Brett and I at the Euskadi tapas bar..mmmmm.
Posted by Hello
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Monday, August 02, 2004
#6
Disclaimer...this entry has no edits so excuse my grammar and spelling:
Most of the teams and close to a million crazy spectators stayed on the top of Alp Duez at the conclusion of the Time Trial stage to the top. I was scheduled to leave the summit shortly after the last rider finished the time trial. So, ever wonder how you get down off a mountain that is only accessible by one road which is filled to the rim with jubilant fans, police, teams, sponsors etc? You take a helicopter of course. It was an amazing trip off the mountain and you can see how the road to the top twists and winds its way up...you get a true feel for the 21 switch backs.
Yah, Lance and the US Postal Service Team won the 2004 Tour De France. At this point definetly not news given that I'm writing this entry almost a week after Lance stormed on to the Champs Elysses wearing the Malliot Juene. It was quiet an impressive day in Paris as the fans and Parisians all gathered to witness history. All kinds of politicians, leaders, famous musicians, actors and athletes of other sports all waited in anticipation of seeing the blue train of the US Postal Service Team leading Lance and the entire peleton onto the Champs for the final 10 laps of the race and the closing kilometers of the Tour De France.
I arrived in Paris the day before and as I stepped off the TGV in the famous Paris train station, I could smell the electricity in the air as the Tour approached. The last stage of the TDF is really just a parade as the main positions of the general classification are locked up in the final Time Trial that took place on the day before. Lance, as you know, notched his 5th stage win by convincingly storming to a 1st place finish the last real stage of the TDF. I had the chance to meet up with the boys after the last major mountain stage that went over the last climbs of the Alps near Lake Annecy.
After the race, the team had a huge 600 person dinner at the Hotel Crillion...incredible. Next...we all headed to the top floor of the Pompadue Museum for an after party that started at 2am...the best part was seeing the Eiffel Tower in full flight as the lights were going off like fireworks.
Fortunately my flight to Gerona Spain wasn't until 935pm the next day as I didn't get back to my hotel until around 7am. After a day of shopping and sight seeing in Paris, Brett and I jumped into a cab for the Paris Beavuas Airport....about 100k from the center.... Brett and I both asked the cab driver if he knew where the airport was and he assured us that he did.
After about an hour...I was looking around thinking that I knew where we were...and it wasn't the airport. We were on our way to Belgium. I told the taxi driver to get off the auto route. I got a map and opened it up on the hood of the car to show the taxi driver where the airport was...dork!
Yah, we missed our flight. On top of that the taxi guy wanted 250 Euros...I told him to take a hike. Brett and I went in to get on the next flight that didn't leave until the next day. Eventually the police showed up. We knew that we'd have to pay..but decided to have some fun and at least get our money's worth. So we spent 30 minutes negotiating with the police and the taxi driver...we got the fair down to 100 euros and a few US Postal hats.
While all of this was going down...one of the spectators and his three daughters started talking to us to figure out what our story was. Next thing we knew they had loaded up all of our luggage and were giving us a ride in to town to get a hotel. It was super cool...this guy turned out to be a famous horse breeder. He knew all about the Tour de France and even remembered that I had one a race near his town. ....
OK, the next entry will pick up where this one left off...about Gerona, my old apartment, shopping, hanging out with my old teammates etc....
stay tuned
Most of the teams and close to a million crazy spectators stayed on the top of Alp Duez at the conclusion of the Time Trial stage to the top. I was scheduled to leave the summit shortly after the last rider finished the time trial. So, ever wonder how you get down off a mountain that is only accessible by one road which is filled to the rim with jubilant fans, police, teams, sponsors etc? You take a helicopter of course. It was an amazing trip off the mountain and you can see how the road to the top twists and winds its way up...you get a true feel for the 21 switch backs.
Yah, Lance and the US Postal Service Team won the 2004 Tour De France. At this point definetly not news given that I'm writing this entry almost a week after Lance stormed on to the Champs Elysses wearing the Malliot Juene. It was quiet an impressive day in Paris as the fans and Parisians all gathered to witness history. All kinds of politicians, leaders, famous musicians, actors and athletes of other sports all waited in anticipation of seeing the blue train of the US Postal Service Team leading Lance and the entire peleton onto the Champs for the final 10 laps of the race and the closing kilometers of the Tour De France.
I arrived in Paris the day before and as I stepped off the TGV in the famous Paris train station, I could smell the electricity in the air as the Tour approached. The last stage of the TDF is really just a parade as the main positions of the general classification are locked up in the final Time Trial that took place on the day before. Lance, as you know, notched his 5th stage win by convincingly storming to a 1st place finish the last real stage of the TDF. I had the chance to meet up with the boys after the last major mountain stage that went over the last climbs of the Alps near Lake Annecy.
After the race, the team had a huge 600 person dinner at the Hotel Crillion...incredible. Next...we all headed to the top floor of the Pompadue Museum for an after party that started at 2am...the best part was seeing the Eiffel Tower in full flight as the lights were going off like fireworks.
Fortunately my flight to Gerona Spain wasn't until 935pm the next day as I didn't get back to my hotel until around 7am. After a day of shopping and sight seeing in Paris, Brett and I jumped into a cab for the Paris Beavuas Airport....about 100k from the center.... Brett and I both asked the cab driver if he knew where the airport was and he assured us that he did.
After about an hour...I was looking around thinking that I knew where we were...and it wasn't the airport. We were on our way to Belgium. I told the taxi driver to get off the auto route. I got a map and opened it up on the hood of the car to show the taxi driver where the airport was...dork!
Yah, we missed our flight. On top of that the taxi guy wanted 250 Euros...I told him to take a hike. Brett and I went in to get on the next flight that didn't leave until the next day. Eventually the police showed up. We knew that we'd have to pay..but decided to have some fun and at least get our money's worth. So we spent 30 minutes negotiating with the police and the taxi driver...we got the fair down to 100 euros and a few US Postal hats.
While all of this was going down...one of the spectators and his three daughters started talking to us to figure out what our story was. Next thing we knew they had loaded up all of our luggage and were giving us a ride in to town to get a hotel. It was super cool...this guy turned out to be a famous horse breeder. He knew all about the Tour de France and even remembered that I had one a race near his town. ....
OK, the next entry will pick up where this one left off...about Gerona, my old apartment, shopping, hanging out with my old teammates etc....
stay tuned
Sunday, July 25, 2004
A picture says a thousand words
I got the chance to stop by the team bus before the start of stage 18th and hang out with the boys. With 3 days left to go and all of the major mountains behind....the team and Lance are in great spirits.
I moved hotels again with Trek Travel and finally have a high speed connection so I'll be able to send a more detailed report later.
I moved hotels again with Trek Travel and finally have a high speed connection so I'll be able to send a more detailed report later.
Friday, July 23, 2004
The Day Lance won....again
What a day. It started early with a 6am wake up and considering that I've been here for 2 days...6am Euro time is like 9pm California time. I have to apologize for the lack of updates, but the days have been long and I haven't been able to find time to find a good connection.....
Ok...so the short version is that after breakfast I descended down the back side of La Alp Duez (disclaimer...it's 12am and I'm not paying total attention to grammar and spelling so forgive me) with the Trek Travel group and we road a 140km loop over the Col de Ornon and a few other 15km climbs in the Area. We met the logistics crew at a small restaurant on the side of the road for lunch and a viewing of the Tour De France stage on TV. Kevin Livingston and I decided to ride back up Alp Duez back to our hotel while the other guests took helicopters back to the top since the road was closed to cars.
The slopes of Alp Duez (13.8km with 21 switchbacks) was completely covered with people, camping vans, tents and over 1 million fanatical cycling fans. It was truly amazing to see so many people totally camping out 1 day before the race even arrived in anticipation of watching the race. When Kevin and I left the race still had 90km to go. As we road up the climb, I would stop every 15mins to see what was happening in the race. People all along the climb had TV's hooked up to portable satellite dishes so it was easy to stop to check out the action. Check out some of the photos attached to see what I'm talking about. I made it to the top in time to see Lance win the stage and take the yellow jersey. The entire mountain exploded and cheers could be heard echoing through the valley of the Alps.
A little race analysis: I was asked by a lot of people why CSC was pulling in the final of the race when it appeared as if it was up to USPS to take responsibility......well while not being to direct...remember the stage when Lance appeared to let Basso win?? Well, just like in the corporate world...cycling has a business side to it too that involves negotiating and favors. That's about all I can say.
The next morning, our Trek group had nothing planned more than watching the riders race up the 15.5KM climb up La Alp Duez. The first rider didn't take off until 2pm in 1 minute intervals, but that didn't stop everyone from getting the party started really early. There were 50 or so crazy Dutch people walking outside my hotel window at 8am singing and cheering....a nice alarm clock:) After spending the day watching riders suffer up the climb and enjoying the day seeing old friends and teammates, Trek Travel had arranged to fly us off the mountain to Grenoble to meet up with the bus so that we could head to our next stop in Annace. A beautiful lake with a huge Château that we're staying in. It's necessary to chopper out since it will take 3 days for the million plus fans to get down off the mountain.
Ok..off to sleep. I'll for sure write more tomorrow about the race and try to send more photos.
Ok...so the short version is that after breakfast I descended down the back side of La Alp Duez (disclaimer...it's 12am and I'm not paying total attention to grammar and spelling so forgive me) with the Trek Travel group and we road a 140km loop over the Col de Ornon and a few other 15km climbs in the Area. We met the logistics crew at a small restaurant on the side of the road for lunch and a viewing of the Tour De France stage on TV. Kevin Livingston and I decided to ride back up Alp Duez back to our hotel while the other guests took helicopters back to the top since the road was closed to cars.
The slopes of Alp Duez (13.8km with 21 switchbacks) was completely covered with people, camping vans, tents and over 1 million fanatical cycling fans. It was truly amazing to see so many people totally camping out 1 day before the race even arrived in anticipation of watching the race. When Kevin and I left the race still had 90km to go. As we road up the climb, I would stop every 15mins to see what was happening in the race. People all along the climb had TV's hooked up to portable satellite dishes so it was easy to stop to check out the action. Check out some of the photos attached to see what I'm talking about. I made it to the top in time to see Lance win the stage and take the yellow jersey. The entire mountain exploded and cheers could be heard echoing through the valley of the Alps.
A little race analysis: I was asked by a lot of people why CSC was pulling in the final of the race when it appeared as if it was up to USPS to take responsibility......well while not being to direct...remember the stage when Lance appeared to let Basso win?? Well, just like in the corporate world...cycling has a business side to it too that involves negotiating and favors. That's about all I can say.
The next morning, our Trek group had nothing planned more than watching the riders race up the 15.5KM climb up La Alp Duez. The first rider didn't take off until 2pm in 1 minute intervals, but that didn't stop everyone from getting the party started really early. There were 50 or so crazy Dutch people walking outside my hotel window at 8am singing and cheering....a nice alarm clock:) After spending the day watching riders suffer up the climb and enjoying the day seeing old friends and teammates, Trek Travel had arranged to fly us off the mountain to Grenoble to meet up with the bus so that we could head to our next stop in Annace. A beautiful lake with a huge Château that we're staying in. It's necessary to chopper out since it will take 3 days for the million plus fans to get down off the mountain.
Ok..off to sleep. I'll for sure write more tomorrow about the race and try to send more photos.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Internot
Dylan wanted me to let you know that he's having some internet woes while cruising city to city chasing the peloton. We should all be enjoying Dylan's photos of Le Tour soon!
Monday, July 19, 2004
In France
So, it's been a few days since I've written and it's due in part to the fact that I've was traveling Friday and Saturday from San Francisco to Grenoble France. My flight from getting to Grenoble from the Paris airport seemed like it should have been really easy taking the TGV...but then add in some lost baggage, a few 1hour lines and a late train and what should have taken 3 hrs took 8. My buddy Toshi and caught the last 5kms of the stage to finish at Platue de beuix. We sat down to see Lance and Basso fighting out the final of the race.
Before Lance zipped up his Jersey, I knew that it was already decided that he was going to win the stage since. I knew that Lance and Basso had decided who would win the day before because neither one of them were playing cat and mouse for the finish..Lance I'm sure told Basso he could have the stage win so that he could take out maximum time from Ullrich and company. However, the next stage would be Lance's.
So I'm in France...road the Galibier and La Alp Due'z twice today with the group from Trek Travel..man..these guys/gals are so into it. There are at least 500k people here already..the tour doesn't arrive for 2 more days. It's insane...campers, tents, cars, people all over the place. Everyone is BBQ'ing, dancing and singing in the streets. When the riders come through here on Wednesday it's going to be a raging circus. I'm up on the top of La Alp Due'z for the next two nights. After the race, Trek Travel is flying us down by helicopter to the start of the next stage. If not, it would take two days to get off the mountain with all the traffic.
Had a chance to talk to Christian VandeVelde from Liberty Seguros today. The team is a little disappointed in Roberto Heras, who was hired away from USPS, who is not doing as well as they thought he would. But Christian is feeling great and looking to do something in the last week. I also had a chance to talk to George Hincapie for a few minutes today. He's feeling good also and the moral on the team is really good given that Lance has crushed all his rivals over the two big mountain days in the Pyrenees. Tomorrow is a very hard stage with over 5000 meters of climbing...but Wednesday is the TT up the la Alp Due'z. My money is Lance to win by 45 seconds...but I also think that Jan will do a good TT.
Ok...so once I can find a better connection, I'll send some photos too.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
TV Coverage
You know the thing I don't like about watching the Tour on TV is that it looks too easy. I mean...I wake up around 7am, stumble over to the grab a cup of Peets (yah, I have the coffee maker all set to go with the auto start) and click on the tv with 80 or so k's to go and I see a break off the front and a team setting a gentle tempo at the front of the peleton. Usually, for the next hour and half the tv shows the guys in the break rolling around in a rotating pace line. Back in the peleton the TV shows the team setting tempo on the front, a few guys crashing and/or changing a wheel after a flat tire.
I know it's not that easy. In fact...I'm quite positive that it's really hard. So...here's what you don't see on TV. As the peleton hits the Zero K banner, the riders are usually planted on the bumper of Jean Marie's car. As he drops the white flag and his driver accelerates away..there are usually a bunch of crazy bike racers attacking at the same time. For a solid hour the riders constantly attack while the different teams chase until the right combination of non threatening riders gets away and the peleton settles into a nice tempo. You might ask, "why doesn't the team with the yellow jersey just go on the front and set tempo right from the start"?....well, because it's impossible to contain the entire peleton. So, until the right combination of riders gets away, the race is total madness. Throw in some twisty roads, a few short hard climbs and tired legs and you get a bike race.
Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up turn on the TV to see the front group of 15 climbers and GC riders all riding up the last climb with Tmobile, or USPS riding on the front. OK...so this looks a little harder since they're going up hill. In tomorrow's entry...I'll tell you what happens before the climb that the TV doesn't show. I'll also tell you about the call of nature on the bike.
Till then...
I know it's not that easy. In fact...I'm quite positive that it's really hard. So...here's what you don't see on TV. As the peleton hits the Zero K banner, the riders are usually planted on the bumper of Jean Marie's car. As he drops the white flag and his driver accelerates away..there are usually a bunch of crazy bike racers attacking at the same time. For a solid hour the riders constantly attack while the different teams chase until the right combination of non threatening riders gets away and the peleton settles into a nice tempo. You might ask, "why doesn't the team with the yellow jersey just go on the front and set tempo right from the start"?....well, because it's impossible to contain the entire peleton. So, until the right combination of riders gets away, the race is total madness. Throw in some twisty roads, a few short hard climbs and tired legs and you get a bike race.
Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up turn on the TV to see the front group of 15 climbers and GC riders all riding up the last climb with Tmobile, or USPS riding on the front. OK...so this looks a little harder since they're going up hill. In tomorrow's entry...I'll tell you what happens before the climb that the TV doesn't show. I'll also tell you about the call of nature on the bike.
Till then...
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
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