Watching Tour de France from the roadside

shaungil

By pure fluke I will be in the Vendee for the TDf this year. Day 1 goes by the campsite we're in about 4 miles from the start

Day 2 is about 10 miles away for the Team TT and Day3 goes by about 10 miles away also. I should say I planned this so I could see it but I didn't.

Anyway I'm there with the missus and 4 kids under 7 so need to figure out the best plan of action to watch this.

Am thinking Day 1 to go to grand Depart with kids (cycle up with them) and mill around and try to see some cyclists.

Day 2 head off by myself and watch

Day3 bring them to the roadside and watch it whizz by.

So Questions are can you get up close and personal near a stage start (esp the grand depart) and is there much fun waiting for a stage to go by with a load of kids. Is the a big entourage etc? any advice welcome.

ednwireland

i was in france fro a 2.1 regional race last year had an hour long caravan in front of it. classic cars local businesses throwing out sweets baseball caps frisbees pens etc etc

i guessing that the TDF will go on for much longer, dontthey have total road closures as well, dont think you'll be there for 5 mins

from here
http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us/caravane_publicitaire.html

•A 20-km long parade
•160 colourful and decorated vehicles
•600 caravanists
•33 brands represented
•16 million gifts given away
•45-minute long procession
•12 members of the republican guard
•4 traffic regulator motorcyclists
•3 medical cars
•€ 200,000 to € 500,000 investment for each advertiser

Rovi

By all accounts, The Caravan is well worth seeing:
http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us/caravane_publicitaire.html#ici
http://www.facebook.com/lacaravane

Takes about 45 minutes to pass, according to the website.

Beasty

shaungil wrote: »

So Questions are can you get up close and personal near a stage start (esp the grand depart) and is there much fun waiting for a stage to go by with a load of kids. Is the a big entourage etc? any advice welcome.

Roll up with your CI licence and ask them if they take entries on the day - you never know, it may simply be that they've never been asked before;)

RobFowl

Beasty wrote: »

Roll up with your CI licence and ask them if they take entries on the day - you never know, it may simply be that they've never been asked before;)

Don't Beasty, you and I both know he'd end up finishing in Paris and we'd never hear the end of it !!!

shaungil

RobFowl wrote: »

Don't Beasty, you and I both know he'd end up finishing winning in Paris and we'd never hear the end of it !!!

ahem

killalanerr

if i may jump in on this ,i will be in Paris for the finish i did plan it never been to Paris so 2 bird with one stone as it were,any tips on where to go and what not to miss would be much appreciated ,may be if UCI pat is on er he could sent me a pair of vip passes so i could get some decent pics for the boards TDF thread

serendip

shaungil wrote: »

is there much fun waiting for a stage to go by with a load of kids. Is the a big entourage etc? any advice welcome.

Yes, it's very good for kids (my kids loved it when we visited the tour a couple of years ago). There's the advertising cavalcade, free stuff, funny floats, helicopters etc. It all makes good fun for all.

Captain Havoc

If you get near the finish line, there's a big screen there and you watch the whole thing.

07Lapierre

killalanerr wrote: »

if i may jump in on this ,i will be in Paris for the finish i did plan it never been to Paris so 2 bird with one stone as it were,any tips on where to go and what not to miss would be much appreciated ,may be if UCI pat is on er he could sent me a pair of vip passes so i could get some decent pics for the boards TDF thread

I was there last year for the finish. Make sure you are there EARLY (7am) if you want to beat the locals to the Barriers. Bring a foldable chair to sit on as its a loong wait. The race usually arrives about 3pm in the afternoon. the Cavalcade will arrive an hour or so before that.

Your unlikely to get near the finish line, as this area is corporate seating, but again, get there early and you never know.

Once the race finishes, don't rush off, the teams will do a "Lap of Honour" which should allow you to get some nice photo's.

Did I mention to get there Early?

Lumen

07Lapierre wrote: »

Make sure you are there EARLY (7am) if you want to beat the locals to the Barriers. Bring a foldable chair to sit on as its a loong wait. The race usually arrives about 3pm in the afternoon.

8 hours sitting on a chair waiting for 30 seconds of excitement. Do you get toilet breaks?

killalanerr

Lumen wrote: »

8 hours sitting on a chair waiting for 30 seconds of excitement. Do you get toilet breaks?

hmmm cant see Mrs kill falling for that one ,"just sit their pet and keep a place for me, they will be along in a short while":), i like the the idea of the big screen

07Lapierre

Lumen wrote: »

8 hours sitting on a chair waiting for 30 seconds of excitement. Do you get toilet breaks?

nah, they'll do a few laps (10 usually i think), so its a long wait for about an hour of cycling. and they do a lap of honour afterwards.

Toilet break? nope, though the crowd were good natured. there was no problem leaving your spot to go to the local cafe, but having a chair helps "mark" your spot. (handy for sitting on too!)

Pherekydes

Was in a campsite in St Jean-de-Monts in 2005(?) when the tour (1st road stage) started in Challans. The route passed a roundabout about 200m from the camp entrance. It was great crack waiting with thousands of locals and visitors, though it was hot hot.

One thing I'd be aware of with small ones is be careful of them diving on the road to pick up lollipops and stuff while the cavalcade is going past.

The race itself passes in a blink. It's amazing how fast 200 riders and God knows how many support vehicles pass by.

RobFowl

Lumen wrote: »

8 hours sitting on a chair waiting for 30 seconds of excitement. Do you get toilet breaks?

Nope but there are "special pants" and even "Conveens" you can get

Hermy

Sounds like Theo de Rooij's description of Paris-Roubaix:

"It's b*ll*x this race - you stand for 8 hours and you don't even have time to piss..."

07Lapierre

Hermy wrote: »

Sounds like Theo de Rooij's description of Paris-Roubaix:

"It's b*ll*x this race - you stand for 8 hours and you don't even have time to piss..."

Yep! sounds about right!

Lusk Doyle

Raam should have info for you shaungil. He was in the midst of the teams before the amstel gold start.

Captain Havoc

07Lapierre wrote: »

Did I mention to get there Early?

When I was living in Paris, I used to live a couple of hundred meters up one of the side streets off the Champs Élysées on the top floor, so I didn't have to do any waiting, just stuck my head out the window :cool: It does get packed though.

RobFowl

Hermy wrote: »

Sounds like Theo de Rooij's description of Paris-Roubaix:

"It's b*ll*x this race - you stand for 8 hours and you don't even have time to piss..."

The full quote

“It’s a pile of sh!t, this race, it’s a whole pile of sh!t … you’re working like an animal, you don’t have the time to piss and you wet your pants … you’re riding in mud like this and you’re slipping and … it’s a pile of sh!t, you must clean yourself otherwise you will go mad …” “Willl you ever ride it again?”
“Sure, it’s the most beautiful race in the world!”

Hermy

Posted by me several times before - it's a classic.:P