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Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Journey to Le Tour....Le Tour
In what had already been an amazing adventure....it was time for our real purpose. The journey to Le Tour. With a failed bus trip, and a new found friend to cut costs...we decided the best route from Grenoble to Le Tour in the Alp D'Huez was a rental car. The night before we decided to reserve one. On the day of Le Tour...we awoke....got the car bright and early...and headed into the mountains.
Pat decided to have a go at the wheel even though he doesn't drive a car in the US.
Our car was real fancy. It ws about twice the size of all other cars on the road in Europe and even came with a handy dandy GPS.
. Tim was having a blast being in a car for the first time in awhile.
We began blasting the radio Pat startd to sing along.
It wasn't long before the mountains shot up around our car.
We saw bike fans heading to the mountain almost from the get go.
And by the time we reached the base of Alp D' Huez they were everywhere.
Pat did an amazing job making it up the mountain. All 21 switchbacks.
Hey look where we came from!
The top end of the road was a welcome site.
We had made it to the ski resort of Le Alp D Huez....the 17th stage of Le Tour De France! We immediatley ran to the store to grab some wine and bread. Pat took care of the bread.
I think he got enough. The top was pretty crowded.
They even had an ice rink....???
We wandered around...taking a few pics of the course where pain would come to an end for about 180 pro riders.
In a few hours the tour would be won (we didn't know it at the time).
After a few good laps around the top....it was time to make a descent to find a good place to watch. Down down down we go.
It seems Gondolas follow us everywhere we go.
Pat, Tim, and I could not believe we actually made it to Le Tour.
Each switchback has a sign with a name of a previous winner of the Alp D Huez.
All over the road people painted the names of their favorite riders.
Or favorite Martians.
Or...other things...
We decided to set up camp just below switchback 5....17 switchbacks up the mountain and about 5km from the finish. Just at a point where the riders are looking to kill themselves. There we found plenty of fun people....like this rabbit and bunny.
And people wearing cool T-shirts...like this guy.
And these guys....who I never saw use the restrooms.
Before long a van pulled up right near us....where some pretty good looking women got out and started handing out FREE polka dotted T-shirts. The best mountain rider of Le Tour gets to wear the polka dotted jersey.
Free things, and being an American put me in the mood to fly.
Pat then got pretty excited when he heard the Pre race caravan was on the way.
It is basically a fast moving parade that throws out free stuff. Check out this cool free hat I'm wearing while hydrating from the heat.
Pat got this cool green hand!
Actually Pat got one of everything.
Part of the fun of Le Tour is making new friends. We met plenty of people...Dutch, English...some of our favorites were a pair of Scottish dudes. They even let me be an honorary Scott!
Time was flying....and before long......the helicopter arrived....they were at the bottom of the mountain!
So the fans of course ran to the sides of the road to make room for the riders.
Or not. The first to fly by us the Spainard Sastre....his amazing well timed attack would end up winning him the tour. He was followed by a group that contained our BOY Illinois native Christian Vande Velde and the yellow jersey.
It was amazing to see how close the fans...including me...could get to the riders.
We were having a blast!
A quickly as they came they were gone....my camera died...and our stage of Le Tour was over. It was an experience of a lifetime. Pat, Tim, and I made it back to the top of the mountain and dragged out way back to Grenoble. A day later we jumped on a train back to Geneve. Tim joined Pat and I for an afternoon chilling in and around Lake Geneve and then we said our goodbyes. Pat and I finished out journey with an AMAZING meal....and slept on the hard floor of the airport and headed home.
What a trip!
Journey to Le Tour....Le Tour
In what had already been an amazing adventure....it was time for our real purpose. The journey to Le Tour. With a failed bus trip, and a new found friend to cut costs...we decided the best route from Grenoble to Le Tour in the Alp D'Huez was a rental car. The night before we decided to reserve one. On the day of Le Tour...we awoke....got the car bright and early...and headed into the mountains.
Pat decided to have a go at the wheel even though he doesn't drive a car in the US.
We began blasting the radio Pat startd to sing along.
It wasn't long before the mountains shot up around our car.
We saw bike fans heading to the mountain almost from the get go.
And by the time we reached the base of Alp D' Huez they were everywhere.
Pat did an amazing job making it up the mountain. All 21 switchbacks.
Hey look where we came from!
The top end of the road was a welcome site.
We had made it to the ski resort of Le Alp D Huez....the 17th stage of Le Tour De France! We immediatley ran to the store to grab some wine and bread. Pat took care of the bread.
I think he got enough. The top was pretty crowded.
They even had an ice rink....???
We wandered around...taking a few pics of the course where pain would come to an end for about 180 pro riders.
In a few hours the tour would be won (we didn't know it at the time).
After a few good laps around the top....it was time to make a descent to find a good place to watch. Down down down we go.
It seems Gondolas follow us everywhere we go.
Pat, Tim, and I could not believe we actually made it to Le Tour.
Each switchback has a sign with a name of a previous winner of the Alp D Huez.
All over the road people painted the names of their favorite riders.
Or favorite Martians.
Or...other things...
We decided to set up camp just below switchback 5....17 switchbacks up the mountain and about 5km from the finish. Just at a point where the riders are looking to kill themselves. There we found plenty of fun people....like this rabbit and bunny.
And people wearing cool T-shirts...like this guy.
And these guys....who I never saw use the restrooms.
Before long a van pulled up right near us....where some pretty good looking women got out and started handing out FREE polka dotted T-shirts. The best mountain rider of Le Tour gets to wear the polka dotted jersey.
Free things, and being an American put me in the mood to fly.
Pat then got pretty excited when he heard the Pre race caravan was on the way.
It is basically a fast moving parade that throws out free stuff. Check out this cool free hat I'm wearing while hydrating from the heat.
Pat got this cool green hand!
Actually Pat got one of everything.
Part of the fun of Le Tour is making new friends. We met plenty of people...Dutch, English...some of our favorites were a pair of Scottish dudes. They even let me be an honorary Scott!
Time was flying....and before long......the helicopter arrived....they were at the bottom of the mountain!
So the fans of course ran to the sides of the road to make room for the riders.
Or not. The first to fly by us the Spainard Sastre....his amazing well timed attack would end up winning him the tour. He was followed by a group that contained our BOY Illinois native Christian Vande Velde and the yellow jersey.
It was amazing to see how close the fans...including me...could get to the riders.
We were having a blast!
A quickly as they came they were gone....my camera died...and our stage of Le Tour was over. It was an experience of a lifetime. Pat, Tim, and I made it back to the top of the mountain and dragged out way back to Grenoble. A day later we jumped on a train back to Geneve. Tim joined Pat and I for an afternoon chilling in and around Lake Geneve and then we said our goodbyes. Pat and I finished out journey with an AMAZING meal....and slept on the hard floor of the airport and headed home.
What a trip!
Thanks for sharing! Do you get to use any of this for your broadcast?