Friday 20 July 2012

Tour de France 2012


On a beautiful July day in the French Alps, a familiar scene began to unfold in the usually quite town of Saint-Etienne de Cuines. Thousands of people from all over the world began to line up along the narrow mountain roads with chairs, coolers, and flags in anticipation of seeing the riders of the 99th Tour de France. ''This is my third time coming and I am really excited,'' said a fan from Norway next to several flags Norwegian flags she had planted in the ground earlier in the day.
I arrived approximately four hours in advance to get a good spot to see the riders arrive, but the streets were already full of fans. I was not too surprised as I was in a very popular location; at the beginning of an ''hors categorie'' mountain climb. The ''Col de la Croix de fer'', or the Iron Cross has inclinations of over nine percent at certain points, one of the steepest climbs in this years tour with a summit of over 6,500 feet. Being on the mountain gives fans the best opportunity to catch a glimpse of their favorite rider or the ''Maillot Jaune'' as the cyclists are not going very fast. The waiting portion of the day seemed to fly by due to the great atmosphere. Many fans were discussing the tour with each other, while others were wearing ridiculous outfits, and others were blaring out the tour live on their portable radios. This is a great way to interact with people from all parts of the globe and maybe even meet someone from your country.
A little over an hour before the cyclists would arrive the famed publicity caravan rolled into the village playing music and throwing out thousands of goodies to cheering fans next to the road. Dozens of intricately decorated cars paraded by giving away everything from candy, jerseys, hats, and even sausages. The publicity caravan began in 1930 as a way to help promote and fund the tour, it lasts about 45 minutes and gives away millions of items on a daily basis. This is a great way to bring fans together and provides for a great show to not only kids but adults as well.
Now that everybody’s hands were full with all types of items, the anticipation only grew as everybody could sense that the riders were getting closer and closer. Even when a tour vehicle passed by, fans jumped out of their seats looking around to see if a bike was in sight. Shortly thereafter several television and tour helicopters were in sight which meant that at any moment the riders would be racing by. In addition to this, cars belonging to the tour, teams, and the police began to pass by more and more frequently. It was only a few minutes later that we were witnessing the greatest bikers in the world participating in the most prestigious bike race. Fans were yelling, using their air horns, as well as waving their flags hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite rider in action. In a mountain stage the cyclists are spread out quite a bit so it takes about 20 minutes to see all of the participants. As soon as everyone had passed it was time to go home or for some move on to see the action again the next day.  

Camp Thabo Sefolosha 2012

Last week at had the chance to attend Camp Thabo Sefolosha 2012 It was a great experience and proved that Sefolosha though a rough defender on the court is a really classy guy. Follow the link to view the article!

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=226&articleid=20120711_226_B1_CUTLIN370407

Tuesday 10 July 2012