Bonneval to Chartres (ITT) (53.5 kilometers)
The parallelity of One Man’s Back
Bradley Wiggins was the strongest man to ride a bike during the 2012 Tour de France. Yes, His teammate, Chris Froome on Team Sky had that extra kick in the mountains but one only had to spy Bradley Wiggins position on the time trial bike to understand his class; the parallelity of the man’s back to his top tube is/was beautiful. Providence bequeaths your legs, environment buttresses your willpower, parents can teach you love, but only your Yogi and hours of practice allowed the man named Bradley Wiggins to dominate Stage 19. Chapeau!
Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith
The Heroes do not know much about the American officer Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith but he was killed in action on August 16, 1944 not too far from the finish of the Stage 19 Time Trial. Some days before he and another soldier volunteered to go behind enemy lines to see if the Chartes Cathedral was being used as a sniper’s den and staging area for German troops. It was not and so the order calling for its destruction was withdrawn. In 1939, even before the Germans invaded many heroic men and women carefully removed the stained glass of the great cathedral. By all reports this was not the easiest of tasks nor done without risk. With these acts of heroism in mind, Tenspeed Hero illustrator Becca Goesling spent hours dropping in pane after pane on this multi-colored backdrop in today’s illustration. We thought it fitting to place such human achievements side by side. So as we honor Bradley avec le grand perruque we also honor Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith and the dozens of men and women who hung by rope and ladder to save such treasures.