A few Chain Reaction customers
we saw during the 2003 Tour de France
If you're in one of
these photos, click on it for a larger version, and
please send me an email with your name (I'm really bad on
names!). Also, if you're in any of the photos on our site, let
me know and I'll print up an 8.5x11 that you can pick up at the shop
(no charge).
For an overview of my 2003 TDF trip, check out the section of my
almost-daily diary written while
there, along my with race photos
page. --Mike--
This is from the start
of the Graham Baxter trip (in Paris on the 18th), and shows Steve &
Thalia Lubin in the center, with Tena Gallagher at the far left and
her husband John is the bearded guy just to the right of Steve.
Even though Steve & Thalia were on the "same" Pryrenees to Paris
tour I was, they were on a different bus & stayed at different
hotels... Graham Baxter apparently had over 31 busloads of TDF fans
this year!
Having a Coke and a
smile are a pair of Chain Reaction customers on the climb to Ax-3
Domaines on Saturday, July 19th. I'm thinkin' he's Mark and she's Meghan, and he's got a TREK 5200 from us...
(Identities later confirmed!)
Haven't we seen this
one before? Perhaps on the Primavera Century a couple years
ago? Yes, that would be Lori, a customer of ours who I came
across on a ride heading out to the Col d'Aspin on
Sunday,
July 20th.
I believe that's her husband (Jim Patterson; thanks to
Jaime Tolentino for letting me know) she's riding with... but a bit later
on, as I'm descending the climb, I pass her as she's climbing... but
she's ditched not only her riding partner, but her jersey as well
(which seems strangely familiar...).
Shawn S, pretty darned
happy about his first trip to France as well as his climb up the
Tourmalet on Monday, July 21st. Actually, Shawn was trying to
chase me down as I was climbing the hill, but he was yelling out the
wrong name (I don't recall what it was, but it wasn't "Mike" nor
anything profane that might have caused me to answer).
Eventually he huffed out "Chain Reaction" and I got the idea he was
trying to get my attention!
Also on the climb up
the Tourmalet on the 21st, taken at the same restaurant as the photo
above. Here we've got Shawn, along with another pair of our
customers.. I believe her name is Latisha and darned if I can
remember his (but for some reason I'm thinking Robert?). (I
wasn't far off; it's Leticia and
Bob from Belmont)
This and the next few
photos were taken on Wednesday, July 23rd. The TDF was heading
from Pau to Bayonne, so a bunch of us figured it might be a nice
ride from Lourdes, where we were staying, out to Pau, possibly in
time to see the start, and then loop back to Lourdes in time to
watch the finish on TV.
This proved to be a pretty tough and spectacularly beautiful ride,
as we climbed over the Col du Soulor en route to the Col d' Aubisque.
That's Tom McCullough, one of our customers, in the LeMatin jersey,
walking under the sign.
The restaurant at the
top of the Col du Soulor proved a very popular gathering spot for
those heading towards the Col d' Aubisque (which is only a few miles
further up the road).
Since you don't know what awaits you up ahead, it just seems like a
good idea to sit down for a minute with a Coke and assess Life, The
Universe, & Everything. It's also at this point you're
thinking you're not going to make it to Pau in time for the noon
start!
Another one of our
customers at the Col du Soulor restaurant, one whose name I can't
hope to remember. Hopefully he'll see this and let me know!
(He did... it's Trevor Watt)
By the way, this guy wins the prize (but don't know yet what the
prize actually is) because he was touring France with authentic
Chain Reaction water bottles!!! And, because I'd left my
bottles at home, he may have been the only one.
Our group at the top of
the Col du Soulor, and one of the few photos of me you'll find on
the website.
Thursday, July 24th, on
our way to Bordeaux to either watch a feed station or see the
finish.
Not exactly a customer of ours, but the guy on the left is Dick
Moran, head of marketing for TREK, and partly responsible for TREK
deciding to sponsor US Postal and Lance. The guy on the right
owns a bike shop someplace in the south, I think...
We weren't making good
enough time to stay in front of the charging Peloton, so we had to
get off the road for a bit, where I ran into yet another of our
customers (a rather special one with two heads, or so it appears in
this photo!). And, of course, I don't remember his name
either.
What I mostly remember was trying to find an alternate route into
Bordeaux, a shortcut that might get us to the finish ahead of the
field. For some reason it didn't sound so stupid then as it
does now...
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