Tour de France - Prologue and Stage 1
I am exhausted, achey but very happy. We had a fabulous day at the Prologue yesterday and you can see some of the photos here: Flickr photos
Sadly, due to total exhaustion and the length of time it took us to get out of London yesterday (Transport for London really needs to be shot for taking out two thirds of the trains going in my direction, particularly as those were also the trains that were servicing Wembley Stadium) none of us were in any fit state to get up and drive anywhere this morning. So we watched the whole of Stage 1 on TV instead :-)
But the Prologue was fabulous. We went up to London early and managed to get ourselves a fantastic vantage point. We were on the green and leafy, park side of South Carriage Drive. I've heard that people had trouble getting over there - all I can say is that it paid to arrive well before 11am because we had no problems finding a crossing point. One of the big reasons that I wanted to be there early for the Prologue was because I knew that the riders would be doing their warm-ups around the course. It's always a great chance to get photos. If you're just there for the spectacle then there probably isn't much to see at stage starts or the lead-up to time-trials. If you've been following the sport for a long time then it's a chance to see your heroes riding a little slower so that you can actually identify them.
Riders started appearing for warm-ups shortly after we arrived. We were still setting up camp (almost literally - we had stools, snacks and drinks) when the Astana boys came out to play. I'm sure Vino was lurking somewhere in the groups we saw riding around :-) Our chosen spot was lovely and shady, and just before the corner onto Exhibition Drive. The people actually on the corner had obviously been there for hours when we arrived!
The publicity caravan came by around 1pm, complete with dancers in feathers, Aquarel's very oddly shaped vehicles and plenty of people trying to decapitate spectators with badly aimed goodies. The Haribo sweets did taste good, though :-)
The riders continued their warm-ups until a little before three and then the time-trial started. Mum remarked afterwards that at 3pm she had looked at her watch and thought "How am I going to stay interested in three hours of this?" and then suddenly it was 5.50pm and the last riders were starting to come through. It's amazing just how exciting and absorbing it can be to watch 189 riders trying to beat the clock. The time passes without you even noticing.
I shouted myself horse of those three hours and took a ton of photos, some of which aren't too blurry :-) I clapped and shouted for everyone, but my heroes (Zabel, Vino, McEwan, Millar, Wiggins, Hushovd, Leipheimer, Hincapie, Voigt et al) got me cheering so loudly that I now have rather a sore throat ;-)
After Oscar Pereiro had come through, we packed up the food and stools and wandered off to the nearby big screen to find out who won. Fabien Cancellara had been doing an absolutely storming ride as he came past us so it's no surprise that he won. Brilliant.
After that, we had to get home. This was much harder than we thought it would be. Our first hurdle was that all the nearby Tube stations were closed. Da had planned for us to walk down to South Kensington, which we did, only to find the barriers up. We ended up walking to Kensington High Street, but the diversion added about a mile and a half to our walk and we were all feeling distinctly exhausted by the time we got there. The Tube wasn't particularly crowded and my walking stick scored Mum and I seats each time.
Then we got to Marylebone and tried to get a train. Erm. There are two possible train lines we can use, but they'd closed one for track improvements. Not a good weekend to do so - between the Tour, Live Earth, Wimbledon and a Justin Timberlake concert, there were five times the usual number of people trying to leave and they only had a third of the number of trains. The trains they did have were short little things. We were rather sardine-like when we finally got on a train. When we got to Wembley station, there were a few people coming out of the concert early and they'd apparently already missed two trains that were too packed to let them on. They swore rather a lot at us when we couldn't squash up enough to allow them on.
I do feel a little sorry for them, though. I'm wondering whether some of them just got stuck there because I can't imagine the train situation improved at all later. Transport for London definitely has some explaining to do about that one.
Despite setting out a little after 6pm, we didn't get home until nearly 10pm and we were too exhausted to get out to the stage today (which would have involved getting up at around 3am).
So we watched it on TV.
Absolutely excellent stage :-))))
It was great to see David Millar out there, doing his best, after yesterday's slightly disappointing ride. There was never any chance that he'd stay out in the break - the peloton has too much respect for his ability to let him get that kind of time on them - but he still did a fabulous job. Getting the King of the Mountains jersey is the icing on the cake.
As for the stage winner....I said about ten minutes before the stage finish that, if anyone could come from several minutes behind the pack to win it, it was Robbie McEwan. Still didn't expect it! That man can weave through gaps like nobody else and he really does do better when he doesn't have his team leading him out. Dad and I were yelling out heads off when we spotted him and I am so pleased. It was an amazing victory. There really is nobody like him :-)
This is going to be such a good Tour :-)
Sadly, due to total exhaustion and the length of time it took us to get out of London yesterday (Transport for London really needs to be shot for taking out two thirds of the trains going in my direction, particularly as those were also the trains that were servicing Wembley Stadium) none of us were in any fit state to get up and drive anywhere this morning. So we watched the whole of Stage 1 on TV instead :-)
But the Prologue was fabulous. We went up to London early and managed to get ourselves a fantastic vantage point. We were on the green and leafy, park side of South Carriage Drive. I've heard that people had trouble getting over there - all I can say is that it paid to arrive well before 11am because we had no problems finding a crossing point. One of the big reasons that I wanted to be there early for the Prologue was because I knew that the riders would be doing their warm-ups around the course. It's always a great chance to get photos. If you're just there for the spectacle then there probably isn't much to see at stage starts or the lead-up to time-trials. If you've been following the sport for a long time then it's a chance to see your heroes riding a little slower so that you can actually identify them.
Riders started appearing for warm-ups shortly after we arrived. We were still setting up camp (almost literally - we had stools, snacks and drinks) when the Astana boys came out to play. I'm sure Vino was lurking somewhere in the groups we saw riding around :-) Our chosen spot was lovely and shady, and just before the corner onto Exhibition Drive. The people actually on the corner had obviously been there for hours when we arrived!
The publicity caravan came by around 1pm, complete with dancers in feathers, Aquarel's very oddly shaped vehicles and plenty of people trying to decapitate spectators with badly aimed goodies. The Haribo sweets did taste good, though :-)
The riders continued their warm-ups until a little before three and then the time-trial started. Mum remarked afterwards that at 3pm she had looked at her watch and thought "How am I going to stay interested in three hours of this?" and then suddenly it was 5.50pm and the last riders were starting to come through. It's amazing just how exciting and absorbing it can be to watch 189 riders trying to beat the clock. The time passes without you even noticing.
I shouted myself horse of those three hours and took a ton of photos, some of which aren't too blurry :-) I clapped and shouted for everyone, but my heroes (Zabel, Vino, McEwan, Millar, Wiggins, Hushovd, Leipheimer, Hincapie, Voigt et al) got me cheering so loudly that I now have rather a sore throat ;-)
After Oscar Pereiro had come through, we packed up the food and stools and wandered off to the nearby big screen to find out who won. Fabien Cancellara had been doing an absolutely storming ride as he came past us so it's no surprise that he won. Brilliant.
After that, we had to get home. This was much harder than we thought it would be. Our first hurdle was that all the nearby Tube stations were closed. Da had planned for us to walk down to South Kensington, which we did, only to find the barriers up. We ended up walking to Kensington High Street, but the diversion added about a mile and a half to our walk and we were all feeling distinctly exhausted by the time we got there. The Tube wasn't particularly crowded and my walking stick scored Mum and I seats each time.
Then we got to Marylebone and tried to get a train. Erm. There are two possible train lines we can use, but they'd closed one for track improvements. Not a good weekend to do so - between the Tour, Live Earth, Wimbledon and a Justin Timberlake concert, there were five times the usual number of people trying to leave and they only had a third of the number of trains. The trains they did have were short little things. We were rather sardine-like when we finally got on a train. When we got to Wembley station, there were a few people coming out of the concert early and they'd apparently already missed two trains that were too packed to let them on. They swore rather a lot at us when we couldn't squash up enough to allow them on.
I do feel a little sorry for them, though. I'm wondering whether some of them just got stuck there because I can't imagine the train situation improved at all later. Transport for London definitely has some explaining to do about that one.
Despite setting out a little after 6pm, we didn't get home until nearly 10pm and we were too exhausted to get out to the stage today (which would have involved getting up at around 3am).
So we watched it on TV.
Absolutely excellent stage :-))))
It was great to see David Millar out there, doing his best, after yesterday's slightly disappointing ride. There was never any chance that he'd stay out in the break - the peloton has too much respect for his ability to let him get that kind of time on them - but he still did a fabulous job. Getting the King of the Mountains jersey is the icing on the cake.
As for the stage winner....I said about ten minutes before the stage finish that, if anyone could come from several minutes behind the pack to win it, it was Robbie McEwan. Still didn't expect it! That man can weave through gaps like nobody else and he really does do better when he doesn't have his team leading him out. Dad and I were yelling out heads off when we spotted him and I am so pleased. It was an amazing victory. There really is nobody like him :-)
This is going to be such a good Tour :-)