Paris, 26 Oct , 2006 Hi. I am here in Paris for the presentation of the 07 Tour de France. Of course for us Brits who follow cycling its going to be a very special one with start being held in central London. I think we can all remember that when the Tour came to our country last time it was a huge sucsess. And I am sure its going to be at least that this time round. For the organisers its been a tough year, because of the Spanish affair excluding several of the main contenders before this years race even started, and then the exclusion of the race winner Landis to cap it off. Especially after last years presentation was mainly about the fact that they wanted a clean and scandel free Tour, and that they were glad that they were able to move on and away from the Lance era. Also into the mix is the Pro Tour- UCI verses Grand Tour fight, it gets more interesting by the minute. All in all it seems to me that pro cycling is at crisis point. Which way from here I am wondering. Looking at the route, I think it will be a good Tour. With three summit finishes. The first of which is the climb to Tignes, that is not an easy one. The following day the riders will have to climb from the gun out of Val-D' Isere up the Iseran which at 2770 metres will be the highest of the Tour. That ame day they will also have to get up the Galibier which at 2645 is not far behind. The other mountain top finishes are the Plateau de Beille and the Aubisque. It will be the first time in 20 years that the last mountain stage has a mountain top finish. With the two TT's in the last week there should be a bit of excitement. Let's hope so. Wednesday 11 October, Forest Row I am sitting on a train at the moment on the way to Heathrow airport to pick up some of my personal belongings that were stolen from my hotel room on my last trip of the year for Discovery, that was the Pro Tour one day classic Zurich. I was supposed to be in Australia now getting ready for the start of the Crocadile Trophy mountain bike race, which I told you about in my last entry. After that I was due to go down to New Zealand to ride the Tour of Southland. However, I decided not to go at the last minute, I figured that it would be much better if I stayed at home and spent more time with my children. They are 13-10 and 6 at the moment, and since last year when I divorced it has been tough on everyone involved. And going away for six weeks in the winter was not the best idea. So its back to the normal winter regime, that's cutting hedges for the next month or so, then getting back to fitness ready for next year. I will ride the Brighton Mitre 25 at the end of the month on the tandem with my brother to keep the cobwebs off, but otherwise the season is over. I did ride the Lewis Gents race last weekend, as the Gent, I was paced by my clubmate Ruthie Elliott, that was a first for me, being paced by a lady. The weather was great and she did well, I think we were around 7th fastest. I saw on Cyclingnews that Discovery are looking to extend their sponsorship of the team, that is good news if it is true. Mind you there was also a piece on there about the team signing Ullrich, where do they get their info ? Looking at next year I am thinking more and more about the tandem 24 record. I was up at my partner's house for that attempt last week doing some work, and we went for a great ride to Lord Nelsons birthplace on the Norfolk coast, that was 65 miles. There we had a great lunch and a bottle of red each then rode home, there was not a whole lot of talking going on on the way back, as we were both feeling the effects, it was a good workout though and made for a nice day out. Ok. I guess most of you have also not been getting out as much now the nights are drawing in. Seems like summer has flown by, as per usual. I will do a few short entries this winter. In the meantime, try and stay off the pies. Cheers Sean Back

Professional cyclist for 15 years
12 Tours de France
Tour de France yellow jersey
Tour de France stage winner
Fifth in Paris-Roubaix
Tour of Belgium winner
UK pro road race champion
UK 25 and 50-mile TT champion