The day started with a Provencal breakfast outside. The sun filled our room and we awoke to golden fields of wheat and an amazing backdrop of the alps. The dark long road we drove up the night before, the switchbacks, apparently brought us to the top of the world and the views from our little stone balcony were priceless.
We were the last to arrive at the hotel the night before and the first to arrive at breakfast. Charles, our innkeeper - a Belgian transplant - was there to greet us and show us breakafast. We filled our plates with granola, yogurt, bread, cheese, jams and honey and sat outside in the morning sun and took in our surroundings. We wish we could have lingered all day, but we had a full schedule and a Tour De France stage to get to in the afternoon.
We drove about an hour north toward Gap, one of the larger towns in the region. It's known largely as a ski and resort town - but more about Gap later. We turned slightly east to park at a small village called Chorges, where we easily parked the car and rebuilt our bikes for our first cycling adventure.
We planned a 45-mile route around Serre Ponçon Lake, east of Gap. Apparently it's a large resort, holiday area - and we could immediately see why. As we rolled out of Chorges, the lake started to come into view. This lake was a perfect teal and it was enormous. Towering all around it were high peaks, and on its shores were dozens of families sunning, boating and windsurfing. The whole area was absolutely gorgeous.
I can't really explain it with this blog, but the ride was breathtaking. I was actually catagorizing it in my head as I rode: "Is this the most scenic ride I've been on?" And the answer is yes, by far. You know that I love Colorado, but this was something in a different league.
(Pictures coming soon! On a different camera...)
We traveled along beaches, mountains, causeways and bridges. The sky was blue, the water was bluer and everything around us just acted as fuel for the ride. I felt like nothing could stop us....until the road started to go up. And up. And up. Switchback after switchback. Suddenly, the most beautiful ride I ever did also became one of the most difficult. The twists and turns rose high above the lake until it was just a green speck below. Those beautiful mountains we were admiring were now our enemies. The sun was blazing and the climbs got steeper. In total, 4,000 feet of climbing in three massive climbs over 40 miles. I cursed every switchback, but loved this ride.
A wonderful thing that we learned about riding in France is that, you think you're in the middle of nowhere, struggling up an enormous mountain climb, and then you come around a hairpin turn, reach the summit - and there's a little cafe! Music playing, people sitting and having wine and the plat du jour. It's great. Dave even stopped at one point to get us fresh water from a hose, cokes and some apples from a roadside stand.
The ride took a lot longer than expected, thanks to the Alps - so when it was over, we had to hustle to get to Gap to see the end of Stage 10 of the Tour. Plus, we were nervous. Our first time meeting up with the largest sporting event on earth. We didn't know what to expect!
We decided that at this late hour, there would be no way to get into town to be at the finish. So Dave scouted out a great location. We drove up as far as we could before the roads were closed and walked over to about 3K left - right outside of town and right at the bottom of the descent off of the final climb of the day. It was literally about 100 feet away from where Lance had his famous off roading incident seven years ago and only about 50ft from a tight right turn between buildings heading into town. Not only could we see them coming down the hill, but they'd have to slow down there to make the turn.
Right as we got there, the pre-tour caravan was just finishing coming through. I'll explain more about this crazy caravan in the next post. But the rule of thumb is that it is usually another hour or so later that the cyclists come by. So we knew we had some time to position ourselves. And so we waited, and waited....and waited. Apparently we werent the only ones to suffer on a climb that day. It was hot and the peleton took their sweet time arriving into town.
As we waited, a lot of early team cars drove through, honking their horns to get the crowd excited. Dave had his Garmin jersey on, so he got a nice wave and honk from Matt White, the Garmin head coach.
Finally, we heard the helicopters in the distance - which have the TV cameras - and which meant that the peleton was approaching. And then local families, who were watching the stage on TV, started coming out of their houses knowing that the riders were approaching.
And then the breakaway came into site! And it had a Radio Shack team member! We cheered them on. And then a few more stragglers from the breakaway came roaring past. And then nothing. Obviously, the peleton had let them go and the gap had widened. It felt like almost 10 mins before we started hearing the second helicopter coming into ear shot.
And then it arrived. The peleton. With Andy Schleck in yellow leading the pack. The peleton is like an animal, it roars, it curses, it generates wind and in an instant it's gone. But while it's roaring past you, you can pick out faces of your favorite riders. I saw Lance. And I yelled. GOOOOOO LANCE!!! And yes, I got a smile. The hours of waiting were worth it.
And like that, they were gone...and we limped back to the car, desperate for food and water. But ecstatic about our first of several enounters with Le Tour.
But the day wasn't over yet. It was Bastille Day, and we had some partying to do. We piled into the traffic jam and headed into Gap for the evening. We found a parking spot near a few of the team cars and vans and took some photos with the Columbia HTC bus (Dave got to chat with the mechanics and drool at the bikes) and I took a few shots with a Radio Shack team car.
We wandered into the town center and quickly fell in love with the narrow alley ways, cafes, town squares and lively people. We found a great outdoor cafe, and settled in for a three-hour dinner. There was a band playing, we were surrounded by Tour staff and I had steak and frites. Life was good.
After dinner, we wandered around and followed the crowds - who seemed to know what best to do. For example, we chose the longest line for ice cream and were rewarded with a great dessert. By then, it was 10:30, we were eating our ice cream, and the first boom of the fireworks went off. We could see it explode over the rooftops, but didn't know where to go. So we marched after the crowd that all seemed to be hurrying to the same place. We reached the end of an alley that opened into a large square, where thousands had gathered to celebrate their national holiday.
We were treated to a fantastic fireworks display - some of the more interesting and beautiful fireworks we've seen. They were perfectly set to the music and were shot off very low, so they truly seemed to filled the sky above our heads just above the village rooftops. We may not be French, but for one day we got to celebrate along side them. And after such a wonderful, full, exciting day - July 14 to me will now forever be le quatorze juillet.
(We are still a day behind with posts. Stay tuned for our July 15 update with stories of how American flags can change your entire Tour experience and how we did actually find a moment to relax.)
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