2014 TdF Grand Départ Stage 2

As the majority of avid cyclists and UK residents know this past weekend was the beginning of the Tour de France and the Grand Départ started in Yorkshire. While we didn't make it up north to view the first stage we were able to travel to Sheffield to watch near the finish line on the 2nd day.  Another thing ticked off my bucket list!!! While it wasn't France, it still was such an awesome thing to be a part of and according to a lady in my Tuesday Nordic Walking class whose son lives in Paris, even the French media was impressed with the record turnout and enthusiasm from England ;-)

Because we had a late start we decided to park just off the city centre and take the tram to Meadowhall. This served two purposes, we wouldn't have to deal with car traffic and it gave my partner a chance to show me the area.

Check out the Tour Maker shirt to the right, wish I'd thought to have volunteered

People watching

People watching II

The yarn bombed bikes of The Woolly Bike Trail at Sheffield Cathedral

Pub lunch and tram ticket

Waiting for the cyclists.  Yes I wore very impractical shoes to traipse about in but you gotta admit they are cute

McCain Chips publicity caravan vehicle

Yorkshire Tea

Carrefour polka-dot jersey themed caravan

Lead racer at this point, he zoomed by to quick for us to get a good pic

Jens Voigt in the Polka-Dot jersey

Yellow Jersey

The Team Sky kit looks GOOD.

Media helicopter

Zoomed in on the other side just before the 1 km banner

Stormtrooper cyclists

Stormtrooper cyclists II, as you can see they created quite a stir

Ummm, I don't think he is an official part of the TdF! Still got lots of cheers though and good on him

Go home, it's all over! A few of us stayed to the end

Bad attitude

Some days it is hard to force yourself out the door but usually once you do and you get that first mile under your feet then everything else falls into place. Today was not that day for me.  For some reason the not having anyone to share my long run miles with this morning hit me harder than usual and I just didn't want to go.  Yes, Elsie the Miniature Schnauzer Menace usually accompanies me on my easy runs but she doesn't talk back when you're trying to make conversation.

So today's suckfest included my feet hurting for the first 1.5 miles (think it's time to replace my Brooks PureFlows), Elsie getting harassed by a big black dog that kept running from its owner and charging at her repeatedly, a headwind on the return portion, I accidentally cut off a cyclist twice (he didn't let me know he was behind me until the 2nd time), last night's pizza coming back to haunt me, my back started aching, and my garmin lost satellite reception at mile 7 and never got it back.  Oh and I didn't have anyone to commiserate with! Mostly it was just my bad attitude causing the run to suck and I AM thankful I have the ability to complete 9 or so miles.  Bright spot of the day: a woman cycling telling me "Cheers, duckie" when I stepped aside to let her pass by.

I did stop and take pics of a bridge and church that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago

Quality is terrible but it was horribly overcast and my phone camera couldn't compensate for it

Looking back over the post I'm a bit ashamed my attitude was so bad, there really wasn't any reason for it but I just couldn't get into the groove with things this morning.  Maybe it's because I didn't have my usual cup of tea before heading out.......or maybe I'm just a grouch, lol.  Things could certainly be worse weather-wise, back in my home state of Arkansas it is a whopping 23.4F/-4.8C while it is 46.4F/8C here in the UK Midlands.  

Rage

I debated on whether to post this about the road rage incident in the UK or not since it's a fairly divisive issue but decided to go ahead and put the vid up as well as my thoughts about it...........First off I am a cyclist and have been subjected to some abuse and dangerous situations while out riding and many of my friends have as well.  But after viewing this clip several times in full screen mode and watching the cyclist's actions I am of the opinion that he should have been charged as well as the bus driver.  His actions were just as deplorable and endangered lives as well.  Don't get me wrong, I am NOT defending the bus driver, he is damn lucky he didn't kill the cyclist or anyone else (chain reactions) and his conviction is well-deserved but I do not think "oh poor, innocent cyclist" after watching this either.  Just because you are on two wheels doesn't mean you are exempt from safe road conduct any more than any other vehicle.

http://road.cc/content/news/52730-bristol-bus-driver-used-vehicle-weapon



Thank you goes out to TWBrit for sending me the link to this incident