Tour Series - Thursday 3rd June

Back from Brittany and what better excuse for a night off the bike than going to watch a top level cycle race in the heart of Exeter? Joined by friends we set off into town to watch the spectacle.

It was great to see the buzz around town for the event. I was particularly excited to get to the CTC stand and find pictures of us on the Brittany trip only a few days before! We bumped into some fellow Brittany trip travellers and had a quick natter before the action got underway. We also picked up free water bottles from Cycle Exeter and some Devon flags to wave - but we never managed to find an inflatable orange Halfords Hand...how will we ever survive without one?!?

I'd not been to see the Tour Series before so wasn't sure what to expect and had worried that standing round for over an hour to watch a bunch of people going past on bikes every few minutes might get a bit boring. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the time flew by! It was definitely made more interesting by the randomly placed sprint laps that were indicated by a buzzer on the lap before. Unfortunately the commentating wasn't quite up to scratch - a few riders got separated from the pack and despite speculation about a possible crash, we never did find out what actually happened. I know it's not quite the F1 Grand Prix, but I would expect there to be someone out on the rest of the lap / or a camera following the pack that could report back to the commentators and keep the crowd informed.

Having said that, whilst the commentary lacked solid facts and information, it was made up for by the characters of the chaps who were commentating. I have no idea what they were waffling on about at some points, but it was all the more entertaining for it.

If you've not had chance to go before, I would recommend you make the effort to get there another year as it truly is spectacular to see all the racers whizzing by and it's great to have such a fantastic spectacle right here on our doorstep in Exeter.