Quoted message said:I'm watching some excerpts from the 1988 tour and on one
stage I was
amazed
Quoted message said:(if naive) to see on one mountain stage (Alpe d' Huez?)
where the road was so crowded with people that the
motorcycles couldn't even stay ahead of
the
Quoted message said:bikers, and in trying to part the crowd, a group of four
riders actually had to slow and coast. One of the
officials(?) on the back of one of the motorcycles had to
signal something to the riders, can't tell what, but it
appears to slow down (!). (The vid was from Netherlands
and thus not in English).
That's gotta be majorly frustrating - or is it not
uncommon?
In an adjacent clip one guy goes out and slaps a rider in
the butt.
Amazing
Quoted message said:how the riders don't seem distracted by this [censored]; pardon
my french. ;-p
Crowd-control is a major issue on the mountain climbs,
particularly the final climb when the finish is on top. The
Pyrenees are actually known for crazier crowd behavior than
the Alps, although there is so much concern regarding the TT
up Alpe d'Huez this year that they're making an effort to
control the number of people on the hill by limiting access
to the entire region (basically closing off roads to not
only cars but cyclists as well, very early in the morning).
They do have crowd control down almost to an art though.
There's a definite sequence that involves some cars moving
through at high speed a couple minutes ahead of the riders,
then a few motorcycles and then, just ahead of the riders,
some "sweeper" motorcycles that drive a very precise route
fairly close to the edge of the road, moving people out of
the way. They do *not* move out of the way of the crowd;
rather, the crowd *must* move out of their way... or else.
If taking photos, one must be very careful not to be leaning
out too far when they come through... I was trying to get a
low-angle shot once, and I don't think there was more than a
couple inches between the motorcycle and my head.
If you'd like to know what it's *really* like to see the TDF
on a mountain, check out this link on our website-
www.ChainReaction.com/tdfwatching.htm
--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
"Badger_South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I'm watching some excerpts from the 1988 tour and on one
stage I was
amazed
Quoted message said:(if naive) to see on one mountain stage (Alpe d' Huez?)
where the road was so crowded with people that the
motorcycles couldn't even stay ahead of
the
Quoted message said:bikers, and in trying to part the crowd, a group of four
riders actually had to slow and coast. One of the
officials(?) on the back of one of the motorcycles had to
signal something to the riders, can't tell what, but it
appears to slow down (!). (The vid was from Netherlands
and thus not in English).
That's gotta be majorly frustrating - or is it not
uncommon?
In an adjacent clip one guy goes out and slaps a rider in
the butt.
Amazing
Quoted message said:how the riders don't seem distracted by this [censored]; pardon
my french. ;-p
-B
