T

our de France

 

July 12 - 25, 1999











French flag




We are bicyclists but have never been particular enthousiasts of the greatest bicycle race of them all, the Tour de France. But soon after we arrived in France this annual multi-week event began. And watching it on TV became nearly "appointment" TV. It wasn't so much the bicycling itself, but everything that went with it: each day a view at another region of France, a chance to hear "real" people being interveriewed. Learning how the French treat what for them is a big event.

The tour ends, always ends, in Paris, with two turns up and down the Champs Elyeese. This year we were there. We weren't smart enough to come at 6 a.m. or whatever time it takes to get a good place. We had to squeeze in. When the cyclists came by we could only see them through a narrow window frame made of the necks of those more fortunates in front of us. Kaboom! Kamboom. They're coming. They're gone. And thus it was that we had a chance for the adrenilin to run, less than a second or two each of the two passes.




February 26, 2003