Does this strike anyone else as a weird thing to do?

Prisoners get own Tour de France

Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do contest the Tour de France.

The first penal version of the Tour de France will be held in June, with some 196 prisoners to complete 2,300 kilometres of racing. Some 124 prison officers will guard the would be athletes as they start racing from Lille on June 4, but no break away groups will be allowed, meaning only sprints will be contested by the riders.

"It's a kind of escape for us, a chance to break away from the daily reality of prison," said a 48-year-old prisoner at the event's launch in Nantes. "If we behave well, we might be able to get released earlier, on probation."

While each of the 17 host cities have prisons, the riders will be staying in hotels. The prison authorities believe the program will have a beneficial impact on the rehabilitation of its prisoners.

"This project aims to help these men reintegrate into society by fostering values like effort, teamwork and self-esteem," said prison representative Sylvie Marion. "We want to show them that with some training, you can achieve your goals and start a new life."

Like the professional version of the Tour de France, the prisoners will finish in Paris. There will be no general classification for the event.

Dealing with it...

What do you do with an anxious day? One of those where you just feel a sense of doom, that there is no point starting, that you should just stay home. I have these often when I have prepared a long time for an event and have a lot invested in it. I have read quite a bit about the mental aspects of cycling, and would recommend reading the series of articles in pezcyclingnews by Marvin Zauderer- http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/default.asp?pg=fullstory&id=5644 . These make some sense and really add something to your training. I have also read biographies of both Chris Hoy and Brad Wiggins in recent months, in which there is discussion of how the British team employ a psychiatrist, Steve Peters to maximise the performance of the team. One of the things that Wiggins relates is taking all of the negative thoughts that you have and addressing them for a short, defined period of time, so you don't have to carry them around with you. What follows is the process I went through on the day of the pursuit at the Australian Master's Championships prior to heading to the stadium. I first wrote down all my negative thoughts, then addressed them one by one.

Australian Master's Track- Pursuit Day 2/4/09

I'm not having a good meet.

I'm not as fit as I could be.

My mind is not in it.

My start is too slow.

I can't hold the pace to the end.

I feel anxious and a bit sick.

The competition is too fast.

I feel nervous riding double discs.

My TT was what it sould have been- a hit out to get used to the track. The time was irrelevant.

I am fit and strong enough to have done a fastest time in the TT and pursuit one week ago.

I am here, focusing right now and can give it 100% today.

My start is solid and fast enough for the pursuit. I don't need it any faster.

The end will hurt but my form is good and I can give the bit extra in competition. I will hold it.

The anxiety is my adrenaline, which will make me faster, and the sick feeling in my stomach is just part of it. It means this race is important and I am giving it my all.

There are 6 riders in M2 and on my day, I can challenge the best of them. I can go sub 3.40.

I have ridden double discs in training, racing and starts and can ride them well. They are part of my bike and I control it.

At the start I will be as ready as I can be. The bike will be right. I will be warmed up. I will have the right gear on. I will race well.

 I should say that I didn't do the event as well as I might have, but the reasons for that are another story.

Just a little peek into my tortured soul...

Mythology

Myth 1- I can mix it up in A grade at club level, and hold my head high.

Experiment A- Scratch race: A big field with some obvious quality, led to some misgivings that the past couple of weeks' of finishing solidly in the bunch might be over. Pedal to the metal from the first lap softened up the crowd. Not phased, I kept the pace. Unfortunately, at the end when the sprinters went, I was left going backwards. No jump.

Experiment B- Points race: Two sprints down and I was hanging in there, but then a split formed and I was left wrong footed. No chance of brdging back to it and after the 5 leaders got about 1/3 of a lap, it was time to go back to the seats to watch the finish. Too slow.

Experiment C- Motorpace: This should be my event, and I have come second on a particularly lean week in A grade. I am certainly better at avoiding getting stuck on the wrong wheel, which can be fatal, but I still swung off at five to go, assuming my race was over (It is in any decent sized field). Unfortunately there were only five left on the bike, so I could have been in the contest at the end. Dumb.

Myth- Busted!

Myth 2- 2 years of intervals and track racing, with a few summer criteriums for variety, translate to good road-racing form.

Experiment- Preston Mountain Classic: Under the misapprehension that this was a scratch race, I entered, expecting a good day out with a few companions. Unfortunately, I was mistaken and it was a handicap. Even more unfortunately, the handicapper had been chewing some mescalin, and thought that my dubious excursions into A grade at the track justified putting me off scratch. Mick Hay was off 2 mins, and Pete Knight was off 14 mins. No worries. 5 mins at 400watts put paid to my day by the top of the climb out of Broadford- should have done what JB suggested and sat on up to the climb. I always was a slow learner. Nice training ride thereafter, aided by a mars bar and banana from the broom wagon. Probably the only time I will get to wear number three... Back to the track.

Myth- busted!

Myth 3- My TT form is undimished from the heady heights of 2008.

Experiment- Back up from a successful campaign at the Preston Mountain Classic, and put in a triumphant couple of laps around my home course of Kew boulevard. Smash the opposition. Well... I refer to myth 2. Woke up too late to start. Rode down with Euan in the chariot behind the bike. Almost fainted riding up to watch the race. Glad I didn't wake up early.

Myth- busted!

Glorious sundays

No, nothing to do with God. Just a fine morning for a ride. Cold, very cold, but fantastic conditions. No avoiding the winter tights for those who wanted to keep their knee joints from freezing into immobility.

At last I managed to make it out on a group ride with TE. The pace was pretty reasonable, so I didn't suffer too much on the bumpy bits. I elected to take the part KL, in the name of discretion, and it paid dividends with a good ride home and pleasantly sore legs.

The Kinglake climb is pretty sobering- lots of burnt out shells of houses, and bare tree trunks. Some views have the eucalypts sprouting in their irrepressible manner, whereas other areas seem to be totally burnt to matchsticks. It must have been incredible when the fire was there. You really get a sense of how much more intense it was than most bushfires.

On a lighter note, Stu send around a fine photo of a stack, complete with brolly.