Day 6

It's Sunday. I know this for sure, because tomorrow I leave the Tour. Just like that, my Tour is over. Hopefully there'll be another one though. Breakfast didn't look too appetizing this morning, so I skipped it in favor of some local coffee at the start village. I keep learning and go to the start first thing in the morning. I get a prime parking spot about .5km from the team parking. Since it's my last day and I have 2.5 hours before the team shows up, I take the opportunity to walk around and enjoy the festivities that surround the start. I was able to get a coffee or two, and even watch the caravan. That's the parade that goes in front of the peloton, with all of the sponsors. They have people dancing to dance music on them all the time, and throw swag to the people that line the streets. Kind of funny, actually. The picture above is of the Vittell float. They spray the crowds with water. The teams are behind the caravan, so now it's time to get to work. Like yesterday, the mechanics do their thing, I do mine, the riders go to sign in, and just like that my Tour has ended. Eight stages is a long time to follow the Tour on a daily basis and it'll be nice to arrive back home. But still, from someone who's been able to turn a hobby into a career, it's sad to leave. As I continue to travel, I promise to keep writing. Thanks for following.

Day 5

Okay, if my days are correct, it's Saturday. What was Saturday like, I ask myself. Today was the first day with mountains, leaving the flat country and heading to nearly Switzerland. I'm not sure if I've explained the morning routine yet. After a quick breakfast in Orleans, I was on my way to the start to meet the team at the bus. As I get used to how things work at the Tour, I've learned that the earlier you arrive at the start, the less you have to walk. Well, kind of. I ended up walking about 2km to the team parking area. And man, was it hot. Close to 90F by 10AM. Not wanting to repeat yesterday's adventure of forgetting where the car was parked, I plugged it's location into my handy GPS. That way, I could also find the fastest way back after the start. So after an hour of walking, the bus arrived, and this is where I do my thing. The mechanics get the bikes out and line them up for everyone to look at. The riders are inside, like I mentioned previously, having their meeting and drinking espresso. I make sure all the computers and PowerTaps are properly functioning, and then stand there in the sun for another hour before they leave for sign-in. I'll chat with mechanics, directors, and sometimes the riders will come out to chat. Then, just like that, they're gone. By this time, I've figured out that Lance is one of the last to sign in and I head to the direction of his bus. And I finally got a photo. Okay, he's not racing, but it's his last Tour. Now that I got my Lance photo, I head to the car so I can get to the team hotel and hopefully see the end of the race on TV. The route to get to Les Sousses was awesome. Small country roads, mixed with a bigger city every once in a while. Then up a mountain and back down. Fun roads to drive. I get the hotel, ask if they have a room, and of course they don't. Why would they? It's a summit finish and there's people everywhere. I was able to see the last 30km of the race on a giant big screen set up in the middle of the town. It's kind of like those summer fairs we have in the US. After the race I head to the hotel and hang out there, while I ponder what I'm going to do for sleeping arrangements. A massive thunderstorm rolls in and it cools a bit, thankfully. Now that it's cooler, I've pretty much accepted that I'm going to sleep in the car. Oh well. that's what happens when you decide to go to the Tour three days before it starts. But, in the middle of thunder, lightening, hail, and wind, I'm handed a voucher for a room in a local hotel. Thanks to the soigneurs for looking out for me. The race bike arrive, I check them out and make a couple of adjustments, then get my luggage from the car and try to drive to the hotel. Problem is, the roads are still closed from the race. Awesome. I have to walk, with my suitcase, to the hotel. Double awesome. It's raining like a monsoon and I walk for 30 minutes and can't find the hotel. I'm completely soaked by this point. I get back in the car and try to figure out a way there with a map. In doing this, my handy GPS also figured out a different way to get there. Okay, things are getting better. it's a small hotel, but it's warm and dinner is included with the room. Fantastic!. No internet, but that's okay. I was tired.

I added some pictures to the older posts

Day 4, part 2

So after getting my stuff done at the team hotel, I set off to my hotel, which was 70km from the team. It's the Tour and there's a ton of people and not a lot of places to stay, so 70km really isn't that bad. I booked the hotel online, so I had no idea of what I was getting into, but needed a place to sleep. It turns out, the city of Orleans is amazing! The hotel is in the Centre Ville, and very ancient. There are massive cathedrals everywhere, with cobblestone streets that are open to bicycles/pedestrians only, and actually pretty modern. The outside of the hotel is everything you'd expect from a hotel in the downtown area of a French city. Rather than walk around for hours trying to find a good place to eat, I asked the reception desk. He pointed to a restaurant a few blocks away that guests get a deal at. For 20 Euro I got a salad, entree, dessert, and glass of wine. Not a bad deal and the food was absolutely fantastic! Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures last night because it was dark and this morning it was raining. I guess I'll just have to go back. Well I got one, of the street my hotel was on, at the beginning of the post.

Day 4

I'm back on schedule now. Today was another great day at the Tour. This morning after breakfast, I held a mini-clinic with the mechanics to educate them more on our products. They're not complicated products, but in this situation, they need to be as simple as possible. Once I finished that, I headed to the start to avoid walking more than 2km from where I had to park. I have credentials to get into team parking, but only by foot. so I get to the Centre Ville, or downtown square, and wait for the team to arrive. Omega Pharma was first, so I stopped by to see how things were going. Of course things were great and I left them with some spare parts. You never know when they might need spares. I spent time with BMC yesterday, so need to see them today, so I spent the rest of the time with CTT. What does this entail? When the mechanics get the bikes ready, the riders are still in the bus having their team meeting and probably drinking lots of espresso. I'm not joking here. While they do their thing, I triple check that all the computers are working properly. Once that's done, I hang out and watch people fight for autographs and photos. It's really pretty crazy. I might go talk to other team laisons that I know, or check in with other teams. Then the riders go sign in and head to the start. This is about the time I head back to the car. But today, Damon and I, Damon is the Race Engineer from Cervelo, managed to get very lost on the way back to our cars. To add insult to injury, it was about 90 degrees today. Yeah, very hot. And hungry. Well, we managed to find the cars, but before we left, stopped at a little restaurant and had some sandwiches. I should say ham, cheese, mayo, salad (lettuce), all on a 12 inch baguette. It was fantastic and totally French! To make a long story short, I made it to the team hotel (another 160km by car from the start) and did my job. I'll have more tomorrow on what happened next...

Day 3

Sorry for the delay. Internet connections at hotels is spotty at best, but throw in at least 20 staff members from each team and there's no hope of getting a connection. I'm a day behind now, but I'm going to try and write this as if I'm not a day behind.

Today's race was pretty nice. A short 158km that takes the riders about 3.5 hours to complete. Yeah, I'm at the Tour de France, and they're really fast. It was a pretty flat stage, so there weren't too many fireworks. The real fireworks, were the night before when Thor Hoshovd took control of the green points jersey. Why does that mean fireworks? Because he got a new bike. A specially painted black with green accents Cervelo S3. On TV, they always show the new bikes, but they don't show the effort that goes into getting the new bike ready for the yellow/green/whatever jersey. The mechanics keep the frames hidden so riders don't know about it (it's bad luck) and then if they get the jersey, one of the mechanics has the assignment to build it. Now these are ProTour level bikes and take longer than a couple hours to build. Thor's took probably 5-6 hours. The mechanics spent much of the evening and even the morning getting his rig ready, but once it was done... wow, was it nice. Anyway, the team had hoped Thor could win the stage, but he didn't have good position and didn't get much in the final sprint. Oh well, but at least he's still in Green. After the race, the mechanics wash the bikes and fix them to tip-top shape again for the next day. I also go in and make sure the computers and PowerTaps are working as they should be. Dinner is next, which I skipped the night before to make sure everything was working properly (ie: things didn't work as expected that day). I think we had steak again, and then off to bed. Everything is starting to run together, so forgive me if I seem to gloss over things.

Day 2

Third was the third stage of the Tour. It was a mostly flat stage, but ended in Arenberg, which is featured in the one-day race Paris-Roubaix. The last 35km had 7 sectors of cobblestones, or pave as they're called here. These narrow roads are treacherous. Races may not be won on these sections, but they can certainly be lost. On this day, Thor Hoshovd was best. He rode the pave without incident and easily took the sprint at the end, to claim victory for CTT. It was a new experience to be with a team on the night of a Tour stage win. Everyone is so happy and there was a champagne toast at dinner. Also because of his win, Thor took over as leader of the Maillot Vert (green jersey). And what good bike manufacturer wouldn't have a special green bike? Those bikes don't magically show up. They are kept hidden until they're needed, as to not create bad luck. Then the mechanics get to work building it from scratch. Yep, long nights. That goes for me too, checking to make sure everything worked during the race and then making any necessary changes for the next day. Luckily, the team had an extra room at their hotel, so I didn't have to drive anywhere. There's plenty of driving as it is in these trips, so it's nice to be able to walk to your room at night. Well it's time for breakfast before heading to the start and then to the next hotel.

Day 1

My first day went something like this; fly 4200 miles, then spend another 330km in the car getting to the various places I needed to be. Renting a car in Europe is a great way to see new places. Even though my handy Garmin gives me turn by turn directions, I still manage to get lost. I don't mind though, because it's a great way to see places I might not normally see if I had someone driving me around. So back to my first day. I arrived in Brussels around 9:30 am and thought it would be fun to go to the start of the race in downtown Brussels. So, without any directions, map, or any idea of where the race was actually starting, I drove into downtown Brussels and immediately found the start. Score! Then I found parking 3 blocks away. Score #2!. The start was pretty cool, but totally chaotic. I'll try to figure out how to upload a couple. Then, drive to the hotel where CTT was staying to meet the Cervelo Race Engineer to discuss the plan for the next couple of days. Oh wait, I don't have a hotel room yet. The very nice receptionist was able to find me a room at a different hotel about 30km away. No big deal. At least I have a place to stay. I drive there and guess what, it's not in Liege, BE where the team is staying, but in Holland. Cool, another country and city I've now been to. At this point, I'm running on 4-5 hours of sleep, so I take a nap and then head back to Liege to meet CTT and get the bikes ready for the next stage. This means taking the freshly washed bikes and making sure all of their speed sensors are properly functioning. Although it is still Belgium, the weather was beautiful. After successfully making sure everything works, it's time for dinner. Dinner with the team is always nice. It's healthy and usually a pretty good variety. I had steak. By this point it's 10pm and time to meet Allen Lim at his hotel, which is 15 minutes away (in the different direction from both my hotel and CTT. Think triangle). He's the physiologist for Team Radioshack. There were some odds and ends the were forgotten back in the states, so I brought them over for him. It was also nice to sit and chat with another American for a little. Well it's 11:45 pm now and I need some sleep. It's a good thing my hotel is another 30 minutes away. Finally back to the hotel at 11:45 and it's off to bed.

Welcome!

Okay, this is my first try at blogging, so bear with me as I figure this out.

The last couple of days have been amazing, to say the least. I found out yesterday that I'm headed to France on Sunday to support our sponsored teams for the first week of the Tour de France. Receiving most of the attention will be Cervelo TestTeam, but I'll also spend time with BMC Racing and Omega Pharma-Lotto. I'll do my best to keep this updated as I experience this amazing event. Until then, bonsoir.