Don't use an iPad? If not then i think... not really sure... you can turn off auto-refresh. Alternatively, save the links to a note file or similar, then copy them from there into the internet
Yeah, I will start using pages for reports I think, then copy and paste. Hmm, I don't think I can turn it off, trawled the internet and it seems hopeless, this page has too much RAM or something, so yeah, maybe pages is best, but more time consuming than normal. Imageshack will still refresh itself but that isn't so bad. Takes a few secs, but at least keeps my changes. And I have to write on iPad as I don't have a personal computer.
Extract from Dennis' Diary
My agent, well my mate, has been putting my name around to a few teams, hoping to work up a bit of interest. I get that I'm probably not cut out for the world tour, but I feel I may work up some results in the lower ranks and maybe climb back up again. So far there's been nothing, not even one of the semi-pro continental mini thingymabobs. I don't see why, I mean, I've had a terrible season, but surely just the fact I'm in World Tour shows something.
Meanwhile the team has found a replacement for me, and I can't say he doesn't deserve his place, as one of the best climbers in the world, a rival even for Nibali! Yes, we've signed Nairo Quintana. I just hope for his sake he doesn't have the same problems as me, or he'll be hung out to dry like a lot of talent is here I imagine.
I have been asking for trials, but no ones accepting, I mean, I'm a proven pro, I have experience, not like some kid off a mountain in Chile, who got a contract recently. It's a frustrating time, now I know my career hangs on the balance in Padania. If I do well I should get a contract, if not then I'll never see pro cycling again.
Journalist: Stirring stuff
Yeah, well, it's not all true though.
I did get one contract, but at the time I probably didn't think it worthy of mentioning, it disgusted me then and it does now, but hey, I was desperate, especially after that race in Padania...
Edited by The Hobbit on 15-11-2013 18:10
I was quickly back to racing again, and the team had decided to give me one last try, but is doubted the sincerity of that offer! It suited me though, with 2 hilly and 1 mountainous stage I felt obliged to give it a go.
Unfortunately the team and I are not really on the same wavelength any more! I was one of the worst climbers here, helping Aru to the GC. It was Tiralongo's turn to go on the attack. I was just a bottle fetcher.
Unfortunately Tiralongo was stuck in traffic back in the peleton, the DS reluctantly gave me the go ahead to attack!
And it was my move which created the day's break! I was with some decent riders though, so I'd have to win by going on the attack again. A hilly stage with a downhill finish? I fancied my chances.
But then the break just ceased to work! I don't know if they were tired, or too lazy, but I wasn't dragging them up so I cut the ropes and made my move, with over 70km to go!
Thankfully, I never saw them again! My attack made it over all 3 climbs in front, and it looked like the winning move. The DS seized the advantage. He called Fabio to make his move, and for me to slow down and wait. I hesitated, but if I was ever going to find a team I'd have to show I was a good team mate.
Thus Fabio caught me, and I dragged him all the way to the line, draining myself completely of energy, but Fabio still had a chance, there were no sprint trains, just a writhing mass.
Completely spent, I sat up, tired and demoralised, while Fabio steamed past on a mission. That could've been me.
I dropped like a stone through the pack, while Fabio soloed to a historic win, I have no doubt he'll find a team for the next few seasons.
There was one upside to my performance, I'd claimed the KOM jersey. Determined to salvage something, I took a few points on flat stages, saving for the bigger days to come.
And when those days come I was a working member of the break again, hoping to snatch what was left of the KOM points.
Annoyingly this particular break was even more dis functional than the last, so I was forced to attack again! However I had no such luck second time round, I was caught on the footsteps of the climb, and Fabio dropped from 1st to 10th in the GC. To make matter worse, I even lost the KOM jersey on the last stage, and came home even more depressed, I'd came so close, but I'd fallen further than ever before.
As you know, at that time I was strongly against doping, and I was desperate for a contract. Unfortunately it turned out to be a battle of which one was superior and which way I'd go. You see, as I said, there was one offer, lying on the table, but it disgusted me so openly that i had quickly left the matter and filed it away in some dark cupboard where even I didn't know where it had gone! The problem was, in my depression just after Padania, I found it difficult to turn down.
The offer came from a lesser world tour team. It offered me full leadership, not just in tiny little continental races, but in La Vuelta, the third biggest of the season. I would have a full team behind me, and a chance to go for the GC. I questioned whether there was a mistake, maybe they'd written to the wrong person, they couldn't mean me, even I didn't think I was ready, I hadn't even ridden a grand tour before, and they expected me to jump straight in at the deep end?
Then I read the rest of the letter, I scrunched it up and threw it across the floor. I packed my bags for Padania and tried to flush it from my mind. I failed. i came back from Padania and reached straight for the letter, it was where I'd left it, I read it again. I looked at the bottom, I signed my name, I wrapped it in an envelope, and stuck it back in the post box.
Do you still have it?
Stupidly, yes. Upon signing they gave it back to me, so I filed it away. I don't know why they let us keep it, I mean, if someone searched us they'd find it ,and the team would be in a whole lot of trouble. In fact, I brought it with me now...
I waited out the rest of the season anxiously, and by the end I was desperate to try out my new team, I waited and waited but finally the moment arrived, and in the last days of October, me and the other new signings flew out to October and the start of a new life. We got a tour of the facilities, then afterwards I made a special visit to the doctors to confirm exactly how things are done around here. There are no mysterious characters in downtown here, it's all done medically and professionally by the team, handled very well, it almost seems routine. I had climatised to my situation over the winter and a by the start of the new season I realised it wasn't so bad, after all I had evidence of 50+ pros! which I'd already shown you, so logically almost everyone was doing it.
I don't envy the people who try and make it on raw talent. I can only imagine there are hundreds of others like me who cannot tell there stories for fear of their careers or lives, but I don't care about mine you see. In fact, that year Vaconsoleil had been relegated to continental pro standing, but, they'd kept most of their squad, and made 3-4 key signings, so it may be unsurprising to here they managed to acquire a lot of wildcards, including the Vuelta and the Giro. I would be going for the Vuelta, but I had a host of other WT races lined up, like Al Pais Vasco and Catalunya.
Rather unnervingly our signings included two very talented climbers, but more about them later. My role was almost free, as the sponsors weren't big fans of GCs, they cared more about small tours and classics. In fact, the only place I had to turn up was Wallonie and Oman, which I dutifully did. Before Oman came around I was feeling happy and raring to go, better than ever before. I'd been on my bike for our training camp in France and I felt better than ever before. It wasn't just my climbing that improved though, my TTing, sprinting, power output, even cobbling felt much more natural and easy, I was on top of the world. The biggest improvement was my stamina, previously I'd been shattered after every race, but now I could easily ride 100+km on my own at decent pace.
We need to talk about Javier
One of the names you might have spotted on that team list is one Javier Mon. You, and I, will know him as a Titan of the sport, but back then he was a lost little innocent boy with his first pro contract, much like I'd been a year earlier. As such, I took him under my wing. I felt a bit envious he was here, and not at the cruel dictatorship of Astana, like I said, I prefer Holland, but still, he seemed nice!
And he was a very nice guy. Since we were both new the DS decided we would be roommates, useful too, as we were riding together mostly, he was my main domestique. I have to accept he had a lot more talent than I had last year, so I felt a bit awkward leading him, it should be the other way round. Even so, he relished the role and was looking forward to the race. In fact, almost the only race he didn't accompany me too was Oman. A shame he didn't as I was isolated, there were no other climbers in the squad!
Now, I have spilled the beans on a lot of people telling you this, some even my friends, and there's was more to come. But Javier never cheated, I don't think he really understands how it works, all he ever does is race. He's never cheated, and never will, in fact, I'm not sure he even knows I cheat, I mean, all the signs were there, but there appears to be a mental block in his brain that says cheating in cycling is impossible.
Unfortunately it's not, and Vaconsoleil knew exactly how to evade regulations, they told me all the little problems with the sensors and equipment, and how we could get away with almost anything. Now I know how to evade sensors, but I've also learnt enough to make them do a better job, so... Will you do me a favour? Sure, what?
I need you to pop down to the UCI after this and tell them to run this test on samples from 2012-, they should find the results rather interesting...
Anyway, back then I was on top of the moon, and happy to have two outstanding climbers in Javier, and also the young Dutchman Jan Bakker in support. It was going to be an exciting 2014, that's for sure!
As i said, my first race back to pro cycling for the new me, was the Tour of Oman. It was pretty boring really, mostly flat stages with one mountain and one hilly stage to navigate. I fancied my chances of a good finish, maybe even a podium, but I wasn't too tense, there was no pressure for the first time in my life.
Here is me looking resplendent in my new uniform, as well as protected by Wouter Mol. A good teammate, but not one for the mountains! Thankfully the flat stages passed un eventfully and we looked forward to the deciding stages for the GC.
And as soon as they came along I attacked, paired with Bauke Mollema and Rigoberto Uran I made it all the way up the climb, and it was our turn to fight it out. I felt strong, but was I strong enough?
Unfortunately not! Uran took the win while Mollema (then at SaxoBank) came a close second. I lost a good few seconds, but there was still tomorrow. Unfortunately tomorrow wasn't a brilliant day either. Uran and Rodriguez attacked on the penultimate climb and I was forced to chase all the way into the line since no one else would and the gap was growing! I finished at the back of group 2, 1:56 behind our two leaders, who dutifully took the top leaders spots, Mollema third, and I fourth. It stayed like that throughout the race and I came home disappointed to miss out in a podium, but happy to be doing well again!
Just realised I forgot to tell you guys all about la Vuelta. Well, better late than never! It worked pretty much the same way as the Giro, Nibali takes the lead early, Nibali smashes everyone, Nibali wins. This time that wasn't just the case for the GC though, but the KOM and points classifications as well, so he enters the record books as one of few men to do a GT double, and one of very few men to so utterly dominate this race. Although admittedly it is the easiest one in which to do so. His main rivals were the SaxoBank duo of Kreuziger and Contador, who were 2nd and 3rd, in that order, notably. Henao was 4th, and Dan Martin rounded off the top 5. Greipel dominated the sprints, beating Cavendish consistently.
Hmm, having some trouble with Volta a Catalunya, the game crashes when I load stage 1 in 3d. Works in stage mode, it's v7 nathanounet87, finishes on La Mussara. Any ideas?
Ok.... Looks like this is completely dead. A shame, second one of my stories to do this, not much luck with pcm it seems. I'll keep the 'on hold' sign up, just in case later I can fix it. So far I see no solution, so it'll be December at earliest I'll start a new story, cya then.
No, I'm afraid not. I was feeling a bit off come the first stage. I lined up, but it was a mountain stage. Normally my favourite, but not when I'm under the weather! I made it through the first few kilometres, but I was quickly swept up by the broom wagon. This was disappointing, but I had to recover, I still had a strong season ahead of me.
Except, you didn't?
Oh no, not at all. It seems as if the gods had turned against me that year, and with what I'd done, I could understand their decision! I fell in training in recovery, and was nastily injured, I was out for months. Persistent illness and hundreds of little niggles meant I was out for the rest of the year!
Again, you weren't really showing future employees many of your talents?
Actually, far from it. Vaconsoleil had been promoted back to WT that year, and tried to extend my contract. I disagreed, I felt I could do better. It was a risky move, but K reckon people had seen enough in Oman, and that Vaconsoleil could put in a good word for me.
When did you find out where you were going?
Well, they offered both me and Javier a contract in September! So they left it pretty late. It turned out to be one of the best moves of my career!
Spoiler
This will not take up much time from Walter, as you might have seen if you followed earlier, then this is a very quick thing, well, we're already in 2015! It has nice short reports, and only takes up about as much time as I'd usually spend playing for fun anyway. That doesn't mean this will go quickly, my #1 priority is Walter
For the start of the new season I stayed in the World Tour, this time as an absolute leader. I was one of the main guys and had really developed despite my injury.
Yes, I went to newly formed Finnish team, Nokia. It was formerly known as Saxo-Tinkoff, and many of the riders and management stayed. Importantly for anyone like myself who had been drawn to the dark side of cycling, the doctor was the same too. Their program was not as exclusive as Astana's, or as well run as Vaconsoleil, but I was made pretty sure none of us would get caught.
Us?
Oh yes. Lost the entire squad with the exception of a few (who I'll point out later) were cheating. I'd been told some of the departed riders, like Contador, had continued cheating as well, even after a suspension.
We had a very, very strong squad for the upcoming season, and I was right up there. Our GC men were numerous, but we had some great riders on Cobbles, like Le Bon and Terpstra, and a decent sprinting crew. Igor Anton had joined and showed to be a good small tour and Ardennes specialist, but he'd never contend for a GT again. The only riders there I know were not part of the program were Mon, McCarthy, the two fins (brothers by the way, quite impressive) and that Polish fellow. Like me, all of them had great potential, but I fear they may never realise it..., oh except Javier, in a world without doping, he'd be a star, here he is one of many.
Here was my 'season card' It shows in what races and time periods they expect me to peak. I liked the look of it, I'd race a lot in early season, but I had a nice break before la Vuelta, which I'd lead that year. Pinot had the Tour (being French), and Roche the Giro.
