For a long time when I heard the Tour de France was coming to Yorkshire, I thought 'So what? Cycling's such a rubbish sport to watch in person, why would I want to stand around for hours waiting for riders who'll be past me in a flash, what's the point of that?'
This view wasn't entirely based on ignorance. Some of it was based on having been to see the Tour of Britain, where I was pretty bored on the whole. As far as my phillistine brain was concerned, it was 45 minutes of standing around on the Quayside in Newcastle and then it was all over. Much ado about nothing.
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| Closed roads - much safer to wander around on without looking behind you |
It's not that I mind waiting around generally. When I used to go to football I used to like to get there about 45 minutes early for kick-off, to feel the anticipation and to see the stadium fill up, to see the teams coming out etc.
With football, even if it's a bad game, you know you'll get your 90 minutes. The downside being that it's 90 minutes of football, and it has probably cost you an arm and a leg to get in. But getting to the scene of a bike race 5 hours early to see 20 seconds of action? How nuts is that? At least with a sport like Formula One if you miss them you know they'll be coming round again soon.
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| If you can't see over your fence, build some scaffolding! Simples! |
Well, if it is nuts, then after yesterday, I'm happy to be crazy. The good news is I'm in good company, because everyone else in Yorkshire is just as crazy as me.
What I discovered yesterday was that it's not all about the 20 seconds. There's so much more to it than that.
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| It's not every day you get to sit in the street for hours drinking red wine |
My venue of choice for the day was Ripon in North Yorkshire, partly so that I could meet Stephen, Mark and Gary there. Ripon is about halfway between where they live on Teesside and where I live in in Leeds.
I set off around 9 am to drive north to Ripon from Leeds (the riders weren't due through Ripon till after 4 pm), and it was during the drive up the A1, seeing hundreds of cars with bikes on the back, seeing the Team Cars heading for Leeds, it finally hit me. This isn't just any old bike race, this is the actual Tour de France.
Like the Olympics or the World Cup, there's something about the Tour de France that makes it much more than just a sporting event. It's impossible to define, but there's a magic to these events, that goes beyond running, riding a bike or kicking a ball. There's a feelgood factor which draws people together in ways that you can't explain. But usually, as with Steve Redgrave in 2000 and Mo Farah in 2012, my experience of these events doesn't go beyond sitting in a room jumping up and down and shouting at the telly.
So often Ripon is a place I'm rushing to get through on long bike rides on the way to somewhere else, I might pop into a shop for 5 minutes to buy a drink and something to eat, but I never really go there, in order to be in Ripon itself. Spending time yesterday at places such as the Water Rat on the riverside and the Racecourse were added bonuses of being there for the cycling. At one point I even had a pint of specially made beer called Black Sheep Velo. The others kept telling me it had a fruity taste to it, but it just tasted like beer to me.
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| Excuse me barman, this fruit juice tastes a bit beery... |
Of course Ripon looked at its best because of the great weather, and the collective good mood. The closed roads helped too, as it freed the place up for cyclists of all shapes and sizes, on all different kinds of bikes. From the heavily overweight, to young kids with their saddles at the wrong height, and people straining along on Aldi anvil specials, they all had one thing in common, and it was the same thing as the professionals. They were all just people who ride bikes. Like me.
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| The Tour de France - like a day at the races, except with less horses |
The whole of Yorkshire seemed to out on the roads, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. It was all smiles, even the people who were working or volunteering for the day, seemed happy and positive. There seemed not even to be any frustration or impatience from the countless small children who were there, and even the many waiting dogs seemed happy enough. Everyone was just waiting, and not complaining about the waiting. In fact, no-one complained about anything.
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| Oh No, it's Watership Down 2 - The Revenge! |
There was a bit of action a couple of hours prior to the riders coming through, cars with giant bunnies and Teddy bears and bags of Haribo on top started to come through. McCain were there too, probably throwing oven chips. And something you don't often see, the Police were so relaxed they were riding past high-fiving spectators.
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| Excuse me Officer, any chance of a fist pump? |
There was no us and them, like there can be at football, where sometimes the relationship between crowd and police can be adversarial. Yesterday, the Police seemed to be having as much fun as everyone else. The French Police were managing the race, and the crowd was managing itself, practising Mexican waves and taking selfies. The British Police seemed able to relax at a sporting event for once.
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| Check out the guy in the red - trying to be David Blaine... |
Most of my experiences of actually seeing sport live are ones where you have to pay to get in, and you've got an assigned seat and you're kept at a distance from the action. Certainly a lot further than at arm's length from the stars.
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| If we'd been any closer, we'd have got friction burns... |
By the time the riders finally arrived, and within 20 seconds were gone again, they seemed almost superfluous to the carnival atmosphere, although of course they were the star attraction. Just not a star attraction that you could see, because they were so fast.
When I ride, I'm a risk assessment on wheels. Especially in a group, I usually ride as if I'm expecting that anything can and will happen, so to see 197 riders go past in a blur within 20 seconds, with such proximity to the crowds all around, you could only admire their riding technique and their fearlessness.
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| Slow down! I'm trying to take a picture... |
I usually put the brakes on going downhill just in case, even on completely empty roads. If I can even see a sheep in a field, I've got my eye on him in case he makes a suicidal dash to throw himself under my wheels. I've had nightmares about hitting a cow side on.
These Tour de France riders are contending not just with the physical demands of riding, but with the overwhelming sensory overload from all sides, and yet they get through it, day after day.
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| If I'd stayed at home and watched it on TV, I would have missed this... |
The whole experience of yesterday had me reconsidering what it actually means to be a spectator
. According to the dictionary a Spectator is
a person who watches at a show, game, or other event whereas a Participant is
a person who takes part in something.
I used to think that being a spectator was just turning up and passively waiting to be entertained. But now I think that turning up to watch IS taking part.
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| Papier mache bikes - very light but not too good in the wet.. |
The Tour de France blurs the edges between participants and spectators like no other sporting event I've ever been to. Every rider, every bike, every village, every bit of bunting, every knitted yellow jersey, every polka dot coloured pub, every cheering child, or dozing dog, it all added something to the event that wouldn't be there without it. I hadn't understood that before.
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| Sharow - home of the Marianas Trench - special bonus visit |
I watched the ITV4 coverage of the event last night and this is what Gary Imlach said at the end of the show, about the day.
Well, we've had 3 members of the royal family, one Prime Minister, assorted dames, knights, MBEs CBEs, and cycling legends here at the Tour today, but they've all had to take second billing to the great British public, who've turned in one of the great spectating performances in Tour History.
Well done Yorkshire. I'm proud to have been there.
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