http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/06/30/parsing-the-peloton-language-and-le-tour-de-france/ Beyond Words explores our experiences with language, culture, and the world through our day-to-day interactions. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:20:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/06/30/parsing-the-peloton-language-and-le-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-846 Kenny Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:37:48 +0000 http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/?p=2817#comment-846 I watched the start in Pforzheim, Germany in 2005. The city was packed and all the streets had rails keeping people off of the race course and on the sidewalks. There were grandstands at the official start and moderators with big screen monitors rambling in German. I took a spot a short distance from the start but right on the rails on a street corner hoping the riders would slow down as they passed. There is a grand parade of decorated sponsor cars, trucks and motorcycles that begin the race and you can collect quite a pile of goodies as they zoom by. This parade goes on for at least 10 minutes and maybe 100 vehicles. That turned out to be the highlight of the event for me. I did see the pack of riders pass just inches away and even got a photo of Lance next to his grand German rival Ulrich but that was all over in less than 5 seconds. It was well worth the drive to see it. As far as translation goes, the language spoken there was fun and everyone got it! I will be shouting Go Lance Go again this year! I watched the start in Pforzheim, Germany in 2005. The city was packed and all the streets had rails keeping people off of the race course and on the sidewalks. There were grandstands at the official start and moderators with big screen monitors rambling in German. I took a spot a short distance from the start but right on the rails on a street corner hoping the riders would slow down as they passed. There is a grand parade of decorated sponsor cars, trucks and motorcycles that begin the race and you can collect quite a pile of goodies as they zoom by. This parade goes on for at least 10 minutes and maybe 100 vehicles. That turned out to be the highlight of the event for me. I did see the pack of riders pass just inches away and even got a photo of Lance next to his grand German rival Ulrich but that was all over in less than 5 seconds. It was well worth the drive to see it. As far as translation goes, the language spoken there was fun and everyone got it! I will be shouting Go Lance Go again this year!

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