July 22 Paris, still hot as hell

Well today we just rested and did a whole lot of nothing.  I have been craving a Starbucks like you can't imagine. I went on a long walk until I found one this am and got a skinny vanilla latte.  Went to say goodbye to my guides and Kevin and Kelly and I went out to do  a little gift shopping and sat in a cafe and watched humanity go by. Chinese and Japanese very funny, they always travel in big herds get off buses walk down the street, come back and get back on the bus. I don't know what they do, but it always involves photos. It was so terribly hot today about 90 again with 100% humidity. Difficult to stay outside for very long. I really want to go home and not live out of a suitcase. Heading to dinner with Kelly and Kevin at a small bistro near the hotel and then we are up early to get on our plane home

July 21 End of the race in Paris

TJ van garden at the BMC bus after the race. We almost got his autograph, but he  was very tired and they wanted showers and food.

Anne and Mark nicest people in the world and wonderful mom and dad. They were recently married. Great to see people in love. Mark would tell me don't look up and don't worry about your speed or how far we have to go just pedal. Love him, he always rode with me up the big mountains and protected me. Anne is inspirational she is an awesome triathlete and lady

Pete and Monique from Chicago. she was a very good climber and  He was very sweet and went his own speed and caught up to her later

Frank and Ron my Canadian buddies who are excellent gentlemen, dads, and husbands and  a lot of fun.  They always kept and eye on me and let me sit with them.  They are awesome!

Rob and Robert.  Rob mentored younger Robert with cycling and they are both extremely good and very nice men

Karl and Tania. Karl was part of our Aussie contingent and he was a very nice man and excellent rider. He would ride with me on parts of the mountain. recently divorced , but he always talked about his kids. Tania is his  new girlfriend and she met him in Paris. He brought curious George the stuffed animal around to take photos in various locations all during the ride.

Alex and Pete.  Alex is married to Paul another neurosurgeon and very nice internist. Pete is married to Monique and from Chicago

The final day we were up early as usual and we had breakfast and headed to the train station with all of our bags. The TGV, high speed train does not stop for long and getting 50 people and 100 bags onto the train was very tricky and fortunately the men all helped a bucket brigade and carried all the bags and handed them to each other and got them into our car rapidly.  We then took the train 4 hours from the base of the Alps to Paris. We arrived late around 130 pm and then had a short bus ride to our hotel. We barely had time to get bathed and dressed before we had to go to the Automobile Club of Paris. Now this is the only day of the year that women are allowed to go into the place and you can bet we all had something to say about that; including the possibility of all the women coming back the following day with tampons.  The party had a lot of alcohol and appetizers. The tour was on big screen TVs.  The biggest problem was it was 90 something outside and we had to walk there from the hotel and we were dressed in heels and we melted. It was also hot inside until dusk started to cool the rooms. I miss AC so much.  Finally the tour riders came into town about 1 hour early and people were out on the balcony and at the windows trying to see the riders and tour cars for the end of the race. Chris Froome won the race with the Sky team and Ritchie Port did an amazing job  of supporting him all thru the race.  He looked like an Auschwitz victim at the end of the race. You can't believe how skniny they are when they start, but at the end you almost can't see them side ways.

Blooming bushes along lake Annecy

Hot air balloons rising above the lake after the Tour de France  rides thru Annecy on the morning of our trip to Paris

Beautiful climbing roses along a wall in Talloires

Viewing the race from the balcony of the auto club of Paris.

Andy Shleck said it best when he leaned out of the team bus please let us go I  just want a shower and some food."  Poor guys what a race and now wee have such a larger appreciation of what they do in this race traveling the countryside.

Well it was an exhausting night and I was glad to just go to bed in some AC. Slept until 830 am which is later than any day in the last 2 weeks.

July 20 crowds of people in annecy

July 20 Hot as Hell in Annecy Official Depart of the Stage race

Well today began with early breakfast and then we took a ride up the Leschaux this time from the reverse direction. The plan was to get some exercise and then return to watch the official start of the race and get in the VIP area around the riders. We took pictures on the podium and we also took pictures at the start of the race. then we walked around Annecy and we waited for the Caravan and the riders to assemble and start the race. Some of our people were smart and lurked around the team bus area and one of them got to see Froome warm up and he touched his bike. Cool for us. Then we saw the peloton race around the corner and leave for the stage race some of our people reclimbed the mountain and waited for the riders. Most of us went back to the hotel and rested. It was incredibly hot and there was no A/C. One of the most remarkable things that happened that day took place as we rode home to our hotel. We had to go up what most people would consider significant hills to get back to the hotel. French people from the town were riding their bikes and had to get off and walk. We just accelerated and flew up the hill past all of them. It really drove home how incredibly our little group could transverse any terrain and how different we were than other NORMAL people.

The peloton arrives to cheering fans

Cadel Evans with a Lampre rider during warm up for the stage.  Sometimes teams are planning  strategy  for the race

Our crazy group at the starting line immediately before the beginning of the race

Poster of the Tour de France for the 100

Difficult to see but there are thousands of people across a wide area near the start of the race

Night from Annecy and hope to be home soon. The end of the tour tomorrow

July 19 Day around the lake

We traveled all along the lake this am and we climbed  the Col Leschaux pictured below. It was about 5-8%, but after all the incredibly difficult climbing that we have done in the last few weeks this was not that high at about 1000 m nor that steep. Its amazing how relative everything becomes when you are used to climbing mountains everyday. I feel I have grown as a rider in the last week, but I also think that we are all kind of tired. Personally it will be nice to see the start tomorrow and the end of the race, but I am starting to look forward to being home.  We took a leisurely remainder of the afternoon and we did nothing. We sat in a cafe and ate a big lunch and laughed next to a beautiful canal and flowers growing everywhere.  Anne found a fabulous chocolate shop and we walked around town and then rode home. Some of the people went swimming in the lake like a bunch of young kids laughing and splashing.   I think we are all relieved to be done with the immense pain that has been the climbing of these giants. Tonight Graham Watson is going to give a talk on his photography of the Tour de France.  He has spent a life time photographing the Tour de France and is quite famous.  

Col Leschaux  rising above lake Annecy

Lake Annecy from the Leschaux

Annecy has canals lined by cafes and all kinds of nice shops

The beautiful canals in Annecy with flowers all along the buildings and canals.

Me in Annecy along the canals

Bamboo with master

Well Anne is maybe one of the nicest people to man or beast , but I have to relate a funny story. She was in Avignon with Mark right before the beginning of the trip. She can out run man or beast and has done many marathons. The owners of the hotel told her that bamboo, their dog; loved to run and would take her the  right direction away from the hotel. Well Anne ran and ran and kept going many miles and bamboo went home. The next day she asked bamboo to go run with her and he refused.  She nearly gave the canine cardiac arrest.  Just another day in the athletics of this happy band.
Good night to all

July 19 First day in Annecey, ride of the col Leschaux

We started with breakfast and the usual ride talk to get everyone ready for the ride route. The lake and the hills around lake Annecey are green and lush and beautiful.  The plan was to ride Leschaux and Semnoz and return to Annecey and have lunch in town.

July 18 Alpe d'Huez Race Day

Well today began with a walk. Bill is one of the many fascinating people on this trip. He is 72 and you would never know it because he is still racing track bikes in California with people 4 decades younger than him.  He has a undergrad degree in physics and then he worked in the energy business and the went to Cal Davis to study Oenology, The study of wine making. He makes wine with his son in law who works for Apple.  Apple people help to have a fun contest and design their wine label every year.  He also coaches men's and women's teams  in cycling and he helped coach the cycling team for the 1996 Olympics.    Needless to say he is a pretty cool guy, ah wait ; he also climbs mountains like a pro 20-30 y/o.  He and I took and early walk and watched the setup of the finish for Alpe d' Huez. Today we were not riding to help rest our legs and enjoy the race. 

Bill and I at the finish line. He is the skinny one

Yesterday there was nothing in the streets and overnight , all night long they assembled the finish line and barriers and it is incredible like gremlins come in the night and then it all disappears and ends up in another part of France. Well the race was going to be memorable since the tour decided to climb Alpe d' Huez twice in one day. Mind you my legs still have not recovered. They first ride over the Col de Sarenne which is basically the back side of the Alpe which has been a sheep and farmer path used by the locals.  Then they ride back up Alpe d Huez and finish on the top. The tour wanted to use this road for the Col de Sarenne and they paved many of the turns, but left the rest of it a narrow, bumpy road like the old days of the Tour de France. The teams and the riders were not happy about this, but that did not change things. They were very worried about crashing and some one getting hurt.  Well T Jay did have a mechanical problem and used a lot of energy catching up and that may have cost him the race in the last 1 K.    Cristophe  Riblon won the race and made the french very happy.  The roads for the Col are like the streets of San Francisco with the riders and the cars traveling 40 mph and the cars and some of the bikers bottoming out and or jumping over the holes and bumps. We hiked out to see them away from town and the riders came ripping past me only inches away. It was incredibly exciting and we got to see Froome up close again with the whole Sky team pulling him forward. 

Beautiful garden in the middle of the road at about 500 m to the finish

This is the down hill slope from the false summit with the summit of the Col de Sarenne  just in the distance.

The road drops very steeply from the summit and the riders continue on down to the valley and then re climb Alpe d' Huez.

Other members of the Peloton

Jens Voigt with the leaders coming over the false top

Moulema with the Belkin team car

Tommy D and some of the first riders over this part of the Col de Sarenne

Ritchie Port and Chris Froome

Well we walked back to the finish line, but the crowds were mad crazy and we ended up watching the end of the race on TV.  We actually got to see more and follow what was happening with TJ and Quintana trying to beat Froome and eventually pulling away from him. It was very exciting and then we needed to escape the mountain and head to lake Annecy. Now there are millions of people on this mountain and the word traffic jam does not explain, so trek decided to get helicopter for us to fly off the top of the mountain and head to our new hotel on the beautiful Lake Annecey. This is a high mountain lake like Cuomo and sits much lower than where we were ,but still in the alpine region.   

Waiting for the helicopters in the rain. Freddy Parker is one of the nicest men and if he looks tired its because he has been riding since the first day of the Tour de France
Yeah Freddy

Trying to avoid this kind of traffic jam we took helicopters off the top of the mountain

Jeff and I in the helicopter as we hover over the clouds of Alpe d' Huez

slowly getting high enough to get over the top of Alpe d ' Huez and head to Annecey

Our home in Annecey The Abbaye de Talloires

Lake Annecy peaceful place to finish the evening

Well I'm heading to bed as we are to climb over the Col d Semnoz tomorrow.. Night Night