The Cycle Race

Have you heard of the Tour Of Britain Cycle Race? It's a race where people cycle around various places in Britain to see who is the fastest cyclist. Each of the places sets a route for the cyclist - these are called 'Stages' - and there are 8 of them this year.

Stage 5 was being held in Cheshire, where the teddy bears live, and luckily for them, the route passed very close by their home. So they decided it would be fun to go and see the cyclists ride by. The cyclists had to cycle 153 kilometres!!! The teddy bears find it very tiring to walk for just one kilometre!!

First of all, though, Crackers thought it would be a great idea if all the bears had flags to wave as the cyclists passed by. The only problem was that they didn't have any. That wasn't a problem for Crackers though, as he set about making some for all of them. He found a Union Jack (which is the name of the flag for Great Britain) in a picture on the computer, and then printed some off. He found some red, white and blue striped drinking straws in their craft box, and stuck a printed picture on to the end of each one, and, hurrah! - they all had flags to wave!

They made sure they had their flags with them, and their cameras, as well as some snacks to nibble on, and they all trooped down the lane until they reached the main road where the cyclists were going to pass by. Lots of other people had the same idea too, so the bears had to find a good spot to take their photos and to wave their flags so that they wouldn't get in anyone else's way.

The road had to be closed to all traffic so the cyclists would be safe, and several police motorcyclists went by to stop all the cars ahead. As the bears waited, cars kept driving past and they wondered how the cyclists would be able to get through them all, but as time went by, the number of cars dwindled until there were none driving past at all. Everybody was getting very excited! A car belonging to the Cycle Race eventually came past, and they used a loudspeaker to tell everyone that 6 of the leading cyclists were coming, and they were six and half minutes in front of everyone else.

The first six went by, and the bears waved their flags and took photos, and then they had to wait for those six and a half minutes until the rest of the cyclists appeared but luckily they had sweets to eat while they waited. Then there were suddenly lots and lots of bicycles, and although they went past very quickly, the bears did manage to get some good photos, and cheer them on, furiously waving their flags.

After the cyclists, there was a long line of other vehicles, many of which had bicycles and bicycle wheels and tyres on top of them, which were for emergencies if anyone's bicycle broke down or their tyres had punctures. Teddy and Tommy thought that the cars looked very funny with six or seven bikes and loads of spare wheels on their roofs and stayed to watch them drive past.

Then it was all over, and it was time to go home again. They'd had a very exciting time, and will be checking up on the cyclists as they do the other 'stages' around the country. Perhaps the bears even took a picture of the eventual winner!!!