My wife and I got back from France a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t had time
to write of our exploits yet so here it is.

We went mainly so that I could ride in the Etape d’Tour which is an amateur race
over the (arguably) toughest mountain stage of that year’s Tour. This year it
followed stage 10 through the Pyrenees, over the Col du Tourmalet and finished
on the Hautacam. 9500 riders in a very organized ride with full road control,
people cheering for you along the way, winding through French villages; very
cool. Since it’s a race with the road shut down for the ride they have a very
strict mobile “Hells Gate” that will kick you off the course if you fall behind.
I started in 6450th position so I was down 35 minutes to start with and then, 35
miles in, I flatted and the pump on my rental wouldn’t work so I lost another 20
minutes on that fiasco. Shortly after getting back on the road I got swept,
along with about 1000 other riders for the day. Since it was miserably cold and
raining I didn’t feel too bad but I was disappointed not to finish the ride.

We drove the Tourmalet and Hautacam in our car and they’re pretty incredible in
person. The most amazing aspect was the descent off the Tourmalet. Incredibly
steep for the first few miles below the summit, no guardrails, narrow and with
cows literally sleeping on the road!

I did get over to Alpe d’Huez, rented a bike and rode those famed switchbacks.
(Both of my rentals were full carbon fiber with Dura-Ace; they don’t mess
around!) The first three or four miles of Alpe d’Huez are the steepest and I
was kind of wondering about my sanity but it settled down to 8% or so for the
rest of the climb. This was a week before the Tour came through but there were
plenty of RV’s already parked where they could. I didn’t exactly blaze up the
mountain but I did pass three cars on the descent. Absolutely beautiful
weather, bunch of riders on the road, lots of smiles, a great time.

We drove to Nimes for the Tour’s finish of that stage. Well organized (almost
as if they did this pretty often) with a bunch-o-people in attendance. About
thirty minutes before the riders arrived the advertiser’s caravan came through
at forty miles per hour and throwing freebies at the crowds. Ever been smacked
in the face by a candy bar thrown from a moving vehicle? No idea why they were
going so fast as there was no need but what do I know? Didn’t have much time to
admire all the work that goes into the advertiser’s vehicles but we saw them
better the next day; someone had some fun with those things. The riders came
through in a blur; Cavendish in the lead at our vantage point and on to the
finish line.

We wandered around for a while; saw the VS mobile studio and Bob Roll got to
meet me so I’m sure that was a high point for him. He spent probably five
minutes talking with us, very relaxed and casual.

The next morning we attended the start in Nimes. Got on the barricade line and,
just by luck, we were right next to the tent where the riders sign in before the
start of the stage. Every rider in the Tour rode his bike with-in 10 feet of
us. Astonishing bike handling as every one of them was riding through a big
crowd (evidently townspeople are given a sort of VIP pass to gain access to
areas not open to plain tourists) at less than walking speed and fully clipped
in. (Picture exiting an OU football game on your bike!) The other thing that
struck me was that I could never be a pro rider because my bladder is way too
bashful. You’ve got to be able to pull over and do your business with
multitudes of people watching. At the start we had walked a mile down the
barricades to get a view of the peloton and riders were stopping at that point,
since it was still in the warm-up phase, for a nature break.

On to Paris where we showed up on the Champs-Elysees at 8 AM for an expected 3
PM arrival of the peloton. That got us on the barricade near the turn at the
Arc d’Triumph with a great view down the avenue, the turn and then the riders
exiting the turn. The Champs-Elysees is paved with cobblestones but at some
point it was asphalted over and then subsequently stripped back to the
cobblestones. Where we were all of the asphalt wasn’t completely stripped so
there was a section right up next to the curb that was relatively smooth. So
that’s where they rode if they could. You literally couldn’t stick your camera
out past the barricade and not risk hitting a rider. Great weather amid
multitudes of racing fans from around the world; couldn’t get any better than
that.

So that was my bike adventure for this year. Almost a month in France, 6000
kilometers in a rental car, 200 miles on rental bikes according to my Garmin,
Alpe d’Huez and the Champs-Elysees. Going to be tough to beat that next year.
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