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Author Archives: Kathryn

About Kathryn

Follow Mini Bear and I as we travel the world at Minibeartravels.com!

Giro stage 3

While Belfast painted the town pink to celebrate the Giro, Dublin opted to play it cool with just a little bunting and a few Giro related posters around town. Belfast 1, Dublin 0.   Finish line preparations.   Working on the gantry and cameras.   The finish line itself is always a bit of a … Continue reading »

Categories: Ireland | Tags: , | Comments Off on Giro stage 3

Giro stage 2

Blue skies! Don't worry, it won't last.   Stephen Roche: father of Tinkoff Saxo rider Nicholas Roche and winner of the 1987 Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and World Championships.   The senze fine.   Belkin arrived as a team and one or two riders took a moment to snap a few pics of the … Continue reading »

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Giro stage 1 TTT

It was one of those days with a dozen moments that individually would have made my day complete, although there was one huge shadow later to come.   The roads were closed to traffic in the morning so the teams could prepare for the 22 km team time trial. When I arrived, the road was … Continue reading »

Categories: Northern Ireland | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Giro d’Italia 2014 team presentation

It seems you can't swing a dead cat in Belfast this week without hitting something Giro related. It's fantastic! Every storefront, every street corner, every person is decked out in pink.   After an extremely anxious 90 minutes online last month, I was able to secure 2 free tickets to tonight's Giro team presentation held … Continue reading »

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Liège-Bastogne-Liège

La Doyenne, the old one, not a bad nickname for a race that dates back to 1892 and is celebrating its 100th edition.   The only way I can begin to understand the ridiculous amount of barriers erected by the race organizers is to assume that their goals were threefold: (1) to keep fans always … Continue reading »

Categories: Belgium | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Liège-Bastogne-Liège team presentation

By far, the most formal team presentation I've seen to date: a tent, a band, even chairs for the spectators! Of course, I stood by the fence where I figured I'd have a better shot of saying hi to the riders.   Cofidis.   Lotto Belisol.   Trek Factory Racing.   BMC.   The crowd … Continue reading »

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Fun & games at El Chorro, Spain

I spent about 10 days rock climbing with friends in El Chorro, Spain at the tail end of March. Here, in 2 minutes, are some of our finest moments.   A proper video of our actual climbing is in the works!   Enjoy!  

Categories: Spain | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Flèche Wallonne

A race two-for-one! The women raced up the Mur de Huy twice and three times for the men.   Tip: Google maps doesn't like it when you call this climb the Mur, so use its other name, Chemin des Chapelles, for all the little chapels along the way up.   When you say, “oh, it's … Continue reading »

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Amstel Gold 2014

There's only one word I know that can accurately describe this morning's sign on at the 49th Amstel Gold race and autocorrect keeps changing that word to “cluster duck.” Because there were literally 3 rows of barricades to keep the fans away from the riders in front of the podium, there were apparently not enough … Continue reading »

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De Brabantse Pijl

Race organizer from Leuven #1: Hey, let's have the riders sign on in the shadow of our ridiculously beautiful Town Hall! Race organizer from Leuven #2: Great idea! And so it was.   It's possible the parking lot wasn't well marked or several of the bus drivers had heard about the beauty of the Town … Continue reading »

Categories: Belgium, Canada | Tags: , , | 2 Comments