Tour de France
Yesterday, I went to watch the Tour in Ninove (Meerbeke), about 45 km from here. Along the way, a new speed record for me: 66 km per hour on the descent from a bridge. The Versatile remains stable at this high speed, with very accurate steering.
I had set myself up along the side of the road before a curve. Amazement among the bike fanatics when they realized that they were actually looking at a bike. The conversations almost all ended with: “And what does that cost, then...?”
The advertising caravan goes on for an hour and is amusing, certainly worth seeing once. Caravan riders throw balloons and other advertising things out of the cars. Some of it fell into my velomobile. A man in an advertising car commented over his loudspeaker on the Versatile, which suddenly came into his view and which he thought was a little car. And then the racers, who zoomed by in thirty seconds. A circus. I would have liked to ride in the advertising caravan; a velomobile wouldn’t stand out among all the odd little cars. (Perhaps an idea for when the Tour passes through the Netherlands: a group of velomobile riders in there...)
On the way home, I came upon a camera team. They were filming in the green along the dike and took my picture as a passerby.
All in all, 90 km in a good three hours. At the end, it was going more nearly 24 km per hour, worn out and nothing to eat until I got home. A shower then did wonders ....
I had set myself up along the side of the road before a curve. Amazement among the bike fanatics when they realized that they were actually looking at a bike. The conversations almost all ended with: “And what does that cost, then...?”
The advertising caravan goes on for an hour and is amusing, certainly worth seeing once. Caravan riders throw balloons and other advertising things out of the cars. Some of it fell into my velomobile. A man in an advertising car commented over his loudspeaker on the Versatile, which suddenly came into his view and which he thought was a little car. And then the racers, who zoomed by in thirty seconds. A circus. I would have liked to ride in the advertising caravan; a velomobile wouldn’t stand out among all the odd little cars. (Perhaps an idea for when the Tour passes through the Netherlands: a group of velomobile riders in there...)
On the way home, I came upon a camera team. They were filming in the green along the dike and took my picture as a passerby.
All in all, 90 km in a good three hours. At the end, it was going more nearly 24 km per hour, worn out and nothing to eat until I got home. A shower then did wonders ....
posted by Bruno Van den Bussche at 7/06/2004
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