A little rain and la musique.

Aloha Friday, July 23, 2010

It was simply a wonderful day at the TdF. This morning started out with just a few clouds in the sky and mild temperatures. Our tram trip to le Tour starting line was halted about two-thirds of the way there because the Line B tram that we’d hope to transfer to had been stopped by the tour route, but a nice little morning walked resolved that issue. As we approached Place des Quinconces, it quickly became obvious that our morning sun had turned into a pretty good rain shower and once again, our trusty umbrella was back in the room. The rain, fortunately, was brief and as soon as it let up, we headed for the starting line. It was barely 10:00 and the crowds were already starting to build; it seemed they were composed mostly of organized cycling tour groups.

Paul Sherwin, moi and Phil Ligget
Paul, Randy and Phil

One issue with going to France to watch the Tour de France is that unless we want to spend a lot of money and time looking at your iPhone, we really see much less coverage of the race on TV than we do at home, waking up early, like 4 a.m., and watching it Versus TV. During July, Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwin and Bob Roll sort of become welcome old friends in our house. So imagine my surprise and excitement to see Phil and Paul coming out of a trailer in the media area. What charming gentlemen they were to take a bit of time out of their busy schedules to chat with a couple of loyal fans.

It was going on 11:30 and we knew bus service on the No. 15 was schedule to stop at 1:00 p.m., so we headed for our ride south. Things were ticking along until, about 10 stops from our intended terminus, a bus passing in the opposite direction, flagged down our driver and they exchanged a few words. Next thing we knew, everyone was getting off and we were back to being “pedes”—well short of our intended stopping point. As it turned out, this was a rather serendipitous event.

Villenave D'Ornon ChildrenOur intended destination was Cadaujac where we had been the day before, but according to GPS Randy, that destination was close to 5 kilometers away. Laurel had packed us a “mix”—fromage et jambon–sandwich for lunch and we knew of your basic Target store equivalent just across the expressway, so we headed there to grab a bottle of wine for lunch. People were already beginning to line the streets, a traffic circle had been decorated at this location and several tents had been erected in the super market parking lot. As it turns out, we were right in the middle of a celebration in the small village of Villenave D’Ornan. The town band was there along with a couple of classes of school children, chanting, cheering everything that moved and generally having a swell time. Every time the band stopped playing for more the five minutes, they’d break into a mantra of “la musique, la musique…”

The advertising caravan passed, make sure all the children got some “swag,” then came a lone breakaway rider followed 90 seconds later by the blur of the peloton. On the flat stages, its incredible how quickly 160 riders can go past you.

Following the tour passage, everyone moved to the parking lot for biers, frites and sandwiches at a fundraiser for Villlenave D’Ornan sports teams. We did our little part to help their efforts.

Thank you, Villenave D’Ornan for sharing you race day with us. We had a wonderful time.

Aloha Friday, July 23, 2010

It was simply a wonderful day at the TdF. This morning started out with just a few clouds in the sky and mild temperatures. Our tram trip to le Tour starting line was halted about two-thirds of the way there because the Line B tram that we’d hope to transfer to had been stopped by the tour route, but a nice little morning walked resolved that issue. As we approached Place des Quinconces, it quickly became obvious that our morning sun had turned into a pretty good rain shower and once again, our trusty umbrella was back in the room. The rain, fortunately, was brief and as soon as it let up, we headed for the starting line. It was barely 10:00 and the crowds were already starting to build; it seemed they were composed mostly of organized cycling tour groups.

One issue with going to France to watch the Tour de France is that unless we want to spend a lot of money and time looking at your iPhone, we really see much less coverage of the race on TV than we do at home, waking up early, like 4 a.m., and watching it Versus TV. During July, Phil Ligget, Paul Sherwin and Bob Roll sort of become welcome old friends in our house. So imagine my surprise and excitement to see Phil and Paul coming out of a trailer in the media area. What charming gentlemen they were to take a bit of time out of their busy schedules to chat with a couple of loyal fans.

It was going on 11:30 and we knew bus service on the No. 15 was schedule to stop at 1:00 p.m., so we headed for our ride south. Things were ticking along until, about 10 stops from our intended terminus, a bus passing in the opposite direction, flagged down our driver and they exchanged a few words. Next thing we knew, everyone was getting off and we were back to being “pedes”—well short of our intended stopping point. As it turned out, this was a rather serendipitous event.

Our intended destination was Cadaujac where we had been the day before, but according to GPS Randy, that destination was close to 5 kilometers away. Laurel had packed us a “mix”—fromage et jambon–sandwich for lunch and we knew of your basic Target store equivalent just across the expressway, so we headed there to grab a bottle of wine for lunch. People were already beginning to line the streets, a traffic circle had been decorated at this location and several tents had been erected in the super market parking lot. As it turns out, we were right in the middle of a celebration in the small village of Villenave D’Ornan. The town band was there along with a couple of classes of school children, chanting, cheering everything that moved and generally having a swell time. Every time the band stopped playing for more the five minutes, they’d break into a mantra of “la musique, la musique…”

The advertising caravan passed, make sure all the children got some “swag,” then came a lone breakaway rider followed 90 seconds later by the blur of the peloton. On the flat stages, its incredible how quickly 160 riders can go past you.

Following the tour passage, everyone moved to the parking lot for biers, frites and sandwiches at a fundraiser for Villlenave D’Ornan sports teams. We did our little part to help their efforts.

Thank you, Villenave D’Ornan for sharing you race day with us. We had a wonderful time.