Le Tour de France!!!

Part of our hat collection Some famous cyclists (video to come later) The road just below us-the first group we could spot our "after" tent spot The boys watching the tour on the tiny tv until the actual cyclists arrived
July 13 Le Tour Stage 9
Yes, the late night stayer uppers once again woke up before us. In fact, they woke up at six this morning. So, we got up and started the day too. We found out that some of the people even ended up sleeping in the road. On today’s agenda were going to the top to see how some of the paint jobs on the road turned out and waiting for some guys in spandex to come through. We started seeing traffic cars and police at about noon. We ended up meeting more Americans(identifiable by the flags and the English they are speaking). We started scheming how we could profit off of this event with so many things (very capitalist-I realized I really am American). First, we would definitely sell more food. They come with a bread truck and a fresh produce truck, but if you stuck some sandwiches in a cart or popsicles and went up and down that road, you’d be a millionaire by the end of the day. The next thing, the restaurant at the top could make tons of pizzas and send people down selling them (of course not after your bathroom overflows). And of course, hike your prices way up just for this one event. It’s okay I kind of like the way it’s laid back and fun, but definite money could be made. After those Americans, some more showed up. If you remember our before picture of our tent spot, you should see the after because a whole group from Seattle showed up right before game time. They are riding around and catching the mountain stages of Le Tour. After the scheming, we started to see intermittent caravan vehicles. After some more time had the caravan came through! They passed out all kinds of goodies including a million and one hats that Nate happened to catch. Along with that, they threw detergent, candy, pastries, coffee, etc. Many of the floats were very entertaining with things from big plastic horses to jungle scenes. Our least favorite but entertaining for some were the male stripperesque men in speedos(with poles) passing out laundry detergent. Why they would have male strippers at an event that had mostly male spectators I do not know…I guess they figure it’s just like spandex. Once the caravan passes through, you’ve got about an hour til the riders actually start showing up. It turns out that one man had a tiny tv with the Tour on. When word got out, a crowd showed up at his doorstep. Nothing unites people of different nationalities like television. It was cool though to see the Tour on the tv having seen that whole stretch of road before and then seeing them pop up around the corner coming straight for you. Once we could finally see riders everyone scattered away from the tv and we waited for the cyclists to show up at our corner. Let me paint the scene: two helicopters were flying overhead stirring up the trees and frightening the cows. The cowbells joined in for a chorus of cheering from down below. The gendarmeries were leading the pack with cyclists and support vehicles close behind. The race was about to approach. The breakaway group rounded the switchback right before ours and started heading right towards us. In staying with tradition, a few people started running next to the riders. I readied my camera to capture a live video of the epic 2010 Tour de France and what should grace my screen but a man running with the riders in nothing but his birthday suit. I bet you didn’t know it, but I came to France to be a director of X-rated films. I’ll have business cards made up soon. Nate also ran with the riders once, but stayed fully clothed. I got plenty more videos and pictures, none quite as exciting though. The videos go a bit fast, but if you watch them and pause them every few seconds, Nate could pick out guys like Armstrong, Cadel Evans, Contador, and many more. Our videos and pictures are nothing that could be sold to the media (well except that one for a different reason), but it is cool to have footage that we shot ourselves. All in all, our first stage of the tour was very exciting. Nate and I were talking tonight, and both of our heart rates went up when we could finally see the riders. Plus, seeing them go up a hill compared to how fast we climb on our tandem is quite impressive. Once the final rider came up our corner, Nate and I (already packed and ready to go) got on our tandem to go back down the mountain the way the riders went trying to beat most of the traffic. This was relatively easy to do since the police stop traffic to cars at the top and let bikes go through. However, it was somewhat hairy trying to navigate two lanes of traffic, people parked on the side, cyclists everywhere and such. I was high-tailing it out of there like there was no tomorrow. We finally made it to the top where someone offered to take our picture. Shortly after that another man jokingly “stole” our camera but quickly gave it back. On the descent, we were able to pass traffic because the oncoming lane was closed for a good distance. You should have seen the flock of cyclists using the lane to get down. When we descended the 20k into La Chambre, we needed to get dinner and groceries before the stores closed. Then, it was off like madmen to Chambery for the start of the next stage. We had 60k to go and it was already 7:00 by the time we ate, busted a valve, changed a tire, pumped up our tires, and found a place to use the restroom. But, since we had just had our rest day, we decided that a time trial would be the perfect thing for today. We arrived just short of Chambery in an hour and forty minutes. We showed up at a campsite that was supposed to be closed, but thankfully stayed open just for Le Tour. We enjoyed a fireworks show for Bastille Day with hundreds of locals and then went to bed. Today was quite a day. Stocking up on food for the wait………………………………………………………………………………….........21 euro Climbing to the top of a mountain lugging 60 pounds…………………………………………………painful Camping next to hundreds of other drunk people……………………………………………………...…..sketchy Being close enough to Le Tour de France to feel some of their sweat With the added bonus of seeing a naked dude right next to them………………………………....................priceless
80k
Mo