August 2008

Never mind the three gold medals he won in Beijing, I've got some pictures here of Chris Hoy winning the toughest medal of his life, and it was made from tin. The pictures are taken just after he crossed the line of the 2006 Etape du Tour on top of the Alpe d'Huez mountain in France.

Not much of Hoy's cycling is done on the road. In fact after he crossed the line, and once his first unprintable reactions to completing a stage of the Tour de France in 100 degree heat were out of the way, Hoy said that he was relieved to get all of his road miles for the year out of the way in one day.

That he got to the top of Alpe d'Huez at all, and he did it in a good time too, was a measure of the man who has gone on to be the most successful British Olympian for 100 years. Chris is a giant in character as well as stature. Awesome, as they'd say if he was an American- I don't know what the Scottish for awesome is.

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