TDF - Been there, done that and yep, got the shirt

Like most sporting events, the Tour De France is much better to watch on TV than live. But having been able to be on the side of the road as the Peleton rushes by is pretty cool. When I realized that I would be within "striking distance" of the Tour while in England I knew that I had to make the trip.

It all started many, many years ago, long before Lance actually. Back then you might catch a few hours of the tour on a Saturday afternoon on one of the major networks, you mainly followed it in the newspapers, yep, that's how far back I'm talking about. I remember being excited when a young kid from Texas was going to ride, he didn't make a very good showing the first year but he had potential.

Since then the Tour has been a yearly ritual at our house. Thanks to TiVo we could record it and then watch it every evening. That young kid from Texas did indeed have potential, he is my hero. I remember when he was diagnosed with cancer, to see the images of a young man who had been in the prime physical condition but was now in cancer treatment were heartbreaking, and yes, I did cry when I saw them. But as you know, the story didn't end there, Lance came back and not only did he ride again, he showed them how to ride, and how to win. And yes, I cried when he came back and won!

I went to the town center after grabbing breakfast to see how the crowd was going to be. At 9:00am there were only a few people out and about. The barricades were already out and they were towing several cars that had been left on the road the tour was coming down. About 9:30am they turned on the large projection screen showing the start ot race, lot's of speeches and ceremonies. I went back to the room and took a nap!

I went back out around 11:30, the crowds were starting to gather but not bad. I sat and watched the big screen while watching on my iPad which rocked, I was able to track the location, get updates (in English!), and watch live video feed. You gotta love technology. Around 1:00pm I headed to where I wanted to watch the tour. I was just at the foot of the large church tower in town on the shady side of the street (very important). I sat on the steps of a closed restaurant and met a nice couple who lived about 40 miles away and had come in to see the tour. They had been to South Padre and Austin and liked Texas, duh, who doesn't? We sat there for quite a while following the tour status on the iPad. Soon the crowd started growing and we staked out a piece of barrier. We stood for almost an hour and then the caravan came through. You don't get to see that part of the tour on TV, it is made up of the sponsors in some very strange vehicles. They all have loud sound systems and throw trinkets into the crowd. Being on the front was actually not the best place to be for swag as most of it went over my head. There was one piece that was thrown at my foot, I quickly steped on it to secure ownership, turns out it was a candy bar. A now very squashed candy bar! I left it there.

All my new friends along the barrier were enjoying watching the video on the iPad and we kept the surrounding folks updated on the vital stats. Then you heard the noise coming from up the street, a growing crescendo of cheers and excitement accompanied a solo rider on a breakaway, my friends quickly informed me that he was a Belgium. They were very excited about that. Then very quickly the other breakaway riders came whooshing by. Another 45 seconds or so and the peleton came around the corner. I was holding the video camera with one hand, snapping pictures (blindly) with the other hand and watching at the same time. (Oprah calls it multi-tasking.)

The peleton goes by amazingly fast and then it's over. Wow. It actually takes a fairly long time for the team cars to go by, much longer than the riders.

So, I've been to the Tour de France. I'm glad I came, glad to experience it firsthand. I think that I will probably stick to the TV version from now on but then again I will still be in the area when it finishes in Paris!

Hmm..., where is that train schedule?