Tour finale

Spent the day yesterday on the Champs Elysées for the Tour de France finale - couldn't get myself up early enough to be able to ride our bikes on the actual course but we got some pics on our bikes with the Arc de Triomphe in the background (without getting run down by traffic) and rode along the course on the sidewalk to get the layout. Already by 9 am the public viewing sites closest to the finish were gone (the best areas seemed to be where the grandstands were, including to see the podium from the front). We put our bikes back in the hotel, then staked out a spot just past the sprint line to watch the race - right at the barriers at 11am but it was 8-10 people deep there behind us by the time the caravan and race came around.

Really neat to see them come around 8 times (= 16 viewings) rather than the usual once. And I saw Cadel Evans on the podium (he came 2nd overall) even if from 100 m behind the podium. The team parade afterwards was neat too - lots of flags and rider antics (wheelies, Julian Dean in a top hat, etc.)

Mixed emotions - excitement of having seen the Tour, but disappointment at all the doping scandals.

Finally, a mountaintop finish!

Don't have much time but just wanted to say that we did a 30 km climb today up to the top of the Col d'Aubisque to watch the stage finish, and it was really cool. 90 km round-trip ride. will type more in Paris.

Success!

After numerous e-mails, text messages, and a few cell phone calls Ed and I managed to meet up with an Australian friend who is staying just north of Mont Ventoux. We were able to take our coach out to a town at the base where we'd be picking up some of our group after they rode Ventoux, and our friend and his girlfriend rode there to meet us - had lunch and drinks, watched the Tour a bit on TV in a bar, and chatted for real rather than just online. So, pretty neat!

Tomorrow we leave for Toulouse with a detour to ride/watch the Tour go by live. Then there's the time trial on Saturday then the next mountain stages. Did I mention how happy I am that my favourite rider is currently in 4th? (though disappointed that another favourite had to drop out after missing the time cut a few days ago - not a climber and suffering from a prior crash in the race).

Writing from Alpe d'Huez

Those who follow cycling and the Tour de France will know the significance of the Alpe d'Huez climb in the history of the Tour. It is rated as "HC", meaning "hors categorie" or "beyond categorization" - 13.8 km, 21 hairpin turns, average grade 8.5%, up to the village of Alpe d'Huez. Ed and I both made it up this climb yesterday - pretty good considering we've both not been feeling well and the temperature was in the mid-30's (at least) when we were riding. 2 hr riding time for Ed and 2.5 hours for me - just don't ask about the time of our rest breaks ;-) .

So, today we watched the stage over the Galibier from the hotel bar with a bunch of Aussies, all cheering on Cadel Evans when he tried to stay with Contador's attack and when he finished 3rd on the stage for 4th overall so far. And we explored the town.

Tomorrow, we drive on the bus to Avignon. Trying to meet up with a DP forums member who's staying near there at the moment, we'll see if we manage to get together.

(and, FYI, when I get back I do plan to write more about our trip in terms of details of how our riding went, logistics of travelling with bike cases, etc ... just don't have too much time right now when we're paying for internet by the minute. I really wish I had a small enough laptop to have brought along as all our hotels so far have had WiFi, mostly free.)

Our first mountain stage at the Tour!

No internet access for a few days - made it to Paris, spent a somewhat inordinate amount of money for a van limo cab to get ourselves and our bike cases from Paris Gare du Nord to our hotel (but it was worth it not to have to lug those cases through the Paris Metro, would have had to switch lines several times). Joined our tour group, long bus ride yesterday out to Aix-les-Bains, and today our first Tour de France stage that we rode to.

The bus took us to the town of Cluses, at the foot of the final climb of the day's stage up the Col de la Colombiere (then a descent to the finish). Lots of traffic, Ed and I didn't really have our climbing legs yet, so after about 13 km and just past the village of Le Reposoir we stopped to stake out our spot to watch. More freebies from the Caravan - including a Francais des Jeux lanyard (one of the French teams) with a rider's name on it - I got Bradley McGee (one of my favourite riders, too bad he's injured and not here). Also we got matching Champion (grocery chain) polka dot hats, an LCL yellow bag, more candy, and Bart and Lisa Simpson masks (yes, you read correctly - promoting the opening of "Simpsons - Le Film").

Gerdemann and Fofonov were together when they went by us, followed by a few riders separately, then a pack including Cadel Evans (yay!) and Hincapie was at the back of that pack then. Then some other assorted riders before the main peloton/grupetto about 15 minutes back I think - Boonen in the green jersey was at the front, I was so absorbed trying to get photos of him and Cancellara in the yellow jersey that I missed Robbie McEwen going by.

Then the end , and had to ride through tons of pedestrians then through all the traffic trying to get back down the mountain. I think my riding skills in traffic have much improved even from just today!

Tomorrow we think we're going to try to watch after the feedzone, after riding a bit first.

Proud to be a Canadian!

Yesterday, Ed and I rode our bikes from Arras out to the Canadian National War Memorial at Vimy Ridge - should have been about 15 km but without a good map and with no help at the local tourist office other than "it's too busy, you can't ride out there on the main road" we rode 21+ km there over 90 minutes, but it was fun once we got out of Arras and into the country.

Very imposing memorial and solemn place ... the view to the north made it really clear why this was such an important accomplishment (the Canadians capturing the ridge in April 1917).

Ed tried last time we had internet access to upload some pics from London but no luck ... hopefully the next place we get to he can figure it out.

(and the last few entries had been sent to my blog via e-mail, which I've just discovered adds a wide variety of extra formatting characters that show up for some like gobbledegook. So, since I had a bit more time, I logged into Blogger to do this entry and will try to edit the others as I get time.)

As for the Tour, we ended up watching the Stage 1 finish on a bigscreen in St. James's park in London (near Buckingham Palace) which a was neat - all the British fans cheering when Millar took the polka dot King of the Mountains jersey, gasping when Cavendish crashed/changed bikes/seemed panicky, and cheered for McEwen's win ... Ed and I had given up on Robbie by that point, so even more than usual he came out of nowhere to win.

We checked into our hotel in Arras just in time to see the last 6 km of Stage 2, ie. big crash and Steegmans/Boonen 1 and 2. Good for Steegmans! Certainly looked like Boonen was trying and he told the French announcer "pas de cadeau" when asked.

And yesterday we got back in time to see the replays and hear the announcers go on and on about how "formidable" Cancellara was and "quel panache"!

To Paris tomorrow, my time is running out here now at this internet cafe.

Tour Prologue (or, "Free Souvenir Programs!! Please, take one, I mean it!")

It's been a busy few days. Saturday, Ed and I took the tube to Hyde Park Corner after breakfast, thought we'd have time to look around at the festival/displays for the Tour there before staking out a spot - but all of a sudden it was almost noon and it was starting to get crowded around the barriers on to the route, so we picked a spot (just past the final corner in Hyde Park where they turned to come back) and stayed there.

We had some Belgians next to us - which was good, they knew all the Belgian riders by sight so it was useful to hear "Allez Axel" or "Go Wim" when all we could see was a T-Mobile or Predictor-Lotto jersey go
by when the riders were warming up (ie. no numbers on yet, no team car
following with rider name). There were riders starting to warm up
along the course at about 12:30 pm, the caravan came through just
after 1 pm and riders were still weaving through the caravan to warm
up, then the warm up continued after the caravan as well.

Freebie count (from the Caravan and displays): Skoda hat (for Ed),
some Haribo candies, a county of Kent coaster, some Tour postcards, an
Orange broadband cardboard "periscope". We can add that to the little
foam bikes from the Opening Ceremony (that got blown into the crowd
rather than confetti).

Oh yeah, and our multitude of "free souvenir programs" - we got one on
Friday night, actually someone nearby us got one for us, and we were
concerned we might not be able to get another - shouldn't have
worried. You could have taken a stackful (at least where we were) on
Saturday and they'd probably thank you. One program girl was
particularly persistent, I think the call "Free Souvenir Programs" with the hint of desperation in her voice is etched into my brain
permanently (desperate as no one took any by the end of the prologue
because they already had one or more!).

Anyway, neat to see the riders come by on their warmup, initially some
chatting in groups but more serious and more speed with subsequent
laps. Big cheers for the first rider out for real, even though no one
really knew who he was (and I don't actually remember who it was, I
have to admit - Delgano I think it was). Big cheers for all the
British riders, and the father next to us had conditioned his 10-year
old son to be an Armstrong and now Hincapie fan - the kid said after
George went by, " I stood here all that time just to see that?" but he
seemed happy to have seen Big George.

We heard snippets of actual results - Dave Z in the lead, O'Grady
would have passed him had he not crashed, then Kloeden. Some Brits
near us were keeping track of times as best they could - between them
and our own observations we knew that Millar wasn't going to win,
Hincapie seemed fast as did Kloeden, and that Cancellara seemed to
blast them all away. So, we weren't surprised when we made our way
back near one of the big screens to see Cancellara in the yellow
jersey.

Really tired afterwards (and during) from standing so long ... so we
decided we wouldn't even go to the race start for Stage 1 (had already
decided not to go to Canterbury). But in the end, we saw the stage
finish in a neat way anyway...

Tour presentation

It didn't rain today! Did some more sight-seeing (Natural History
Museum, Harrod's, Piccadilly Circus), then ended up at Trafalgar
Square for the opening ceremony for the Tour about 1.5 hours early ...
already getting crowded there, but we had a pretty good spot to the
left of the stage in front of one of the big screens. Except that the
MC's kept getting in the way of the riders as they were interviewing
them... and one of the cameras kept getting in the way as well.
Still, I think Ed got some good shots, hopefully we'll get a chance to
put some up soon (as in, when Ed remembers to bring his USB cable to
the internet cafe).

Ed and I always laugh at the Olympics or similar when non-English
speaking athletes are interviewed, usually with the journalist going
on and on with some complicated question only to get the response,
"yes, I did good race today and happy" or similar ... couldn't help
but think of this when the Astana team was presented and both Vino and
Kash answered an English question in French (and Kash said about the
same as the above quote when pressed for something in English).

Went out for something to eat afterwards with a DP Forums member, neat
to meet someone whom you've only ever e-mailed :-) . Now, off to bed,
going to check out the cycling/Tour displays at Hyde Park tomorrow
before watching the Prologue (aka initial stage of the Tour).
M

Day 2 in London

Why is it that we leave a cold and rainy spring/start of summer in
Edmonton, and come to a cold and rainy London just as Edmonton gets
hot? (hear it was 32 C there today).

For any TV chef fans out there, last night we had dinner at a Gordon
Ramsay restaurant, Maze - it was very good (but I still liked Rob
Feenie's Lumiere better).

Today - the London Eye, a boat cruise, the Tate Modern, St Paul's
Cathedral (all Ed's prior stair-climbing training for City Chase paid
off to climb to the top there), and a comedy show this evening (The
Complete Works of Shakespeare - abridged).

Tomorrow - the Tour de France opening presentation at Trafalgar Square
!!!! (we walked by there today - looked like they were doing a dress
rehearsal, some grandstands and a couple of big screens in place
already).

Made it to London

All the security concerns yet we made it to London no problems, just
tired - why do they show comedies on the plane where everyone has to
break into full laughter while others are trying to sleep?

Bikes seem to be ok too, only damage was a lost luggage tag :-) -
they x-rayed "oversized baggage" in our presence so no need to open
the bike cases (and potentially for them not to get it closed again,
that was our biggest worry).

Nice dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday, to the London Eye and
other sight-seeing tomorrow, then Tour de France stuff starts on
Friday. For now - it's bedtime. I mean, it's 2:30 pm in Edmonton and
I hardly got any sleep at all last night (or, it's 9:30 pm here and I
hardly got any sleep at all last night, take your pick - either way,
we're tired!)

Our Plan...

Just thought maybe I'd post what we're planning for our trip. The Tour de France starts in London this year (I realize any cycling fans already know this, but there are potentially other friends and family reading this as well so I have to remember not to assume they know all about the Tour ;-) ). "Le Grand Départ" takes place from July 6-8, with the opening ceremony at Trafalgar Square on Friday evening, a prologue individual time-trial stage through central London on Saturday, and the first road stage from London to Canterbury on Sunday. We plan to watch the opening ceremony, the prologue stage, and to try to get out to Canterbury to watch the stage finish on Sunday.

On Monday we go by train (Eurostar - through the Channel Tunnel) to Arras in Northern France for a few days. We plan to cycle out to the Canadian war memorial at Vimy Ridge which is nearby, plus explore the area.

Then, we join a group trip in Paris to see the mountain stages of the Tour de France, with daily cycling options to vantage points to watch the race (seeing as it will be the mountain stages, that usually involves riding up a mountain pass a few hours before the Tour comes through). You might think that all there is will be a bunch of cyclists whizzing by each day, but there is actually the "caravan" of sponsors that goes through first each day (almost like a parade, from what I understand, with lots of freebies), and on the mountain stages the riders get quite spread out so there could be a half hour or more between the first and last riders going by. Plus, the atmosphere of the Tour is also what we're interested in - it's like the Stanley Cup playoffs here in Canada (generally without the Whyte Avenue riots of 2006 in Edmonton though).

We have a few days in Paris on our own at the end, including seeing the final stage of the Tour on the Champs Elysees, before heading home on August 1.