Grand Finale

Well the epic, historic, unforgettable 2005 Tour de France has long cleared the streets of Paris. And with all the celebrating over, I can finally recount our last memorable weekend with the event.

Saturday Time Trial and TGV
On Saturday, our lively crew took in the final time trial in St Etienne. After squeezing in our morning rides in the northeastern Provence, we all headed north to find the our viewing spot for this 55-kilometer race against the clock.

Our drivers, Alain and Pierre, found the perfect place to deposit us just between the start and finish lines for the race. We only had to walk a few hundred meters to get to either spot. Most of us started our viewing by checking out the start area. That way we got to see all our favorites – from Leipheimer and Lance to Basso, Hincapie, Llandis, and “Chicken Boy” Rassumussen – start before working our way to the finish.

Initially the crowd along the course was pretty thin and finding a spot on the barriers wasn’t all that challenging. And then there are those who prefer to watch at least some of the action in a bar where drinks and shade can be found. But it was virtually impossible to find a bar or café with a television in this relatively poor, deserted industrial city. Though some of the more adventurous folks in our group did find a bowling alley that had the Tour up on a big screen.

I ended up joining a small group of VéloSport travelers who had found a nice shady spot just behind the 500-meter line. Glen, Tim, Jonika, Ryan, Dusty, Jack and Cedric were all there standing and sitting in the shade in front of a television an ambitious vendor had set up next to his concession stand. And he and his family were doing a booming business selling crispy French fries, grilled chicken wraps, and lots of Heineken. We could watch the action on television and then just turn around to see the actual, real-life cyclist go flying by.

We all agreed that it was painful to watch poor Rasmussen struggle to finish the race. And then when Armstrong passed him – after starting six minutes behind him – we all just hoped the polka-dot boy would finish this race. The favorite for the event for almost every one there was Armstrong. This was truly his last race and surely he wanted to go out with a final win. Besides, it would be his only stage win (except for the team time trial) during this epic Tour. As he neared our group, it seemed evident that he was unstoppable. He flew by our group just a yellow streak for what would be one of the last times we would see Armstrong cruising to a win.

After the racing wrapped up, we all boarded our buses and headed to Lyon where a super fast TGV train waited to take us to Paris. We arrived in plenty of time and made our way as a large, happy group to platform C.

Following the red arrow to our train.
On the train, we were wined and dined by all our wonderful VéloSport guides. Katie headed the charge and served us up our specially catered dinners while Thierry, Mike, Dean and John poured wine for us all. We got to Paris well fed and ready to rest up for our final stage.

Mission Accomplished
One special thing I managed to accomplish – with the help of Sophie and Kevin Livingston – during the time trial was to deliver a very special gift. This last spring, Mark and Angela Benavides joined us for Ride Provence. The last day of their stay in Malaucene, Mark presented me with a mission that at the time seemed almost impossible. He had a huge print of this photo and he wanted to present it as a gift to the policeman in the shot. He had no idea what this policeman’s name was but was confident I could find him. I carried this photo with me for most of the Tour and occasionally asked cops along the way if they knew #31 (the number on the front of his motorcycle), but no luck. Then, I showed the photo to Sophie who knew right away who he was. She had met him during races in her region of Brittany and knew his name was Pierre. That is when Kevin Livingston took a peek at the photo and told me he also knew Pierre. He is the one policeman that Lance trusts to drive for him. While we were wandering around between the start and the finish areas, we came across a big group of moto cops and showed them the photo. They were impressed with this gorgeous shot and told us that Pierre was at the moment on his motorcycle escorting Lance to his final win. They were happy to give Pierre the shot and we handed it over along with a note from Sophie on Mark Benavides’ behalf. Since then, Pierre has sent Mark a thank you email with the desire to send a gift to him on behalf of his squadron. Mission Accomplished!

Paris Finale
Chris Gutowsky finishes in Paris with style.

Our final day in Paris is always bittersweet. It is such a thrill to watch these amazing athletes as they ride the final kilometers of three weeks of hard racing and yet you never really want the Tour to end.

The day started off rainy and slick, but our intrepid travelers rose to the occasion and put in their morning laps on the Champs Elysees. Despite the conditions, everyone was thrilled to have the opportunity to ride this historic loop. It gave many of our cyclists a new respect for the difficult finish loop over uneven cobbles.

With the riding over, we all cleaned up and enjoyed brunch at our respective hotels before heading to the swanky Hotel Crillon for our exclusive viewing. As we have for the past several years, we gathered in two reserved suites in the Hotel Crillon. From our balconies there, we have an incredible view of the circuit as it passes the Place de la Concorde coming and going. Our suites also have multiple big screen televisions so we can watch the racers as they work their way to us and then run out to the balconies and take a peek at them rounding the Place de la Concorde.

Greg and Steve Miller from Salt Lake City, Utah joined us for the special Hotel Crillon viewing.

Several special guests stopped by to say hello to everyone. Frankie Andreu with OLN came by to say hello; Alex Stieda regaled us with Tour anecdotes; writer and photographer James Startt also paid us a visit.

As the racing heated up and the laps counted down, we all found our own viewing spots. Some of us went down to the area in front of the Crillon where all the team cars and buses were gathering. Connie even managed to hitch a ride with one of the teams and got to do a lap around the Champs Elysees. Later, after the race had finished, several of us went down to the street where we could actually meet our cycling heros.

I decided to watch the last part of the race from the comfort of the suite. There I got to witness my personal favorite—“Vino”—finish strong after a rough Tour of unsuccessful attacks.

We wrapped up our afternoon at the Crillon and headed down to the street where Chris had planned a street party for us all at the L'Embassade Cafe. It was a great way to wrap up an incredible trip with so many wonderful people. We enjoyed Basque beers and shared our favorite memories. I had met so many great people on this trip, it was hard to say good-bye…Instead I hoped I would see each and everyone of our VéloSport travelers again some day on a bike somewhere beautiful. A tres bientot!!

Senator John Kerry, who followed the last two stages of the Tour, was a surprise guest at our street party after the race.

Slaying the Giant of Provence

After catching the finish of stage 17 in Revel Wednesday, everyone loaded up and headed east to Provence. There the plan was to veer off the Tour track and tackle Mont Ventoux or the “Giant of Provence” the next day.

Thursday morning, we awoke to bright Provencal blue skies and a strong northerly Mistral wind. The conditions looked good for our final climb of our “Tour of France.” The groups gathered in Malaucene at the base of the climb and planned to ride to Bedoin. There we would start the classic ascent of the Ventoux, climbing the way the Tour normally ascends.

I started with a group of guys who had spent most of the prior week grinding out the climbs together. There was John Cranston from San Francisco, Tim Carrigg from Sand Springs, Oklahoma, Ross Moody from Austin, Texas, Bryan Leuenberger also from Austin, Robert Fulton from Portland, Oregon, Don Leet from Bend, Oregon, Brett MacDonnell from Walnut Creek, California and Joel Eisenberg from San Fernando, California. They all seemed a little tired but eager to add this epic climb to their already impressive list of accomplishments.

The “Ventoux before” shot of John, Tim, VSV guide Mike, Brett, Don, Joel, Bob, Bryan, Ross and VSV guide Jean-Luc.

As we warmed up on a baby version of the Madeleine, I took the opportunity to talk to Tim who was wearing an OSU jersey. I had grown up a Buckeye and wondered what his connection was. Tim told me he was the crew coach there for a number of years before moving to Oklahoma where he now lives. John, who was just in front of us, threw in the fact that he had been a competitive rower for the last several years. A young but seasoned 25-year-old, John had also raced bikes for eight years before decided there was more he wanted to do in life than train. He is here with his father, Harold Cranston, and said that they had been planning on coming to see the Tour for the last four years. They decided this was their year after John hung up his oars and got out of rowing.

I also talked to Bryan and Ross, who told me though they were both from Austin, Texas, they had only met on this trip (at least in this life). They seemed to keep a similar pace on the bike and with their one-liners. Bryan is being coached by Kevin Livingston. (despite the fact that an earlier blog said Ross was a Livingston client – oops!) Kevin had this advice for Bryan on the Ventoux – “Go hard for the first six kilometers. Then suffer through the next nine before you hit the gas at Chalet Reynard with six kilometers to go.” Bryan said he just hoped he had some gas to hit at Chalet Reynard.

Before we hit the actual climb, we topped off our food and water at a VSV rest stop courtesy of the ever-present Sophie. With her in the car was Michele Cherre, the one non-cyclist on the trip. She is here with her husband Tim who she said was in heaven. Michele told me she was also enjoying the trip and her designated role as “class photographer” for the group. She has also had her share of adventures along the Tour roads as Sophie’s sidekick.

Our little group stayed pretty close together until we hit the six kilometer mark at St. Esteve where the road went from 5% to 10% grade. We had several Belgian guys join us from Bedoin – which is pretty normal on a mountain that attracts hundreds of cyclists a day to its slopes. But at St. Esteve, they too dropped off to find their own pace.

Though warm and sunny, a fairly prevalent northwest wind kept us cool through this grinding wooded part of the climb. There I had the chance to ride with several folks from the other group. I met Hal Kennamer from Guntersville, Alabama who was here with five other friends from Alabama. He was having a great time so far and was feeling up to the task of climbing one the most dreaded mountains in France.

Just up the road behind him, I met Connie Hembree, also from Guntersville. Though she had only started riding earlier this year, Connie was cranking out the kilometers at an impressive clip, all the while with a big smile on her face. She is here with her husband Robert Hembree. Also in their group is Morris Seymour from Huntsville, Alabama. I saw Morris later on the climb as he flew by the feed zone at Chalet Reynard. He was getting stronger and stronger every day and seemed to have found his climbing legs on the hardest mountain yet.

Rob and Rick on their way to the top.

Another client who seemed to be getting stronger with every passing day was Robert Wendel from Sacramento, California. He introduced himself as a complete cycling “newbee” and told me he had only started riding three months ago. His friend Richard Jones, who was just a few meters up the road from us, had talked him into this “cycling immersion” trip. An experienced cyclist, Rick had prepped Robert for the trip—and specifically the Ventoux—by sending him websites and information on the Ventoux and its history. Rick also got his friend out on several challenging rides in the weeks leading up to the trip. The training seemed to have paid off because Robert road his Bike Friday to the summit of the Ventoux with ease.

Color coordinated Nancy demos the benefits of tea flavored water.

Before I summited, I hung out at our feed zone at Chalet Reynard. There I finally had a chance to talk to Al Kwong Hing from Toronto, Canada. He was hanging out waiting for his wife Brenda to roll up so he could help block the wind for her for the last six exposed kilometers of the climb. When Brenda rolled up a few minutes later, she was all smiles and pigtails and ready to finish off this Giant.

Just one kilometer to go Tom.

I left the Chalet and did the last windy section of the climb with the “party peleton” group. Jonica and Ryan Burke were part of this fun bunch along with John Luginbill from Cincinnati, Ohio, Nancy Meyer from Portola, California, Tom Lynch from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jack Cushman from Lansing, Michigan and Dusty Culton from Okemo, Michigan. We spread out and did what we could to fight against and work with the swirling wind atop the mountain. Several of us stopped at the Tom Simpson memorial to pay our respects to the man who never made it to the summit of this mountain. Then we clipped in and pushed through the last several meters to our goal in the sky.

Ryan and Jonika stop at the Simpson Memorial with one kilometer to go to the summit.

On the windy but beautiful descent down the mountain, Tom Lynch, Ryan Burke and Syed Yusoof joined me. We sailed down the smooth, steep road to Malaucene, one time reaching 78 kilometers per hour. In Malaucene, we joined the rest of the group for a nice lunch and viewing of the last part of the Tour stage. There were still two clients out on the mountain - Jonathan Purvis and Greg O'Brien - working their way up the Ventoux for the third time. Unlike the rest of us mortals, these two crazy Hoosiers managed to climb Mont Ventoux three times in one day and still ride back to their hotel when it was all said and done for a 200 kilometer epic.

Today had definitely been more about us and our goals with the Tour as our backdrop. And everyone was happy to have risen to their individual challenges.

Aubisque Awesome

Our VeloSport crew awaits the publicity caravan on a tight corner in front of our lunch spot on the Aubisque.

Today’s “stage” for the VéloSport Vacations crew started in Lourdes and headed west then south to the base of the hors categorie Col d’Aubisque climb. With an altitude of 1677 meters, this 16.5 kilometer climb has an average grade of 7%. We knew we had our work cut out for us today. And since most of us had done one hors categorie climb the day before, the legs were a little weary at the start.

Blue, sunny skies greeted us at the base of the climb in the village of Laruns. There motor homes, cars and hundreds of cyclists came together in a jumbled mix at a traffic circle in the center of town. Gendarmes were positioned and already directing all non-Tour vehicles off the route. Once again, we were going to be able to tackle this mountain on a road filled with cyclists and slightly groggy fans.

One of the first cyclists I saw was Morris Seymour from Huntsville, Alabama who was sporting his new red VéloSport jersey. Just up the road was John Myrick from Clemmons, North Carolina in his blue VéloSport jersey. It already looked like it was going to be a good day for our team.

I rode with Jonica and Ryan Burke from Portsmouth, Ohio who were all smiles on their first full day on the bike. Air France had misplaced Ryan’s bike for the first two days of the trip and he only got to touch his beautiful ride for the first time on Monday. Though the road was going hard uphill, they were happy to be part of the action.

Erin Hinnov was just up the road and cruising along a wooded section of the climb. As her second Tour in a row with us, Erin has really increased her cycling strength and skill and seemed to be improving every day. I saw her later at the top of the Aubisque and she said that she felt better on this climb than she has so far. She was truly riding into form.

Our most seasoned Tour rider, Jim Williams was hammering away on the climb. Though his first time on the Aubisque, Jim has many, many hors categorie climbs to his name. Over the seven Tours he has done with us, he has climbed the Tourmalet four times – twice from each side, Mont Ventoux once, and Alpe d’Huez a couple of times. He said that though the Aubisque was hard, the Tourmalet was more difficult.

Eddy congratulations Jim on his epic ride up the Aubisque. His seventh Tour with VeloSport, Jim has put up with more years of Chris' bad puns than any other client. And at 76 years old, he is the easily the strongest oldest client we have had master the classic climbs of France.


A little ways up the road I spotted Jim’s buddy Richard Winegarner from Healdsburg, California. He was wearing a yellow jersey and attracting quite a bit of attention from the roadside fans. One vendor stopped in the middle of his sales pitch, to draw the crowd’s attention to the “maillot jaune”. Richard has also traveled with us before and said this climb was deceivingly hard. He said he felt like a lobster in a pot that just kept getting hotter on this climb that started gently and finished with a punch.

For the last few kilometers of the climb, I got to ride with Karen Melliar-Smith and Jim Johnson from Denver, Colorado. Both strong cyclists, I found out that Karen is a professional triathlete. She was enjoying the climbs and feeling stronger every day. As a professional athlete, Karen said she has always respected the Tour cyclists. Having actually tackled some of the mountains the Tour riders fly over, she said her respect has only grown.

Karen and Tim on top of the world on the Aubisque.


We stopped two kilometers from the summit of the Aubisque where the VéloSport Vacations crew had reserved another fabulous lunch at the Auberge des Cretes Blanches. Sophie was set up there with some refreshments for those who wanted to go to the top before turning around and coming back to the auberge for lunch. We topped off our water bottles and grabbed some treats before climbing up into the clouds. At the top, Karen, Jim and I took the time to take in the incredible view from atop this rugged giant.

After descending back down to our reserved space on a nice tight turn to the top, we cleaned up and sat down to an abundant multi-course meal. There I got to meet Judy Trahan from Oakland, California who was happy to add another climb to her list of accomplishments. Judy had actually started riding in 1970 but had to take several years off for tendonitis. Only recently had she really gotten back into the sport thanks to the generous gift of a new bike from her friend Malcom Stuart (also a VéloSport Vacations traveler).

I talked to Tris Dows and Steve Junge from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Steve is a seasoned cyclist and did Paris-Brest-Paris in 1999. For this epic ride, Steve did 750 miles in 68 hours with only two hours of sleep. This trip was his first to the Tour de France and he was impressed by the difficulty of the Pyrenees climbs. He told me that we’re definitely not in Iowa any more!

Fed and well-hydrated, we all moved out to the corner to find our spots for the caravan. Being on a tight corner really paid off for the group. The caravan cars would get backed up and have to actually stop in front of us. There was more schwag to go around than we could handle.

Crazy squirrel loose on the Aubisque.

When it was time for the race to come through, we all realized just how amazing our spot on this mountain was. From the patio of the Cretes Blanches, we could see so far down the mountain that at one point I could see the first cyclists entering our corner and the last cyclist with the voiture balai (or broom wagon) coming on to the climb. There were four helicopters hovering like hawks just level with our viewing spot as they followed the different groups up the mountain.

We spread out on the corner where we could get a close look at the faces of the riders as they looked beyond us up the mountain. The suffering for some was all too evident on this warm, hot day in the Pyrenees.

After the race passed, we packed in to the cozy bar area where the VéloSport crew had set up two televisions. There, we drank and watched the riders battle to the end of this final mountain stage. With the stage over, we got back on our buses to head to Lourdes for one last night. As we loaded up, a small group of older Basque men gathered in the bar we had just emptied to drink and sing round after round of beautifully incomprehensible Basque songs. I looked up the mountain one last time and instead of fans and motor homes, I saw a flock of sheep moving slowly up the hillside. The Tour was almost over.

No Rest for the Weary

Getting the band back together: Former 7-Eleven team members (left to right) Davis Phinney, Alex Steida and Frankie Andreu entertained us with their stories and their legs!


Today was the second rest day for the Tour de France, but was a full-on day of cycling for our VéloSport Vacations crew. There were two ride choices today. The shorter, “easier” ride included the hors categorie Hautacam climb while the longer ride did the hors categorie Tourmalet climb. There was also a third, insane option of doing both climbs.

Five guys from one group went for the full monty – 140 kilometers and two hors categorie climbs. Two are college buddies from Indiana – Jonathan “Mr. Amy” Purvis and Greg O’Brien. Ross Moody from Austin, Texas was along for this epic ride and well-prepared in his training with Kevin Livingston. The youngest member of the group was John Cranston from San Francisco, California and the senior member was Robert Fulton from Portland, Oregon. I only saw these five musketeers after their ride and they all seemed sublimely exhausted from their efforts.

Though this was a day when everyone seemed to all go their separate ways, we did come together for a cocktail hour with three North American cycling greats. Chris Gutowsky managed to gather three former 7-Eleven team members in a cozy bar in Lourdes for a special presentation. Frankie Andreu, Alex Stieda and Davis Phinney all regaled us with tales from their days with the Tour de France.

All three of these legends managed to captivate the packed room with their tales of their lives as pros. The older of the three, Stieda and Phinney talked about a time when North American cyclists were an oddity in the world of European cycling. Andreu bridged the gap between the old days and today’s racing scene with his stories as a nine-year veteran of the Tour and a current OLN commentator.

Several in the group threw out good questions for our honored guests, but the best question came from Margaret Fambrough from Huntsville, Alabama. It was the final question for the boys and a doozey. She wanted to know if they would show us their calves. And though Stieda and Phinney cooperated by flexing their gams, Andreu refused the request saying that he hadn’t been on a bike in 5 weeks and didn’t want to expose his hairy legs. The flashes were going off all over the room as they shared both their stories and their legs with us. Thank you Frankie, Davis and Alex!!

Peyresourde Paradise

Today we got to sample all of the treats the Tour has to offer for cycling fans who love to ride, eat, drink and spectate. Our first day in the Pyrenees centered on the Peyresourde climb. The fourth climb of stage 15, the Peyresourde is a category one mountain that climbs 13 kilometers at an average grade of 6.9% to a final altitude of 1569 meters. As the first true climb of the trip, the Peyresourde was going to be challenging for so many travel weary legs.

The two groups transferred from their separate hotels in Lourdes to two different drop-off points giving everyone long and short options. The long 75-kilometer ride left from La Barthe, while the shorter 50-kilometer ride left from Loures-Barousse. Both rides gave everyone time to warm up their legs before hitting the base of the climb in Luchon.

By the time we hit the climb at about 10:30, the gendarmes had already closed the roads to all but the necessary Tour traffic. This sort of early road closure of a climb to car traffic seems to be particular to the Pyrenees climbs and was a welcome relief from the Alps. Our group along with hundreds of other cycling fans got to climb the Peyresourde on roads that were far less congested than those the Tour cyclists would encounter several hours later.

The climb was hot and the steady tail wind only made things more stifling. The first VéloSport traveler I met on the climb was Nancy Meyer from Portola Valley, California. I swear I almost fell off my bike when she told me she was 62-years-old had only begun riding six years ago. She looked great on her bike and was smiling her way up this difficult climb. I also met Joel Eisenberg from San Fernando, California grooving his way up the climb. He had “Beautiful” by U2 playing when I rode up to him and seemed to have found a perfect rhythm.

A little further up the mountain, just as the grade kicked up to about 9%, I met Syed Yusoof from El Paso Texas. Also new to cycling, Syed has only been riding for about 17 months and only got into the sport when one of his pharmaceutical reps came in and asked him if he wanted to ride with Lance Armstrong. A few months later, Syed found himself riding the Tour of Hope with the man himself. Syed was styling his way up the Peyresourde in the blue, orange and white colors of his Crazy Cat local club kit.

I also talked to Ray Fambrough from Huntsville, Alabama as he sweated his way up the climb. I had already had the pleasure of riding with Ray in Guadeloupe during our Cycle Caraïb program. He and his wife Margaret had decided to get a head start on their Tour training by joining us there this past March. It certainly seemed that their Guadeloupe training had paid off because Ray was climbing this category one mountain with ease.

Ray Fambrough at the top of the Peyresourde.

I finished the climb with Michael Bennett (who goes by Todd) from Washington, D.C. Inspired by the growing crowd and the visible mountain points banner, Michael sprinted the last few hundred meters and finished strong. Also new to the sport, Michael had just bought his first road bicycle in September. He seemed on top of the world as he stopped to pose next to the Peyresourde summit sign.

Glen Brooks from Folsom, California earned his place atop the Peyresourde. This is his second year with VeloSport Vacations and he is back in full form after breaking his collar bone last year on Les Deux Alpes. Go Glen!


Our work done for the day, we all descended back down the Peyresourde to our reserved lunch and viewing spot at a small hotel eight kilometers down the climb. There we all cleaned up and changed clothes and sat down to a nice buffet lunch. We would need our energy for the arrival of the publicity caravan. A couple folks signed up for massage to ease their recovery after this first major challenge.

Dwight Ashby from Lewisberry, Pennsylvania gets a massage while the frenetic publicity caravan passes in the background.

The caravan came through on time and we had a perfect section of road all to ourselves. Newbies to the whole caravan thing, most of our travelers were positioned on one side of the road. So I showed them a little something I have learned over the years. The publicity caravan vehicles drive on alternate sides of the road so they can be sure to cover the fans on both sides. I moved over to the other side of the road from everyone else and in ten minutes had a Champion polka-dot hat, a Skoda hat and a handful of Haribo candies. When a much-coveted deck of Francais des Jeux playing cards landed at my feet, several folks crossed over to join me. One VéloSport traveler who really impressed me with her caravan prowess was Janet Ashby from Lewisberry, Pennsylvania. Her first time with the Tour, Janet was a natural and amassed an impressive pile of schwag (read: free Tour goodies) in a matter of minutes.

With the caravan over and done, we found our spots in front of the television set up to allow us to watch the Tour come to us. By the time the Tour hit the base of our climb, the breakaway was down to six riders and included Hincapie, Brochard, Boogerd, Pereiro, Caucchioli and Sevilla. The Tour helicopters hovering close by, we moved to our spots on the road again to watch these amazing athletes pass just inches from us. Though the front group passed with ease, you could see the suffering in those who had already put in their day at the office and were just trying to make it to the finish before the time cut off.


We all finished our day by gathering in front of the television set to see the amazing finish. It was really happening – George Hincapie was going to win the hardest mountain stage of the 2005 Tour. When he crossed the finish line, hands on his helmet in total disbelief of his win, our crowds went crazy. Hincapie was handing us the perfect ending to a perfect day with the Tour.

Stage 1: Toulouse to Lourdes

While the Tour de France worked its way southwest into the Pyrenees, we too worked our way deeper into the mountains. The two VéloSport crews met everyone for this first stage of the Pyrenees to Paris trip at the Holiday Inn at the Toulouse airport. There, bikes were assembled, luggage was gathered, merchandise was bought and everyone was checked in for more than a week's worth of Tour excitement. Katie with VéloSport made sure everyone was well-fed by ordering up a extensive lunch buffet. We managed to graze on this never-ending spread for a good three hours.

After the transfer to Lourdes, we all sat down to catch the final kilometers of stage 14. Once again, Armstrong triumphed over all pretenders to the throne. It is amazing to see how much stronger he is than any other contenders. And what was the Telekom team doing out there trying to sabotage their own teammate's efforts? Only they will know.

After the stage wrapped up, everyone rushed to get ready for a short shakedown ride around Lourdes. We all gathered in the parking lot outside the Hotel de la Grotte and talked about the stage. The shade there was a welcome break from the hot, tortuous sun of the day. As we listened to our tour manager Dean Peterson give us basic safety tips, you could hear soft, religious chanting in the background. It was time for the daily procession down through Lourdes to the place people go to partake of the holy water in hopes of a new health.



Instead of heading downhill to the river, the group took off up hill and out of Lourdes for the first and easiest of the many rides to come.

Pyrenees Preparations

The VeloSport crew gets an early start on viewing for the finish of stage 17 in Revel.
The VéloSport Vacations staff more than doubled overnight as they prepared for the final week of the Tour and two separate groups of cyclists. Eddy Cordier, Sebastien Pillou and Thierry Lesenne made the trip south to Soreze from Brittany while Pierre Hirn came in from the eastern part of France. John Gatch and Dean Peterson arrived from the Midwest and will be the managers of the two groups—Anquetil and Bobet.

The separate teams spent most of the day reviewing plans and organizing equipment for tomorrow’s arrivals. The VéloSport crew also did some reconnaissance work in Revel for the stage finish there on Wednesday, July 20. After catching the exciting finish of today’s flat, fast stage, (Cheers to Chris Horner for his courageous effort today!) they managed to work in an easy ride through the sunflower fields surrounding Soreze and Revel.

Madeleine Madness

The motto for this group’s final day with the Tour de France came from Wayne’s bike club in Fort McMurray: “Tonight we drink, but first we ride.” And with our hardest climb yet—the hors category Col de la Madeleine—ride we would… and ride hard. We started in Albertville where Jean-Luc led us along beautiful, quiet side roads as we worked our way towards the impending Tour madness. When we hit the base of the Madeleine, we knew the fun had begun.

The first part of the 26-kilometer climb was merciless and steep. Our group broke up immediately as the climb forced us all to find our own comfortable pace. The campers along the route were still waking up and I saw more than one guy walking around in boxers.

The road up the Madeleine was fairly narrow making traffic flow challenging. I got stuck between two Tour merchandise trucks for about 10 kilometers. These vehicles are open in the back where two women stand and hold up special Tour bags filled with goodies. Each bag is 15 Euros and includes a yellow Tour hat, a little Tour bear, a Tour sharpie and a magazine. They are so loud you can hear them coming for miles, so you can imagine what it was like to have them next to you for almost an hour. If they aren’t cranking out the latest and greatest pop hits, the drivers are on the micro trying to rally the roadside fans to open their wallets. And most of the drivers deliver their sales pitch in at least four languages. It was surreal (not to mention annoying) to be on this remote, small mountain road surrounded by cows and pasture and be sandwiched between two moving, loud, yellow symbols of consumerism.

I finally saw the last of these two special vehicles with about 7K to go in the climb. There on the right side of the road was the devil’s camper and giant bike. The Tour merchandise vehicles stopped there and everyone on them started yelling for El Diablo to wake up and come out and play. One woman even got out and knocked on his camper door. Really it was enough noise to wake the dead, let alone the devil himself. But he didn’t come out and they took off for good up the mountain.

When I got the to top, there was Katie, Sophie and the ever so helpful and sweet Susie Williams from Australia putting the finishing touches on our picnic set up. Katie and Susie had gone to the farmer’s market in Annecy that morning to buy us a huge spread of fresh fruit and vegetables, roasted chickens, sausages, bread, cheeses, salads, desserts and of course, wine.

Our view from a top the Madeleine.

We all filed in one by one having conquered a truly epic climb. Vera, Heather and Erin summited weighing more than when they started. Their jerseys were filled with goodies from the publicity caravan that they milked for all it was worth on their way up the mountain.

Despite being our third and hardest climb of the week, the Madeleine brought out the best in everyone. One of the most amazing cycling stories of the week was Rich. I found out just yesterday, after he had completed one of the hardest climbs around, that our easiest ride the first day – a 24-mile spin through Alsace – had been his longest ride to date. And there he was on top of the world having gotten there on his own volition. Owen Williams from Sidney made to the top looking fresh and ready for more. Steve and Jim knocked off the climb with ease despite having done the Colombiere along with a couple other climbs during a 100+ kilometer ride the day before. Peter Greer from Great Barrington, Massachusetts was the mountain goat of the week and seemed to savor the suffering each new challenge presented. We were all riding into Tour form!

Once the Tour cyclists and all the helicopters and team madness had passed, we descended down the mountain to the next village where we had reserved space in a bar to watch the stage finish in Briancon after two more climbs over the Telegraph/Galibier. Holding true to his club’s motto, Wayne bought me an ice cold Leff. I savored that perfect drink while watching one of my Tour favorites—Vinokourov—go on a bold escape for the stage win.

After the stage finished, we transferred back to our luxurious Imperial Palace in Annecy for our farewell dinner and final good byes. The dinner was lovely and the company was perfect. Just when we all seemed to be coming into form, it was time to go our own ways. It was difficult saying good-bye to such a great group of people, but I hope we were only really saying see you again soon.

Courchevel Continued

We’ve had back-to-back epic days with incredible climbs and intense action-packed racing. I hardly did our day on Courchevel justice with my short entry two days ago. It is difficult to capture the full impact of such a perfect Tour day…but I will try.

My day started a little differently than that of the other VéloSport travelers. While the rest of the crew prepared for their ride to Albertville and up the category 1 Courchevel climb to see the finish of stage 10, I drove our rental box truck up the same climb. Katie and Susie joined me for the challenging ride up the crowded mountain. Though we hit the climb around 9 am, the mountain was already seething with cyclists, hikers, campers and random Tour vehicles. There were several giant sounds systems set up along the climb and I felt like we were in some wacky music video.

When I got to our reserved hotel/lunch stop in Courchevel, I realized that I was going to have to parallel park our truck behind some Tour barricades. This was going to be good considering I could just barely reach the pedals. But fortunately a very patient French man came to my rescue and talked me through the whole process.

We unloaded the day bags and our gracious host, Florian Treves, showed us our digs for the day. We basically had the run of the first floor of the Hotel des Grandes Alpes, a 4-star hotel and restaurant that had opened up just for us. This included a large shower room, massage room, comfortable television room and bar and a wooden deck with a view of the course below. Florian explained to us how this Alpine resort hotel had been in his family for several generations. His girlfriend, Magali Degardin, was the restaurant’s chef. The place was beautiful and well kept and Florian was eager to share it with us.

Leaving Katie and Susie to hold down the fort, I descended off the mountain on my bike to join our cycling groups as they hit the base of the climb in Moutiers. Normally a descent off a large mountain is somewhat nerve wracking. But add to that the fact that there are several hundred cyclists ascending and descending, Tour cars, trucks, buses and even semi-trucks making their way up and down the mountain—all at the same time—and you have organized chaos at its best. I made it down but let’s just say it was a good thing Jean-Luc had replaced my brakes pre-Tour.

At the bottom I met up with several of my fellow travelers. John Myrick from Clemmons, North Carolina was keeping a steady pace as he rode a safe distance in front of Chris Gutowsky and his random puns. Brent Warnecke from Indianapolis, Indiana was styling his way up the climb in his Google jersey. He is here with his uncle Brad Warnecke who was already a ways up the climb. Though Brad is a more experienced cyclist and floated up the climbs, Brent still managed to hold his own on these Alpine monsters.

Then I happened on Heather and Vera. Actually I heard them long before I saw them. Having only met on this trip, these two women became fast riding buddies, talking each other up the climbs. Despite being relatively new to the sport, Heather and Vera mastered the climbs in style. While most people around them could only grunt a hello, these two always had enough breath to carry on a moving conversation.

As I slowly worked my way up the climb for a second time, I realized that I hardly recognized the climb. The roadsides were quickly filling up with cars as people looked anxiously for last minute parking spots. The number of French police, or “gendarmes”, along the course had more than quadrupled in the last 90 minutes. The Tour traffic on the climb had intensified. Several team buses lumbered past me to the top where many of the cyclists were spending the night for the next morning’s start.

One of the crazy vehicles that make up the massively entertaining Tour publicity caravan.


I was happy to finally find myself back at the Hotel des Grandes Alpes I had left a couple of hours earlier and was ready to indulge in our private luxuries. Most of the crew had showered up and were already digging into the first salad and cold meats course of our meal.

Everyone seemed to be a little dazed but certainly happy to be sitting on a private deck just above the course with plates full of food and glasses full of wine and beer. Magali had set our tables with love and there were colored glass beads and flowers carefully placed on each table. The hot course included large plates of “poulet basquaise” and mounds of fresh pasta. Then the desserts came out—almond chocolate mousse, exquisite fruit salad, almond and apple tarts, and little puff cakes. We all dug in knowing full well we had earned our place at the dessert table.

After topping off our meal with espresso and chocolates, we moved inside to the comfy television room to watch the Tour come to us. It was humbling and exciting to watch these gods of cycling fly effortlessly up the same climb we had suffered just that morning. Not many sports give fans this unique opportunity to share their passion with the pros.

As the action heated up, our little television room became animated. Armstrong was away with two Iles Baleares riders, Francisco Mancebo and Alejandro Valverde and Rabobank’s Michael Rasmussen. As the break neared, we all moved out to the course and the balcony to secure our viewing spots for a brief glimpse of the live action before we moved back inside to watch the finish. Armstrong managed to amaze us all with his strong move around his younger competitors but Valverde’s win at the top gave us a peek at the possible future of the sport.

While everyone else on the mountain prepared to get in line for the long, slow drive down the crowded mountain, we went up and off the mountain in helicopters. It was a final high for a day that could not have been more perfect.

In Vino Veritas

OK. I had to make that the title only because I am just sure that some sports writer will use it tomorrow to describe Vinokourov’s valiant escape today. This was another epic day that included the out-of-category Madeleine climb for us mere mortals, a typically abundant VéloSport roadside picnic and finish viewing in a nearby bar. We also managed to squeeze a farewell dinner in to this fun-filled schedule. I have so much more to say and will do today and yesterday justice tomorrow. (Follow that if you can!) Stay tuned as our transfer southwest gives me a chance to catch you all up on life on Tour.



Check it out! Our own VeloSkoda podium girls!!