Paul's Tour de France adventure 2001

7-3/7-4


After months of preparation, and waiting for the day to arrive, I finally pack my bags and set off for my European adventure. The flight was about 9 hours, but seemed longer, probably partly because of the family of 6 that sat next to me, with tag-teaming screaming babies. I knew it would eventually end, and that flying is probably not known to be the most fun part of the trip, so I endured, and it ended, and it seems to have been worth it. 

I arrived into Amsterdam airport at 7:40 AM on July 4th. Since it was morning, I went ahead to order some coffee at the first place I could find. Well, 3 cups of coffee later, I was darn impressed by what they serve. To think this was airport coffee that was impressing me, I think I’ll be enjoying myself here. I had to meet my travel companions there at the airport, but the plans we had made were loose at best. Eventually, we all did find each other, and piled our stuff into a taxi van, and were swept downtown. 

We had to check into a hotel in one side of town to get keys and directions to the flat, which was to be our home for the next few days. After checking in with them, we hopped into yet another taxi van, and had a somewhat frightening ride through town to our temporary home. The streets are very narrow, and to a newcomer, the intersections seem to be total chaos and constant near misses Our driver liked to drive pretty fast through these narrow streets, whether there was traffic or not, and made for an exciting trip through town. It is nice in a way to see a new city from a cab, so you can gawk all you want and not worry about getting in people’s way. We even asked the cabbie some questions about the area, and if he’d ever run anyone over. 

We arrive at the flat on Amstel, unload the cab and head up to the flat. It’s a small but efficient little studio, probably perfect for a single person. It’s on the 1st floor, which here means up a level, not ground floor, but this one isn’t quite a whole story up either. We have a great view of Amstel canal right across the street, and endless people watching. People cruise the canal in boats, while others stroll the walkways. Cars swish by occasionally, but are actually the exception on this street at least. What are most common are the thousands of people riding bicycles. They are everywhere. There are plentiful paths and signs to help guide cyclists along. People of all ages, regardless of attire, briskly breeze by scattered pedestrian traffic, with the familiar ring of the bicycle bells. 

We strolled about on foot, deciding to wait until the next day to rent cruiser bicycles. We wandered the narrow streets, and narrower alleyways until we were lost. The few modern buildings that you see here stick out very obviously. Everything else is ancient, and super cool looking. There are tiny shops everywhere, and all kinds of things to eat and drink. It can be very easy to get lost, as many of the streets curve to disorient, but the canals can help one navigate their ways. I’ve noticed that the car traffic here does not appear to be very bad at all, very likely caused by everyone’s willingness to ride bicycles to get through town. 

Finding a place to eat is not a problem, but deciding where to go is. We wandered for hours trying to decide where to eat, not because we couldn’t find a place, there were just too many choices around. Once we were good and delirious from sleep deprivation and walking for hours with no food, we settled on an Italian sit-down style place, with wonderful thin Gorgonzola pizza. Earlier in the day we had stopped in a falafel bar, which are pretty common here, and it was very good as well. 

Looking forward to doing more exploration by bicycle tomorrow...





7-5

I could only sleep a few hours the first night in Amsterdam, even though I had been up for 30 hours straight, and had flown across the globe. The energy in this city would not let me rest, I wanted to experience more before time was up. I was still too overwhelmed to even want to bring the camera out. I was happy just experiencing it. Keeping in mind that I wanted to rent bicycles when the place opens, I set out for coffee around 8:30 a.m.. Since the apartment is right downtown, I thought I would have not much trouble finding a good cup of coffee for the morning. After wandering for quite some time, even into the 9:00 hour, I found only one place that I had passed up earlier, hoping for something better. I was surprised that I had such challenge to find coffee in the morning. Oh well, I’m still learning this. 

The bike rental place opened at 9:00, and we were there shortly after to pick up some cycles of our own. Everyone in this town rides basically the same bike, the timeless country cruiser. We chose 4 speed with manual brakes, and were off to really explore. The bike paths that are on nearly every street easily allow cyclists to keep moving, and get where they need to be efficiently. There are directional signs all over town, so no matter how lost you get, you can eventually find your way back. One thing with bicycles is that you can get lost in an unfamiliar town twice as quickly, but you can also find your way back twice as quickly. We rode for hours, and got lost and found an uncountable number of times. I think we rode about 30 miles on those bikes over the course of the day. There are really a lot of cool buildings and narrow streets to check out, so exploration is very fun. We have the bikes for half of tomorrow as well, and then we must go pick up the car for the trip.



7-6

Again, I awoke very early this morning, after another late night. I guess I’m too excited to sleep, or maybe a strange effect of jetlag. Oh well, I’m drinking plenty of water, and feel just fine. I still wish I had a good source for early morning coffee. The bakery stand place I went to yesterday doesn’t open until 8:30 I find out, and that appears to be the earliest coffee I can find. Oh well, I can manage. I got out and took a few shots in the city before it woke up. It seems that the quietest part of the day is between 5 and 8 a.m. It seems everyone parties all night into the morning, then sleeps in to make up for it. Almost nothing seems to open until well after 10 in the morning. 

We set off on the cycles again early this morning, for more exploration. We all really enjoy just riding the cycle paths with no purpose, they are just fun to ride. The government has done a great job of making all the cycle paths continuous and effective. Even pedestrians are aware of cyclists, and will not cross or stand in cycle path when bikes are approaching. Bikes are king in this town! 

After another 20 or so miles on these bikes, all over town and back, we sadly had to return them to the rental shop before it closed. Once dropping the bikes, it was time to go pick up the rental car that we are to use for the trip. It was across town, but we decided to walk there anyway. We had scoped out the location by bicycle earlier to save ourselves from being lost on foot. 

At the car rental agency, I pick up the car, which appears to be a smaller one than what I had requested. Since I was not sure, I accepted it, and was on my way. Into the fray you could say, as it was as close to something resembling rush hour as I’d seen when I picked the car up, and I was in it. Since I’d never driven anywhere in Europe before, and do not read Dutch, I was a bit timid to start out, but caught on quickly enough. I notice that many people drive very fast and aggressively, but also seem to pay close attention, and have much better driving skill than American drivers I’ve seen. I’ve also noticed that people do not drive around angrily. Everyone drives polite, but would like to keep moving, so don’t hold them up. 

I find a spot to park near the apartment, figure out how to pay the parking meters, and head back to the room to relax. It will be a long drive in the morning to Dunkurque.


7-7

A very long day today, after almost no sleep the night before. I sat up from my faux sleep at about 4, and we began packing to leave for Dunkurque. The sun rose, and we hit the road by 7. Many hours later, traveling through beautiful countryside in Belgium, and entering France, we arrive in Dunkurque for our first glimpse of the Tour festivities. I had good luck with navigation, despite the fact that my navigating partners were asleep on the job for the most part. We arrived in Dunkerque with enough time to see several riders, but we were all too tired to watch for long. We had to bail out and find our hotel. 

Not far from Dunkerque, in an ancient walled city called Bergues, we found our charming hotel. In comparison to Amsterdam, this town is very serene. Now in France, the language is more of an issue. Things as simple as going into a store to purchase items is intimidating now, but I imagine that feeling will pass.


7-8

Finally, some good rest. I slept so well in our safe walled city. It was much needed too I might add. We set out early to catch a good spot for today’s stage, and had good luck finding it. We drove out near the town of Alincthun and found a slight climb to watch the riders on. We look for spots that aren’t too crowded, and hopefully an uphill so they are going nice and slow when they come by. The publicity caravan began its precession, throwing trinkets out to fans lining the roadway. Even us first timers got some trinkets to bring home. It was fun to see all the companies with their special publicity vehicles, most of them being brands I’d never heard of. Most of these companies had a few cars dedicated to throwing out trinkets, so there were plenty flying about. They ranged in quality, and some were not very desirable at all.

After the hour or so of publicity caravan, there was nothing coming down the road. Every once in a while a motorcycle would come through. I thought that this must be a good sign. Sure enough, eventually the riders came through. Surrounded by a swarm of motorcycles, and followed by a long stream of team and support vehicles, the actual riders began to come by. We first saw a breakaway of two, followed shortly by the rest of the pack. Since the breakaway of two included the French star Jacky Durand, the crowd was going nuts when they came by. Without understanding much French, it is hard to know what happens in the race aside from the few seconds we get to see, but I was aware that the break contained Jacky Durand before they arrived. 

Once all the racers were by, and all of the team cars, the road was opened to the public. We hopped into the fray, and eventually made it back to our hotel in the walled city for a second night.



7-9

After another restful night in the peaceful, walled city of Bergues, we set out to attempt to see two points in today’s stage. After yesterday’s discovery of the back roads, we decided to venture onto the country farmlands to find our own way through the very slightly rolling countryside. Since we got such an early start, we figured there would be no trouble catching a feed zone and a green jersey points sprint before the day was through. It was Sunday, and we were dying for a grocery store visit after yesterday when all stores were closed almost all day. We decided to check out a major town nearby while we waited for our Tour spot, so we decided on Lille to get groceries since we had French Francs, and not Belgian Francs. After gathering supplies and heading for our spot, we managed to get ourselves very lost, and apparently going in large circles. After doing so for a while, we escaped the grasp of the area surrounding Lille, and headed off to where we planned to watch the race. We quickly realized that we would not be able make it to our first planned spot in time, so we decided on the next spot. We apparently had misjudged timing altogether today, and managed to arrive in Antwerp at roughly the same time the racers did, so we did not get to see any racing at all. We spent the day in the car driving around, most of the time pretty lost. Once arriving in Antwerp, the disorientation was not over. With the help of a map, it took two and a half hours to actually find the street our hotel was on. The map of the city of Antwerp is as large as the Michelin maps of France we are using, and even more confusing. Once settled into the Alpha Empire, I was able to kick back and relax, and get some much-needed sleep. The search for telephone socket to dial up the Internet continues….



7-14

The past few days, we have enjoyed the best viewing spots we have found thus far. We’re getting better at knowing how to approach the stages. It’s very obvious when you are getting close to the race course, as it gets more and more densely crowded with people, and even more obvious when you are actually on the course, as it is lined with people picnicking, campers, and it is also marked with bright yellow signs with arrows pointing the way. They allow car traffic on most parts of the course until an hour or so before the publicity caravan comes through, and they allow bicycle traffic on the course route until just before the caravan comes through. Both yesterday and today, we rode sections of the course that the riders were to ride only hours later. It was a thrill to ride the category 2 climb today, complete with names painted on the pavement, and fans yelling “allez”! Yesterday we hung out in a more crowded area of a climb, to get the whole immersion of the Tour experience. I love the enthusiasm of the European fans, but I think that I personally prefer the less crowded areas to watch from. Not only do you get a longer look at the riders as they come by, but you also have a better chance of grabbing some of the giveaway items that the publicity caravan throws out before the race. Though the items are cheap and silly, we as cycling fans grab them up like precious jewels. I got exceptionally lucky today when a rider nearby dropped his empty mussette bag nearby, and I was the first to get to it.



7-15
Today, we opted for a day of rest from the racing, choosing to just get the fairly long drive to the next town over with, and to find some laundry services. We thought today’s stage would be the least appealing to watch, so we took the day off from racing, which is giving me the time to finally make a real post. It’s probably for the best really, as today was the wettest it has been yet on our trip. We stayed inside and did laundry after our drive. Odd as it sounds, it can be exhausting just watching the race. It takes all day to watch a stage. One must choose a point to watch from, navigate there, then wait through the very long caravan of vehicles before the riders finally come through. After this, you are not done, because thousands of other people are rushing back to their cars, to get on one of the two or three roads leaving the area. It adds up to a 14 hour day or so. We make the best of this by approaching spots by bicycle, which allows us to maneuver through pedestrian and slow car traffic. It’s also very nice to ride sections of the course before the riders do. For one, just for the feeling of riding the course before the real riders come along is really great. Also the fans cheer you on as if you were one of the racers, so it encourages you to go faster up the hills. 

We’ve been having such a great time so far getting very lost, and re-finding our way. I can hardly believe that the best racing is yet to come. We are getting much better at finding the optimum viewing spots, but it can also be a luck of the draw since we do not know the areas. We’ve been up early, and getting in late, and seeing a lot, but not having a lot of time for writing and making posts. I think it is hard to do with the distraction of my friends, but it is good to have the company, at least for some of the trip.

Adjusting to simple life tasks in a foreign country can be challenging, but fun as well. It seems like you can’t really go wrong out here, as far as finding neat stuff to look at. We’ve taken many a random turn or exit, and find ourselves in a lovely little village, or in a valley surrounded by castles nestled upon hilltops. There are plenty of side trips that I am sure I am missing out on, but those can be saved for another trip. 

The day after tomorrow is the stage that includes Alpe d’ Huez, which is what I really wanted to see. With some thought now that I am here, I think I will watch another part of the race on that day, but explore the Alpeon a day without the serious crowds. We shall watch from the col de la Madaline, or from Col du Glandon. I’d prefer to get a spot that is not so crowded. Rather than fighting the crowds for hours, I’d prefer to have a relaxing time waiting for the race to come along, then be able to really root for our favorites when they come by. 



7-16
After a day off to do laundry and relax, we set out early to meet up with another friend in Chambery. The race today ends in Aix les Bains, which is very close to Chambery. We set out early with hopes to meet our friend and still catch some racing. After a fairly long drive, we arrive in Chambery, and find the hotel without too much trouble. Our friend left a message that he rode to Aix les Bains, where the stage ended today. We check into our room, and suit up to cycle out to Aix le bans to watch the stage finish.
After a ride of 12K or so, we arrive in Aix les Bains, but unfortunately just minutes too late to see the leaders finish. We arrived in time to see some stragglers finishing, and in time to see the scene at the finish area. Considering this is the largest bike race in the world without comparison, I was surprised that it was not more crowded around the finish area. Granted, it was fairly crowded, but I expected even more of a crowd scene. It being a weekday may have had something to do with it, and that this was not the most critical stage may also have something to do with it.
We made our way to the podium area, to see if we can still catch the awards, but again, just a bit too late. They do not hesitate to proceed to the awards, it was all finished before we were able to get to the area. We wandered about the area a little more, checking out all the vendor booths, and also wandering through the press corral just for fun. There was almost as many press there as there were regular spectators. There were many television vans, and various other less obvious, but official looking vehicles.
After soaking up some atmosphere, we set out to return to Chambery for the night. The ride home was just as pleasant, thanks to some nice weather, and especially the beautiful roads and bicycle paths in this area. We rode almost entirely on a bike path between Aix les Bains and Chambery, which was a very nice way to get out of the way of the Tour traffic. Riding bicycles in France is a different experience than in the US, as it is very apparent that the general public, as well as the government, respect the bicycle as a viable mode of transportation and recreation. Riding on back roads in the US often leads to crude comments from the local population driving by in their pickup trucks, whereas here in France, you can tell that bicyclists are respected.



7-17
Today is a serious day for the Tour, probably the first stage that will show some slimming of the pack. The riders today are to ride over the top of three huge Alp mountain passes, finishing with the famous Alpe d’Huez. Though I had originally wanted to see the Alpe d’Huez first hand, I later decided on a different pass to watch from so I could enjoy seeing the riders go by without the real frenzy of crowds. We had experienced a crowded mountain sprint a few days prior, and I knew l’Alpe would be worse, so we opted to watch the riders on the Col de Madeline instead. We drove to about 5K from the base of the climb, and set on our way to find a spot to watch from.
Once the road turned uphill, I quickly ran out of lower gears to shift to. Though the spectators encouraged me along, it was all I could do to keep the little momentum that I had to make it up the hill. Some spectators had comments that I’m probably better off that I could not understand, but those were folks that had driven to their spots, so I wouldn’t let it affect me. After taking a few breaks, and climbing the hill for about an hour and a half, the caravan was about to come by, and the Gendermarie was directing me the course was now closed, and to get out of the way. I was not at the top, nor do I believe I was all that close to the top, but I had a nice sunny spot nonetheless.
After waiting through the publicity caravan, grabbing the trinkets that they throw out, the riders eventually began trickling by. There was a breakaway of three when they came by, followed by a solo rider, then a large portion of the pack led by Jan Ulrich’s Telekom team. I did not see Lance in this group when they went by, but I was confident that the Postal team was doing their job. Since I only understand a bit of French, it is hard for me to keep track of what is happening in the race, even though I am close enough to touch the riders as they go by. They broadcast updates to the crowd, but I can typically only pick out names of riders, and occasionally make out a time split.
Immediately after the last race vehicle went by, I packed up my daypack and flew down the hill. I wanted to enjoy some of this mountain descent before the cars got on the road and got in my way. It was a good call on my behalf, and I was able to hit some very high speeds on the way down the hill, passing cars and cyclists on the way down. Most people can beat me going uphill, but only a few can stay with me on a descent like this. It was worth the suffering up the climb to take this high-speed descent, and made it back to the car in no time.
After meeting at the car, the 5 of us now, head back to the hotel to watch the stage on Eurosport. Special two hour coverage of today’s stage, most of it being for Alpe d’Huez. It was an odd commentary-free broadcast, which was actually just fine for us English speakers. We could see just fine what was happening, and were delighted to see Lance making his decisive move on the Alpe. To think that I was so wiped after riding three quarters of the way up the first of three passes that they did today, and to see Lance just powering up that hill… I have even more respect for these professionals than I did before. Just getting a little taste of what they did helped me to appreciate just what these folks can do.
Since we Americans came to see Lance take his third consecutive Tour, we were delighted to see him showing such good form on the hills today. We all hope for good things to come for Lance over the next week, to clinch this Tour. From today’s performance, I don’t really see him having much competition, but who knows what can happen.



7-18/7-19
It is pouring down rain as we awake in Chambery for the second morning, and not one of us is motivated to get an early start to watch the time trial. Since they start riders in reverse order of the general classification, (slowest riders first, leaders ride last) we take our time to head out to Grenoble. Today is also the day that my travel companions part ways with me. They are on their way to Budapest to participate in the Bicycle Messenger World Championships there.
We pack everything into the tiny car, and head for Grenoble. Packing this tiny station wagon with 5 people, plus bicycles and gear was a challenge, but we made it. Since my friends would be departing from me to continue their journey by bicycle, they had a few finishing touches to do to get them on their way. Off they went towards the East, and I headed alone towards the South.
Though I was downtown Grenoble, probably very close to where the time trial started, I decided to skip trying to find the race, choosing instead to get a head start towards my next stop in Nimes, with hopes of catching the results on TV at the hotel. I made it to Nimes ok, but had some challenges finding the street the hotel was on. After a thorough search of the town, I arrive at the hotel, unfortunately too late for the Eurosport update.
I finally find out about Lance’s time trial victory as well, and I am thrilled! It’s the rest day today, and I’ve tried to do some of that myself. I do look forward to the upcoming stages, as I think that Jan may still give Lance a run for his money. It will be interesting to see the next few days of mountain stages in the Pyrenees. I look forward to seeing some good attacks from Jan, and I hope that I can choose a spot on the course where I can see it happen first hand!



7-20—7-23
I’ve had not the best of luck as far as the stage watching goes the past few days. Each of the past few days I set out early in hopes of staking out a good spot along a climb to watch the race, and each day, I’ve run into difficulties. Generally, its been a combination of poor timing and inefficient navigation at times on my part, but intensified by the Gendarmerie’s lack of interest in my goal of finding a good spot. I can’t blame them really for being so strict about the road closures. I find it pretty amazing that they close down so many roads for the event. Each intersection of the racecourse has a Gendarmerie or two, who stand there for hours to ensure the course is clear. Considering there are probably at least a hundred intersections along a 200k course, that’s a good effort on their part to ensure that the riders are safe from traffic, and that the race is not delayed. While I was not able to get to the most ideal spots along the course, I got to see Lance and the gang doing their thing anyway, and found some great scenery to enjoy while I waited for the race. I told Lance to “stick it to ‘em!” the last day he wore his default Postal jersey in the race. Back in the car listening to the radio, I could make out them saying something like “neuovo malliot jaune, Lance Armstrong…” Though I know little French, I could pick up enough to watch for Lance in yellow the next day.
Though the actual race watching has not been the best the past few days, I’ve had some fun checking out some sights and just cruising around on back roads. As far as scenery goes, I definitely prefer the mountains over the flatlands. The Pyrenees offer some wonderful sights, and the lack of urban sprawl makes for even more natural beauty to enjoy. I stumbled upon a medieval castle village called Castlenau, which was pretty much intact, and appeared to be fairly unchanged. The narrow cobbled streets of the village were nowhere near wide enough for cars, and it appears they could be very slippery if it was wet. People do live in the tiny stone structures of the village, but it was mostly gawking tourists like myself when I was there. I also paid the small fee to go upstairs to see the chateau, which was well worth it. All the rooftops were accessible, which provided good views, and let me imagine myself pouring the boiling oil onto the attackers of the fort, or maybe shooting arrows through the arrow slots.
When I awoke yesterday, it was sunny and warm. As the day went on, the temperature rose and rose. By 11 am, I was already uncomfortably hot, and knew it was going to be a scorcher. The temperature gauge in the car read 32 Celsius. I went out to stake out my spot along the course, but ended up making a poor choice in my approach to the spot, and ended up in a kind of lame place, and missed the caravan as well. (The caravan is fun by the way, because they throw out freebees to spectators. I have a ton of junk to bring home!) I did find a shady spot to sit in to wait for the riders, who cruised by as one whole group. On the way back to the car, I did come across a good souvenir, a team Telekom Coca Cola bottle, tossed in the grass. It still had some liquid in it, so I rushed to the nearest lab, but results are coming back as just plain water, no secret ingredient.
A little discouraged by my poor spot for race watching, I decide to make the most of the drive to the country by taking in a little ride, which was quite enjoyable. Drivers are very courteous to cyclists here in France, and there are plenty of wonderful roads to go get lost on. Back at the car, I am suffering from the heat, while I plan out my route to Lourdes, where my next hotel awaits. While on the way to Lourdes, the temperature reaches an all time high of 34.5 Celsius. I think there was about 200% humidity that day. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced heat like that, I could really feel the sun scorching my skin. I had to pull over to put on more sun screen, I must have sweat off the previous application. I note to myself that I polished off 4 1.5 liter bottles of water before the day is through. Good thing I had stocked up a bit a couple days ago, as the Supermarche’s are generally closed on Sundays.
Once in Lourdes, I find the hotel without too much trouble, thanks to a map from the local office of tourism. Generally, I’ve been arriving into town after the tourism office is closed, but this time I enjoyed the luxury of my own map of the town. I get to the hotel room with plenty of time to catch the Eurosport Tour highlights, and I am eager to watch. I could hear the Tour broadcast on the radio as I approached town, but almost everything is lost in the translation for me. Unfortunately, the room has no TV, so I must wait for the newspaper the following day to find out what happened.
Today is the second and last rest day of the Tour, and I’ve also enjoyed a bit of rest. I chose to take the day off from driving entirely, and am glad. I slept in for once, till about 9, then set out for some quality coffee and a copy of L’Equipe so I can find out how Lance is doing. Luckily its not nearly as hot today, so I can actually enjoy myself. I find a copy of L’Equipe with no problem, but have some trouble deciding where to go for coffee. I’m insecure about my poor French skill, so I look for places that I think I can handle. If there’s a waiter standing outside waiting for customers, that’s a no. It scares me right off. If the place is totally packed, that is definitely a no. If there are a couple locals sitting inside, and the barkeep is reading the morning paper, or chatting with the locals, that’s a yes. I had a cup at two different places today, the one from the super smoker’s bar not so good, but the one from the old guy down the street, very good. When you ask for café, you get what I know as a shot of espresso, and has been consistently good. In the states, one must be careful of where to by espresso from, as you will very likely end up with a foul tasting shot. Here, even the middle-of-nowhere-country-farm-stores will whip up a good shot for you.
Anyway, after looking at the pictures in L’Equipe, and checking the time differences for my favorite riders, I head out to explore the town. I mostly wanted to check out the fort here in the middle of town, and the enormous religious sanctuary here. The fort is very cool, and has the arrow slots and all the fixings. As I climb the stairway approaching the drawbridge, I cant help but to think that anyone trying to attack this place is in trouble. There are only two or so ways to get to the castle, and they are heartily walled, complete with arrow slots in every conceivable place. For some reason, that’s what I think of every time I approach one of these castles, is what it must have been like to be in a battle in or near the castle in those days.
After taking in the exhibits of the fort, I head for the sanctuary. I wind my way through the narrow streets, which are lined with trinket vendors. More so than any other town I have been to on this trip, this area seems very touristy. There are hundreds of hotels, and even more shops selling religious figures, and assorted items. Most of these shops also sold water bottles so you can stock up on holy water. I felt like a salmon for a while, as there were literally thousands of people leaving the sanctuary as I was trying to enter. The sanctuary has a huge and beautiful campus. I walked around watching people, and taking in the historical sights. A very large number of people in wheelchairs were being wheeled about by nuns or other uniformed people. Though I personally am not a religious person, I could definitely respect the power of this place to those with strong beliefs. I wanted to also check out the Grotto, so I wandered over there as well. There were people lined along the cliff side, some washing their feet, others washing their face, and others filling up bottles with the holy water on tap. To the right of this is the actual Grotto where the vision was seen, and this is where people were really lined up. I stood back just to watch for a moment, and saw people were really into it. I felt pretty awkward there, since I’m not a religious person, and this is some holy ground, so I got out of there pretty quick.
I settle back into the hotel room later on, and begin planning for the next few days of Tour watching….



7-24
Today I left Lourdes pretty early to watch a climb on the stage, and got to exactly where I wanted to be without much trouble. The riders eventually came by in true form, with the Postal team leading Lance and the rest of the pack, trying to reel in a small breakaway group. There were far fewer people out to watch the race than there has been yet, at least where I was today. I actually prefer that, so you can relax while you wait for the riders, instead of holding your position for about 2 and a half or three hours, waiting for the riders.
After the race went by me, on the last categorized climb of the day, I leisurely made my way to the hotel in Toulouse. I found the town just fine, but driving in this town was pretty intense. Luckily, I’ve picked up on most of the French driving customs, so was able to adjust. You just have to pretend to know where you are going, and drive as fast as you can all the time, and use your turn signals and pay close attention all the time, oh and watch out for people looking for the “yield to the right” privilege. There were not really any places to just pull over and check out the map, and parking spaces on the street are hard to come by. Luckily, I had studied a map of this town before I approached it, so I had a bit of a clue when I saw signs for landmarks. Eventually I found a parking space, and figured out the direction I needed to go. After making a forced loop of the town, thanks to some one-way streets, I find an underground parking garage that will be close enough to the hotel.
I check into the hotel, and for the first time, am in time to catch the final minutes of the live coverage of the race! What timing! After the race is finished, I go and stroll about a bit in Toulouse. Right outside the hotel are hundreds of little shops, cafés and all kinds of things. I walk through a couple of the mini malls that are scattered about, checking out the people and stuff. It’s fun to hear people chatting, but not know much about what they are talking about. In the grocery store today, some older woman asked me something, I think about what I was buying, but I had no idea. She said “non comprendez?” We traded smiles, and she left me be.

7-25

I missed the racing on the 25th. Having overslept that morning, I decided to give myself another rest day, take care of laundry, and clean out the car a bit. Luckily there was a very helpful attendant at the lavarie, or I would have had serious trouble figuring out the procedure to wash my clothes. Later on, I pressed on towards the next hotel in Montauban, and found it without too much difficulty, thanks to a small map. I checked in and checked out the room, but it was way too hot to even relax, so I decided to go for a drive and explore the area some. I eventually stumbled upon a large park away from the city, and ended up hanging out there for pretty much the rest of the day. I headed back to the hotel for the night, and hoped that it would cool down some.

That evening, I received a call from my friend Dylan, one of the three that had left me in Grenoble. His trip was not going as he had hoped, and decided he was having more fun watching the Tour. He was on a train to Montauban that evening, and arrived there early in the morning of the 26th.

7-26

After hearing Dylan’s stories of insects, torrential rains, unknown fungus slime, and other stories of his camping in Hungary during a horrible storm, we headed off to the Tour. We were pretty late leaving Montauban that morning, and I knew that making it to the stage would be tight today. We drove like mad, and took crazy back road shortcuts, ones that only the locals seem to want to take. We arrived at a decent spot, not too crowded, and could tell that we were arriving right about the time the riders were to come through. We hurried our way to the roadside, but the riders rolled by just before we could actually get all the way to the road. Nonetheless, we did see them go by, and the team cars also took a turn down the road we were on, so we got a very good look at each of those as they winded through the congested country town road.

After some of the Tour excitement died down, we backtracked to a spot that looked good for picnicking. We found the spot, and it seemed to be ideal. We found it interesting that people will happily have a picnic at a highway rest stop, even in the direct hot sun, while there are great spots just off the path a ways. I don’t think that people here eat in their cars, so maybe the picnic is just a way to eat, and less of an affair in those situations. On the other hand, I have seen people in slightly more secluded spots, really getting into it, even breaking out their own foldable picnic table, if there is not one provided. For the Tour, that is what the locals did. They would be setup with the picnic table, the shade umbrella, and usually at least wine.

After our picnic, we determined for sure which Royers to head to. There were several on the map, some with surnames, but one without. Sure enough, we needed the plain old Royers, so there we headed. We located the hotel without difficulty, but when I went in is when the difficulty began. Though there were reservations set up, and confirmed, there was a problem when I arrived, and they did not have me in their file. They kindly offered to set us up for one night instead of the two originally planned, but I decided to instead just decline on the whole bit, and look elsewhere. Royers was pretty far away from the Tour watching anyway, so I figured we were better off anyway.

We headed to a super highway, and up to the next largish town. With exceptional luck, we found a room in a roadside motel type place. The lady tells us that we are very lucky to find a hotel room here in July. This is apparently everyone’s holiday time, so hotel rooms are not easy to come by, not to mention the Tour is pretty close by. We had tried about 4 places before we got this room, so we were happy to settle for the tiny, sterile motel setup.

7-27

Today we knew it was the time trial, and our favorites would be coming along towards the later part of the day. The trick is to navigate by back roads to get to the location on the course you want to be. On time trial days, the roads are closed down for a much longer duration, so we had to be aware as we made our approach. We find a great shady spot along the course, and see all the favorites whirl by on their special time trial bikes. It’s not as exciting to me to watch as the pack, and a regular road race, but you do get a good look at each rider as they go by.

Once Lance comes by, the Tour watching is over for the day, so we head back to the car to find ourselves a hotel. We make our way to Bourges, thinking it would be far enough away from the Tour action to be all full, but had some more difficulty finding a spot there. We even tried the another of the same chain we slept in the previous night, but even there they were all booked up. At the fourth or fifth place we tried that evening, the lady told us that “hotels in Bourges: complet.” She was saying that all the hotels in Bourges would be full, and it seemed that way. The map we were using listed another hotel nearby, so we decided to check it as well, before giving up on this town. It was quickly getting dark, and it looked like it might rain. We arrive at the place, and I just ask right away “hotel compet?” but she says no, and asks for our baggage. It seems we found a hotel in the impossible city that night.

Settling in to our room, it does begin to rain, and the most incredible thunder storm begins. It rains harder than I believe I have seen it, complete with bolts of lightning shooting across the sky, and thunder claps sounding like cannons down the street. This dramatic weather went on for hours, and thankfully cooled it off a great deal in the area.