I know it's been touched on before, but I'm just so darn impressed with the whole Tour de France spectacle.
The racers are, of course, extremely talented, gutsy, brave and at times insane. Cornering at speed on about 2 square inches of rubber takes all of that. But the moto riders - TV bikes, officials, law enforcement - are a pretty great group, too. A nod to the helo pilots is also in order. All of which combine to bring us couch potatoes amazing coverage of The Tour.
Interesting also to us motorcyclists is the mix of machinery. Kawasaki seems to have the "official" motorcycle thing locked up and I'm sure the product placement is good for sales of the big GTR ("Concours" in the USA). BMW is well represented by the RT boxer twin camera bikes, and I've spotted a K1600 and an old K-brick in the crowd, too. Some law enforcement seems to be on Yamaha FJRs, and a couple of maxi-scooters showed up, brand unknown to me. Not a Honda or Triumph to be seen, although I'd think the Pan Euro (ST1300) would be a great camera bike.
Anyway, there are into the final days with a couple of tough mountain stages yet to come before the ride around Paris. Even if you don't care a fig about bicycle racing, the Tour coverage is fascinating and the m-c watching fun.
pete
'11 RT
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde
The racers are, of course, extremely talented, gutsy, brave and at times insane. Cornering at speed on about 2 square inches of rubber takes all of that. But the moto riders - TV bikes, officials, law enforcement - are a pretty great group, too. A nod to the helo pilots is also in order. All of which combine to bring us couch potatoes amazing coverage of The Tour.
Interesting also to us motorcyclists is the mix of machinery. Kawasaki seems to have the "official" motorcycle thing locked up and I'm sure the product placement is good for sales of the big GTR ("Concours" in the USA). BMW is well represented by the RT boxer twin camera bikes, and I've spotted a K1600 and an old K-brick in the crowd, too. Some law enforcement seems to be on Yamaha FJRs, and a couple of maxi-scooters showed up, brand unknown to me. Not a Honda or Triumph to be seen, although I'd think the Pan Euro (ST1300) would be a great camera bike.
Anyway, there are into the final days with a couple of tough mountain stages yet to come before the ride around Paris. Even if you don't care a fig about bicycle racing, the Tour coverage is fascinating and the m-c watching fun.
pete
'11 RT
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde