Stage Seven: Bourg-en-Bresse > Le Grand-Bornand

Bonjour!

Stage Seven, the first of the Mountain stages in the 2007 Tour, brought us a surprise ending with virtual unknonw, Linus Gerdemann, taking line honours as well as the Yellow AND White Jerseys. The scenery along the route was beautiful - I wonder if the riders are able to enjoy the views like those of us watching from our couches...

Yesterday's Phil and Paul Bingo link alerted me to the fact that some of our participants who are new to the Tour might not have had the pleasure of listening to Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen's commentary on the Tour! Phil and Paul must be among the most famous sports commentary duo in history. Liggett has covered over 30 Tours de France. Both Phil and his trusty sidekick, Paul Sherwen, are well known for their many catch-phrases which help bring the pathos of the Tour to life for cyclists and armchair cyclists alike. (and which are featured in the Phil and Paul Bingo game.)

Stage Eight promises to be a good one. After starting out with some relatively low-key climbs of the first 70km, the route takes on a 16km climb of the Cormet de Roseland, and heads over two more summits before an uphill finish. Brutal! This will be one to watch, so plan to stay up late or get up early, depending on where you are in the world... you can catch up on your sleep later!

A quick knitting update...

Ozknitter has finished her Tour socks and has named them the Canterbury Dash in honour!
The Knitty Professor's Mystery Stole has crashed and so she's going to become a Market bag specialist. Joy has made great progress on her Forest Canape shawl but I'm not going to include a photo because you should click over to her blog and check out her great photographs of the peloton catching up on Brad Wiggins in Stage Six! Poor Jen might need to see the team doctor - she has an injury which is inhibiting her knitting speed! The finished pieces of Kate's vest are blocking and she gets 5 stars for her French language today!

Westozcaat is on-track with not only her green jersey goal - she's finished the back of her Kate Gilbert jumper; she's also finished Clue 2 of Mystery Stole 3, therefore achieving her goal for the polkadot jersey. Ann not only has a new bike to be happy about, she's making great progress on her Mermaid! Check it out - she's become so inseparable from her new bicycle that she's taken to knitting in the saddle!
Sharon aka the Stripey Tiger has finished the second of her pair of baby socks - her first ever socks! - and is now seeking advice as to what pattern she should try for her first ever pair of adult socks. Why not go weigh into this exciting question? Charisse has narrowly averted disaster and it looks like she'll have enough yarn to finish her lace scarf - let's hope so anyway! Cecile has shared her tips for keeping track of where you are in a charted pattern - her example is for fair isle knitting but the advice would work for lace knitting as well.

Christina has finished one of her Tour socks (AND a lace scarf!):
Whitney's Tour de Gansey was on an easy stage but we all know the hardest mountain climbs are yet to come! Angie has finished her husband's cycling socks and learned a thing or two about socks along the way!
Mrs Pao has posted more great photos from the pre-Tour parade in Canterbury and has come up with an alternate idea for her Kiri if she decided to finish it off now... Jennifer in Tucson has finished another panel on her Camisa - I think more Aussie wine is in order Jennifer - that's the stuff that Robbie McEwan grew up on!

Kristen is one-third of the way through her gorgeous Lady Eleanor Stole. The aptly-named Stitchy Fingers is making perhaps the world's most carefully tailored pair of gloves ever! Teabird's poor socks have hit the frogpond, while Leslie is a bit comme ci comme ca about her Baudelaires. Blogless LIsa has emailed an update that she's stuck on Row 20 of her Tomato, eagerly awaiting the bust dart instructions from Knitting Daily. (C'mon K.D., you're like a crazy cycling fan blocking the route here, get a move on!) And Natalie has spent the first week of the Tour spinning up some gorgeous yarn to use in her Tour project:

And today's recipe is brought to us by Barbara - who doesn't love potato salad? Here she does it French style.

A bientot!