View Full Version : Spectators on the Tour
Spectators on the Tour
I'm watching some excerpts from the 1988 tour and on one
stage I was amazed (if naive) to see on one mountain stage
(Alpe d' Huez?) where the road was so crowded with people
that the motorcycles couldn't even stay ahead of the bikers,
and in trying to part the crowd, a group of four riders
actually had to slow and coast. One of the officials(?) on
the back of one of the motorcycles had to signal something
to the riders, can't tell what, but it appears to slow down
(!). (The vid was from Netherlands and thus not in English).
That's gotta be majorly frustrating - or is it not uncommon?
In an adjacent clip one guy goes out and slaps a rider in
the butt. Amazing how the riders don't seem distracted by
this ****e; pardon my french. ;-p
-B
> I'm watching some excerpts from the 1988 tour and on one
> stage I was
amazed
> (if naive) to see on one mountain stage (Alpe d' Huez?)
> where the road was so crowded with people that the
> motorcycles couldn't even stay ahead of
the
> bikers, and in trying to part the crowd, a group of four
> riders actually had to slow and coast. One of the
> officials(?) on the back of one of the motorcycles had to
> signal something to the riders, can't tell what, but it
> appears to slow down (!). (The vid was from Netherlands
> and thus not in English).
>
> That's gotta be majorly frustrating - or is it not
> uncommon?
>
> In an adjacent clip one guy goes out and slaps a rider in
> the butt.
Amazing
> how the riders don't seem distracted by this ****e; pardon
> my french. ;-p
Crowd-control is a major issue on the mountain climbs,
particularly the final climb when the finish is on top. The
Pyrenees are actually known for crazier crowd behavior than
the Alps, although there is so much concern regarding the TT
up Alpe d'Huez this year that they're making an effort to
control the number of people on the hill by limiting access
to the entire region (basically closing off roads to not
only cars but cyclists as well, very early in the morning).
They do have crowd control down almost to an art though.
There's a definite sequence that involves some cars moving
through at high speed a couple minutes ahead of the riders,
then a few motorcycles and then, just ahead of the riders,
some "sweeper" motorcycles that drive a very precise route
fairly close to the edge of the road, moving people out of
the way. They do *not* move out of the way of the crowd;
rather, the crowd *must* move out of their way... or else.
If taking photos, one must be very careful not to be leaning
out too far when they come through... I was trying to get a
low-angle shot once, and I don't think there was more than a
couple inches between the motorcycle and my head.
If you'd like to know what it's *really* like to see the TDF
on a mountain, check out this link on our website-
www.ChainReaction.com/tdfwatching.htm
--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
"Badger_South" <Badger@South.net> wrote in message
news:1iqoe0l73loapaked6aq08paj5nd59usun@4ax.com...
>
> I'm watching some excerpts from the 1988 tour and on one
> stage I was
amazed
> (if naive) to see on one mountain stage (Alpe d' Huez?)
> where the road was so crowded with people that the
> motorcycles couldn't even stay ahead of
the
> bikers, and in trying to part the crowd, a group of four
> riders actually had to slow and coast. One of the
> officials(?) on the back of one of the motorcycles had to
> signal something to the riders, can't tell what, but it
> appears to slow down (!). (The vid was from Netherlands
> and thus not in English).
>
> That's gotta be majorly frustrating - or is it not
> uncommon?
>
> In an adjacent clip one guy goes out and slaps a rider in
> the butt.
Amazing
> how the riders don't seem distracted by this ****e; pardon
> my french. ;-p
>
> -B
hell someone in the crowd waving a hat caught Lance's
handlebar and caused him to fall. they should have been run
over by the bike (G)
--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes Custom made wooden planes
at reasonable prices See http://www.knight-toolworks.com (http://www.knight-toolworks.com/) For
prices and ordering instructions.
On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:50:03 GMT, Steve Knight
<stevek@knight-toolworks.com> wrote:
>hell someone in the crowd waving a hat caught Lance's
>handlebar and caused him to fall. they should have been run
>over by the bike (G)
OMG, you don't mean today? If it's what I think you
mean, it was some old lady's handbag strap, according to
what I read....
You wouldn't believe the kinds of things that happen,
though. Just looking at the footage that one poster
suggested from the binary groups it was hard to watch. They
had a 'greatest crash footage' montage from some stages
back in the 80s. People just running out into the road and
stuff, one guy expecting the biker to ride around him
apparently, but the guy (duh) riding was concentrating on
his finishing sprint.
-B please say it wasn't today! (I missed the end of the
stage to go ride)
Badger wrote:
> please say it wasn't today! (I missed the end of the stage
> to go ride)
I'm pretty sure Steve was talking about the 2003
musette bag incident. (That just can't happen ever
again. No way.)
--Karen M.
On 8 Jul 2004 16:31:27 -0700, kmssavage@earthlink.net (Karen M.) wrote:
>Badger wrote:
>
>> please say it wasn't today! (I missed the end of the
>> stage to go ride)
>
>
> I'm pretty sure Steve was talking about the 2003
> musette bag incident. (That just can't happen ever
> again. No way.)
>
>--Karen M.
Whew. Today's race had a lot of crashes. Listening to it
over the streaming feed was like watching ice skaters (which
I can't do). Makes me nervous. I hadn't followed a tour as
I'm doing this year, but in reviewing the clips from
previous years and then today's crash of two of the US
riders it apparently happens a lot.
One of the sprint finishes I was watching from the 80s (88?)
one of the riders started to lose it but then managed to
save it by putting out both feet like an outrigger, and
managed to stay up.
Of course there's the famous one from the 50s, where the guy
went over a 200 foot cliff. They showed him being
interviewed in front of a plaque that they put on the side
of the cliff for him. (Forget the specifics, and his name -
maybe someone remembers).
I've seen a clip of Lance's famous ride through the fields
in one race where he jumps a ditch and rejoins the pack.
I had no idea the Tour was more like a combination of bike
racing and the annual 'running of the bulls'. ;-D
-B
> I'm pretty sure Steve was talking about the 2003
> musette bag incident. (That just can't happen ever
> again. No way.)
right. that person should have been beaten with a tire pump
(G)
--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes Custom made wooden planes
at reasonable prices See http://www.knight-toolworks.com (http://www.knight-toolworks.com/) For
prices and ordering instructions.
Karen M. wrote:
> Badger wrote:
>
>> please say it wasn't today! (I missed the end of the
>> stage to go ride)
>
>
> I'm pretty sure Steve was talking about the 2003
> musette bag incident. (That just can't happen ever
> again. No way.)
Tell ya what, though -- right at the end of today's sprint,
some yahoo is waving a flag or hanky right in the face of
the leading rider! He just sort of ducked/deflected it, but
it's beyond me why they allow fans to (almost) interfere
like that.
Bill "would have been UGLY (in terms of race results impact)
if he'd gone down then" S.
On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 21:14:41 -0400, Badger_South <Badger@South.net>
wrote:
>Of course there's the famous one from the 50s, where the
>guy went over a 200 foot cliff. They showed him being
>interviewed in front of a plaque that they put on the side
>of the cliff for him. (Forget the specifics, and his name -
>maybe someone remembers).
Probably the most famous crash in the Tour was Luis Ocana,
who would have/should have beaten Eddie Merckx in 1971. He
blew Eddie off his wheel and took almost nine minutes out of
him to lead by eight. Three stages later he crashed and was
subsequently struck by several other riders, and forced to
retire with a almost insurmountable lead.
He won a few years later. Stunning suicide at the time
in the 90s.
Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...
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