Planning Makes Perfect

I thought I'd continue this story by sharing a little bit about the planning that went into this trip. Dave and I have a history of designing great trips. We really take the time to choose destinations that fit who we are and I think we typically find a perfect balance between "scheduled" and "spontaneous." One thing that we never seem to do is plan a trip where we sit still for any long period of time. Neither of us are really built that way. We can only sit in a beach chair for so long before our roaming spirits kick in. So I guess that following a bike race across an entire country suits us well!

One thing that became obvious very quickly is that a lot of advanced planning is involved if we want to both follow the race AND get some exploring in as well. And we had to start early. Generally the Tour de France schedule is posted in October of each year for the following July. They only post the start and stop towns for each stage (the detailed road maps don't come out until June). And what many people in the U.S. don't realize is that the Tour De France is the largest spectator sport in the world. It wouldn't be out of the question to have half a million people lining the side of a narrow mountain road for a single stage. Tiny villages swell with people, restaurants are crowded and as soon as the Stage towns are announced - hotels book solid. Not only do the spectators need rooms, but the teams and their support staff, the media, Tour De France organizers, they all need places to stay as well. When the Tour reaches a town there are festivals, parades, vendors, tour buses and thousands of people that arrive - and then move out the next day and on to the next town.

Instead of moving each day to the follow the race, Dave and I decided to select a few strategically placed towns where we can see a specific area of the country and also travel to a few stages. Hopefully this way, we'll be able to have a nice balance between the Tour and exploring the countryside.

We start in Paris for a few days. During the early days of the Tour, many of the stages are flat and the competitive field is wide open. It isn't until they make it to the mountains that the race begins to heat up. While we're in Paris, we'll be staying in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area at the Hotel Luxembourg Parc (www.hotelluxparc.com).

From there we rent a car and begin our "big loop." We will drive 8 hours to the Southeast toward the alps. We'll be staying in a tiny village called Aiglun (Le Vieil Aiglun: www.vieil-aiglun.com). From there we are less than two hours South of Gap where we will meet up with the Tour for the first time and see the finish of a stage (and also celebrate Bastille Day). And then the next day, we will travel 45 mins north to see the start of a stage leaving from Sisteron.

As the Tour heads inland for a few flat road stages, Dave and I will head south to the Côte d'Azur where we will stay in the small seaside town of Antibes (www.val-des-roses.com) for two nights. There we will take a vacation within a vacation and explore the high-end seaside towns of Nice, Antibes, Cannes and St. Tropez.

Then we hit the road again and head six hours West to the Pyrenees along the northern border with Spain. We'll be staying in the old thermal spa town Bagnères-de-Luchon (www.villaflorida-luchon.net). We were very excited to get a hotel room in Luchon, which is a famous Tour town. Here we will meet back up with the Tour as it arrives into town for a stage end and then leaves from town for the next stage's start. During our 6 days there we will have our own epic bike rides and also meet up with a few infamous mountain stages of the Tour. We plan to be at the summit of the Col Du Tormalet as the riders battle it out to the finish - and perhaps decide who wins the entire tour.

Then we make a mad-dash long drive back to Paris, where we will meet back up with the Tour and watch the riders triumphantly arrive down the Champs-Élysées for the ceremonial Tour end and the final podium presentations. If all goes well, we will be watching Lance Armstrong step back up on the podium to culminate his last appearance in the Tour with a victory celebration.

The next day we get back on a plane and fly back to reality - but we haven't even left yet....so who needs to think about the end now?

So consider this your table of contents for the blog entries to come. We can't wait to share more details as our adventure unfolds.

An Impending Journey

My blog begins today but the planning for this trip began more than a year ago. My husband, Dave, and I have dreamed for many years of traveling to France and following the Tour de France. It was one of those great adventures that we added to our bucket list that I think we both probably thought we'd never get to. But if you really want to do something, why not just go for it?

We are both huge cycling fans, we ride almost every day and follow the sport closely. We're also both active cancer advocates and LIVESTRONG supporters. And we love to travel and explore new countries and cultures. It made sense.

The whole adventure started as one of those ah-ha moments when all the pieces fell into place. I remember it clearly, we were driving home from work one day (stuck in traffic as usual) and talking about how it was time to plan a big trip again. Lance Armstrong had just recently announced the formation of Team RadioShack and we were getting excited about what the next year had in store for the cycling world. And then I remember looking at Dave and saying, "let's do it. Let's really do it. Let's go to France and follow the Tour next year. Let's not just talk about it. Let's just do it." And we shook on it.

The planning began in earnest in October 2009 when the Tour route was announced. Dave and I went to Barnes and Noble, pulled out every France book we could find, spread out on the floor with our laptop and started matching towns to the Tour route. We knew that little mountain towns where the Tour came through would book up quickly! After a few weeks and a lot of research this is the route we mapped out:

July 9-13 in Paris
July 13-16 in Aiglun (the Alps)
July 16-18 in Antibes (French Riviera)
July 18-23 in Luchon (Pyrenees)
July 23-26 back in Paris

I'll post again with more details on our destinations of choice. And I will also post on how this itinerary aligns with the Tour. Dave will also post as the resident cycling expert!

So what is La Grande Boucle? Well, technically it's The Large Loop. It's what the Tour de France is sometimes called in France. It's my description of the adventure that Dave and I will take around the country. And it's the journey that Dave and I also hope to take you on in the coming weeks. We'll post about the trip (hopefully post pictures). We'll comment on the cycling, the adventure, the food, the culture and of course on our own epic bike rides. We'll post a few more times before we depart on July 9...and then the journey begins!

Thanks for taking La Grande Boucle with us!