Saturday, July 8th, 2000. I
participate in the Death Ride as an observer, from 30,000 feet in
the air!
The better part of a day later and
I'm in Charles de Gaulle airport in France! You never get to see
Paris at all, as it's miles away plus the train station is
downstairs.
Pastoral countryside and nuclear
powerplants. Powerlines everywhere.
Our train at the Avignon
station. France has a very well developed train system
that's highly recommended as a way to get around the country.
7/9/2000 Collecting bodies in Avignon for the
trip to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, where we'll be
based throughout our stay.
The "bike station" at our
resort, where there's a fleet of brand-new 5200 road bikes,
identical to the frames Lance will be riding!
7/10/2000 7-time Tour de France racer Ron
Kiefel demonstrates the use of special seat-leveling tools.
Our first trip on our bikes in France!
It really does look like the pictures you've seen.
Substitute sugar cane for the
cornfields, and you could easily believe you were in Hawaii!
Returning to the prison, er,
Village.
7/11/2000 Anxiously awaiting the
start of L'Etape du Tour, where we get to ride the Ventoux stage
of the Tour de France!
You're looking at the rarest of all
things in France. Yes, a garbage can. Second rarest is
ice. Why? I never could get a good answer on that one.
7/12/2000 We took a field trip the
day after Ventoux to the castle at Les
Baux. As you'll see
further on, this is quite a large fortress.
Yep, a catapult...but instead of
flinging rocks etc, at times they'd toss decaying animals in an
attempt to spread disease amongst their enemies. Nice.
And what would a castle be without a
stockade?
Overlooking the Provence
region from high up on the Les Baux castle. The beauty of
this region alone would make it worth defending!
7/13/2000 We've just arrived at the
base of Mont Ventoux, where we'll be setting up station in a
restaraunt we've taken over.
It's unbelievable how many people are
streaming up the mountain this morning, looking for that perfect
spot to watch the race from.
For hours upon hours they come, some
walking, many riding. The road has been shut down to all but
pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles.
On the right is Dick Moran, head of
TREK marketing, talking with journalist Zap Espinosa, who had
joined us on our trip to France.
Hey, you didn't expect us to come to
France and not paint the pavement, did you???
Prior to the race coming through,
this incredible caravan of sponsors tossing out trinkets &
trash cruises through (with a kid chasing after it).
Kids are the same everywhere...here
they're checking out the various things trinkets they've
collected.
The Michelin Man in the lead,
followed by who-knows-what behind. Goofy stuff everywhere!
Is that a...yep, that's a guy with a
vacuum cleaner on top of that car!
Not difficult to figure out what
Festina's business is. At 2:31, this is about the last part
of the caravan.
But here's what we've been waiting for...the Tour de France!
It's 3:19pm, and we've been on-site for six hours, anticipating
this exact moment. And with luck actually holding out, I get
a photo with Lance squarely in the middle!
Afterward we went back to our command post,
where we had a bevy of TVs set up to watch continuous coverage of
the race as it climbed Mont Ventoux.
7/14/00 We're in Avignon
for the start of the next stage, and actually get "backstage
passes" so we're up close and personal with the riders!
Check out our Memories
of France page, with "raw" unedited notes of my
trip. --Mike--
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