The Blur de France

The tour de France came to Germany this year and we took the opportunity to go watch a stage. Ale checked the schedule and found that it started at 10am. We were about 30km from the start, so we estimated a 10:40ish arrival of the riders.



After getting up at the ass-crack of dawn and walking 6km up to the top of a category 3 climb, we set up base camp about 9:45 and waited for the riders. And we had a beer. . . . ah beer before 10am . . . glorious.






Finally about 10:45, we heard a roar coming up the mountain! Was it the riders? Oh no, it was the parade of sponsors. For the next 45 minutes every conceivable product was thrown from oddly shaped and brighlty painted trinkets-and-trash mobiles that whipped by often upwards of 50km per hour.

The utter lack of concern was truly impressive.

They threw hats, candies, pens . . . and beer! Can you imagine a parade with someone handing out beer to the all-ages crowd. Needless to say, I was impressed. In all honestly, all we got was a stupid Skoda hat and a can of beer. I really wanted the King of the Mountain hat but it wizzed by us and hit the old guy next to us. After he got hit by the hat, I didn't really feel like I could grab it before he did.

Several hours and countless "trips to the woods" later, the riders finally appeared. Now, I have to stress that we were in the front row on a bend so the riders went by within meters of us. I am talking all the big guns; Vino, Ulle, Floyd . . . and of course Lance.

But to be honest, I didn't see any of them. I mean, I am sure that they passed through my field of vision but I can't claim to have actually focused on any of them. Luckily, due to the magic of digital cameras and random picture snapping, I do have proof that they were there.

Please notice Jan Ullrich in the foreground and a little yellow jersey hidden in the back.