Wet & Cold, But Still Excited

From our vantage point for Stage 13, on the back side of Col de Pflatzerwasel. The riders barreling down the mountain right before a tricky corner, in the rain and most likely freezing.

Even in the cold and rain, you couldn't hide Angel's enthusiasm for the race; although, it did dim slightly after we'd been standing there for a while.

Farm Fresh Fromage

Yesterday, after we drove up into the clouds for about 10K and found our parking spot for the day, we wandered to a little dairy farm, Ferme Augerge Hahnenbrunnen at the top of Col de Hahnenbrunnen. Initially we intended to just grab some cafe and use the restroom. However, with the rain picking up outside, we decided to have a Kroningbourg, then some vin and then some food. In the end, we stayed at the quaint mountain-top restaurant until just about 45 minutes before the race came through, leaving only about an hour for us to stand in the rain and get soaked.

Above is their fromage plate -- all made right there on the farm -- can you pick out the butter without eating it first? I guess if you can order lard from the menu, eating butter straight without any bread isn't that big of a deal. It was still pretty tasty, bon appetit!

Thank You!

Now that's a nice shower (see earlier post "Can a guy get a shower curtain?!) -- just like the one at the Perkin's homestead! OK, end of the shower curtain / sans shower curtain lament.

S.L.U.M.S. En France?

I have a group of friends, a subcommittee actually, organized under the acronym S.L.U.M.S. that explore local microbrews. We've talked about going international after a recent foray to Houston. This photo is of the local brews from the Alsace region. Anyone in for July 2010?

Day 1

Great first day spectating. Weren't able to get ice but made due with our plentiful picnic supplies -- too bad for the Comte though. Picture on the left is of the full peloton barreling down on the breakaway (and getting their time split), second is of the lead Garmin team car. Speaking of Garmin, I'm pretty sure Dave Z laughed at me as I cheered them.

Angel scored a Cervelo waterbottle -- hold on Julie, if Carlos Sastre wins (and we somehow manage to get it signed), you're in luck. Don't hold your breath.

This afternoon we drove about halfway to where we'll be watching tomorrow's stage and it's amazing at how fast you go from fields of wheat to mountains. Think we're just a stone's throw away from Switzerland and Italy now.

We had a terrific dinner on the patio of our chambre d'hote overlooking the valley that the riders will rider through tomorrow. Our host doesn't speak much French, so we used the Rick Steves' phrase book and a lot of gestures. Still managed to have a fantastic five-hour dinner with him.

Livestrong ChalkBot

While we were driving the course today scouting a location to picnic, we ran into the Nike / Livestrong chalk bot team. We stopped to grab a few photos of their work and spoke with the friendly crew. They have quite an impressive operation, literally have bot that is chalking tens of thousands of messages across miles of France. The guys said their biggest problem was finding the space they needed to chalk the road with around 1500 new messages coming in each day. They're hoping to chalk 100,000 messages by the end of the Tour. Don't be dismayed, follow the above link and send in your message -- we might just see it on the road (in which case we'll take a photo).

Can a guy get a shower curtain?!

I love France... the people, the food and drink, the fantastic roads we get to drive every day, the scenery and history, and the charming Hotes d'Chambre we stay at each night, BUT can a guy get a shower curtain now and again?

Over our years at the Tour, I have watered more of our bathrooms than I can remember. It's sort of like the Macy's 4th of July fireworks except with water (should have seen the aftermath in the room we stayed in near Lourdes when the tub was literally in the middle of our guest room). The shower wand is great and it's not that I don't try really hard -- there must be a page in Rick Steves' travel guide that I missed where he discusses the proper technique. Perhaps everyone has a shower curtain in their personal bathroom but like the authenticity for travelers of not having one.

In search of a shower curtain.