Digne les Bains Stage 12

John said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing points
for the Tour De France are?

The best viewing point is in front of a TV.

The route is listed on the time schedule. Between that and

http://www.mappy.com/

you should be able to figure it all out. It's not a large
town. Mappy shows train stations. It is certainly less
than a kilometer from the Gare to the Tour.

Bob Schwartz
[email hidden]

"John" <[email hidden]> schreef

Quoted message said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing points
for the Tour De France are?

PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER AND DO SOME HOMEWORK. YOU KNOW ABOUT THE INTERNET?
I'VE HEARD IT WORKS !!

John said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing
points for the Tour De France are?

Digne-les-Bains isn't that big. The finish line will be not far from
either the train station or the mairie. The route goes through Digne
twice.

"Bob Schwartz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing points
for the Tour De France are?

The best viewing point is in front of a TV.

BY FAR!!!

Quoted message said:

The route is listed on the time schedule. Between that and

http://www.mappy.com/

you should be able to figure it all out. It's not a large
town. Mappy shows train stations. It is certainly less
than a kilometer from the Gare to the Tour.

When you actually go to the race you sit around all day long and they pass
and are gone in seconds. The whole group comes and goes in 5 minutes. World
Cycling Videos are so well done now that going to the Tour de France is sort
of a joke. You actually go to France, stop for a day to see 5 minutes of one
stage and then go touring in France some more.

France is a beautiful country with great people (outside of the elitist pit
of Paris itself and even there the common French are generally nicer than
the average New Yorker by far). The food is so outstanding that you have to
travel through France at least once in your life to die knowing heavenly
food.

The historic sites be they Notre Dame, Reims, the museums in Paris (there
must be a couple of hundred of them) or Verdun are impressive beyond
description. The water engineering is spectacular if you know anything about
such things and you can stay in a Roman roadhouse that's 1500 years old.
Walking through Paris you might look back into a garden and see a sculpture
by Rodin, in the middle of a roundabout there are fountains that range from
great to absolute breathtaking, the sidewalk cafe's are everywhere and the
service and society there better than any other place I've been.

The United States is probably a nicer place to travel through in terms of
facilities but France is truly magnificent and everyone should try to visit
there once at least.

John said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing points
for the Tour De France are?

Watching the tour in a finish town is no good. You can't get anywhere
near the barriers unless you are there hours early, and even if you do
- you see a blur of color go by unless they are on rolling in off the
back.

Also - Digne-les-Bains is a small town. Don't expect much French. I
always go with, "Est que il'ya une personne ici qui parle anglais,
parce que je parle francais comme une chien". It's simple enough words
that I don't mangle it too bad and they laugh and try to help.

-a (2nd the google suggestion)

John said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing points
for the Tour De France are?

Watching the tour in a finish town is no good. You can't get anywhere
near the barriers unless you are there hours early, and even if you do
- you see a blur of color go by unless they are on rolling in off the
back.

Also - Digne-les-Bains is a small town. Don't expect much French. I
always go with, "Est que il'ya une personne ici qui parle anglais,
parce que je parle francais comme une chien". It's simple enough words
that I don't mangle it too bad and they laugh and try to help.

-a (2nd the google suggestion)

"Andrew F Martin" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Watching the tour in a finish town is no good. You can't get anywhere
near the barriers unless you are there hours early, and even if you do
- you see a blur of color go by unless they are on rolling in off the
back.

Well, we were considering the start town of Miramas the next day, but is a
longer trek from Nice, plus it looks like there is nothing else to see there
where at least Digne les Bains should be scenic and have a scenic train ride
to Nice.

Our bus arrives in Digne at 1335, so we hope that is ample time for a meal
and to situate ourselves someplace we can get photos of at least the pack's
first pass through town.

Quoted message said:

Also - Digne-les-Bains is a small town. Don't expect much French. I
always go with, "Est que il'ya une personne ici qui parle anglais,
parce que je parle francais comme une chien". It's simple enough words
that I don't mangle it too bad and they laugh and try to help.

-a (2nd the google suggestion)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing points
for the Tour De France are?

The best viewing point is in front of a TV.

I most humbly (and STRONGLY) disagree. If you have the chance to see the
'Tour pass by on a mountain stage, it will be an experience you never
forget. The article listed here, which I wrote after seeing the '03 TDF pass
through at the top of the Tourmalet, will give you a feel for what it's
like.

http://www.chainreaction.com/tdfwatching.htm

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

John said:

"Andrew F Martin" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Watching the tour in a finish town is no good. You can't get anywhere
near the barriers unless you are there hours early, and even if you do
- you see a blur of color go by unless they are on rolling in off the
back.

Well, we were considering the start town of Miramas the next day, but
is a longer trek from Nice, plus it looks like there is nothing else to
see there where at least Digne les Bains should be scenic and have a
scenic train ride to Nice.

It's easier to see the riders and sometimes to catch a quick conversation
at the start. After the stage all they want to do is get back to their
hotels as quickly as possible.

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Quoted message said:

The best viewing point is in front of a TV.

I most humbly (and STRONGLY) disagree.

I not-so-humbly and strongly disagree with your disagreement. The best
viewing point is in front of a TV. Hardly anyone should go to a TdF stage
if what they want is a view. They should go for all the other stuff that
happens. If I'd written "for all the other [censored] that happens" I could've
added, "like eating andouillette."

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The best viewing point is in front of a TV.

I most humbly (and STRONGLY) disagree.

I not-so-humbly and strongly disagree with your disagreement. The best
viewing point is in front of a TV. Hardly anyone should go to a TdF stage
if what they want is a view. They should go for all the other stuff that
happens. If I'd written "for all the other [censored] that happens" I could've
added, "like eating andouillette."

If you're saying that the best way to follow the race, to know who's doing
what, to have a clue as to what's actually going on... that the best way to
do that is in front of a TV, you're correct. The same could probably be said
for many events, including watching a football game (either US or Soccer),
an innauguration, or perhaps even viewing a work of art. For such things the
context & background are supplied by the medium, with supporting commentary
making it easy to be a casual and informed observer.

But to ride the same roads that the race will soon travel, to feel the
energy of hundreds of thousands of people perched on hillsides, waiting for
the arrival of the race, and to witness a moving slice of time that is an
intense as anything one could possibly imagine... you can't get that from
watching television. For some of us, it's an addictive experience, something
we go back for again and again, hoping for a special, magical moment that it
seems is yours and yours alone, despite being there with so many others. For
myself, I've been to the 'Tour five times, and have had two such moments
that I will remember forever.

The first was in 2001, as I wrote at the time
(www.ChainReaction.com/france2001.htm)-

==================
"I could have stayed at the restaurant our group had taken over in the town
at the base of Alpe D'Huez, watched as the race flew past, and then glued my
eyes to the live TV coverage, screaming and yelling (at a TV) as Lance made
his decisive move to both win the stage and serve notice that he's there to
win the 'Tour.

Instead, I headed (on foot) up the hill...stopping just short of the 2nd
hairpin from the bottom...which just happened to be the spot that Lance
chose to make his break. I was there, on the hill with 300,000 others,
waiting expectedly for the riders to come through. The lead guy came by,
with about a two minute lead on the first group behind. You don't know
who's coming next until they're there. The anticipation in the crowd is
electric...people are on needles & pins, everyone hoping it's their own
favorite rider. And everyone's equally expectant of Lance Armstrong who, so
far, hasn't done enough to assure the masses that he's capable of pulling
off a win at all, much less a convincing win worthy of a champion.

There's no way you can explain the feeling everyone had when it was Lance
riding away from his pursuers. Even those who were there for other riders
(the French do tend to support their own, and why shouldn't they?)
experienced something akin to the fulfillment of a prophecy...and the
excitement level suddenly ratcheted entirely off the scale! Little kids
were screaming "It's Lance!", adults were craning their heads for a better
look, and, somehow, there was this feeling that the world was right, things
were working the way people expected, and they had something they could take
home with them."
==================

The second was in 2003, when I was on the Tourmalet, at the summit, on the
stage where on the final climb Lance found himself on the ground (his
handlebar having been snagged by a kid's bag) yet he picked himself back up
and essentially won the TDF that day, dropping Jan as he rode his broken
bike like a man possessed to victory. But of course, I wasn't at that exact
spot; obviously I should have been in front of a TV, right? Except that I
had a cell phone with me, and I'd called my wife just before they passed the
spot where I was standing (she really enjoyed being waken up at 6:30am...)
and told her to call me back a few minutes before the finish, or if anything
exciting happened. So I'm riding back down the hill, threading my way
through the crowds when my phone rings. She tells me there's a few
kilometers to go and then suddenly starts screaming about Lance crashing,
then he's up, now he's fallen onto his bike, and next he's dropping everyone
on the climb! And I'm relaying this information to everyone around me, and
the whole place is going nuts. It was like being at the biggest event in the
world with 10,000 of your closest friends.

There are few experiences, watched on television, that will become such
strong memories. Things that happen to you that have addictive qualities
that make you want to go back for more. With television, what you remember
are someone else's experiences. They don't integrate into your own. You
remember watching LeMond during the time trial when he won the TDF by, what,
8 seconds over Fignon? But you probably don't remember where you were at the
time, or anything else about that day. However, for that particular event,
the context supplied by television probably supplied more drama than being
there in-person.

In my perfect world, I wouldn't follow the 'Tour daily, chasing after it,
looking for that special spot to watch it go by. I'd pick a few stages that
might be particularly interesting, and spend the rest of the days riding
many of the same roads the race would soon travel (or had already passed by
on), and arrange to make it back to a bar or the hotel in time for the last
couple hours of coverage on TV. I never meant to imply that the only
worthwhile way to see the TDF is in-person, just that you miss out on a
possible experience-of-a-lifetime if you don't do that at least once.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> The best viewing point is in front of a TV.

I most humbly (and STRONGLY) disagree.

I not-so-humbly and strongly disagree with your disagreement. The best
viewing point is in front of a TV. Hardly anyone should go to a TdF
stage if what they want is a view. They should go for all the other
stuff that happens. If I'd written "for all the other [censored] that
happens" I could've added, "like eating andouillette."

If you're saying that the best way to follow the race, to know who's
doing what, to have a clue as to what's actually going on... that the
best way to do that is in front of a TV, you're correct.

That's what I'm saying. It's also why asking about the best viewing points
misses the point.

Quoted message said:

But to ride the same roads that the race will soon travel, to feel the
energy of hundreds of thousands of people perched on hillsides, waiting
for the arrival of the race, and to witness a moving slice of time that
is an intense as anything one could possibly imagine... you can't get
that from watching television. For some of us, it's an addictive
experience, something we go back for again and again, hoping for a
special, magical moment that it seems is yours and yours alone, despite
being there with so many others.

Excuse me, Mike, but I think I need a minute to go throw up.

Okay, I'm back.

Quoted message said:

In my perfect world, I wouldn't follow the 'Tour daily, chasing after
it, looking for that special spot to watch it go by. I'd pick a few
stages that might be particularly interesting, and spend the rest of
the days riding many of the same roads the race would soon travel (or
had already passed by on), and arrange to make it back to a bar or the
hotel in time for the last couple hours of coverage on TV.

With this, I mostly agree, though I'd say a bar would be better than a
hotel.

John said:

Quoted message said:

Does anyone here know about how far from the train station viewing points
for the Tour De France are?

Bart Van Hoorebeeck said:

PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER AND DO SOME HOMEWORK. YOU KNOW ABOUT THE INTERNET?
I'VE HEARD IT WORKS !!

And you can even buy some embrocation online to help you warm up for the
July rbr sardine swarm.

Robert Chung said:

Excuse me, Mike, but I think I need a minute to go throw up.

Wouldn't you agree that part of the positive viewing experience for us
behind the tv is the crowd lining the roads? So don't discourage them.

--
Firefox Web Browser - Rediscover the web - http://getffox.com/
Thunderbird E-mail and Newsgroups - http://gettbird.com/

Ewoud Dronkert said:

Robert Chung said:

Excuse me, Mike, but I think I need a minute to go throw up.

Wouldn't you agree that part of the positive viewing experience for us
behind the tv is the crowd lining the roads? So don't discourage them.

I'll say a prayer for them at the porcelain altar.

Robert Chung said:

I'll say a prayer for them at the porcelain altar.

Bless you.

--
Firefox Web Browser - Rediscover the web - http://getffox.com/
Thunderbird E-mail and Newsgroups - http://gettbird.com/

Ewoud Dronkert said:

Robert Chung said:

I'll say a prayer for them at the porcelain altar.

Quoted message said:

Bless you.

If you show up at the side of the road, one of the first things
you notice is the number of cars with TVs plugged in.

This is not an either/or situation.

We were at the saddle between the Col d'Agnes and the Port de
Lers during last year's stage to Plateau de Beille. One of the
sponsors (Antargaz) had a tent set up with a jumbo-tron TV.
When Voeckler came through he was totally cooked. Stick a
fork in him, he's done.

It was a thrill to see him charge the finish to save his race
lead. The noise at the tent was huge. No one missed anything.

Bob Schwartz
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

If you show up at the side of the road, one of the first things
you notice is the number of cars with TVs plugged in.

This is not an either/or situation.

We were at the saddle between the Col d'Agnes and the Port de
Lers during last year's stage to Plateau de Beille. One of the
sponsors (Antargaz) had a tent set up with a jumbo-tron TV.
When Voeckler came through he was totally cooked. Stick a
fork in him, he's done.

It was a thrill to see him charge the finish to save his race
lead. The noise at the tent was huge. No one missed anything.

Bob Schwartz

Bob: Something I've tried (without success, so far) to find on my last trip
is a small, LCD-type TV. Reception isn't bad in France, even in the
mountains (as you've seen). Unfortunately, since they're PAL and we're on
the NTSC system, a TV bought in the US won't work in Europe.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Bob: Something I've tried (without success, so far) to find on my last trip
is a small, LCD-type TV. Reception isn't bad in France, even in the
mountains (as you've seen). Unfortunately, since they're PAL and we're on
the NTSC system, a TV bought in the US won't work in Europe.

I looked into that before last year's trip. I came to
the conclusion I was screwed.

France is on SECAM, not PAL. They use a unique standard
so that not even so called universal handheld TVs (which
do NTSC and PAL) will work. They work just about
everywhere except France.

I brought an LCD TV to Hamilton for Worlds and it worked
great. If SECAM ones exist I was not able to google one
last year. I thought about getting a PAL one in the hope
that I could pick up a signal from Spain, Switzerland or
Italy. But it was too much money to stick into something
that probably wouldn't work.

If I ever go to a spring classic again I will absolutely
pick up one of the PAL handheld TVs.

Bob Schwartz
[email hidden]