Last weekend was a busy one in London with lots happening in and around the city: Wimbledon (well done, Venus Williams!), the Live Earth concert at Wembley, the Grand Prix, the 2nd anniversary of the 7/7 bombings on London's transport system, and the Tour de France. Since we finally had a gorgeous, warm, sunny day after a couple weeks of cool temps and rain, rain, rain, I decided to take advantage of the weather and check out the Tour de France. It was free and how could I pass up the chance to experience such an amazing event without leaving London? Now, just as with Wimbledon, I am not a huge cycling fan although I (of course) know of Lance Armstrong and a little about the Tour. Some fun facts and figures about the Tour de France:

* The first Tour de France was held in 1903 and was 2,195 km long.

* The Tour is currently not allowed to be longer than 3,500 km. It lasts about 3 weeks.

* France has won the most Tours (36), but the current record number of wins by an individual is held by Lance Armstrong, who won 7 successive Tours between 1999 and 2005.

* The record number of Tour appearances is held by Joop Zoetemelk of Holland who rode the Tour an incredible 16 times! An honorable mention to Irishman Sean Kelly, who rode no less than 14 Tours in his career.

*The 2007 Tour will be raced between 21 nine-man teams--that's 189 riders.

My first stop last Saturday (7 July) was in the People's Village located in Hyde Park. A variety of companies and organizations had booths set up to celebrate the Tour and cycling. There was also a French market where I bought some delicious macaroons to enjoy while waiting for the race to begin. The fun along the race course got started with the Caravane. This colorful publicity caravan provided loud music (both in English and French), fun floats, and freebies being tossed into the crowd. We then saw the racers warming up by circling the course several times. At 3 pm the Prologue officially began! Prior to the first Stage of the Tour, all the riders participate in the Prologue which is the shortest part of the race. This year's course was 7.9 km long, almost completely flat, and had nine bends. Racers were anticipated to reach speeds of between 55 to 60 km/hr! Each rider completed the course on his own in a race against the clock. According to my program: 'The Prologue is fast and furious, the all-important scene setter for each year's Tour. The concept is staggeringly simple. It's all about racing against the clock, alone, from start to finish, this year over 7.9 km, from Whitehall to The Mall.' As a spectator, my challenge was trying to capture a decent photo as the racers sped by! With a little practice, I was able to get a few decent shots. In addition to a new photo album, I have also attempted to post a video. (Why I have not been using that function on my camera is a mystery even to me!) Hopefully it has worked and you'll be able to see how each rider came past on his own at amazing speeds!

This weekend has not been nearly as exciting. I spent yesterday (Saturday) at the British Library doing more research for my dissertation. Today will be more dissertation work along with laundry and a few other random tasks. This coming week is going to be a busy one on campus as it is the university's Graduation Week. Brunel holds ceremonies only once a year so all undergraduates and postgrads who finished in the last year were invited to participate. A couple months ago I signed up to help with the event and ended up being assigned to help with directing traffic and checking parking passes-beginning at 6 am! Please feel free to laugh at the thought of me standing in a car park (parking lot) at 6 am in a high-vis vest--everyone here thinks it's entertaining! I will be glad when next week is over!