8 Seconds of Absolute Excitement (NEW - High Res Video)

[I've added more videos to the site (see below), but bumped this one to the top because I just think it's the best as it shows the action of the peloton and team car caravan.]

Experience the Tour with this video was shot on stage 13. It's one of the flat stages we caught, and the guys were absolutely flying past us -- eight seconds for the entire peloton to pass us to be precise (although the video compression sped up the video just slightly.

Finish Line - Jausiers

This is from our position at 100m to go at the finish line in Jausiers. There is a special sponsor caravan (on foot/rollerblade) that covers this portion of the course, distributing items that can only be found at the finish lines.

Finish Line Prep - Jausiers

This video is from the finish line in Jausiers as the crew continues to set up before the riders and caravan roll into town.

Cat 4 - Hunting for a Spot

Angel shot and narrated this video while we were hunting for a location. It's from the slopes of only a fourth category climb.

Rain "Delay"

Shot from our mobile TdF "command center" on the slopes of Col d'Agnel.

Le Caravan

This video shows a little of the very beginning of the sponsor caravan. The caravan comes through about an hour to an hour and a half before the riders and can last upwards of 45 minutes. Most of the really good swag comes from the groups with earlier positions -- LCL (the sponsor of the TdF), Champion (the sponsor of the polka dot jersey), etc. Towards the end, you get things like a pen, or flyer for an upcoming movie. Experience a little of the fun.

Serious Supporter

While we were in France, Doug and his family showed their support for the Argyle Armada (a.k.a. Team Garmin/Chipotle) by traveling from New Hampshire to the original Chipotle location in Colorado for Le Burrito. Thanks, Doug, the team really appreciated the support -- we could see it in their eyes. (FYI, the original location serves Dr. Pepper instead of Mr. Pibb.)

Belgian Alpine Satellite Television

Stage 17 - The Straggler

This video was shot from our location on the mountain in stage 17. It's of the very last rider to pass our position... Jimmy Casper, who was nearly 40 minutes back and missed the time cut on the day, thus ending his TdF. You also can see someone push him up the backside of the mountain.

Breakfast Nook - The Video

Col de L'Izoard - Driving on the Edge

Couple of questions

Our friend Ed asked a couple of questions about a typical day at the Tour. I'll try to answer them here...

How long do the cyclists typically spend on their bikes each day? ... The cyclists spend anywhere from four and a half to seven hours on their bikes each day. It depends on the length of the stage (discounting the time trial stages where they ride individually all-out for 30-60 minutes), the difficulty of the terrain, and the speed of the peloton (the main group of cyclists). If I remember correctly, the longest stage this year was around 230km, but it was mainly over flat(ish) terrain and for the most part they completed it together. The stage ending at d'Huez saw the cyclists spread over 45 minutes from the first to the last (the last guy that day was outside of the time limit and cut from the Tour even though he completed the stage). Once the riders start going they can't stop except if they wreck, have a mechanical issue (i.e., flat tire) or need to take a "natural break". If they stop riding, it usually means that they are about to drop out of the race.

How do you follow the race since you can't drive along with the cyclists? ... The official Tour de France website posts the information for each stage (you can find the link to their site in the sidebar). For each stage, they show the topography of the stage, where the feedzones, sprints and climbs are located. They also provide a detailed descriptions of the towns (and roundabouts or carrefours) covered by the race. At each point, they list the time when the caravan will be passing by (it typically starts an hour and a half before the first riders) and three different times for when the riders are expected to arrive at each location (something like if they average 40km, 42km or 44km). The roads care closed to the public anywhere from two to eight hours prior to the cyclists rolling by.

For each stage, we look at this information to find what we think would be most interesting place (usually the mountains since the riders typically are going slower and towards the end of the stage are probably spread out -- this is why these locations are often some of the most crowded). Other good points, and also usually crowded, are the feedzones. The cyclists pick up the bulk of their food for the day in these locations and discard waterbottles and musets to the fans (read souvenirs).

The gendarme shut down the roads in relation to how many people will typically be attending in a given area and how many access points there are to the area. For d'Huez, the roads closed at around 8:30AM, depending where you were on the route. The last stage we caught, the roads didn't close until 1:30PM, even though prime locations (shade, steep part of climb towards the end) still went early.

Typical Day at the Tour

A typical day at the Tour for us usually began the night before. However, first we started by packing some essentials... we brought along a special picnic blanket with us from the States as well as the soft-sided cooler we acquired last TdF, sunscreen, a cowbell (a true spectator's must) and a wine bottle opener.

When we first arrived in France, we visited a supermarché to buy two folding lawn chairs, a plastic bucket for ice and our drinks, two metal forks, a spoon and butter knife, two sturdy plastic plates, plastic wine glasses, and napkins. These items provided the base for each day's picnic. We also bought a big pack of Perrier and a big pack of Orangina.

The night before each stage (by at least 7PM when they closed), we would stop at a market to buy our supplies for the following day (we typically would be on the road before the markets opened each day and in areas where they were already scarce, so it was better to stop when we had the chance). Most evenings we would buy: two bags of ice for our bucket, a few tomatoes, lettuce, a cheese or two, bottle of wine and chips. Each night we would also take a look at the Tour map to pinpoint the area we thought would provide the best spectating.

The following morning, we would wake up anytime between 5:30AM and 8:00AM, depending on how far we needed to travel and when the roads would close. After a quick breakfast provided by our chambre d'hôte (usually consisting of coffee, juice, pain with jams, and sometimes yogurt), we would be off to the local Boulangerie to buy our daily bread -- a baguette or two and a few pain au chocolats. After that it was off to scout our location.

Traveling to find a spot took us anywhere from one to three hours. In most cases this year (as you might have read already), we were able to drive most of the Tour stage en route to our location. This proved incredibly helpful if we decided to change up our plan for the day and backtrack to a better, less crowded, shadier location with something in the area that would serve as a suitable place for "natural breaks" that we already passed. Once we settled on a spot (sometimes driving past it three or four times), we staked out our location with the lawn chairs and picnic blanket (what seems like an ideal spot at 9AM can turn into a zoo by the time they shut down the roads).

Our three- to eight-hour picnic included reading, eating, drinking, taking photos and writing entries for our blog. We would sometimes walk a kilometer to two in either direction to see what kind of place we were surrounded by.

Once the caravan started to roll by the excitement mounted quite quickly. The entire length of the caravan was 45 minutes or so, with the better swag up front and the smaller sponsors bringing up the rear. After the caravan finished, there was really only time to collect the picnic goods and repack the car (making it faster to jump in the car and drive the other was once the Fin de Course truck passed. When you heard helicopters, it meant the riders were near. The details of this will be clear if you watch the soon-to-be-posted video.

Once everything rolled by our location, we jumped in the car, turned on the A/C and began the slow roll out of there. Rinse and repeat.

Stage 19 - Amsterdam

We were fortunate to find a bar at the Amsterdam airport during our four-hour layover with TdF coverage. Ironically, it's the same station we were able to pick up on the side of the mountain in the Alpes.

Co-Pilot

Angel did a wonderful job navigating our way around France -- all 2,000km that we covered -- and got us right back to where we started.

As in years past, before we left NYC we went to Barnes & Noble to buy the maps for each section of the country we would cover (about $10 each). When we first arrived in France this time, we ran across the complete and spiral-bound maps for the entire country (for about $20) at one of their super rest areas (or Aires) along the Auto Route. It was one of those things we said, "Oh, we'll buy that later at another rest area." Well, the next rest area we stopped at was on our way back to the airport today. Better late than never I guess as it has been fun to have it on the plane allowing us to retrace our travels. And, we're all set for the 2009 TdF!

Au revoir, Chipotle

A few last shots from the Alpes, and a wave from the Chipotle team car. With all this talk of Chipotle burritos the past couple of weeks, I sure am looking forward to having one when we get back to NYC. Perhaps it'll have to be a double burrito day on Saturday.

Really that close...

I'm not using zoom on any of these photos... we were literally that close to the action!

Belgian TV

Our Belgian friends gathered quite a crowd on the mountain side. Here are a few more photos and the URL for their TdF blog.. www.bloggen.be/polkovnik (we haven't been able to check it out yet so who knows what's on it). Polkovnik, if I remember correctly means "colonel" in Russian. There were four of them, including one guy's father-in-law who was a retired colonel.

White, Yellow, Polka Dots (and blurry)

This shot is from our final day at the Tour. You can see the white jersey wearer (top young rider -- Andy Schleck), the maillot jaune (yellow leader's jersey -- Carlos Sastre) and the King of the Mountains (we are totally clueless who is wearing that right now). Unfortunately, such a great shot came out blurry. Perhaps since it's so small on the blog it will appear in focus.

More from Jausiers

It's Tim's turn on the winner's podium and Angel rides for AG2R.

Versus TV Follow-Up

From the stage ending in Jausiers... meeting up with Robbie Ventura at the end of the stage (he's interviewing Augustyn who lost his bike down the mountain) and our sighting of Versus commentator, Bob Roll.

Stage 18 - Le Finale (for us anyways)

(Wow, I hope the computer recorded yesterday's stage -- sounds like d'Huez was amazing! Because we wanted to avoid the huge traffic jam, we didn't stick around to watch the rest of the coverage.)

It's unfortunately here... our last day following the Tour de France this year. Don't dismay though, we will be posting some great video on the site when we get home and have our high-speed Internet connection again -- some that will literally put you right in the action! -- and a few more follow-up posts when we have a bit more time and don't need to type everything on the tiny phone keyboard.

Today, we find ourselves in the Loire region on the lower slopes of Croix de Montvieux, right before the town of Pelussin. Gone are the high Alpes, skinny roads with no shoulders and shear cliffs (and the sound of a generator bringing us live television coverage of the Tour). It's all lush hillsides around these mountains, the sounds of birds, people picnicking, and from where we're positioned... plenty of shade! We thought that we put plenty of sunscreen on yesterday, but we were pretty red by the time we finally found a mirror at our gites last night.

Last night, it took us three hours to drive from our spot on the mountain. We rolled in around 9PM, just in time to interrupt the big dinner set up in the courtyard of our place. Even "luckier" for us, the door to our room was located directly off the courtyard, so we had to lug our bags past everyone and then head back out afterwards to try and find some food at 10PM -- not an easy feat in these small towns. Our first stop was at a truck stop. When we said "manger" the lady looked at the clock and then at us like we were crazy. As we were driving out of the parking lot she actually turned off the light to the place (even though the place was packed). After rolling down the road another kilometer or so we found the Ibis hotel and caught their kitchen before it closed. We both ordered the tasty gratin de macaroni with a Grinbergen Blonde biere for me and a bottle of red house wine for Angel (something got messed up in translation on that one, but we finished everything they gave us -- I helped out on the wine).

After waking up around 5:30AM the past few mornings in order to drive two or more hours into the mountains before they shut down the road, we enjoyed a leisurely morning sleeping in late, going to the supermarché, and eating breakfast at our gites. We struck up a conversation with a nice Dutch family over breakfast who we convinced to catch the Tour, since it literally will be rolling by down the street.

We had a decent outing during the caravan today. Our one goal was to get a while Skoda fisherman's cap. Unlike in year's past, this year they are silk-screened with the stage information, so they're a bit more of a collector's item. Unfortunately, they're still pretty small hats so you would rarely wear it besides at the Tour with everyone else wearing white hats that are too small for their head.

Hope you've enjoyed the somewhat "live" coverage from our spectating adventures. We certainly had an amazing time and have thought of you all often -- Jason would so be the guy on the side of the mountain setting up a satellite TV, Robert would love driving these roads, our parents would hate that we're driving these roads, Jen needs to know we walked to Italy, Jude and Lily are going to love these hats, Amie is going to love the laundry detergent, finally Miles can replace the Disney newspaper from three years ago, Jake would rack up the sponsor booty, and Doug, contrary to what we had hoped, the Chipotle team cars do not pass out burritos. If you're not mentioned here it's just because my fingers can only type so much, not that we don't love you and haven't thought and spoken of you.

Au revoir,
Angel and Tim.

P.S. I caught a Bouyeres Telecom water bottle yesterday.

Stage 16 - Wow, too much excitement to relay

Today is the first time we've ever been at the finish line (a.k.a. Arriveé). It's crazy here as everything (i.e., press trucks, cars and commentators; team cars, trucks & buses) ends up in this place (a tiny skiing village in the middle of the Alpes).

We left super early this morning (6AM) in order to get through the mountain passes before they shut them down. Because of this, we arrived in Jausiers around 8AM and had our run of the place before they put up all of the security fences (see Angel's photo on the winner's podium). We watched as they painted the logos on the street t the finish line and then used a flame thrower to dry it. We arrived earlier enough to have morning coffee and pain with all of the techies who had been there are night setting up the media village and were having some breakfast before heading to the bars in the village. And then, we walked the the kilometer from the finish to the flame rouge (1km to go banner).

As if this wasn't enough, we wandered past the Versus TV truck and sure enough, Phil and Paul were having their morning coffee before starting the broadcast. We had a nice chat with them and grabbed a few photos. (We're actual sitting along side a river with their broadcast truck in the background.) For those unfamiliar with Phil and Paul, they are the voice of the TdF in the English-speaking world. Phil has commentated for upwards of the past 40 years of the Tour. Then, on our way back to the car, we ran into Johann Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong's Director Sportif for all seven of his TdF victories (both on US Postal and later with the Discovery Channel). His current team, Astana, wasn't invited to this year's Tour.

Later in the day we saw Bob Roll, a colorful commentator for Versus, former professional cyclist, and author of perhaps one of the funniest books I've ever read. (We also caught Robbie Ventura interviewing Augustyn after the race (the cyclist who lost his bike down the side of the mountain -- I think that I actually was in the background of the shot) while watching for Chipotle riders to roll past.

In our early scouting, we discovered a secret back pathway that allowed us to get around most of the security even when it was fully employed. This also enabled us to be in the fenced-in area that all of the cyclist rolls through after the stage... We were right their in the press scrums, every single rider, team car, etc. As the riders came through, they were all pretty tired looking but were laughing and talking with each other, even with members of the the other teams.

A bonus about positioning ourselves 100m to the finish was the super swag they hand out at the end. Wow, stuff we've only seen on TV. When about half of the riders were through, we ran to our car to get a jump on the rush that would clog one of only two ways out of town and over the mountains. I'm not sure we could ever recreate today (sorry friends who want to join us next year -- it certainly was one of our all-time best TdF experiences!

Stage 17 - L'Alpe-d'Huez, satellite TV and friendly Belgians

Our friend Michele, was thinking about coming over and riding a few stages of the Tour this summer. Today's stage would have been the crown jewel of her trip... Col du Galibier, Col du Télégraphe, and the highlight of them all... L'Alpe-d'Huez. If you watch just one stage this year, make it this one!

We were at the base of d'Huez this morning around 8AM (the riders will be there around 5PM) long enough to buy a jersey that bears the name of the epic mountain climb and hop back into the car -- watch the stage today to see how crazy it is at the end (think "sea of people").

We're positioned near Le Rivier-d'Allemont (between Col de la Croix de Fer and Alpe-d'Huez) in a nasty section that kicks up to a 12% gradient (and on a bike, that's steep). From where we are parked alongside the road, we'll be able to see the riders three times today (see our car at the apex of the turn ). A real bonus, the four guys (from Bruges, Belgium) across the road have been ferrying up the pieces to create a satellite TV. We'll be able to watch the race live for as long as their battery and generator hold out.

Toady's stage is incredible for reasons completely different from yesterday. These are the days you hope for when spectating. The sky doesn't have a cloud in the sky, it's not too hot (yet), and never have we been positioned so well on a major mountain pass -- relatively no one is around us as they're all crowded on to d'Huez.

And, about five riders from the Chipotle squad, who aren't riding in the Tour, have biked past already -- some struggling a bit more than others to make it up the climb.

Oops... Col d'Izard = Col de l'Izoard

Even so, we drove over both it and Col d'Agnel and have the commemorative road markers to prove it. Well, we bought the commemorative road markers at a shop in Embrun, so I guess they're more momentos of our travels.

Old meets new

Yesterday on our day off from the Tour, we visited a castle dating back to the 1300s. You can imagine our surprise to see that the restroom was newly outfitted. Or, perhaps the original builders were at the forefront of modern day plumbing.

Lunch room

Our rest day lunch spot near the summit of the Col d'Agnel looking out at France. (We decided to drive up the col on the rest day to see what we couldn't see the previous day because they had already closed the road -- it was amazing and must have been quite the location to watch the cyclists, et al, ascend the mountain.) The col straddles France and Italy, sort of the same way that stateline road run along the border of Indiana and Ohio, minus the Alpine views and cliff-hanger of a drive.

Spoke too soon... Results edition

Boy, do our friends and family have some good stuff, or just stuff, coming to them from the roads of France... key chains, hats, bottle openers, pens, laundry detergent and more -- just exactly what you had hoped we'd bring back, I'm sure. The fruits of two days (I guess three if you count our first totally unsuccessful day) during the sponsor caravan. I promise we haven't taken anything from little kids -- if fact we've been doing so well, we've been able to make new friends by regifting extras on the road.

Col d'Izard

The last time we were at the Tour and had some time to kill, we drove over the Col d'Aspin (a pass included earlier in this year's Tour). It was a harrowing experience but amazing all the same. I didn't grow up driving in the mountains, so there's something a little crazy about going up and over one on a one-lane road without any guard rails and nothing but air and thousands of feet of nothing below.

After today's stage finished, we again thought it would be fun to try summiting a climb in our car. Well, nearly every bike, car and RV had the same thought when it came to the Col d'Izard. It's a beautifully paved road but only about twelve feet wide and without a shoulder or guard railing in the most trecherous points. Wow... try passing an RV on that! Angel couldn't watch at certain points, and neither could I; however, when we finally made it to the summit, it was incredible. Who knows, maybe we'll try another one tomorrow.

Stage 15 -- Les Alpes, Rain, the Devil & Elvis

A few highlights right off the top... First, we met "Didi the Devil," that mythic character of European cycling who comes out to run alongside the cyclists dressed as the devil with his pitchfork in hand (he actually has an RV complete with photos of his exploits painted on the sides and a website, which I believe you can find by looking him up on Wikipedia page). Second, we saw Elvis alongside the same roadside. Third, Jonathan Vaughters (Director Sportif of the Chipotle team looked straight at me and waved (as did everyone else in the Chipotle team car. And fourth, I looked straight into the eyes of Alejandro Valverde (one of the favorites to win the overall race). For those of you who follow the Tour, you'll remember that Lance had his infamous "look" with Jan Ullrich a few years back (see an earlier post about the top 30 highlights of the TdF). I think Alejandro's look was less of him sizing me up than telling me I was in the road and he wanted me to step to the side. All the same, Alejandro and I shared what could have been an infamous moment on the slopes of the Col d'Agnel... had I not moved out of the way.

Today's post comes straight to you from the front seat of our Renault. We're parked along the road on the early slopes of Col d'Agnel (near Pierre-Grosse), and while I say "early slopes" I certainly wouldn't want to imply that it isn't still steep. It's ones of those places along the road where one side drops away to nowhere and the other is a near 90 degree wall of earth. We're parked so close to the dirt that we both have to climb out of the car on the driver's side.

Our drive this morning was relatively easy. We had breakfast at our chambre d'hôte, stopped at the Boulangerie in town to grab our daily bread and then made for the nearest supermarché to pick up some ice and still water for our pastis. The market opened at 9AM and being the only one anywhere within 20km, it looked like Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving when everyone lines up at the crack of dawn to race inside and buy GPS units for $1. I've never seen so many people run into a store to buy fruits and vegetables before!

Once again today, we drove the actual route that the cyclists will bike. (Only once we got home did we find out that the beginning of the route was changed slightly due to road slides -- wish they would have told the rest of us who drove through that area twice.) The traffic signs said that the road was to close at 10AM and sure enough, wherever we were at 10AM the Gendarmerie asked us to stop and turn around. Seeing as how they all have guns, we turned around and headed for the nearest "parking spot " we could find.

It's isn't too crowded where we're parked (well, right now it's because most people are still inside their cars) but compared with our times in the Pyrennes, this is pretty sedate. We walked up the mountain for 2km through a few Alpine villages. Along the way (exactly mid-point between the two, and what one would usually consider the middle of nowhere) it started to rain (did I mention it's sort of cold today?). Fortunately, the race has people selling TdF merchandise from vans, so we picked up an official race umbrella for 10 Euros.

On our way back to the car, we picked up a warm café au lait-type beverage some of the Tour sponsors were passing out of the sides of a truck. When we finally made if to the car it had started to rain again, so we set up our mobile TdF command center inside of the car (only leaving long enough to score some great stuff from the caravan). All in all, the rain stopped long enough for us to catch the caravan and all of the riders, before starting to pour again... not bad timing.

This stage was amazing. The riders were going slow enough that you could really get a good look, and they had time to look at you when you cheered for them. From reading the minute-by-minutes online when we got back to our place, it sounds like the stage was just as exciting from home. Oh, I did feel sorry for the person who wrote "Go Cavendish" up the roadside only to find that he withdrew from the race this morning.

We had a great day even considering the weather. Since we are staying at the same place this evening, we were able to take our time coming home -- did a little picnicking, drove over another storied mountain pass (see Col d'Izard post) and generally enjoyed our leisurely afternoon driving through the Alpes checking out the scenery, both natural and man-made.

Wrong Turn

So yeah, driving the two-plus hours from where we were for today's stage to our hotel for the evening brought us here -- the edge of a mountain in the Alps, looking at more mountains.

The car ride was harrowing, one that neither of our moms would prefer. A shout-out to all of our friends either living in the mountains or currently visiting them on vacation.

Spoke too soon...

Uh, yeah, spoke too soon... We made out like bandits during today's sponsor caravan.

Book Tray?

Great use for this book I bought. Only time will tell if I actually read it this trip.

Stage 14 - It's gonna be a hot one

Bonjour, people we know and love...

Today, we find ourselves sitting alongside the road about 1 km from Mezet. We awoke tres early to begin our drive from Roussillion, a quaint little village in the heart of Provence, to a point anywhere along the route. (For those die-hard cycling enthusiasts reading this (that's at least you Hoyt and Jason), the village of Roussillion had an incredible view of none other than the epic Mont Ventoux (if you don't know about Ventoux, take a moment to look it up on Google/Wikipedia see photos of this storied mountain that make it look like the surface of the moon -- the photo that is included here was taken with my phone, so I'm sure it doesn't do it justice).

To get to our spot today, we drove nearly the entire length of the stage. It's pretty straightforward since the route is lined with RVs and those florescent yellow TdF arrows. It's going to be a great ride today, but probably pretty hot for the riders and a few spectators as well. We've parked in the shade right now, but Angel estimates by about 1PM we will find little shelter. (And speaking of shelter, the restroom situation is going to be a much more challenging proposition today -- more people, less vegetation. Oh, again, I should have paid more attention in science class so that I could remember what poison ivy/oak/et al looks like.)

Yesterday's stage was a great start to our spectating extravaganza -- wait until we upload the video! Once we aren't driving two hours each morning and night, we'll have a bit more time to locate a Wi-Fi connection. Thus far, I've been doing all of our photos and posts you see from my phone. Angel hasn't even seen/read them and is a bit curious to see what I've been saying. She has her our journaling going on as well, just in "vintage" format (i.e., pen and actual journal). The race was amazing yesterday, the sponsor caravan not so much. In all our time at the Tour, never have we left a stage without a single piece of merchandise from the caravan -- key chain, hat, newspaper, non-alcoholic Buckler beer, but yesterday, not a single thing! Not even the kids scored anything. (An aside, it's 1:20PM and there is a rooster crowing across the street.)

It wasn't until we were at the café this morning that I was able to check yesterday's stage results -- wow, Cavendish and Team Columbia are on fire! We still love you Chipotle.

Time for lunch -- a little vin de rosé, baguette with cheese, tomatoes and lettuce, and some melon. (We should have picked up a little pastis to go along with our picnic but there is a guy up the street with a full bottle we might be able to bum some off of.)

Au revoir for now, friends and family.
Angel & Tim.

Road art

"No EPO" -- This sentiment isn't unique to the Tour (especially after yet another high-profile rider and team were kicked out of the race the other day for doping), or what fans paint on the roads that the Tour travels. However, what is less ordinary is that while we were sitting at the café this morning drinking "trois and quatre" someone from the little town was using black paint to cover up this message that had been scrawled in the middle of the night.

Trois café, quatre café...