Le Tour de France

What a great weekend!

First of all - we FINALLY had decent weather! No, it wasn't 100 degrees, but we did get above 70 for at least a couple of minutes, but best of all - no rain! Hurray! On top of that, for the first time in history Le Grande Depart (the starting race for Le Tour de France) took place in London!

It all started on Saturday... there was loads of festivities taking place in London, but most importantly was the Prologue. Each competitor in the race is timed on a 7.9 km route through the city - past London's most significant, historical buildings. The entire thing takes over 3 hours, but each rider's time through the track is between 9-10 minutes. The fastest time for this first part of the race earns the right to wear the famous yellow jersey (worn by the previous day's winner) for the official start of the race - which took place on Sunday.

First we watched the racers as they warmed up - taking a lap or two along the route (pictured below & in the slide show above).

Another slide show of photos: Put the courser on the photos as they scroll through and you'll be able to read the photo caption! This one shows some photos of the actual prologue race - it was hard to capture decent photos of the actual race as these guys can CRUIZE!

This sign was ironic to me... as there were THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of bikes in the city!

Here we are... as the prologue gets underway!

Sunday - The Official Start of the Race

It was quite convenient for us as the official start of Le Tour de France began in Greenwich! We didn't have to take mass transit to get there... in fact, we just walked through Greenwich Park with our friends Tony and Beth, and found a great place along the race to hang out!

Micah and Beth decided to stag a "higher view" so they climbed on the fence behind us to watch! We hung out for 45 minutes or so... waiting for the racers to arrive.
We could hear the roar of the crowd as the bikers approached, wizzing by at speeds over 20 mph! (And to think that they go that fast consistently for 203 km!)
And they're off... And the just keep on coming! Within seconds the majority of the group (the peloton) has gone by and within 5 minutes - all the riders are gone, gone, gone... and on the road to Canterbury - where Stage 1 ended.

More photos of fun in Greenwich with all of the festivities:

After enjoying the hype in Greenwich, we walked to the pier and watched the race a bit more... on a huge screen with live televised broadcasting of the progress.
In Closing - Some fun facts about the Tour:
1 - The first was held in 1903, was 2,195 km long, in 6 stages. This years race is 3,550 km over 20 stages!
2 - Though the Tour tends to encourage cycling as a way to stay healthy AND be better for the environment, there are over 120 trucks that transport equipment and 4,500 people working the tour every day... meaning a lot of pollution during the transportation of this race!!
3 - France has won the most tours (36), but Lance Armstorng holds the current record for number of wins by an individual (7).
4 - Tour ends on July 29, as they finish on Paris' Champs Elysees, which leads to the Arc de Triomphe. An excellent start in London and a perfect ending in Paris!