Friday 29 August 2014

wheels on fire

The excitement was tangible for weeks and the route home from work through Worrall and Oughtibridge, climbing the now famous Jawbone Hill, was bedecked with yellow
Sheffield was getting ready and Grenoside did its bit too  . .


Even Sheffield Design Week featured a yellow t-shirt competition
Where my poem made the final round in the Dear Sheffield opening exhibition
Worrall has it's legacy bike wheel sculpture

and this is where we chose to stand on 'the day' - strangely quiet a few weeks beforehand
Bradfield getting ready
and Oughtibridge - what was all that about??!!
and we got sewing and decorating ourselves
my "Le Tour" garden
and with a little help from our trans-Atlantic friends we were soon ready to party
 freebies and party bags were prepared
 guests arrived
friendships re-forged
 breakfast was a mass production
worth the wait (why don't we possess a set of matching plates!!)
third sitting round the table
then some of us scoped the route the day before
wahooo - exciting or what
 and barbecued well into the Saturday night
ate ourselves silly
and when the big day dawned on Sunday - up we went towards Jawbone Hill to join the throngThis was of course the point at which I realised my camera battery was dead - so you'll just have to imagine the incredible atmosphere of around 27,000 folk crammed between Oughtibridge and Grenoside on the narrow, steep Jawbone Hill.  Absolutely amazing!!! 
and finally they came - preceded by 4 gigantic helicopters rounding the hill like in a James Bond movie.
This could well be somebody famous zooming past me, I know nothing about cycling, but it didn't really matter - it was all about the fun, the hype and the happy crowds.  An unforgettable day.
And from here they rattled across the north of Sheffield and up the now famous Jenkin Road in Wincobank - steepest climb of the whole race, including the Alps.

And it happened HERE in Sheffield!!!  Brilliant!  

A grand day out for Yorkshire - did us proud!!

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Great coverage and pics on this Le Tour Yorkshire website 

Some great videos here too:

After the slow crawl at the top of Jawbone hill, nice to see all the crowds heading home at the end on this usually quiet stretch of country lane:



and a bit further round near where we were standing:

2 comments:

  1. Near Bradfield is where my uncle and aunt from Sheffield (actually, Chapeltown) stood to watch the TdF. They sent me pictures and texts on the day, it really must have been so very special, and so much fun!
    Your "mass produced" breakfast and night-long barbecue looks great, too; how lucky Yorkshire was that weekend weather-wise!

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    1. Thanks Librarian! Yes, we were SO lucky with the weather - it was touch and go that weekend!

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