Day #118 - Tour de France

My view point to see the riders come in

Interesting cars going by

Some of the bikers coming in

Finish Line

Finish Line - ground level

Saturday, July 10th

Once at my hotel in Geneva last night, I pulled up the internet. My buddy Randy's flight was delayed in St. Louis and he will now only arrive on Sunday morning (1 day later). I feel really bad for him. Man - air travel is just unpredictable. All travel for that matter. That's OK - shake it off - we'll make this thing work out just fine.

I had an unbelievable night of sleep. I awoke at 11:44am. I had to check the date to see if I had slept through saturday into sunday. I once slept for 24 hours straight after staying up for 2 days working to complete my masters thesis. My hotel has air conditioning. This trip is meant to appreciate new things and learn to not take for granted things that I currently have. Air conditioning -- I will never take this for granted again.

I slept late because today I would be going to the Tour de France. The route got started around 12 noon - they would not be near my area until 5pm. I went over to the train station and headed back to LaCure, France - the place I had previously reconned just for today.

I got into LaCure near 3pm. There was supposed to be a bus that would take us to the finish area for today's section. No bus. What? Sorry - "buses only for tomorrow's section". I learn that the finish is 10-12km away. I only found this out after walking around for about an hour in the wrong direction. It's now 4pm - the race ends just after 5pm.

I start heading in the direction of the finish. I'm never going to make it. 6+ miles in less than an hour. I could do this if I was prepared. I'm not prepared - mentally or physically. You know how you feel when you start running too fast - with non running clothes on. You get winded quick - it's just doesn't feel right.

I'm far away - because there's not many people around. What do I do? After going 2-3 miles, I was desparate. I pulled a maneaver that was a calculated risk - hitchhiking. Yes - thumb out - looking for a ride. It worked. A guy pulls up and takes me the next couple miles. The barriers prevent us from going any further. Still another 4km to go. The guy says - the race ends in 37 minutes - you better get moving.

I can do this. Just slow down and keep a steady pace. Only problem - most of this 4 km was up a major hill. We are also at elevation - about 3,500ft. I'm majorly winded. I run quickly for 4-5 minutes and then walk a minute. This is working. I made it to the finish - 10 minutes to spare.

The Tour de France. The most famous biking event out there. I've always wanted to see this in person. The Tour this year runs from July 3rd through July 25th. There are 19 biking stages, 2 time trials, and 2 rest days. The total distance travelled by the riders is 3,642 km. There are 22 teams with 9 riders a piece (198 total bikers). The average daily route is roughly 100-125 miles. These guys are unbelievable.

It's a big deal this year. Lance Armstrong (7 time winner of the Tour de France) is back for his 2nd year after retirement. His ex-teammate - Alberto Contador will be his main competitor. Currently, Contador is 6th and Armstrong is 14th - but the early stages of the race are never where the main players shine.

On my running trek to the finish line -- I literally passed hundreds of cars. Many of these are the support staff for the riders. The closer I got to the finish, the more people I saw. Thousands - everywhere. 2 hours ago I was wondering if I had the correct day.

Once I got to the area of the finish - I wasn't able to get real close. I decided to stand up on this hill to get some perspective as the riders came in. They had a huge big screen. They also had audio play by play (it was in French however - I couldn't understand a word). The day was really hot and humid - one of the worst yet this summer. The bikers had to be suffereing. Today was the first mountainous stage of the tour.

About a minute before the leader approached, everyone stood and started to cheer. You saw a lone rider. I didn't know him - it wasn't Armstrong or Contador. Then, maybe a minute later, here comes the second guy. The peloton (pack of riders) was really spread out today. Several small groups were separated by a minute or two. The guy with the yellow jersey (symbolizing the current leader of the Tour) had a really bad day. You wan't be seeing his name near the leaders any time soon.

Armstrong and Contador finished together in a small pack at 1 min, 47 seconds back. That's OK - tomorrow is when the big boys come to play. It's the last day before a rest day. Also, there are 2 incredibly difficult climbs. Don't be surprised if either Armstrong or Contador have the yellow jersey after tomorrow's section.

I soaked in the atmosphere and started my walk back. It was about 5:45pm. I had a train at 8pm. I did a slow run for alot of the way back - arriving just after 7pm. I took the train back into Geneva. I got a note from Randy - he's on schedule for tomorrow. Awesome.

Here's to professional bikers -- I would have a tough time finishing 1 section of the tour - at a snails pace - not to mention the whole tour. What these guys do is phenomonal.