Le Tour de Fleece

done spun

Well, as I said in my last post, the unexpected happened:

There's actually one more hank of it, still on the swift, but I managed to get it all spun, plied and into hanks (more or less), and all that just before the final sprint.

I wasn't pushing myself, I wasn't trying to do it, but fifteen minutes every morning (plus a little bit of other time here and there, but not much, quite honestly), and I managed to spin up the better part of 250 grammes.

And it was pure coincidence that it co-ordinated, colour-wise, with my bike.

I wish I could say that this year's Tour de France has turned things around for me.  Yes, it's good that they appear to be trying to clean things up.  Yes, 1998 was much worse -- but wouldn't it be great to have a clean, exciting Tour in 2008?

However, those of you who managed to meet your spinning goal in the last three weeks -- well, you've made organizing this worthwhile.  I'm only sorry that I wasn't up to making it like last year's event, but there's always next year to look forward to, right?

I'll get my Tour Director and Other Half to organize the prize buttons -- as last year, there'll be a yellow for those who met their goals, and a red for those who gave it a very good try.

And do let me know how you did, and whether you'd like to do this again next year -- maybe we can get together some prizes like last time, and make it a great lot of fun!

As for me -- I took a turn on that bike tonight, and was dead winded at the end of half an hour.  I need to get out and spin more than I need to stay in and spin, I think.  And it made me realize just how amazing the Tour de France can be.

Here's hoping it manages to brush up the tarnish and shine once more.

okay, I know I said low-key, but...

I'd honestly meant to post more than I have during the Tour, but I managed to come down with a ripper of a nasty summer flu/cold bug.

Spinning, however, is one thing I can manage when I don't feel well -- I envy the knitters who can use the down-time to work on a project, but I just can't knit at all when I'm sick.  Spinning, though, has continued.

I wil confess that I had a moment at the end of last week when I wanted to buckle down and Just Finish The Whole Box of Fibre before the end of the Tour -- it was do-able, I just had to spin more than my ten or fifteen minutes in the morning.

I had to force myself to take a step back -- this was not my goal this year.  My goal was to be sensible, to set a routine, and just see what could be accomplished one spinning bite at a time.

The surprising thing is that I was weighing out what was left yesterday, and although I might not get the whole box spun, I might actually come close, even just sticking to my sensible goal.

As for the Tour itself, I remain torn -- the whole Rasmussen affair that exploded the end of last week left a bad taste in my mouth, and it's hard to listen to or read veteran cycling journalists say that every time a rider does something to surpass expectations, they wait for the other shoe to drop on yet another doping scandal.  One even said, as he watched the French customs officers search the team buses to make sure they were "clean", that he thought this was the end for him -- that he wouldn't likely cover the tour another year.

And yet.  And yet.  I still want to believe that things will get better -- I still want to feel the amazement I've felt the last week, and not wonder if it's anything other than sheer will, determination, and the fruits of training paying off.

I want to be back for another Tour, both "de France" and "de Fleece". 

if this is wednesday, it must be?

...Stage 4.

Okay, so I'm still not really feeling the Tour love, but I am enjoying moments of it.  I'm lucky in that I really do think that the CanalEvasion coverage is second only to that of France Television -- and since we're getting all the images from France Television anyway, the only difference, really is the commentators.

Oh, and the length.  In France, all of the Tour is televised, either on France2 or France3 (IIRC)

So I am enjoying listening to Richard Garneau, Louis Bertrand, and Bernard Vallet talk not only about the tour, but about cycling in general. 

Aside:  I just discovered that Bernard Vallet and I share the same birthday:  January 18th!  Different years, but same day!

The last couple of days (okay, especially yesterday, during that seemingly interminably long stage 3) they've been talking a lot about motivation and determination:  what motivates someone to take on a challenge like the Tour de France (considered The Most Challenging Sporting Challenge in the World, Bar None), what motivates them to keep going.

I've followed that discussion with some interest -- on a very basic level, these are things you can think about in your life in general, in your life as a spinner or knitter, or, in my case, as I make a decision about a sporting event of another kind (I'm thinking about running a marathon.  I'm not sure I'm motivated or determined enough, so it's been helpful to hear what the TdF cyclists go through, even though the two aren't on the same scale.)

And yesterday I had a kind of "duh" moment.  I couldn't figure out why, after months of spinning every day, I just let it go.  I figured it had become such a habit that I'd never do something like that, but I did.

Yesterday, though, I turned on the television to watch the tour, went to the kitchen to make tea for breakfast, set the timer for the tea to steep, and went upstairs to watch the race and spin until the timer went off.

I realized -- here's the duh -- that the time it takes for my tea to steep is the perfect amount of time to spin each day.  No need to *make* time, no need to count the minutes.  Set the timer for tea, start spinning, stop when it goes off.

It's like coming out of meditation when the bell rings, you know?

So no, I'm not getting massive amounts of spinning done, but I'm really happy with how this is turning out.

Onwards!

Stage 1: A Cantebury Tale

So, we're off.  The Prologue has been run, Stage 1 from London to Canterbury is finished, and I'm just about to sit down to watch Canal Evasion's coverage of Stage 2 (Dunkerque to Gand).

I've worked on some kind of major project during the Tour de France for the last ten years now.  Up until the last three years, it was always a knitting project (because I didn't spin, then) -- the first time, it was one of Gladys Amedro's christening sets for my as yet unborn niece.  For many years, it was a Starmore Fair-Isle.

The last two years, I undertook a big spinning project -- both years I spun a 500 gramme box of roving with an eye to making a shawl afterwards.

This year, though.

This year, I was finally, thoroughly fed up with all the doping scandals.  Usually I watch a number of the spring races, including the Giro d'Italia, but this year, I only managed a few days of the Giro coverage.  I couldn't bear it, because practically all they talked about was doping, doping, doping.

I just could no longer muster any enthusiasm for a sport I'd followed, with all its ups and downs, for such a very long time.  Oh, I know, there have been doping scandals in the past, but I always believed that it would be dealt with.  The last year, I haven't been so sure that anyone is really willing to clean things up, to do more than slap a bandage on it all.

So I wasn't going to watch the Tour de France this year, and I wasn't going to spin.

I can't state for sure what changed my mind, but, obviously, I did.  I sat down Saturday morning to watch Richard Garneau and Louis Bertrand, and although I won't say they lit a fire of enthusiasm under me, I will say that they reminded me of what I do love about the Tour de France (and about cycling in general).  They touched briefly on the doping problems, but said they didn't want to dwell on that in their coverage -- they wanted to focus on the positive things.

I can't say I'm excited about le Tour this year.  But I've managed to watch a couple days coverage, and haven't felt completely discouraged, either, so maybe there's hope.

As for my challenge?  I'm taking it easy this year, for a change.  My goal is to spin 10 to 15 minutes a day.  I've gotten out of the habit of spinning a little bit every morning, and I just want to use this time to get back into the habit.  I also don't want to end up doing myself an injury this year, taking on something very big.

I will confess that I am spinning a little more than my required 10 to 15 minutes, but I'm taking lots of breaks, and alternating spinning and knitting as I watch.  It seems odd not to be going for broke, but I think it's a better attitude for me to develop.

And with that -- I've got to run, as coverage is about to begin!