Waiting for Le Tour!!

Our tent spot "before"



El Diablo and Nate



The length to which some spectators go


This was the sign just at the entrance to our completely bike-oriented campground
(it's actually quite popular to come and climb all of these cols)

July 11 Saint Jean de Maurienne-Col de Madeleine

This morning we woke up relatively early so that we could get a lot done. Job numero uno: dry the tent after the deluge. Job numero dos: use all the free internet we could get. Job numero tres: do our laundry so that we have enough clothes for the top of the mountain.
The plan for today after we packed up was to climb the 33k to the top of the Col de Madeleine and stake out a spot to wait for Le Tour to come through on the afternoon of the 13th. We knew we were in for some work because we wouldn’t be starting out until later on in the heat of the day, this side of the mountain is steeper, and we are carrying at least ten extra pounds of food in Nutella, milk, cereal, jelly, bread, and other things. The positive side is that we only had 33k to go today.
With the excitement over Le Tour building and all of our chores done, we set off. The first 10k was a good warm up to the base of the climb. We stopped for lunch at the bottom and then kept going. We took many stops today because of the heat. At one stop we found potable water and some fun French people. They gave us pointers for this region and Nate was able to give them advice on places to visit when they come to the States next year. One thing on their list might even be the Sturgis rally. Once we drenched ourselves with the cold water from that fountain we kept moving on. Today’s climb was definitely hard. We have some theories for why: the extra ten pounds, the heat, the cheeseburgers from the day before, the climbing from the days before…either way we were both very happy to reach the top.
Now, if you remember from one of our previous pictures from the Col de Madeleine, there were already campers set up. Now fast forward four days. Many more people had arrived and we were suddenly glad we decided to come the whole way up two days before Le Tour. We staked out an excellent spot 1.5 k from the top of the climb right on a hairpin turn. To let us know that it was a great spot, who should show up just down the road but EL DIABLO!!! (One of the most famous spectators of the Tour. He’s even sponsored). We knew we were in for craziness then. We quickly made friends with the Belgian family next to us and the French people across the road. After camp was set up, we wandered the street and talked to our new neighbors. When that Tour comes through, we’ll be ready.
~34k
Mo