and often with norhing more than a team car following and an in-ear piece trying to keep them motivated. For some riders it’s their domain. For guys like Tom Dumoulin and Tony Martin, it’s their comfort zone. Chris Froome made today’s mountain terrain look effortless with an effort that didn’t just blow the competition away, it annihilated them.

Much as they can be cited as being boring, they’re often not. There’s team time-trials if the thought of watching one singular rider doesn’t appeal. The entertainment they can provide is often second to none. I think we all remember the TTT in the Tour a few years ago when half of the Bouygues Telecom team ended up in a field! 

It’s the way that the leading rider has to sit in a hot-seat, often only to be ousted after moments, or sometimes an agonising hour while they watch their rivals try to beat their time. It’s a part of the sport that I found bizarre at the beginning and now, I’m no longer confused, but still fascinated.

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Crossing everything in the hope that this guy can either retain his position or improve it today. Cmon Adam!

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Previously Movistarteam

Hi, I wanted to address the name/link/header change to this blog. Previously I blogged about Movistar’s team pretty exclusively. I took a hiatus at the end of the last season with the intent to restart again this January. For various reasons, that didn’t happen.

I’ve decided to tweak my content a little. My support for Movistar has not lapsed, not even faltered. But it’s one caveat of what I love about cycling. I don’t really have any outlet for my cycling appreciation. I don’t have friends who like it, so I thought a blog might help me. 

My aim is to post content that interests me. So general cycling news/photos/videos/gifs and maybe an editorial post a week if I rustle up enough time to write one. There’ll still be a bias for Movistar and other riders I like, as well as teams and my favourite races. Why the title? I always adored the mavic yellow shoes in the era that Thor Hushovd and Luis Leon Sanchez wore them. Plus I like white handlebar far too much considering it’s impracticality. 

If you do choose to stick around, thank you and I hope I can post at least something that you find interesting. 

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So I’m planning to get back to regular posting in time for the Tour Down Under, so should be posts a couple of times a day again as of January 15th

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Great effort springs naturally from a great attitude.

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A minor hiatus may take place between now and Christmas while it's the off season. Normal posting shall commence in the New Year at the latest.