I have a ten year old disposable camera with a fisheye lens. It isn't removable and the camera doesn't have a view finder. There is a built in flash and the body is made of cheap plastic. If you drop it whilst riding it doesn't smash like an iPhone. I celotaped it to my handlebars and took it to the Tour de France. Click on the images to scroll through a larger gallery. The set up Desc

Le Malliot Boom has graced the shoulders of a few riders this tour. Not as many standout performances as I thought there would be. The final claimant has got to be Nairo Quintana. Likeable little fella despite riding for the dubiously good Movistar. Aged just 23 but looking nearly 43. He could just tune up his TT skills and would really give Froome a bit of competition.

Poor old Froome and Team Sky, dogged by doping allegations. Everyone's trying to use scientific methods to work out and compare his climbing data to that of the golden years of drugs in the sport. Now, now really, I've devised a very simple method to work out who's making the dough from EPO. It all comes down to looks and levers. Take Sir Brad and Froome-Dog - one has veins popping out of their

There are various well written blogs about the 2013 edition of the etape. (search for the Spikes & Heels website, or search the Telegraph for Natalie's posts) All I can say is it was a brilliant but brutal route. The heat on the Mont Revard & Semnoz was crushing. I reached the feed at La Revard around 11.40am - my plan was a quick wee, coca cola and some energy bars. It turned into a zomb

I just wanted to do a last bit of Etape prep. So I rode after work from WC1X to BN1. London to Brighton. It was a race against the sun, the most annoying bit is the first 16miles is basically in traffic. Central London traffic, then into Croydon's traffic. The route I took was via the climbs of Farthing Down, Bletchingly and then onto the usual L2B route used the annual ride. Route data here: h