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As the 2012 racing season kicks off, it’s good to see that les vaches are taking the opportunity to demonstrate some early form. Connie spotted this in the round-up of the Tour of San Luis in Argentina, by Liquigas rider Ted King.  Note: team Vaches is opposed to the stoning of cattle Okay, so perhaps the soundtrack would be more suited to the Tour of Ireland, but Luka Bloom does mention cattle. And, in case you missed a name as the jumpy frame-rate scrolled, here they are again: Our supporters: DiscoverVin, Yarra Bicycle Users Group Radio, the bicycle show on 94.7 and Reality Ravings Our cowrespondents: Nic Poelaert from Embrasse Restaurant, Anthony Femia from The Cheese Room at RHCL, Ben Knight from benandwine, Rupert Guinness from the Sydney Morning Herald, Will Levy from Two Wheel Tours, Chiara Passerini, @parisbug, Richard Gunner from Feast Fine Foods, Thomas Samph, Lisa Dempster, Bill Fenton, Catherine Gearing, Lisa, Ms Biscuit Sea Star, Bethany Keats, Kate, Derek Hasel, Bill Thayer, Lesli Cohen, Tony Corbett, Matt de Neef, Stephen Splendour, Julie Kirkpatrick, Agrifoglio, David, Andrew, Barbara, Tim Miller, Jane, Nick, Chickasmith and Alex Cassimaty The individual time trial rendered me inarticulate; it should come as no surprise that the confirmation of Cadel Evans as winner of Le Tour has not resulted in me being any less of a gibbering mess.
The basic facts, then, in case you have been out of the news loop and have for some reason come here to catch up:
Yes, Cowbell didn’t suffer any unprecedented final-stage calamity, but that’s not what this post is about. The quality of entries in our mid-point competition was high, but there can only be one winner (and no, we didn’t think of having a sprint prize or recognition for climbing, youth or most combative!). Our winner is… Shane, who shared this tip for staying focussed during the Tour:
Congratulations, Shane – we hope you enjoy the wine. We would like to thank everybody who entered our competition. Thanks, too, to DiscoverVin for the prize. We’ve come to the final stage of the Tour and tradition has it that the winner is already decided, barring an unprecedented attack or accident. Still, crossing the line on the Champs-Élysées is something the sprinters will be battling for – will Cowvendish be laughing at the end of today? Starting a mere 8km outside of Paris, the pelaton will take a gentle, winding Sunday ride for 95 km until hitting the Champs-Élysées and letting the sprinters loose for a few circuits. This will give you plenty of time to view the background landmarks (look them up in your Frommers if necessary), drink some champagne and treat yourself to some …ummm…. readily available “speciality cheese” to mark the occasion.
Image: Herald-Sun Speechless. For coherence, look here. For video highlights, look here. For the post-presentation interview, click here. Take a nap and continue to yell for Cadel (in yellow) tonight. It’s the individual time trial and we know what that means. Either we’ll see no cows at all, or the same cows over and over and over again (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  The riders won't have time to check the signage tonight. Image: Tim Of course, with Cowbell so close to taking yellow, we’ll forgive you if you are too nervous to spot bovines tonight. Cowbell is not up until just after midnight, though, so perhaps cow-spotting will have a calming effect. If you do see cows, see if you can identify the Montbéliarde, Villard-de-Lans or even Abondance. We saw no cows, but we had cheese and a gripping race so we were not in the least bit disappointed. Cowntador attacked and attacked and attacked and was awarded most combative as a result. Also “most improved”, but he might have missed out on the Congeniality award.
Photo courtesy of Nick Okeydoke folks! Here we have it … the one we’re all been waiting for … the stage that is all about … CHEESE! Yep – we saved it up for this amazing stage – the alpine cows, the rustic production techniques and the rare cheeses. (Okay, okay, so there are some mountains in this stage as well but you know- we’ve seen Alpe d’Huez before .. yes?) So what’s so special about alpine cheeses? When summer finally arrives in the French Alps, the local cows are led up the hills to graze on the new alpine meadows. As the snow retreats they move further and further upwards, grazing on lush new growth grass. The herds are looked after by local alpagistes who stay in chalets, milk the cows and make cheese. There are chalets dotted all over the slopes and the alpagistes move between them as the herd moves. By the middle of August the herd will have reached almost the snowline, and will start to descend over the same slopes which will be rich and grassy again. On Saint-Michael’s Day, 29 September, the herds return to their barns to eat hay, calve and winter cheesemaking begins. The alpine cheeses come from a lifestyle, not a conveyor belt. They come from small niche dairy farmers and cheesemakers who have been managing cow herds in the same way for hundreds of years. And the cheeses they make are sublime. Luckily for us in Melbourne we can get hold of some of these lovely cheeses from a few select Cheesemongers: Richmond Hill Larder, Simon Johnson, David Jones should all be able to hook you up. Stage 18 was the first of the last, or the last of the first, or the stage that would determine everything, or the stage that would determine nothing, depending on who you listened to or even what particular time you tuned in to their comments. “Oscillating wildly” seems to sum up some of the pundits. Whatever the result foretells, we are hoping it is not a precedent for the last of the cow spotting as we saw representations but no real ruminants. We know there were cows about, as Jane managed to pick out a cow icon on one of the roadside signs as the riders climbed past, but they stayed away from the cameras.  Cowmpervan? |
Les Vaches pour les enfants
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Copyright © 2012 Les Vaches du Tour - All Rights Reserved ||
Header Images (L-R): France in Photos | Manuel | Keith Laverack | avlxyz |
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