We arrived to Brussels Friday July 2nd late night. The city seems to me very quiet and lonely maybe because we stayed in the south part of Brussels with no traffic at all and the gray sterile buildings of the finance district made me feel far away of any of my comfort zones but overall I was ready for next day (the prologue of le tour de France). People in Belgium friendly but distant as good old North Europeans. Saturday morning after a good breakfast we left Brussels at around 9:00 am. It only took us an hour to cover the 60 miles to Liege and parked the car close to the parc d' avroy where according to my velo news guide, the time trial would start. We left the car in a place that didn't look very safe however I was not in the mood to try to find a parking place maybe because I was anxious or maybe because I didn't want to look like ignorant trying to find the way of how to pay or interact with the parking people, so we left the car and I said, I hope to see you again when I come back for you. We walked about six blocks and we were there right in the circuit, when we crossed the street, here they came the Spanish armada Ivan Mayo and the Euzcatel team riding very close to us(like Brian Cox rides through Summitview), I turned to Loretta and started to shout he is Mayo, he is Mayo, Loretta looked at me and said calm down here they are coming more riders.We saw the Phonak team (including Tyler), Jan by himself, and a few Quick Step and Saeco guys. Later George, Floyd and Ekymov came out for a ride also. We decided to be at around 300 yards from the starting point. It was very interesting to see the caravan or parade passing by, as well as the people of Brioches La Boulangere to give away bread in individual packages and the French police ruling in Belgium soil. People definitely warm up and enjoyed the magic of being at le tour. The waiting time was long but If you ask me to do it, I will do it again and again. It was nice to see children wearing the jersey of their favorite team and to see them waiting for their favorite rider. While we were waiting suddenly I notice that people start to get excited behind us. I turned and there he was....... the Devil. I didn't have any word than....hey dude I need a picture with you. He politely accepted my request and left. For the ones who doesn't know who is the devil check the velo news of this month there is a great picture of Jan chased by my amigo.
Finally after the parade the tour started (Prologue) at exactly 16:00 hrs it was great to see the first rider from team Alesio passing by, after that we saw them all (one by one) from Magnus Backstedt all the way to Chipollini and off course Tyler and Lance. I was impressed with acceleration of Lance and the sound of his bike chain at the moment that he passed in front of us, it was like if he was pedaling with not tension at all. After Lance everybody got dispersed as the end of any major event. Walking towards the car I had the opportunity to see the Voiture Balai which is famous for it's peaches. The Voiture Balai is the wagon that picks the riders up when they are disqualified or abandon the race. None of the riders like to be picked up by it. In the back of the wagon it has a legend that says "end of the race". Loretta was asking me why I was so interested to take a picture of a wagon. When I told her, she understood that it was another symbol of le tour. The next day (stage 1) was easier, the waiting time was only around a hour and we drove to Charleroi after we drove to Bruges. Charleroi seemed to me with more green areas and it doesn't look as industrial as Liege, in fact it has very friendly pubs and coffee shops. We picked an spot one mile from the finish line. The peloton passed by fast and furious and when I say furious is because everybody is giving all. I have in my mind the face of George (firm and decisive) and the expression of Beltran struggling to stay in the peloton. I finish my report with something that I think was special . While we were waiting at the prologue in Liege we were elbow to elbow with other people. A French couple next to us asked us if we went there to support Lance, we answered yes, then they told us that they were also there to support Lance. Later they asked us if that was our first tour, we answered again yes, then they told us how excited they get every July and how they have been in every tour for the last seven years.
I questioned them if they enjoy riding a bike and their answer was, No we don't ride but we enjoy cycling and le tour, we like Lance and we enjoy meeting new people who love the sport. That answer made me understand how great the sport of cycling is and also made me think that it doesn't matter if you are good or bad rider, if you like to put 500 miles a week or you don't ride at all, if you are fast or slow rider, doesn't matter if you are French or Belgium or American or Mexican what really matters to me is that cycling can make us break barriers that allows us to think and dream about a better world.
Saludos Antonio Macias