I saw the Tour de France...and not just on TV.

Monday, after an exhausting weekend in Paris, I waited all alone out in the blazing sun to see the Tour de France roll through our city. The newspaper stated that they would arrive at between 2-4PM. Very precise indeed! So I headed out early and waited and sweated and waited some more.

Before the riders arrived there was something resembling a parade….except all the floats were mostly decorated SUVs which were blasting weird French pop-music. To add to the insanity, as the SUVs were flying by, they were actually throwing out free promotional gifts such as CDs, hats, and candy at the waiting crowds.

Call me crazy, but getting nailed in the face by a bag of pretzels flying directly at 50-60 kilometers an hour seems just...shitty. So when they passed me I ducked. But a nice drunk guy behind me gave me his bag of pretzels….and it was a good thing he did because I was left waiting there for another hour or so before the riders arrived and I needed a snack.

At 4:20 they biked on in. I saw them for exactly 15 seconds before they were nothing more than a hot blurry memory. Those guys REALLY move! Everyone cheered and clapped and then went home with whatever loot they had managed to score.

Lance Armstrong or not (He's a republican anyway.), I was happy to get to see the Tour de France. Although I probably would have gotten a better view had I just stayed home and watched it on TV.