The Peloton
This year’s Tour de France is turning into a cracker. Most of the stages have been really exciting, with brave break-away challenges being pulled back at the very last moment. Watching once such recapture a few days ago, it occurred to me to wonder what the peloton sounds like. You don’t get any sense of the sound from the TV coverage, but I imagine that if you are desperately clinging to a slender lead, the metallic hiss of chain on chainring and rumble of tyre on tarmac of the 200-odd bikes bearing down on you must feel like being pursued by a huge and hungry python.
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I visited a stage last summer... and the sound is amazing and hard to describe. You come close, but the sound of the crowd is also one to bear in mind.
BTW you're right... this tour is amazing, and much more exciting than last year.
I was very surprised by the performance of Hamilton today. As a dutch TV commentator said today, "we can hardly believe his good performance if he has truely a broken collarbone... We want to see the pictures!"
I guess tomorrows' stage will be a long escape.. and because the 14th of July is a national holiday in France, I tip a Frenchman for the day victory.----- [ha and by tomorrow, I mean today of course... better go to bed now
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by TbosS @ 13/07/2003 11:07 pm • Permalink •
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You lucky thing! I'd love to see a couple of stages of the tour in person.
Judging by the packed crowds, it's getting more and more popular. Tyler Hamilton is absolutely amazing: he was pushing Armstrong all the way to the top. That would be hard if you are fully fit, but with broken bones... I wouldn't be surprised now if he won a stage or two.
by bsag @ 14/07/2003 7:08 am • Permalink •
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haven't seen the Tour, but there once was a road race thingy in Cambridge, when I lived there. The great thing that there was no motorized traffic at all - an incredible event in itself, so the sounds were just great. I would imagine that there are too many petrol and diesel powered objects around on the actual Tour.
Why don't the riders die of exhaust fumes? Or are all the vehicles modified...
by pete @ 16/07/2003 10:07 am • Permalink •
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