Le Tour - Stage 10 - Gap

Bastille Day and the last stage we would be watching in person. We were headed towards Laffrey, the first real climb of the day's stage, just right outside of Grenoble where we were staying. However, our journey took about twice as long as planned to find our spectating spot given the unanticipated scenic tour through the various small mountain villages en route. Although I would like to blame the GPS, this situation was probably due more to the poor planning by the driver (ie, yours truly). Nonetheless, we arrived in plenty of time to get a spot, see the caravan, and see the race.

Our Tour experience was now official and complete, as we were stationed about 50 meters from Didi the Devil.

Here they come! The Saxo boys leading the chase.

While picture quality is somewhat blurry, this was taken just inches from the peloton. In fact, this is Ballan charging up the mountain just beside Chuck's wrist (to the right) and me. Although only for a few seconds, as a fan, you are literally part of the race!

Heading home. While the boys would have another week and a half to go, our race was now over. What a ride it was!

Bis später

Le Tour - Stage 9 - Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

No, this pic has not been Photoshopped, it really says "Col de la Madeleine" ;-) This was the big climb of the day. Chuck, Kelly, and I watched this stage a couple of KMs and a few switchbacks into the 25km climb. For this stage, I will keep my writing brief and let the pictures do the talking.



Chuck and me - climbing Madeleine.

Here is what happens the majority of the time at a Tour stage. Waiting around, killing time, waiting for the caravan, waiting for the sound of helicopters, then watching the race zip by in a matter of seconds.

The caravan arrives. Talk about a trainer session, I guess it beats a basement.

Quality of this picture isn't great, but it was an action shot. With the camera in my left hand, I took this picture as I snagged a green hand. No, I did not wave it at Thor as he went by to see whether he would flinch.

They have arrived! Of all of the photos I took during this year's Tour, this one is my favorite. As you can tell by the sweat and zipped-down jerseys, it was very hot and the boys are earning their pay today. This is the leaders' group. Here is George, Evan's yellow jersey helmet, Andy Schleck (who would be wearing yellow at the end of the stage), and Menchov in the background.

A few minutes later the grupetto arrives. If you look carefully you can see some big names like Voeckler, Thor, and Cavendish.

Throughout the Tour, Kelly took some really awsome photos with her camera. For the remaining photos, the credit is all hers.

If you double-click on the photo, you can get a good look at Vino up front, followed by Schleck(looking right at Kelly), Menchov, Contador, and Lance in the background. I can't tell what was up with Ballan and his limp wrist - is he sneezing?

Contador, Basso, Ballan (Gesundheit!), Lance and others.

Cancellera finally arrives. No one was going to accuse him of having an electric motor in his crank today.

A great photo that tells it all! The boys are a long, long way from the smiles in Rotterdam.

Bis später

L'Alpe d'Huez - Parts Un et Deux

While it was a rest day for the Tour, Monday was the big riding day for Chuck and me, as we would be riding the legendary Alpe d'Huez. As has often been stated, Alpe d'Huez is not the longest, highest, steepest, or hardest of the climbs in professional racing, but the history and legends surrounding it make it arguably the most epic. In short, it did not disappoint. In fact, we liked it so much we decided to climb it for a second time two days later.

As the climb begins and at the first switchback, cyclists and motorists are greeted with this sign. Pantani's record time was safe, as I would not be able to use the full road to take the best line up the mountain. :-) Actually, there was a fair amount of traffic on Monday morning, especially on the descent. On Wednesday, which was Bastille Day, we pretty much had the mountain to ourselves at 7:00am and that was quite nice.

While you are climbing, you have a lot of time to think to yourself. Sounds of Phil and Paul kept going through my head. Yes, this was a classic Walter Mitty moment! Was that where "The Look" took place? Where did Guerini get knocked over in 99? Visions of the old photos of LeMond and Hinault, Fignon and Hinault, Coppi, Menchov's drooling, Fränk Schleck's tongue hanging out, McEwin's wheely at the finish line, Pantani flying up the mountain, the 04 TT where Lance passed Basso, etc, etc, etc... All legendary stuff. As I passed the 5th switchback, I just happened to lookup and see the sign dedicated to Hampsten's win in 92. It gave me goosebumps, as I thought about what a true pioneer he was to American cycling. It's too bad most Americans have never heard of him - at least he is recognized and appreciated in Europe. I decided to stop on the descent and take this picture.


After reaching the top for the first time on Monday, I waited a couple of minutes for Chuck to finish. When he didn't appear, I decided to descend a little ways to try to find him. He was nowhere to be found, so while waiting, I took these pictures a couple of kms from the top. Well, it turned out that Chuck was enjoying the climb so much, he inadvertently decided to take an alternative side road that takes you to the summit from a different direction than is normally used in the race. Evidently it was steep, full of delivery trucks, and devoid of cyclists other than himself. Upon realizing something was amiss, he eventually turned around, got back on the main path, and summited the climb for a second time that day.

So what was the climb like? Honestly, I had underestimated it given that it is generally not considered the longest, steepest, or highest of the well-known climbs. Nonetheless, it is deemed "Hors categorie", which in laymen's terms means it is darn hard no matter how strong you are. The steepest part seemed to be right at the base of the climb. The first couple of switchbacks are pretty tough then it seemed to level a bit. However, Chuck and I both discussed afterwards that we never did locate that false flat that Phil always talks about. As well, there was no time where we felt the need to get into our big rings.

In many ways, Chuck and I both felt that the descent gave us a better appreciation for the magnitude of the mountain than the ascent. Given the speed at which I descended as compared to Chuck's, I gained quite a lot of appreciation! For me, at least, it generally took me close to 20 minutes to fully descend from top to bottom. The constant accelerating out of and braking before each switchback never seemed to end.

Here I am on Wednesday after finishing the climb for the second time that week. Monday's climb was mainly recreational riding, but Wednesday was for time. I treated it like a Friday TT at the oval, and it did indeed hurt. However, it again reinforced that I had better not quit my day job to pursue cycling for income and that professional cyclists are truly physical freaks of nature. Although I was personally pleased with my time, Pantani's record ascent remained intact and at no time was even remotely in jeopardy.

Here is Chuck celebrating what was effectively his third summit of the week. As there were no detours on this day, his ascending time had much improved over what he had done two days prior.

Bis später

European Hotels

While at our Alpine basecamp in Grenoble for this year's Tour, hotel parking was one of my biggest challenges. The entire process of parking usually took 15-20 minutes on a good day. Firstly, we had to squeeze our van into an elevator that lowered our vehicle into the underground garage. Once in the actual parking garage, then the routine was to have Chuck guide and direct me to one of the open slots. Again, not much room for error in any of the 3 dimensions we had to work with. Honestly, this was the most stressful part of the trip. I was generally sweat-drenched and quite exhausted after this 20 minute ordeal. See for yourself...


Success!!

Our daily ritual. Chuck keeping me calm and guiding me in. Despite his best efforts, my driving wreaked havoc on the hotel foam that lined the ceiling. I will not divulge the name of the hotel for fear of being asked for damage compensation.




Bis später

Le Tour - Stage 8 - Morzine-Avoriaz

Race spectating often has many similarities to actual racing, except for the intense physical pain and suffering (although this is debatable when using a van without air conditioning for transportation). As when preparing for an actual race, spectating requires one to put together a plan and strategy to meet the day's objective. However, as many of us know, once the race starts circumstances inevitably render the plan useless and you find yourself scrambling on the fly to come up with an alternative strategy.

So...our plan for this stage was to leave Annecy in the morning, drive to an early climb to watch the race, and then head south to Grenoble to check-in to our hotel that would be our basecamp for the remainder of our trip. Unfortunately, Ellen woke up ill, so standing in the intense heat in order to watch the day's stage was not an option for her. Cosette had also been ill the night before, and we had originally attributed this to my descending skills while driving the van down the mountain after yesterday's stage. However, we were now starting to suspect that these incidents were the aftereffects of the Tex-Mex we had eaten in Annecy. While we will never know the exact cause of their illnesses, we do know that we will never again eat Tex-Mex in France, just as a precautionary measure. Then again, if you really stop and think about it, why would anyone eat Tex-Mex in France in the first place?

We altered our plans and immediately drove 1.5 hrs south to Grenoble. We quickly checked-into the hotel, dropped Ellen off to rest (in a thankfully airconditioned room), and then headed north again with the intention of catching the race near the finish in Morzine. The timing would be tight and by no means a sure thing, but we decided to take a flyer and chance it anyway.

We were en route, following another Tour car, and making good time. Then it happened, I made a critical error in judgment and followed the GPS directions, over Chuck's recommendation that following the Tour car would likely be a better option. Ooops...we soon discovered that GPS was not aware of the day's Tour stage and route, as it was adamantly trying to have us take the main road that was being used as part of the day's course. Panic set in as we saw the race helicopters in the distance. Uh oh…we now found ourselves in the position of racing the race. Despite our van’s power and speed advantage, the peloton had the better road, along with the distinct advantage of knowing where it was going. We, unfortunately, found ourselves zigzagging up and down little one-lane, windy roads, on the side of a very big mountain. Chuck was kind enough not to call me the dunderhead, that I know he was thinking, for choosing the GPS over his suggested route.

With the helicopters almost directly above us, we made an impromptu stop in a small town called "La Tour", a very apropos name I must say. We quickly parked and could see the crowds along the road getting excited. Chuck and Cosette immediately jumped out of the van and went sprinting (that boy still has some sprint in him when it counts) to the race. As I rushed to get out, I hear Cara, fearful that I was going to abandon her, shout out "Daddy, I don't have my shoes on!" Uh oh! Kelly was still staying back at the van and I shout to her "Don't wait for us...go, go, go". I then realized that inquiring into why Cara's shoes had not been on her feet really wasn't going to help matters, so I just said "Please hurry up". She did, but by then it was too late...I saw a few jerseys fly by from about 50 meters away. Luckily, Chuck, Kelly, and Cosette were able to see some of the race.

Ok...we were losing the day's battle, but it still wasn't over--or at least I didn't want to admit it was over. We regrouped and consulted the map to see where we might be able to catch the race as it got closer to the finish. There was still approximately 1 hour 45+ minutes left to go in the race. We knew finding a place to park anywhere near Morzine would not work, so we opted to try to reach one of the climbs prior to the finish.

Off we went. However, when we reached our destination, we were too late...the race had passed us, probably by 5-10 minutes or so. Therefore, we decided to cut our losses and went inside small bar/cafe (see photo above) along the course to watch the remainder of the race. Actually, this was fun. The place was packed with French, Dutch, English, and Americans.

In watching the remainder of the race on TV, here we learned that Lance would definitely not win the Tour this year or finish anywhere near the podium. Bad luck and age had finally caught up with LA. Although his race had been effectively over after the cobbles of Stage 3, today there was no joy in Mudville and the fat lady sang. While I am no Lanceophile and it has been a number of years since I have been on the LA bandwagon, I must say it was very disappointing to see what was happening and to see that he was no longer riding with the intention of winning. We were witnessing the end of the Lance era.

A view from La Tour. Thanks to Chuck or Kelly for this pic. I was nowhere near this close to the race.


This is how we watched most of this stage.

Bis später

Le Tour - Stage 7 - Station des Rousses

After Bavaria we spent Friday night in Zurich and then drove to our hotel in Annecy, France on Saturday morning. Our first French meal on this trip was lunch at a faux Tex-Mex restaurant in Annecy. From Annecy, the race would be an hour+ drive north. As it was very hot (we still had not been able to activate the van's air conditioning, despite a 3rd day of trying) and it was far from a sure-thing that we would actually make it to the race in time to find a place to watch it, Kelly, Ellen, and Cara decided to stay back at the hotel, while Chuck, Cosette, and I headed to the mountains.

Despite getting slightly lost en route to the race and unintentially previewing the some of the mountain roads in the next day's stage, we found a place to park and walked to a spot at the 3km to Finish banner. Although this was the first mountain stage in Tour, it was not deemed a high stage and was really just a warm-up for the next few days.

Chuck and Cosette pose with the 3km sign behind them. As we walked to our spot, the road was quite sticky from the melted tar on the road due to the high temps.

The Little Drummer Boy arrives. In the mountains, the helicopters are quite loud and close.

Here comes Sylvain...3k from his second stage win.

Jerome Pinot, the current KOM leader. This photo is a little misleading, as it gives the false impression that he is struggling. Actually not, as he was playing to the fans by raising his hands, swinging his arms, and smiling to the crowd.

Even though this was really just a warm-up stage for the high mountains, you can see by the looks on these boys, it was still a tough day in the saddle. As they had been racing for a week now, you could start to see the toll it was taking on the riders. The faces were becoming more gaunt, the tans deeper, and other than Pinot, no one was smiling.

Here comes Fabian. Still in yellow.

There goes George, in his Stars and Stripes, heading for the finish.

Bis später

Rest and Travel Days

Chuck and I watched Stage 4 on TV at a local watering hole in the fußganger (pedestrians only) section of Köln. Copious quantities of the Kölsch made it quite an enjoyable experience, despite not seeing it person. The next day, we picked up the rental van and headed south to Bavaria with Kelly and my family. While I got a pretty good deal on the 7-seater van, we soon found out that there may have been a reason for the attractive price. Specifically, the AC button turned out to be ornanmental and not functional. Given the abnormally hot European July, this resulted in a rather unusual travel situation. Chuck and I sat in the front seats with earplugs in our ears to dampen the sounds of 130+ kmh crosswinds resulting from our open front-seat windows. Unfortunately, for Ellen, Kelly and my girls, the back windows did not open at all and they would bake in extreme heat for the next week. Chuck and I resorted to hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate given the deafening winds. That said, we continued on to Bavaria and had a very nice time. The picture above was taken at Neuschwanstein Castle, which we visited on that Friday.

Speaking of Friday, Chuck and I had a wonderful pre-ride right along the Germany-Austria border. Rolling farmland paths right at the base of the Alps made this one of my most memorable pre-rides ever. Here are a few pictures of the area.

After our brief tour of Bavaria, we spent Friday night in Zurich, Switzerland. On Saturday, we continued west to our next base camp at Annecy, France.

Bis später

Le Tour - Stage 3 - Wanze

Wanze, Belgium. In some ways this was my most memorable stage, even though the previous day's Stage 2 was in my opinion the best racing (even if it really wasn't racing).

So, Chuck and I get up early and ride the Col du Rosier. Having done many "pre-rides" (early morning) rides in the past together, I would say this was one of our most memorable. We were literally the only ones on the road, except for a few lumber trucks. Yes, the Walter Mitty in me was surfacing, as I was role playing not only the previous day's stage in my head, but also many a 'Liege-Bastogne-Liege' moments. As well, this was right in the prime area of some of the not so pleasant(and much more serious) battles of year's past.

We head back to Liege, clean-up, eat breakfast with the remaining remnants of the Sky crew, and then head west to Wanze to watch the start. Once again, planning and executing are 2 different things. Getting out of Liege was a challenge to say the least. After 4 unsuccessful attempts at gaining entrance onto the main Expressway to Wanze, I finally gave up and opted for an ad hoc minor road in a desperate attempt at getting us to Wanze before the teams left. Fortunately, this worked, but not after a few choice words muttered aloud about the Liege road construction commission.

We arrive at the start and watch the riders sign-in and line-up. Great stuff!! Here are a few pictures and commentary.

Classic picture of a class act guy - Erik Zabel talking to and congratulating Pettachi on his Green Jersey. Too bad he is retired. The peloton needs more guys like him.


Oscar Friere. Check out the rainbow stripes. He is definitely worthy of wearing them.


Remember this guy? Basso. Although quite jovial in this picture, he generally seemed quiet and kept to himself.

Actually, and not surprisingly, the riders seemed to group and chat based on language (not necessarily team). English speakers, irrespective of country of origin, seemed to congregate together. But the same went for the French, Spanish, and Italian speakers.


Cancellara explaining to a reporter why he neutralized the previous day's finish.


Interesting scene for me and probably one of those "you had to be there" moments that is actually hard to describe. Nonetheless, this is Anthony Roux, a promising young French rider. At this time he is standing there solo, bobbing his head, lipsynching the "Can't Stop" lyrics from the Red Hot Chili Peppers that was blaring from the sound system. Just an interesting scene given all that was going on at the moment.


Lance and Fränk Schleck just a couple of hours before both of their Tours would be effectively and actually over. Both are bandaged from the prior day's crashes. When LA arrived, the crowd went crazy begging and yelling for his attention. I saw no negative reactions, but just the opposite. He was the ROCKSTAR! Reporters, fans, etc. surrounded him en mass wherever he went. That said, I tried to listen into the conversation between LA and Fränk and I think it went something like this:

FS: Bet you are glad you have Steegmans with you for today's pave'.
LA: Come again?
FS: Yeah, Steegmans. You are lucky to have Gert with you to protect you on cobbles today. So how's he feeling today?
LA: Don't know, I didn't bring him.
FS: (giggles) You are really funny Lance. Seriously, quit joking.
LA: No joke dude. I left him at home. I think he is doing a charity crit in Ghent today.
FS: Come on...
LA: No, I am serious. He's not a team player. I'm a team player and I only surround myself with team players. So no Tour for him this year.

Ok...maybe the conversation didn't go exactly like that, but...IMHO LA made a big mistake by not allowing Gert Steegmans on his Tour team. One can only wonder if Steegmans could have brought LA back into contention after his flat on the pave' that day. All that is certain is that his team that day could not.


Lastly, Chuck took some great video that better describes the scene we saw. See the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsoJK73u6h0

A few things to note from this video:

- Check out Jens Voigt. He is always working the crowd. He brought smiles and laughs wherever he went.

- Check out the close-up of Fabian's legs (admit it, you would have done the same thing too!)

- Listen to the crowd when Lance arrives and until he departs.

- Funniest scene is when the reporter, at about minute 4:45, bolts right through A. Roux and another Francais de Jeux rider to get a photo of Lance. This guy's 2nd camera hits Roux's bike and Roux gives him hell. It's pretty funny.

So after watching the start in person, we drove back to my place in Köln and watched the second half of the race on TV.

Bis später

Le Tour - Stage 2 - Spa

In my opinion, the racing actually started today, despite the arguments that it wasn't really a race due to the riders' (or probably more accurately stated Cancellera's) decision to neutralize it at the end. Nonethless, it was mý favorite of all the stages that I watched this year because it was in Belgium and very apropo for what riding/racing in like there - ie, HARD!

This was on a Monday, so I had dropped Chuck and Kelly off at the hotel in Liege the night before in order to go back to Köln so that the kids could finish their last 3 days of school. After spending the night at my home, I returned to the hotel in Liege on Monday morning to check-in and pick up Chuck and Kelly to head to the race. I knew it was going to be a good day when I arrived and saw a Team Sky bus in the hotel parking lot. Things got even more interesting when I saw team luggage, bike wheel covers, massage tables, and other team sundries just sitting outside the elevator on my floor. I had struck gold - I was staying on the same floor as the Sky Team...more on that later.

So the plan was to drive somewhere near the Col du Rosier to watch the race during the last big climb before the finish. As I had ridden the Rosier during a facsimile "Liege-Bastogne-Liege" organized ride a couple of months before, I felt confident that I knew the area and would be able to find it rather easily. Well, my confidence level dropped soon after learning that my GPS could not keep up with all of the heavily wooded, hilly, twists and turns in the Ardennes. That, coupled with some key intersections being closed due to being on the actual Tour route, resulted in our getting an unguided and unanticipated "Battle of the Bulge" tour of our own.

Luckily, we serendipitously found the Rosier and eventually found a nice spot about a third of the way up the climb. Although it had stopped raining, it was still cloudy and the roads were still wet. Little did we know what that would mean for our spectating experience. Prior to the Rosier climb, about 75% of the peloton would crash on a descent on these wet, narrow, slick, steep, and pothole-laden dangerous roads (hey, this is Belgium, and this what racing in Belgium is all about). As the race arrived, Chavenel, the eventual winner, looked very strong as he went by (also a scene that would repeat itself a few days later). A couple of strung out chasers followed, and then a few minutes later the peloton arrived - or better said, what was left of the peloton. Cancellera in yellow at the front was talking and being held/pushed up the climb by other riders (not even his own domestiques). This was probably when he was getting buy-in from the other riders to neutralize the finish as protest to the dangerous conditions they had been in. Again, the term peloton here is somewhat of a misnomer. I have never seen a professional race so strung out and battered, bruised, and literally bloodied. The carnage was obvious - an overwhelming majority of the riders had some combination of torn kits, road rash, asphalt covered body parts and faces, and in some instances, some substantial lacerations and bleeding. The smiles from the prior day were long gone and there was barely any idle chatter or talking. However, we did hear a great comment from Cavendish, as he was being pulled up the climb by his teammate. In his very distinct Isle of Man accent, he stated to his mate "Hard day today, huh?".

If you are interested, Chuck took some nice video of the race as it went by us. It gives you a good perspective of how watching a stage in person differs from what you see on TV. Also, if you listen carefully, you can hear the Cavendish quote.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v924B7aoJ4g&feature=related

By the time we arrived back at the hotel in Liege, the Sky Team and many other Tour participants (eg, Eurosport crew, various journalists, etc.) had already arrived. I go to my floor and hear British accents everywhere coming out of the race describing the race. I go back out a little later, and some of team is in the hall describing the stage and all the crashes. As I get on the elevator, Michael Barry steps on too and it's just the two of us. I bite my smalltalk tongue and let him be, as he is deep in a text message and I figure he's had a pretty hard day and could use the downtime. However, one of the Tour cameramen enters the elevator on another floor. Michael evidently knows this guy and they start chatting about the stage and why everyone had crashed on that descent. The speculation was that there was some type of sap on the road that had caused it. I must say, I was very much enjoying being a fly on the wall here.

After the elevator ride, I see most of the team heading to dinner. I go get Chuck and convince him (not too hard I must say) that we need to go to restaurant to get a beer before bed and that the Sky Team just happens to be dining in the restaurant. So we head down and find a small table outdoors smack-dab in the middle of the entire Sky Team entourage. Now the riders themselves, had their own prívate room for dining, but many came out and mingled with the coaches, mechanics, trainers, soigneurs, and various press members who were all around us. Although it had been a tough day at the office for many of these guys, as evidenced by road-rashed arms and elbows, they were remarkably relaxed and jovial.



Look at those clean bikes. Maybe riding in the rain isn't so bad if someone else cleans your bike.


No in-person Virenque or Durand sightings, but I sensed they were near.




The next morning, Chuck and I got up early and rode part of the Stage 2 course, including the Rosier. Here are a couple of pictures. Peacefully quiet and tranquil...quite different from what it had been just 14 hours prior.

Bis später