Looking Back @ Tillman, Once the Fastest Dog on a Skateboard

SKATEBOARDING HAS BECOME AN IMPORTANT ACTIVITY FOR MANY DOGS NOW

 

 

 

A little ode this time to a world famous bulldog who unfortunately left us too soon at the end of 2015. Tillman, who lived with the Davis family nearby Los Angeles, was not an ordinary English bulldog. No, for a long time he was the Guinness World fastest dog on a skateboard at 100 metres.

 

 

Ron Davis & Tillman in 2009

 

 

Only four years later, in 2013, his record of 19.678 seconds was broken by Jumpy, a multi-talented film stunt dog, who realised 19.65 seconds, also in L.A. You can see that here: 

 

 

 

Besides from many commercial appearances, this canine thespian, a border collie/blue heeler mix, also rose to fame in the movie business under direction of legends as Terrence Malick and Warren Beatty among others. While Jumpy had more versatile skills than Tillman, the bulldog had the better coordination on a moving board, as that was his favourite and nearly only pastime. But a new WR attempt by Tillman however failed because rainfall made the surface too slow. Now both dogs are in dog heaven. Jumpy passed away at the beginning of 2018, although he is survived by his puppies, his trainer Omar von Muller stated. Tillman for his part was ten years old when he died due to heart problems. CNN, NBC and CBS took over that news, as did many press media around the world. 

Here is what his boss uttered about his beloved dog on Twitter (@TillmanSkates): "I'm sorry to announce the world lost a true legend", Ron Davis wrote. "My best bud Tillman passed away last night, of natural causes. We spent 10 years making so many incredible memories skating, surfing and hanging out together. No words can truly describe how much he'll be missed. Thanks for all the good times, Tilly." 

Fan pages

Next to Twitter, the dog had his own blog, a Pinterest page and still has fan pages running on Facebook and Instagram called 'rideliketillman' where his owner Ron Davis shares sweet dog memories of his three bulldogs. On TV skateboarding dog stories are commonly used at the end of news bulletins as human interest stories. As such, television channel CBS made a short in memoriam video on YouTube about the dog who was known far and wide. Here it is:

 

 

Like stars do, Tillman had his ashes scattered in the ocean where he rode the waves before - because he did surfboard too - attended by all 'his surfing friends'. We all know videos of animals or pets score in the media or on platforms but how popular can you be as a dog? Probably a key element in the succes is what Ron Davis observed as "most dogs like to keep their owners happy". It also signifies they stay true to their passion. Or another saying "you get out of it what you put into it", which for Ron means that owners especially have to 'try' things out otherwise they will never know what their pet is gifted with. And then, inevitably, put a lot of training hours in it! So as popular Tillman was in his life, it was no surprise more than 10.000 people posted condolences and comments on his Facebook page after his passing. Picture it, most families of deceased, common humans by far don't get this amount of mourning reactions. Of course Tillman now has a Wikipedia page about him.

 

 

Dogs will eventually learn to steer

 

The young bulldog rose to internet fame in 2007 when a video showing him skateboarding went viral. This first YouTube video now has reached over 22 million views! Other videos remind us that on the hotter days Tillman went surf-, skim- or snowboarding. Not to mention the many surf dog contests he won. The more traditional dog tricks however did bother him less, his owner told. On TV the skateboarding dog made it beyond the news. He featured as a dog star in reality series Who Let The Dogs Out on Hallmark Channel, was in Greatest American Dog on CBS and did a few commercials. 

 

The dog skateboarding downtown L.A. for Mini Cooper was him. Also Apple picked up on the canine. Tillman even became the spokesdog for National Balance pet foods. In addition, many organisations invited or honoured Tilly as a special guest.

Succession

The digital revolution made it easier for dogs to break through. In traditional outlay somebody already imagined in 2006 what was about to happen later on. Francesca Simon wrote a children's book on this subject: Little Yellow Dog Says Look at Me. In this fictional story, the dog skateboards for attention. Just as Tillman, the little yellow dog makes a lot of people smile as he explores the urban world he lives in.

 

 © Orion's Children Books

 

Succession for Tilly or  'Pot Roast' as he was nicknamed, seemed to be ensured with 3-year old Peruvian bulldog Otto, who begin november 2015 skated through the legs of 30 people in Lima, yet another Guinness World Record. And of course Tillman was his great inspiration. Unfortunately Otto, also owner of a fan page, he too departed for the rainbow bridge at the end of 2019.

 

Otto skateboarding through the legs of 30 people

There are enough bulldogs or other dog races to find all over the world whose owners want them too to get in the picture, whether they are called Buttercup, Cartman, Chowder, Churro, George, Max or Brutis. Their videos can be very charming. Here you find an example: 

 

 

 

 

 

Dogs skateboarding in the streets, at parking lots and skate parks, they're easy to find on the web. And it seems that skateboarding has now become an important sports activity for many dogs. Furthermore it is an excelllent exercise for every dog's physical health and confidence. You can't deny that's the influence of pioneer dog Tillman. But was he really the pioneer? One skateboarding English bulldog named Tyson already appeared in the MTV show Rob and Big which ran from 2006 till 2008, and has since been featured on many websites as the pioneer of skateboarding dogs. He too has his Wikipedia page. On that page there's no mention about his demise but bulldogs generally become no older than 12 years. 

 

 

Tyson, the pioneer skateboarding dog

This Californian canine even made it to The Oprah Winfrey Show - not bad for a dog - and was in two movie pictures. One of them was the 2005 Lords of Dogtown, a film about a group of young skateboarders in Santa Monica among which legend Jay Adams. What's remarkable, Tyson and Tillman even trained together in 2008 at the Natural Balance camp where they learned to skate on a track in preparation of the Pasadena Parade and another time thereafter for the Rose Parade in the same town a year later. As real pro's the dogs had no eye for each other just for riding the skateboard :) 

 

 

In the 2008 YouTube video on that last training, Tyson's owner Jim Blauvelt says one year old Tyson started to skateboard around 2001-2002, so we give him the credit as the first one. It's just so funny to note these dogs shared the same obsession with the sport wanting to ride every day. And it is known that California definitely is skateboarding's Walhalla, also for dogs.

 

Cat on a board

Jay Adams, a Dogtown legend

But for good results, the dog needs to be handy and he must not be too big in size otherwise there will be no balance match with the small board. That's why you often see the wide bodied bulldogs, sometimes a border collie, a terrier or even a chiwawa skateboard. People just try this with their other beasts too, the internet learns us. On YouTube we even saw a cat jumping over an obstacle and landing back on the rolling board. Little in size, the dog pets are all fitted for the ride and basically with their lower centre of gravity even more than us humans. You can try to find a longboard if you're dog's bigger. Having the right skateboard for him is very important. This means the right size, light, strong and smooth to ride. The skateboard should only be a little larger than the dog. As well, the board in general must be wide enough for the canine. As soon as the dog has made progression and has started to really skateboard it is best for him to find a surface which is smooth to ride on. A snowboard, surfboard or a skimboard are wider and larger sized but this may take more time and effort as the holder of the pet probably needs to relocate. So that's only for the ardent dog owner. 

 

"Although it's not natural, any dog can learn how to skateboard" - Omar von Muller, dog trainer

Although it's not natural to the animal, according to renowned Colombian dog trainer Omar von Muller, any dog can learn how to skateboard. He teaches them with obedience and food or treat motivated training. "After the dog gets used to the board," he says, "knowing how to steer needs a lot of repetition." And loosened board trucks may help with that. The dog will then start learning to lean towards the side he wants to go. The only way he effectively will learn is by crashing or getting stuck. "It takes months of training every day," von Muller explains, "but the most important is that the dog has to be happy when he's doing it."

Attraction

It's a fact that so much people love seeing videos of  skateboarding canines on social media and on video platforms. In real life you will steal the attention of the passersby when your dog is riding on four wheels. He will easily be an attraction. But on the other hand, what's no different than with humans, is that the dog needs both interest and talent. These factors interact with each other to result in a long enduring passion or hobby. Otherwise all efforts will fail. And for some their primal obsession turns out into something big. Tillman was an active dog and he hated to be left out of activities. "Anything with a sense of thrill, he's all for it", said Ron Davis in 2014. Ron made it exciting for Tillman to do what the dog loved the most, as it happened that was skateboarding. So to conclude here's the movie of one year old Tilly with which it all began and which changed his pet life.

Tillman, riding a wave at the Surf City surf dog contest in Huntington Beach, California, in 2014 (© Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The GOAT on a skateboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tilly, now in bronze, united with his board

 

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☆ Little Yellow Dog Says Look at Me (Little Yellow Dog series) Paperback, ‎Orion Children's Books Francesca Simon (Author), James Lucas (Illustrator), May 1, 2004

 

 

30.05.2022

Why I Find Pearl Jam's 'Ten' the Most Timeless Album Now but Not Then?

LOOKING BACK 30 YEARS LATER AT THE RELEASES OF THE THREE PARAMOUNT ALBUMS OF THE NINETIES WITHIN ONE MONTH

Looking back it's hardly imaginable that the three best albums of the 1990's decennium were issued all three within a time period of one month. When estimating now I think the first was also the best but I can live with the other choices and I probably wouldn't have said the same twenty-five years ago. Also in my imagination I can't rhyme Blood Sugar Sex Magik being as old as Nirvana's seminal Nevermind.

                © Warner Bros.

Still it is, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers were already an established band, that's why I always thought their superb album much older.

August of 1991

So the first that got out that late holiday 27th of August 1991 was Pearl Jam's Ten. The other two babies were born on the 24th of September. What a wealth that late summer of 1991! While Nirvana made the biggest revolution in music since long, their Seattle counterparts were very different of approach: musically speaking with much more guitar soloing and lyrically with glinsters of hope while Cobain was more cynical textually and in behaviour.

© Jabarratt/Zuma

But both frontmen were wounded deer, that's for sure, the difference lay in how they dealt with that. The one - Vedder - being reckless, the other - Cobain - self hating and fatalistic.

Deep emotions

At the time of release I surely would've chosen Nirvana as best album with RHCP as second best. Nirvana had the most punk intensity of the three bands and the Chili Peppers undeniably the most funky style maybe standing more distant from the other two. The singers of Pearl Jam and Nirvana all felt a pain but they expressed it totally different. Now we're more than thirty (oh my gosh!) years later, I know Ten is the most timeless of them all with deep emotions, the opening of Eddie's soul and the guitars surrounding them.

 

"Ten touches you at a deeper level with its more universal sound still being heavily personal"

It begins already with the very intense 'Once'. That intensity is being maintained in the first five songs which are of high quality. 'Black' is the top song on this album telling us what to do when the sun goes down on our soul. Vedder's clearly been there enough times but he sees why that is so. He sees that black is not a period in time, he sees that the tattoos are painful memories of lover's breath gone cold. That's why he just let it rest in the hands of the Lord.

© Epic Records

There is not one weak song on this whole album but that could be said of the other two bands' albums too, it's simply why they're all outstanding.

Versatile band

Don't think Pearl Jam is not a versatile band. They prove this with the European bonus track 'Dirty Frank', you only don't expect this sheer funkness from them, competing here with the best RCHP. It's just that the song is not really at place in the concept of Ten which is a very serious album digging deep in the worlds of their band members for inspiration. So you don't expect this genre from Pearl Jam and - besides from the quality of the song in itself - for a part that's what makes it so good. There's obvious a lot of fun in the surfer's world Vedder belonged to, and the young adolescent Vedder was able to conquer his growing pains also in such a way. But playfulness was in the heart of Cobain or Nirvana too. Only it didn't stay there...

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☆ Pearl Jam - Ten, Epic Records, 27 August 1991

☆ Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Warner Bros. Records, 24 September 1991

☆ Nirvana - Nevermind, DGC Records, 24 September 1991

Down to St-James Infirmery

THE DOORS: JIM MORRISON, 'FIVE TO ONE' - FEATURING ALBERT KING

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This unofficial recording from The Doors dates back from the 'Roadhouse Blues' tour (january till august 1970) on which legendary blues guitarist Albert King joined forces with the band. It is a fragmented bootleg and came out in 2009, not so long before the official and much completer Live in Vancouver 1970 double cd was released by Elektra. The Vancouver concert was recorded on 6 june 1970, just a little more than a year before Morrison's demise. The band plays tight and they're in good shape, including their singer. 

Delta blues slide licks

The bearded Morrison starts the fun in 'Roadhouse Blues' with the megaphone effect coming in great. 'When The Music's Over' thrillingly bursts in and out. Note that Albert King isn't to be heard only on Ellas Mc Daniel's 'Who Do You Love' here but he immediately adds as a surplus his wonderful delta blues slide licks to the band's improvisations. What a combination! Terrific live bass work also, and that for a band without a regular bass player. It's just Manzarek on keys.

Youtube - The Doors Live In Vancouver - Fever

'Light My Organ' as a rule seems to get high on a psychedelic, little false tuning - or is it the recording? -  but from a musical genius like Manzarek you accept that without question. I mean, who else plays bass on a piano keyboard, left-handed, while performing melodies on the organ, right-handed? The song gets interwoven here with 'Fever' from Little Willie John and made famous by Peggy Lee. It's the most swinging moment of the disc with Jim on shakers and the public clapping along.

"Fever started a long time ago"... 

"Everybody's got the fever"

 

The raw sounding, wounded frontman takes us first down into St-James infirmery before the obsessed and childlike Morrison we all know comes through by means of another great outburst that's called 'The End'. The concert in the Pacific Coliseum is as good as The Doors get live. Spreading their most psychedelic and bluesy vibes, manifested especially in their cover choices with Jim making them his genuine dark own. This uncomplete cd is very tasteful and tastes for more...

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Jim Morrison - Five To One
Issued by Woodstock Tapes (WT5117) in 2009

1 Roadhouse Blues 5:50
2 Backdoor Man 2:28
3 Five To One 5:56
4 When The Music's Over 12:12
5 Who Do You Love 7:22
6 Light My Fire 10:57
7 Fever 7:32
8 The End 16:29

Live at Pacific Coliseum Vancouver, 6 june 1970

My Great Punk Experience

I remember I was in Vienna for a short vacation, it was in the early years of the third millenium. A slightly dreary thursday night in april and I was walking on the Universitätsring at the opposite side of the large, ancient and impressive university main building, with the beautiful aula, that's spread alongside the busy ring.

                        © Alfred Lex

  

I don't think the tiny place still exists but I assume it was there - at least in my memory. It was a student bar, a sort of 'keller' or basement also used for little gigs aside drinking. And I was thirsty. Their sloppy A4 gigging bill next to the entrance rapidly took my attention. That evening - as often - there was live music in the 'keller'.

                        © Alfred Lex

   

So I jumped in and ordered myself a large beer. I don't really remember if the gig had already started when I entered but I didn't think so. The 'band' - the name I forgot, little chance I wrote it down somewhere  - consisted out of two persons. An already what older man, certainly above fifty, with his wife/daughter/girlfriend. It had to be one of the three. Hopefully not the two or three together. Probably she was a bit younger than him and there was something different about her, I think she might've had a handicap and/or walked on crutches or with a stick.

                        © Alfred Lex

They both sang and as far as I recall he played the acoustic guitar. He could barely play... and very slow. Three chords that was all... (but HEYHO that's enough!) They were not great singers.

Dead Moon

Think of the former American punkrockband Dead Moon with only one acoustic guitar, that's as close as my description comes to the duo. If they'd brought the candle or chandelier with them... hmm... my mind and the scene's recalling of it make it so but really... think of it as such, they were humble romantics. The song they started with or that I heard first and remember well was a Joy Division song: 'New Dawn Fades'. That goes:

"...a change of speed, a change of style. A change of scene, with no regrets..."

The hair on my arms rose. The slow tempo of this song fitted and feeded their stage act perfectly. The brave man wore the original New Model Army shirt, you know the one with the red circle in the midst like the Japanese flag on black.

Being on stage - which in fact wasn't there, they just stood in the farthest corner on the same level of the compressed pub visitors - for them was already a huge step I suppose. But they didn't care. It was indispensable food for their romantic souls. They stood naked in their weakness and it made them strong. In my mind even impressive. I know acknowledge THAT moment THAT two person band singing THAT song for me was the greatest punk experience I've ever had and witnessed. No one ever came close.

                        © Yelp

Probably you once experienced a similar special musical moment too. Keep it in your heart! It doesn't always have to be the best band in town nor the best performance that touches the deepest. I don't even have photographs or other souvenirs to prove my case. That era had not yet come. That's why I'm telling you this out of my memory. Wasn't that the way they used to tell the great stories? Mine was a little story in a little Vienna student's pub keller. But how they did conquer themselves, me, the music and the world in my remembrance...

                        © University Wien

☆ University of Vienna,   Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna

 

☆ In 1884, Emperor Franz Joseph I opened the main building of the University on the Ringstrasse. The historic building is based on the famous Italian universities of the Renaissance

Amazing Song HARD HARD Not to Listen

AFTER 46 YEARS, THE PRODUCER'S COLLECTIVE NUMERO GROUP DOES FOLKROCK BAND WHITE EYES JUSTICE!

Based in Columbia, Missouri, White Eyes was a professional music band that was active under that name from 1969 till 1975. They recorded a full-length album/demo between november 1969 and may 1970 at the local Fairyland Studios, which, in the end, was never released. Somebody - a producer's collective called Numero Group - dug it out of a very very dark vault, probably in the Mississippi, and released the album in 2015, that's 46 years later !!! So now justice is done and you'll find the album on Spotify, Shazam, iTunes/Apple Music and the songs on Youtube too as the Numero Group is specialised in diving up old diamonds from the 50's to the 90's era. Be sure they're doing a fine job with that !!

The song 'Hard Hard Livin'' on Youtube

The song 'Hard Hard Livin'' is undoubtedly the best song that's on the eponymous White Eyes album and it's the reason I'm writing off here the goosebumps Cat Sherrell and her bandmates give me. I think this song still got it all: the raw, honest and haunted lyrics of the singer who's at the doorsteps between Janis Joplin and Dolly Parton...

 "Yeah little baby!", Cat Sherrell sings lived through"

Their thrilling instrumentation that was own to the Woodstock times with the sometimes crazy, mean and a bit chaotic lead guitar alternated by the melodic chords when it should, the wide rolling toms and the rhythmical bass that's invisibly leading the dance - when not going mad - with the ghost harmonies as its brides... I'd say... sometimes fate puts a gem out there for us to find... just take the gift and listen!

www.numerogroup.com

White Eyes On Discogs

LES NÉGRESSES VERTES Live @ Moods Festival, Brugge - Belgium - 2.08.2019

THE DISH STILL BEING SERVED PLENTIFUL (Eat It While You Still Can !!)

Moods is a young and friendly city festival in Bruges - connected to the Cactus festival - that in 2019 was held between 26 july and 8 august at the Burg square and the Belfry indoor square. Eight evenings one or two musical acts perform and the double bill at the cosy Burg even allows for a free entrance. The actual version of Les Négresses Vertes was the top bill on friday 2 august after Antibalas had spread its summer vibes first.

The gig of the Parisians started out in a cosy and nonchalant way like some sort of musical variety show with a humorous touch - French could call it 'vaudeville' - which fitted well the surroundings. Gradually the pace and intensity went upwards and swinging rock came replacing the musette and acoustic 'chansons' until after the first encore LNV switched back again elegantly to a splendid listening moment.

Already they had played far more than an hour then. As from 'Hey Maria' the performance had come at full steam, 'L'Homme Des Marais' was enchanting and 'La Danse Des Négresses Vertes' created a little bit of madness. Drum and bass - and shortly even harmonica - went firmly into rockabilly modus on 'Père Magloire' and 'Marcelle Ratafia' and the electric guitar in 'Les Yeux De Ton Père' really 'clashed'. Guitarist Mellino teased the Bruges audience to oversound Brussels in chanting on 'Les Rablablas', an uptempo booster with two acoustic guitars and ingenious word play, as often. More acoustic guitars during the rousing 'Zobi' with trombone player Sirinix at vocals. Mellino regularly tried to get the public into the music with hand-clapping, the expressive Sirinix wanted them to sing along on 'Hey Maria' or 'Zobi' ("Où sont les filles?") and Paulus searched for Marcel(le) among the crowd.

Clenched fist

Enthusiasm and joy - with lots of instrument changes - still are main ingredients of this legendary band but it's the trumpet and the trombone that keep the party going. The accordionist who plays the organ as well as the keytar. 

"It's the trumpet and the trombone that keep the party going"

The mysterious sound colour of raï music as in 'Orane' and 'Face A La Mer', the rumba flamenco fingerpicking and rythms of Stefane Mellino, the ska moment and even the elektro-mix in the finishing 'Bodega'. It's all part of this versatile band, once even double as big in number. But even back then it was already more "du bordel organisé" than one might've guessed, the lead guitarist said in a recent interview on a Brussels radio.

At the end an impressive punk solo version of '200 Ans De Hypocrisie' threw some great electric charge in the air but also the clenched fist. Overall there were lots of people present friday evening, young and old, and as diverse as the band(s). Maybe a little too casual to go into ecstasy. But for a free city festival on a lovely summer evening they had the ideal act in front of them! Almost two hours long...

Setlist: La Valse/ C'est Pas La Mer À Boire/ Voilà l'Été/ La Faim Des Haricots/ Orane/ Hey Maria/ L'Homme Des Marais/La Danse Des Négresses Vertes/ Il/ Le Père Magloire/ Marcelle Ratafia/ Les Yeux De Ton Père/ Les Rablablas, Les Roubliblis/ Zobi La Mouche

Encore 1: Face À La Mer /Hasta Llegar/ Famille Nombreuse/ Les Mégots/ 200 Ans De Hypocrisie

Encore 2: Soleil De Bodega

LNV Box

Early 2018, at the start of the Mlah-Tour, Les Négresses Vertes carefully fixed some forty dates as the band had been out of performing together since 2002. But the renewed band's already on the road now for their second consecutive festival summer and will in 2020 reach, at least, hundred and twenty gigs since the recent restart. So one can say the Mlah tour is a genuine succes while the demand still keeps coming from all around.

In fact it became a small world tour but with a majority of gigs in France and also a good part in Belgium. End of 2018 also a LNV box saw the light with three cd's of classics, B-sides, remixes, unreleased demo's and a Manchester live concert out of 1989. There's also a dvd in it showing an unreleased Iceland gig in 1990, a film about their Japanese tour and all the band's video clips between 1987-1993. A booklet of 120 pages is included with work from their graphic archives and with texts and pictures of numerous persons familiar to the band. Ha! Ha! Famille nombreuse...

Visiting Montcornet and Reims @ Tour De France

LA GRANDE BOUCLE FINALLY RECONNECTS WITH THE SPIRIT OF MERCKX AND HINAULT

This summer we wanted to visit the Tour de France with a couple of friends. After all if there’s music in cycling the three weeks during race is the rock'n roll part of it... and not only Peter Sagan. Theoretically it should not have been all too difficult to jump in because the Tour 2019 started in our capital Brussels on the 6th of july as 'le Grand Départ' and had a team-trial the next day in the same town. But I couldn't make it there those days so we left the busy first two stages rightful to the Brussels' inhabitants and cycling lovers that showed up in mass: 100.000 people at the start, 120.000 at the 'arrivée' and a total of 500.000 in the Brussels-capital region on the first day only!! Whow! An extra attraction was the fiftieth anniversary of 'cannibal' Eddy Merckx’s first of five victories in the French stage course. Eddy was properly celebrated with among others a giant ground picture of him wearing his yellow Faema jersey in 1969.

We joined in for the third stage ‘Binche-Epernay’ and drove from the Belgian roads over some of the race-course roads to Montcornet (Hauts-de-France region) and then to Reims (Grand Est region) where we chose to spend the night in the neighbourhood. This in order to see a glimpse of stage 3 and the start of stage 4 in the centre of Reims the day after.

Fight for merch

The first day we stopped at Montcornet, a little village at the crossroads between Laon and Reims and situated in the Aisne department, to watch the cyclists and the mighty Tour caravan which precedes them for about two hours. If you've never been to a stage you can compare the Tour caravan to a carnival parade or an election campaign in the eighties where all sorts of merchandise are thrown to the spectators at the side of the road who fight among each other for the little publicity wanna-have's. After that it's a long wait to see the rider's peloton. A helicopter guiding the cyclists has then long flown by. In the Hauts-de-France region there are a lot of farmers and everyone does their best to welcome the Tour.



This goes from hay stacks in special trimmed forms, a lot of bikes in different sizes and colours and different banners with slogans on, which you can see pretty detailed on television too or maybe on stream.



I had positioned myself just outside of Montcornet at the bottom of the hillside leading into the village centre where the cyclists attained the highest speeds of the descent, which I estimate around 50 miles an hour (80 kms per hour) or more. Direction hillside I could see a traffic sign pointing to Brussels at a distance of 163 kilometers like it was made for this Tour. The first cyclist I took down on image was Belgian Wellens who was spectacularly leading the breakaway that got him the polka dot jersey. When the peloton arrived I managed to get some well-known cyclists in my lens such as Van Aert, Mattthews, world champion Valverde, Simon and/or Adam Yates, Fuglsang and the later victorious De Ghendt - a little blurred because a Dutchman just came leaping into my focus (grrrr).






The 215 kilometers long stage was eventually won by the French talent Julian Alaphilippe, officially and unofficially the best rider in the world at the moment, who also took the yellow leader's jersey that day. When we arrived the evening at our hotel near Reims we were surprised to see the leader's team Deceuninck - Quick-Step residing next to us at a footstep's lenght.

So we paid them a visit but when the yellow jersey arrived after the exhausting stage and the press and sponsors duties afterwards, he was properly shielded by the staff members - nothing more than justified - and no sign of the teammates either. Also present were some TV crews - I remember Danish, Dutch and Belgian TV - shooting or preparing their short journal news contributions.



Luckily the day after we got to see the pro competitors of the Belgian team before they were driven to the start in their giant team bus. That way I could take a nice shot of Alaphilippe who was already heavy sollicitated and also of sprinter Viviani, climber Enric Mas and of the Belgian helper Devenyns. This was around a quarter past ten in the morning with the start of the ‘Reims-Nancy’ stage at noon.

Ewan’s unforgettable debut

Reims centre, where the wheel heroes were being presented to the public, was our next stop. Passing a booth with the official Tour de France memorabilia on the lane to the giant cathedral we came just in time to see the then white jersey - best young driver - and later sprint victor (but also very unlucky) Wout Van Aert manoeuvring on the podium. A lot of people were gathered on the Boulingrin parking square for the presentation, at the Rue de Mars and also in the adjacent streets leading out of Reims but obviously not as much as in Brussels that waited more than sixty years to be yet again host of the Tour's departure.

The starting line in Reims was constitued of the holders of the classification jerseys. Already that morning I had taken the later winner of the day, Elia Viviani, on picture - as if the Gods of the wheel were generous. Soudal-Lotto's main sprinter, the Australian Caleb Ewan, comes prominently in my lens in the streets of the Marne subcapital. At that moment nobody knew he would become the most succesful sprinter in the Tour 2019. Caleb had been a few times close to victory in the first half of the Tour and eventually won the 11th stage with only a few centimeters advantage to Holland's top sprinter Groenewegen at Toulouse. It is said Groenewegen know writes Toulouse as to lose. In Nimes, at the end of the 16th stage, the quick Ewan speeded up to win the day’s head prize a second time. The cherry on the cake then was yet to come with a glorious win on the last day at Champs-Elysées, every sprinter's wet dream. Again Groenewegen was beaten making the hierarchy very clear for this year.

Just become a father, Ewan's debut at the Tour was unforgettable for him with three wins just as for his Belgian Soudal-Lotto team with four team wins and Tim Wellens holding the scarabee climber jersey for fifteen days, a souvenir from the early attack we witnessed in Montcornet. As a team only Mitchelton-Scott and Jumbo-Visma could equal the number of four stage wins. Another person I recognised in Reims - not a rider but the former Belgian minister of mobility, how appropriate - was Jacqueline Galant with her baby boy. She’s still mayor of Jurbise, a village near Mons, so for her the trip to watch the yellow jersey - an idea a century old reflecting the page colour of the organising journal - was easily within reach.

Long and thrilling

The Tour would go on to provide a long and thrilling race where mainly in the mountains was decided who would be this year’s number one: the young Columbian Egan Bernal.

Bernal, who is the first Columbian to ever win the Tour de France, makes an end to a long British hegemony, starting with Bradley Wiggins over Chris Froome to Geraint Thomas, but confirming yet an even long supremacy of the same Team Sky, since this year Team Ineos.



Bernal, only 22 years old, at his turn could be in for a very long series of wins if he remains untouched by unreasonable bad luck. Time will tell! Most important was that we finally got to see a race again where the riders attacked to win the race instead of trying to control it not to lose. The French climbers Alaphilippe and Pinot - very unlucky at the end - were the best personifications of that. Cannibal Merckx had made it already to the Pyrenees after the Brussels’ celebrations and saw it was good: the riders raced in the spirit of his way of cycling and we all know that was... simply attacking! Sadly fate made this extremely attractive course end on a bit of an anticlimax with the injury of challenger Pinot, one of the few favourites who had been able to leave Bernal behind on a climb, and the both shortened 19th and 20th stage because of weather conditions.

We must not forget that La Grande Boucle has always been a very hard competing race while technology has made the stages even go harder year by year. That makes the riders also more vulnerable, it's not a profession for sissies to say the least.

"Technology has made stages go harder year by year. That makes the riders also more vulnerable"

One can hope for the near future the riders will be progressively better protected as well as one must realise that there will never be a zero risk in this tour or sport which is highly accessible for fans, especially in the mountains. At least the Tour organisation has done what it should to cancel the 19th stage in the descent preceding the climb to Tignes, because the roads were covered with mud, snow and water when a heavy hailstorm occured. No professional cyclist should ever be put in danger, after all the races are already tough and difficult enough by itself!

Pédaler dans la misère in 3019?

But just prophesying where this big tour and cyclism will stand in yet another hundred years? Computerisation and algorithms have now fully entered the sport and their use will only increase. The harsh iron bicycles have been traded in for faster ultralight carbon types with disc brakes not offering any protection so the outcome of their race will now lay in a combination of the rider’s physical and steering capacities, their safety helmet, the team orders, the future weather and a bit of luck or shall we say fate, assuming all organisational faults have been ruled out.

Many will probably ride the virtual Tour de France by then but don’t doubt that 'bread & games' will be even dominant as it is now. It will also have become even more difficult to know the sport’s history by heart, but that's not new: already lots of champions are forgotten or nearly and the list will only become longer with only a few exceptional champs to be remembered. Some spectators will still probably use the event to express their misfortune or poverty - didn't I read "Et le peuple pédale dans la misère" on the Brussels' Jubelpark-Cinquantenaire tunnel bridge at the end of the first stage? That were yellow jerseys too… But that finances by then will be more evenly distributed over the people remains highly questionable. In the northeast of France up to the Belgian border you see most or many of the houses still have the old tv-antennas on their roof. I predict that in 3019 these folks will at least have cable tv to see the future candidate winners on screen trying to grasp yellow stardom!

31.07.2019

My words were not a week old and Belgium lost one of its biggest tour talents in the Tour of Poland. A serene golden boy who competed in 2017 to win the Tour of the Future only to be beaten by Bernal. Belgium's sports and cycling community is devastated by this loss. The new weather and fate take a heavy toll. RIP Bjorg Lambrecht 02.04.1997 - 05.08.2019