Tour de France - blipping from the peleton

and chapeau to those boys on their bikes, and to the organisers and (allow me this indulgence) Yorkshire.

After a wall to wall day yesterday with tour excitement in town and friends staying and way too much food eaten last night it was tempting to watch it all from the arm chair today. I might be telling my grandchildren one day about the days the tour came to Yorkshire so I got my weary self out and ran an hour to see where that would get me on the route for day, had a nice time chatting with folks from far and wide and local about their weekend. Then watched the then leading group go through with Beamsley Beacon, a hill I often run up in the background. Then across the road to take up position at wheel level as the peleton descended, I could feel the wind of them swishing by.

As I ran back along the back road through Beamsley to Ilkley I was caught up in another peleton of what must have been 500 or more cyclists - not just the lycra and carbon brigade but those whose less technical bikes and less athletic bodies neither of which had seen much use, but were inspired to do this trip to see the show pass by. Lots of young kids too, small boys and girls aspiring to be like their heroes - their mums and dads. I found this more moving than the race!

I've just watched them finish (the tour boys not the overweight bikes with overweight riders)- more drama and those climbs are brutal - these guys are outstanding athletes.

I remember sitting in the back of my English class at school reading the newspapers with my friends, reading the report of tour the day before. None of us had ever been abroad, there was no TV coverage, the names of the riders and the climbs seemed to be of a different world to the one we inhabited, sons of miners whose industry was declining. The joy of being part of this these last weeks for me is part of that same story.

So Yorkshire says good bye to Le Tour, the biggest annual sporting event in the world. Watching the sponsors vehicles take 2 hours to pass us on the route then the riders aft wards taking seconds - it is a reminder how much sport follows the money. I wonder a little if the energy and vision that has made this 2 days had been channelled into something of more value in terms of what really matters or is needed in our communities then the world would truly be watching us.

That said, it's been a whole lot of fun. If you've endured my blips over the last few days you've got a sense of how much fun I've found it. It hardly seems credible that a week ago I was posting a photo of Mrs Mackem, I think I'll get a bike and join her next year.

From flickr - my tour