Who didn't see the Tour

Coming home today on the train from Petersfield, it seemed the whole
world had been at leTour - the guard, the refreshment trolly man, the
chap I sat next to, and the couple opposite.
They had all been and were ecstatic about the excitement of the event..

I then called in our local butcher to find he too was wearing a leTour
T-Shirt.

Incredible.
If you coudnt get there you missed out on some real cycling history.

John B

"John B" wrote in message
...
Coming home today on the train from Petersfield, it seemed the whole
world had been at leTour - the guard, the refreshment trolly man, the
chap I sat next to, and the couple opposite.
They had all been and were ecstatic about the excitement of the event..

I then called in our local butcher to find he too was wearing a leTour
T-Shirt.

Incredible.
If you coudnt get there you missed out on some real cycling history.

According to reports on the BBC, two million people turned up to watch. Is
there any other sporting event in the UK which generates such popular
support? Which of course raises the question of why the media think that it
is something to be ignored usually?

"John B" wrote in message
...
Coming home today on the train from Petersfield, it seemed the whole
world had been at leTour - the guard, the refreshment trolly man, the
chap I sat next to, and the couple opposite.
They had all been and were ecstatic about the excitement of the event..

I then called in our local butcher to find he too was wearing a leTour
T-Shirt.

Incredible.
If you coudnt get there you missed out on some real cycling history.

John B


I saw a bit of it on TV. I don't have digital so I was rationed to watching
the last bit as the riders approached Canterbury. The sporting group of the
local cycling club organised a ride to Tunbridge Wells and I was considering
joining them but the thought of trying to keep up with them for 70 miles on
a mountain bike put me off.

Adam

On Jul 9, 11:02 pm, "Adam Lea" wrote:
"John B" wrote in message

...

Coming home today on the train from Petersfield, it seemed the whole
world had been at leTour - the guard, the refreshment trolly man, the
chap I sat next to, and the couple opposite.
They had all been and were ecstatic about the excitement of the event..

I then called in our local butcher to find he too was wearing a leTour
T-Shirt.

Incredible.
If you coudnt get there you missed out on some real cycling history.

John B

I saw a bit of it on TV. I don't have digital so I was rationed to watching
the last bit as the riders approached Canterbury. The sporting group of the
local cycling club organised a ride to Tunbridge Wells and I was considering
joining them but the thought of trying to keep up with them for 70 miles on
a mountain bike put me off.

Adam

Le Tour is _THE_ reason for getting digied up, IMHO.

John B wrote:
Coming home today on the train from Petersfield, it seemed the whole
world had been at leTour - the guard, the refreshment trolly man, the
chap I sat next to, and the couple opposite.
They had all been and were ecstatic about the excitement of the event..

I then called in our local butcher to find he too was wearing a leTour
T-Shirt.

Incredible.
If you coudnt get there you missed out on some real cycling history.

John B

I rode to Dartford. A round trip of 87 miles. I even got to ride a
stretch of the route, with the roads closed off and the police clapping
and cheering as I went past. Had a superb day... the crowd was awesome,
and the people around me were generally interested in the goings on.

Even the calls on the way home from drivers shouting "France is that way
mate!" made me laugh, each and every time.

It's the first time I'd been to that area on bike, and Shooters Hill was
a joy to descend early on a Sunday morning.....

John B said the following on 09/07/2007 22:29:
Coming home today on the train from Petersfield, it seemed the whole
world had been at leTour - the guard, the refreshment trolly man, the
chap I sat next to, and the couple opposite.

Tour? What tour? :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

in message , John B ')
wrote:

Coming home today on the train from Petersfield, it seemed the whole
world had been at leTour - the guard, the refreshment trolly man, the
chap I sat next to, and the couple opposite.
They had all been and were ecstatic about the excitement of the event..

I then called in our local butcher to find he too was wearing a leTour
T-Shirt.

Incredible.
If you coudnt get there you missed out on some real cycling history.

I didn't see the Tour. It's a long way, I don't like crowds, and I work on
two stage races every year (and organise a number of smaller events).
However...

Crowds over the weekend are now being estimated at more than four million.
If that is so, 8% of the whole population of England - of the whole of
England - turned out to watch. The number on the roadside on Sunday
exceeded the whole population of Kent.

More people went to watch the Tour than went to watch all events of the
Athens Olympics put together. The number of people who went to watch the
tour is double the capacity of all the football stadiums in England put
together.

And bike racing 'isn't popular' in Britain?

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; If any council in the country has anything to say to cyclists
;; about cycle paths, it should be: "We are terribly, terribly sorry."
- Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 13th Sept 2006

In article , Simon
Brooke writes

Crowds over the weekend are now being estimated at more than four million.
If that is so, 8% of the whole population of England - of the whole of
England - turned out to watch. The number on the roadside on Sunday
exceeded the whole population of Kent.

Huge numbers of foreigners including French, Spanish, Italians, Germans,
Dutch, Aussies and Americans were also present, judging from the many
accents and tongues I heard from my various vantage points.

First of all I was near the start on Whitehall, then at the south east
corner of Buckingham Palace - directly across the course from Didi Senft
(El Diablo) who was shouting up a storm, then the Mall and finally St
James Park flat out in front of the big screen, which had the best view
of the lot.
--
congokid
Eating out in London? Read my tips...
http://congokid.com

On Jul 10, 9:04 am, Simon Brooke wrote:

Crowds over the weekend are now being estimated at more than four million.
If that is so, 8% of the whole population of England - of the whole of
England - turned out to watch. The number on the roadside on Sunday
exceeded the whole population of Kent.

You can see me on the telly at the top of the Quarry Hill climb by
going to http://tour.itv.com/. Click the Video button and select
"Stage 1 - McEwen's Kent comeback". At exactly 19:00 minutes I am on
the left in a steward's hi-viz orange vest, wearing shorts, sunglasses
and an official Tour cap. I yelled something like "Go, Dave, go" as
they shot past and one "go" is clearly audible on the soundtrack. :-)

--
Dave...

dkahn400 wrote:

You can see me on the telly at the top of the Quarry Hill climb by
going to http://tour.itv.com/. Click the Video button and select
"Stage 1 - McEwen's Kent comeback". At exactly 19:00 minutes I am on
the left in a steward's hi-viz orange vest, wearing shorts, sunglasses
and an official Tour cap. I yelled something like "Go, Dave, go" as
they shot past and one "go" is clearly audible on the soundtrack. :-)

Autographs, autographs ;-)

John B