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The Tour Baby!
By Ian Melvin
Oct 8, 2004, 09:23
In July 2000, self-proclaimed Tour de France fanatic, Scott Coady, left his job for his dream holiday and adventure of a life-time: to follow the race for three weeks.
Armed with only a return air ticket, his bike, clothes and a Sony Digital Camera, The Tour Baby! is Scott’s film about life on the road following the world’s greatest sporting spectacle. The 65 minute film features cameo appearances from non-other than Lance Armstrong and the US Postal team, Robin Williams, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, Jean Marie Leblanc, the Podium girls, live footage from the Mavic Service Course car, ‘chitty-chitty bang-bang’ and so much more!
Arriving at the race just an everyday bike fan, Coady’s remarkable adventure began on the second day of the race through a chance meeting with a member of the crew from a local TV station. Before too long, there’s a press accreditation around his neck and the world of the Tour de France seemingly just opens up in front of him. Starting at the space age Futuroscope, down through the cold and wet Pyrenees, along the Mediterranean coast before heading north via an emotionally charged ascent of Mont Ventoux, through the Alps, into Germany and then the final run into Paris for the Champ Elysee finale and post tour party, Coady records just under 20hrs of exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ footage all while living out of the back of an old converted rental van.
There’s no question that Scott Coady was a very fortunate man. For a lot of this race he was in the right place at the right time and made best use of the opportunities made available to him. Undoubtedly however, it was Coady’s warm and generous persona that made him such a popular hit with the 2000 Tour caravan and entourage that made people want to help him. The Tour Baby! is destined to go down as one of the greatest cycling films ever made and Coady deserves our applause for following his dream and making this brilliant film happen.
Besides being a great addition to any bike fan’s collection, Scott is aiming to raise $100,000 to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation through sales of the film, a charity close to his heart after discovering that the daughter of one of his best friends had brain cancer. Claire, aged ten at the time, proved to be the inspiration to push Scott to finish this project, and has now made a full recovery. So far the film has raised over US$65,000.
To help Scott reach his goal of raising US$100,000 or to just learn more about The Tour Baby!, log onto www.thetourbaby.com. You can also learn more about the Lance Armstrong Foundation at www.laf.org.
