Bonneville & Tour De France

Tuesday, 21 July 2026

When Zali suggested we take advantage of the tour being near the final stage of the Swiss O Week I  knew instantly that I didn't want to be part of it.  I had waited for the tour way back when it started in the UK, and it couldn't have been more boring (in my opinion) - I believe it's one of those sports (like triathlon and surfing) that are much better enjoyed through a good TV coverage and waiting for hours on the side of a road was not my thing.

What I didn't know (but should have) was that being an assistant to the tour watchers was a LOT worse than actually watching. Our plan for me to drop them off near the top of the final climb, then pick them up after the stage concluded was, in hindsight, very flawed.  Firstly I had to drive up a narrow windy road with the bike and car traffic to drop them off and then in a much much much worse scenario, I had to return at the end of the day against the flow of traffic and 1 billion bikes (overtaking the slow traffic) to get back up to pick them up - and that wasn't even the most stressful part (although that WAS stressful). The most stressful part was at the bottom of the hill where there was traffic going in both ways while the road was almost completely blocked by parked spectator cars and then as we are squeezing past each other there are also thousands of pedestrians and cyclists trying to squeeze though the gaps that are opening and closing - it was the worst and most stressful driving situation I've ever been in.  

In between those two driving events the road closures had hampered with my hiking plan a and plan b, so I decided to walk around Bonneville until the tour came through. It was really hot (33 degrees), there was barely any shade in the whole town, the public toilet was out of Train Spotting, and aside from all of that, waiting for cyclists is SO BORING and a complete waste of a day (again, in my opinion).   I made the best attempt I could and found some nice streets and the local swimming option (a swampy lake), but really it was difficult to enjoy and I should have just stayed with the tour watchers from the start. Next time (there won't be a next time), I'll make sure to put hundreds of kilometres between myself and the race. 

In the meantime everyone else had a good time and scored some good tour merchandise.  Once I picked them up again we still had 3 hours of driving to do but by that time I was so cooked I resigned all driving and navigating duties to Jon and Zali.