Paris: Le Tour de France 2010 – Stage 20 in Paris

I like bikes. In fact, I like them so much I have 2 of them. I like the people riding the bikes even more because they always look carefree, in tune with their surroundings and have a wanderlust, love of life vibe about them. My husband and I really like riding bikes together for fun and it’s something that I really really miss doing. Our son is too young to go in a kid bike seat or trailer so we haven’t ridden bikes together for many many months. I always feel a bit sad walking over the many bike paths in Paris (even though they go against traffic – bad!) and want to just hop on one of the many public bikes around the city.

When I realized that I was going to be in Paris at the same time as Le Tour de France I was very excited. Admittedly I don’t follow every stage of the ride very closely, but I definitely watch a couple of them each year and drool over the fine tuned bikes and bodies. I spent may hours searching blogs for comments by locals on where the best spots were to watch the final stage 20 that is near the Champs-Elysees. I came to the conclusion that the area near Place de Concorde in the Jardins des Tuileries was the best place to be because many tourists didn’t know how to actually get to that spot and many would try to be on Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

On Sunday, July 25th around 11am, my Mom, Ripley, and I headed to the Louvres-Rivoli Metro station. Our Metro station in Vincennes is the first on the line so we got a seat. The train car got more and more packed at each stop along the way until we were worried we wouldn’t be able to “pardon” our way off. Thankfully some people yelled on our behalf and we got off, barely. We knew exactly where to go because we had hung out in the Tuileries just a couple days before. We walked west towards Place de Concorde. When we got there we had a ton of places along the fence to park ourselves. We opted for a spot where we could see the big screen and the Champs-Elysees. We knew that the riders would be circling around several times and we would have plenty of chances to see them.

We met so many nice people from all over the world. Everyone was so happy to be there. I loved the vibe.

Before I left I checked Le Tour website to see when the riders would arrive and it said at about 3pm. That time came and went and we overheard it would be closer to 5pm. Thankfully I managed to grab some chairs so we were able to sit. I cruised around to see the other spectators and realized I should have probably chosen a spot facing the Seine River so we would be closer to the road, but c’est la vie.

After a parade of sponsor cars and watching the riders approach on the big screen, we saw and heard the helicopter overhead followed by sirens and lights. The riders had arrived! They sped by so fast, it was incredible. It was like they were a swarm of colorful insects, totally in sync with each other. They went around and around and I realized we were a bit too far away for my little camera (my Kodak HD Video Camera broke on me just before they arrived) so we headed South to the Seine. It was incredible to see the pack fly by. I kept thinking how lucky we were because in the other stages people see them go by only once and here we were seeing them go by at least five times. I also kept thinking how incredibly fit these riders were, sculpted bodies just like you see in the Louvre that they were passing by on their bikes. I had perspective on their speed because I remembered how far it was to walk from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe and these guys were like mini jets, there was barely time to get your camera setup before they would whiz by again.

The experience was an absolute thrill. I know how many friends would have loved to be there and I say to them – plan your trip for next year! Do it! In 2028 you will see Ripley participating – when he is 18!