Eliot's Travels

The Caravan came through about 4:15. This is how all the fans you see get the paper hands (that cut Thor Hushovd's arm this year), thunder sticks, hats and other general bootie that you see spectators wearing. It also serves as good entertainment in the last hour leading up to the riders. It started with a car carrying the lion mascot of the tour followed by the big rellow rider you see here (a life size version of this car). Then the sponsor cars started. Many had themes. They were kind of like floats in a parade but on wheel and fast. Some went by at close to 30-35 miles/hour. Sometimes there were vans handing out goodies. It was all quite well orchestrated. There were usually 2 to 4 main vehicles per sponsor plus maybe a support car/van or 2. The vehicles would alternate sides of the street, so fans on both sides of the route were covered. Even music blaring from the cars was coordinated so you could hear the song continuing to play across 5 or 6 vehicles. We had no idea this caravan happened prior to the riders. It was cool.

We saw all kinds of vehicles:
The Champion car and symbol, handing out polka dot hats
Bike rider statues or balloons on top of cars
A big cow for a local dairy
Animals in trees and water scene
A big pizza
The Nestle Quik bunny
Discovery Channel and other team sponsors
A circus-themed trailer
Tricycles on top of cars

Eliot slept through some of the caravan in Jim's arms. We tried to lay him down but he wouldn't stay asleep. I took a break from Miles on my shoulders. He was quite content to zip and unzip my backpack and find cobwebs on the brickwork and the sill of a shop window.

Once the caravan started going, the group around us got pretty rowdy. They were flinging water out of plastic bottles on the caravan people as they rode past. The heat and the beer probably didn't help matters. People up on the roof tops would fill up buckets to drop on the caravan as it motored by. There was always an unsuspecting young woman on top of the cars and trailers who they soaked with water. It was all in good fun. Down the road, a police officer was hit with water to the crowds cheers. The caravan returned the favor too; some were spraying water onto the spectators (in a more civilized manner than our gang). Our little devil was the biggest culprit in throwing water. I bet we saw her throw 10 bottles of water on people. Here she is with her beer, cigaratte and horns. Personally, we were too busy drinking ours to stay hydrated in the heat. As the caravan progressed, we heard the announcers of teh race: 40 km, 20 km, 10 km to go. The caravan finished with 20 minutes until the racers were dues to arrive in our area. Almost here.

posted by Whitney @ 2:44 PM