Le Tour de France--100 Years

Summer 2009 was a non-blogging summer when life was too busy with living to get to my computer for writing.  Which means that I didn't get to blog about my first experience with Le Tour de France when it came through Marseille.  Here's how I felt about Le Tour:

Back before Marseille was the Cultural Capital of Europe and no tourists would come here, one could easily get right up front at the start line of Le Tour de France to be close to the action.  Seriously, look at this photo.  I was about 30 feet from the start line for that day's leg, and could see the colored shirts taking off.  I knew there was meaning to the white with red polka dots (far left), the yellow shirt (middle), green shirt (to the left of the policeman), and the white shirt (just over the shoulder of the policeman), but I didn't know what the meanings were.  I at least knew enough to know that wearing yellow on Tour days makes me feel like a winner.  I didn't know until this year how cool this photo that I took four years ago is.  Look at all four shirts right there in front of me!  Close enough to reach out and touch!  The thing that was the most fun for me about Le Tour in 2009 was how close I was to everything.  I entirely missed the caravan of sponsors, and only heard about it.  I didn't even mind, because I was so thrilled to have such an up-close spot to watch the start.

Two more years went by and I got to watch Le Tour finish in Paris.  The closest I got to seeing the colored shirts was the big video screen.  While I did get to see the caravan that year, they weren't throwing things out to the crowd on the Champs-Elysées.  Maybe it would cause a riot?  Who knows.  But the thing that was most fun that year was the energy on the Champs and watching the peloton wooshing by over and over as they circled the Champs before the ultimate finish.

So fast forward back to present day, when Le Tour was once again passing through Marseille.  Yay!  This time, instead of going by the Vieux Port, the peloton was entering the city from the east, over the hills, down avenue du Prado, circling the David statue at the beach, and crossing the finish line at the Park Borely.  (To answer my Dad's question if that is near my house--no, it's not.  It's very near where I used to live before I moved last year.  But nothing is that far in Marseille.)  I got down to Prado and found some friends about 2 kms from the finish line at the park.  We found a shaded spot with no one leaning against the barricades and decided to camp out there.  Seeing the finish line would be cool, but I didn't feel like fighting the crowds and not being able to see the cyclists.  So we stayed where we were.

We got there just in time for the caravan of sponsors.  The caravan is a part of the history of Le Tour, when businesses precede the cyclists advertising their product by throwing out free stuff.  Who doesn't love free stuff?!  If you look at this photo closely, you can see a white keychain flying through the air (in the trees in the middle of the photo).  

I really hoped for some Haribo gummy bears but all the kids around me beat me to the chase to snatch up the packets that were thrown to us.

As each sponsor goes by, they throw things out to the crowd.  Water bottles, newspapers, lots of hats, pins, magnets, and so much more.  I didn't get the Bic pens (actually useful!) that I'd hoped to get.  I did, however, get: two hats, lemonade syrup to add to a water bottle, a cozy, an inflatable waterproof pillow (perfect for that backyard swimming pool that I don't have), madeline cookies, a cow keychain, a mobile phone keychain, and a Tour magnet.  Here's one of the summer interns wearing one of the hats I got (which I gave to her as she was seeing how many she could get).

Here's me in the hat that I got and um...the free condom that was also thrown at me.  Gee...thanks?  I passed that on to an undisclosed married friend.

Some of the biggest entertainment that day was watching the summer interns go CRAZY for the free stuff from the caravan.  These three were on the other side of the street from us, where there were hardly any people at all--giving them a bigger advantage to catch the free stuff thrown out.  (On my side, there was a mad dash every time to see who get to the items that weren't caught mid-air.  Which is how I didn't get any Haribo gummies.  I'm not going to fight off a 7 year old for gummy bears, as much as I love them.)  

These interns would stand on the barricade, one of them holding open a bag in the air, one pointing into the bag as the cars and floats would go by, and the third waving to get their attention.  Let me tell you--that bag was FULL when the caravan finally finished. I'm glad they had so much fun.  It increased my fun level by several measures just watching them!

About an hour later, we saw the helicopter overhead and knew the peloton was arriving.  (Well, that and all the French around us exclaiming, "Ils arrivent!"  (They're coming!)  Here's the terrible photo I got of their approach.

Here they go whoosing by towards the finish line.

There were a few stragglers after the peloton.  The crowds were all super supportive of each straggler, cheering them on to keep going and finish.

I left Prado and headed over to Aix-en-Provence to spend the 4th there and watch Le Tour kick off the next day.  Mr. X and I got up and arrived at the start line right as the caravan was coming through.  I got some more flavored syrup for my water bottle and he got a magnet.  I guess I wasn't destined to get any Haribo this year.  

After the caravan, we waited the hour or so until the start.  We were just up from the start line (you can see it in the upper right corner of this photo).  Right next to us was the woman who rides near the cyclists with a chalkboard, letting them know how many kilometers they have left in the stage for the day.  

I told Mr. X I wasn't going to take any photos because I just wanted to watch.  I wanted to see the four colored shirts.  I didn't realize they'd all be lined up in a row going nice and slow for me to spot with ease.  Here's a photo he captured from the video he took.

The white shirt with red polka dots is given to "the king of the mountains," who was the best climber of the day.  The white shirt is given to the best young person (under 26 years old) of the day.  The green shirt is given to the person with the most points.  The yellow shirt is given to the person with the overall lowest time in the race.  Even if a person wins the stage of the day, they might not win the yellow shirt. The winners of the shirts get to wear that color the next day.  Some times they give a "most competitive" award as well, but they don't get a special shirt, but a special colored number sticker.

After I saw all the four shirts take off in a row, me and Mr. X took off to head to another part of town to meet up with Mrs. X and watch Le Tour pass by again.  We got there just in time to see another whoosh.  Here they are.

We went back to their house and watched Le Tour on tv.  It's a good thing I don't have a television, because I think I would watch all four hours every day for the whole three weeks of Le Tour.  It's so neat seeing the countryside of France, and watching the peloton move in such a fluid movement.  I especially like watching them go around round-a-bouts, as they split the round-a-bout as they go around.  It's also really neat to see how the teams work as a team to support their leader and at the same time be competitive against the other teams.

Getting to ride in the caravan for a whole Tour was added to my life bucket list.  Not sure how I'm going to manage that one, but oh man.  I'd love to ride around the whole country and throw free stuff out to people!  Next year, I hope to go to see Le Tour pass by on a countryside road where there are no barricades.  I also hope to see another finish...I'll fight the crowds for the finish line next time.

I'm definitely becoming a Tour junkie.