Peloton, Tour of Britain

This morning, the fifth stage of the cycling Tour of Britain passed less than a mile from the village.  It was early on in the stage, approximately 3o minutes into the day en route to the first sprint in Hexham.  I finished night shift this morning, rushed home, had breakfast and shower then headed out with my camera to catch the action.  It seemed that many local folk had headed either to the start in Prudhoe or to Hexham and so the road side was very quiet thus enabling me to find a great vantage point.  A small group of five riders made up a leaders group about 4 minutes ahead of the main peloton.  The one thing which struck me was the sound as the group of 108 riders passed, the whir of the pedals and tyres on the road, almost like the purring of a cat. The other amusing thing was how much talking was going on between the riders, as if they were out on a Sunday morning club ride.  All too quickly they action had passed by, followed by all the support vehicles.  Then it was home to collapse into bed for a couple of hours.  No work tonight so catching up with the highlights of the race on the TV and with blip of course! 

The extra shot is of the leaders group.