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 throng.  This 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!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

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: