“A Sunday in Hell”: Bee da bee da beep!
We like to think about Hell on Sundays at Waffles & Steel. Not the fiery place for evildoers. But the cobbles and heroism well documented in our favorite cycling movie, Jorgen Leth’s masterpiece, “A Sunday in Hell.” We’ll pick up the action from last week:
The camera lingers over a crowd lining the streets, cheering the riders as they spin by at the start of the race. Some fans are snapping pictures. There’s a tiny old lady in a black overcoat with her head covered with a scarf. She claps rhythmically with glee. How many of these races has she seen? A boy in a white cycling cap stands by his father, who’s decked out in a blue zip-up warm-up jacket that was so fashionable in the 70s. Team cars roar by, their roofs and trunk doors loaded with bikes and wheels. Their horns are blaring: “Bee da bee da beep da bee da beep!”
Then, a jolting change of scenery. The camera leaves the crowded streets of Chantilly, and we suddenly find ourselves looking at the empty stands and banked track in Roubaix, where the race will climax with a thrilling finish. The narrator says, “At the municipal stadium in Roubaix, preparations are already being made to receive the race, still over seven hours away.”
With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, a man in a white painter’s jumpsuit and black shoes is painting “BNP” on the track, using an old brush to push the white paint over a stencil in a perfunctory manner. The narrator says, “BNP stands for Bank National de Paris, the principal sponsor of this year’s race.” I like how they waited until almost the last minute to put the bank’s logo on the track. The paint barely has enough time to dry. The scene makes me nostalgic for the days when sports weren’t so commercialized.
The camera cuts back to the peloton. The narrator says, “The field is neutralized through the streets of Chantilly until it reaches the official starting line, then it’s a free-for-all outside of town.” Next week, the “free-for-all” finally begins!
I have a great book on the race, “Paris-Roubaix, A Journey Through Hell”. It is published by Velopress. Four authors listed (all French) with Philippe Bouvet first. It is filled with amazing, beautiful photographs and commentary tracing the race from the beginning. There is a cool intro by Bob Roll, “L’Enfer du Americain”. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out. I always leave it on the coffee table until my wife sees it and puts it back on the shelf!
I remember seeing the ad for this book when I was in China but didn’t order it because it would be a hassle (and expensive) to ship overseas. But now that I’m back in America again, I must order it. Many thanks for reminding me! Funny, about your thwarted attempts of coffee table display. Keep it up! But if your wife is like mine, you’ll never wear her down with such stunts.