As i walked back from dinner to the hotel people were all over the streets with paint cans, brushes and rollers painting words in various languages and drawing picures of flags and phalluses among other things in preperation for the international television cameras and riders who were less than 20 hours away! Day 1 went out with a bang- as I was laying in bed I heard some explosions which turned out to be an impressive fireworks display out my window. Alpe d'Huez had certainly lived up to the high expectations I had of it so far.
The following morning I walked out the front of the hotel to find all preparations for the tour pretty much complete. Over 5kms of barriers had been put up overnight and covered with advertisements and the entire road was covered with paint. But most impressively of all was the number of people riding up the mountain. There was a constant stream of cyclists young, old, fat, skinny, male, female, you name it and they were riding up the mountain.
Between 10(when i got up) and 12(when they closed the road to everyone still 5 hours before the tour was due) atleast 20,000 cyclists must have ridden past. Sounds like a big number but considering estimates were that well over half a million were on the mountain for the tour for the day it's actually a pretty small percentage. And they weren't all riding expensive lightweight road bikes, there were mountain bikes, tandem bikes and even one guy with snow skis with wheels who was skiing up the mountain!
I went for a walk 3km down the mountain just taking it all in, people sleeping on deckchairs, drinking beer, playing cards-basically anything to kill time whilst reserving a prime viewing spot. The 3km back up the mountain was a lot harder. Despite being 3 degrees at night, when the sun was out it was just over 30 and sunny, actually a perfect day for watching the tour. The temperature differences are hard to get used to though, especially when you see people swimming and sun-baking at the public pool - right next to the outdoor ice rink with people skating on it, all with an amazing snow capped mountain backdrop.
But after over 24 hours on the mountain already, a late lunch and a couple of beers it was time to seriously get ready for the tour. So i got my camera out, got my Australian flag out and headed from the tv room at the hotel where we were watching the stage down about 15 steps and waited right there on the side of the road for the tour cars to arrive. For those of you who don't know jack about cycling, about 30-60 minutes before the riders arrive a huge entourage of merchandise and sponsor vehicles drive past playing music, beeping, waving and chucking free stuff out basically to get the crowd excited and to promote the sponsors. The cheap stuff they chuck into the crowds however are highly sought after 'tour de France souvenirs' and consequently it gets pretty hectic in the crowd trying to snag something cool to take home. It's safe to say my new Friend from Texas Jake and I got a little to into it when we were practically wrestling kids for a free hat.
To be continued...
That we did sir, that we did.
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