Chocolate Log

Yeah I know - the tyres are too thin, bikes too noodly, there’s too much lycra and not enough pies or leg-hair. But just this once, goddamnit, I’m going to put road content on the front pages of the Chocolate Log (risky, I know), if only because it is the biggest cycling event ever to hit the shores of Old Blighty.

It was the one off of one-offs that the Tour became a local event, and we weren’t going to miss the world’s fastest and fittest cyclists streaming through our streets of London.

We thought we’d make a weekend of it on the bikes. We rode to central London to meet family and friends at Green Park in time to watch small, rotund children hurling themselves to the ground at various bits of tat some of the procession floats were flinging at them. It was an amusing parade which included gay dancing Skoda angels, water jets, europop Captains, and coconut shower yoghurt.

The Prologue being a time trial made it a great chance to see all the riders individually. There was a buzzing atmosphere which we soaked up by the track, then caught a more chilled one on the grass in the sun in front of enormous screens, getting mild sunstroke.

After the Prologue, we caught up with Stuart O Grady briefly, and asked him why he crashed. He explained that he was distracted by some ropy aviator shades with purple lenses which appeared to have been bought from a hooky Spanish market stall. Not wanting to point the finger of blame, I have carefully preserved the identity of the spectator responsible, who may or may not be pictured below.

For Sunday’s race, we headed down to Greenwich to wait for the riders to come past. We found a superb spot immediately after a roundabout exit on a central reservation. It was real spine tingling stuff as they came swarming past us on both sides of the road. Many of the riders were grinning their heads off, pleased to have drawn such a big crowd. Or maybe it was because they’d inhaled whilst riding through Deptford, I can’t be sure.

After this, we jumped back onto our bikes and headed up to the Cutty Sark, where there were more festivities. Here we hooked up with Tim (furious tiles), Graham (Jenx) and Finn (Finn), and rode up to Hyde Park’s bike village on unusually quiet and enjoyable roads to catch the rest of the stage in our own peleton.

We spent the afternoon in the sun watching the Tour and drinking beer in the sun (again). We were all on the edge of our seats watching the incredible teamwork of the Predictor team helping ex BMX champ Robbie McEwen stage that amazing come-back from out of nowhere after what looked like what could've been a possible Tour-ending crash. Superb stuff – the crowd in Hyde Park were all cheering him on.

After the race, we managed to catch up with Robbie for a CF exclusive after the race. He had this message for us:

“It was a bonza day out, mate – I managed my come-back the only way I know how – I imagined I was sending it down Barrys”

And then we raced home, the last leg of our 112 miles of London covered this week, a little achey, but still buzzing and looking forward to getting back to dirt and knobbly tyres.