2005 Tour de France

In article <[email hidden]>,

John Metsy said:

Are there any good news groups where I can find out about where are good
places to watch. And just what is the best way to make the most of a
once-in-a-lifetime chance.

The best places to watch are at the tops of the big mountain climbs.
Plan on getting there very early; the real fans will be camped out for days.

I went to the 2004 Tour for the last 10 days with 3 friends and had a great
time.

This is a good newsgroup to ask specific questions. There are several people
who will respond with good answers.

As far as how to plan I can only tell you what we did. Once the course
details are out, you can start to plan where you should stay during your
stay. During the mountain stages you can choose a central location such as
Grenoble for the Alps. We got a hotel in that area for 4 nights and used
that as a base. Then plan which stages you want to see. We went to stages
finishes in Nimes, Villard de Lans, Alp D'Hues and Paris. We also rode to a
mountain section of stage 17 and watched the race go by and the same with
the time trial in Besancon.

If you are there to ride you have to balance rides with the race schedule.
We wanted to ride Mt Ventoux and had to do this on the day after Nimes,
which was a rest day for the riders. Some would prefer to go to the place
where the riders are staying and try to see their favorites.

The basic '05 route is out so you should be able to start planning.
Eventually the Tour website will have to detailed information out and you
can plan where to ride to meet the course.

You should also consider using a planned tour. BikeStyle Tours looks like a
great outfit. I was planning to go with them and had to cancel when it
looked like I wasn't going to be able to go. I saw their group a couple of
times and they seemed to be having a great time.

Good Luck! I wish I could afford to go back this year.

"John Metsy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am keen to go and watch some of the 2005 Tour de France

Are there any good news groups where I can find out about where are good
places to watch. And just what is the best way to make the most of a
once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Thanks
John

On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 07:30:51 GMT in rec.bicycles.rides, "John

Metsy said:

I am keen to go and watch some of the 2005 Tour de France

Are there any good news groups where I can find out about where are good
places to watch. And just what is the best way to make the most of a
once-in-a-lifetime chance.

How much do you have to spend, and how much time? I found that
following the last 2 weeks of the '04 Tour was very tiring, since
I was doing a lot of driving every day. I want to go back to
France again, and I'm very glad I was there to see Lance win his
6th, but France is just too hot for me in July.

Best places to actually see the race is at or near the top of
hill climbs. You can rarely see much at most finishes or starts,
and on the flats they move so fast that they're gone in a few
seconds.

The roads close early, and the mountain climbs are lined wall to
wall with motor homes. There really *were* a million people on
Alpe d'Huez, and all of them seemed to appear at *my* corner
after I had been camped there for 3 days!

The staffs of the Tour, the sponsors, and all the sportscasters
suck up almost all the reasonably priced hotel rooms. Velonews
publishes a guide in June with all the details, but I didn't find
one until a few hours before my plane left Seattle in July.

Read Bob Roll's "Tour de France Companion" for a lot of good
tips.

Europe will be expensive this summer --- the dollar has been
sliding. Filling a compact car's tank was 50 euros, and now the
euro is at $1.50 instead of $1.20.

If you can sort through the trolls, rec.bicycles.racing will have
some info, too.

"John Metsy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am keen to go and watch some of the 2005 Tour de France

Are there any good news groups where I can find out about where are good
places to watch. And just what is the best way to make the most of a
once-in-a-lifetime chance.

There's only one: rec.bicycles.racing

Be ready for some heat though.

Keen? Canadian?

JF

John Metsy said:

I am keen to go and watch some of the 2005 Tour de France

Are there any good news groups where I can find out about where are good
places to watch. And just what is the best way to make the most of a
once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Thanks
John

Last summer I went to see the time trial in Besançon. I think it must have
been one of the best places to see the tour. During several hours, I
could move within the 50-km loop from start to arrival or to many places
with a good view of what was happening. Note that the one condition to
enjoy this freedom was to be there with a bike. No way to do this with a
car (roads closed) or on foot (too large distances). And actually it was
fun to see the show as part of a 200 km day tour !

Jacques

Jacques Moser said:

John Metsy said:

I am keen to go and watch some of the 2005 Tour de France

Are there any good news groups where I can find out about where are good
places to watch. And just what is the best way to make the most of a
once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Thanks
John

Last summer I went to see the time trial in Besançon. I think it must have
been one of the best places to see the tour. During several hours, I
could move within the 50-km loop from start to arrival or to many places
with a good view of what was happening. Note that the one condition to
enjoy this freedom was to be there with a bike. No way to do this with a
car (roads closed) or on foot (too large distances). And actually it was
fun to see the show as part of a 200 km day tour !

Jacques

Pardon the dumb question, but you'd be on a different road, parallel to the
main peloton but could still see them? I noted on one section there were
some recreational bikers on some kind of feeder road, and you could watch
them match the peloton speed and Phil commented on how long they'd match
it. Forget the stage. Must be a designated route for rec. bikers?

-B

Badger said:

Pardon the dumb question, but you'd be on a different road, parallel to
the main peloton but could still see them? I noted on one section there
were some recreational bikers on some kind of feeder road, and you could
watch them match the peloton speed and Phil commented on how long they'd
match it. Forget the stage. Must be a designated route for rec. bikers?

-B

The time trial was done in a loop; you could penetrate inside the loop
using a bridge; and inside the loop was a network of small roads.
You could get from one intersection to the other and thus
change views. Time trials seem to be a good place to look at the Tour !

J.