Pioneer in Paris — Accidental brush with history!
PARIS, FRANCE (August 5, 2024) — After spending several hours Sunday at the Palace and Gardens of Versailles (more on that later) we took the train back to Paris and got off at the Notre Dame station.
The main thoroughfare, Blvd. Saint-Michel, was blocked off for the 98-mile Women’s Cycling Road Race, which was coming through this part of Paris for the third and final time before finishing at the Eiffel Tower.
Bill and I waited over 40 minutes before the riders came by while Jared and Monica—fittingly—rented Lime eBikes and rode back to the apartment.
After dozens of groups of motorcycle cops and then some cars came down the route in advance over a 15-minute period, 2 riders (from Hungry and the Netherlands) came whizzing by almost 30 seconds clear of the large chasing pack. Unbeknownst to us, in that pack was a Harvard grad and venture capitalist from San Francisco, Kristen Faulkner.
She was part of 5 riders who several minutes later started to chase down the 2 lead riders. Eventually that chase group was down to 2 and caught up to the leaders as those 4 riders reached the Louvre, just 4 km from the finish.
A minute later, Faulkner attacked, and no one followed her as she quickly took a 17-second lead and, then with 1km to go, extended that to 30 seconds. By the finish line when was an incredible 58 seconds ahead of second place and realizing she was the gold medal winner of the Road Race, finishing 37 seconds less than four hours.
Swimming Deluxe
This accidental brush with history—an American woman last won this race 40 years ago—came on the afternoon after we saw the GOAT, Katie Ledecky, win her 4th straight 800-meter freestyle Olympic gold medal on Saturday. We were sitting just six rows from the pool deck behind the start finish line.
That same night we saw the 1st world record of the meet when the USA mixed medley relay held off the Australians for gold in record time. Effectively, this win enabled the USA team to end up one gold medal ahead of the Aussies in the pool.
Both 800 and mixed relay races featured runners-up who pressed the American swimmers all the way.
In those two races Ledecky and relay anchor Torri Huske represented Stanford and backstroker Ryan Murphy repped Cal. BTW, I saw a few Cal Bears NCAA championship t-shirts at the swimming venue and had to trade “Go Bears” with them.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.