Oh my stars. The past 36 hours have been pretty darn tiring. After awaiting seats on Saturday and not getting enough for the three of us, Barbara and Anita sent D'Andrea on to Paris to transfer train schedules, call our hotel in the Pyrenees, etc. We went back to Barbara's, sulking about still being in Atlanta while our friend was in Paris. Since we made huge sacrifices to the cycling gods on Sunday, we were graced with not only two seats on the plane, but Business Class. We had unlimited champagne, foot rests, booties, eye covers, gourmet food, hot nuts, hot towels, and Barbara even scored a sloppy kiss on the cheek from a drunk bodybuilder. So we were psyched! We landed around 5:30 am Paris time, which is 11:30 pm Atlanta time. We then met D'Andrea at the train station at Charles de Gaulle, and waited about an hour for our train to Bordeaux. We were on the high speed train for about 4.5 hours. If you've never taken one, I highly recommend it. The views are great but the service not so good. After all that time, we never got anything to drink and we were so parched. Barbara got scolded for putting her poor, swollen feet on the bench next to me. Of course, he fussed at her in French & she didn't understand a word, but when he tapped her feet, she got the message.
When we arrived in Bordeaux, we got our rental car and attempted out of the city toward our new home at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains. It took us three hours, and D'Andrea became the Jens Voigt of driving. She mastered that road furniture like a champ and took great care of us. We stopped at a tiny roadside market to get water and snacks and the owner spoke ZERO English. Even with my flashcards and studying, I still did a lot of pointing. I had a banana, and I'm thrilled to say that my first French Banana was terrific.
We arrived at our "home" and we were immediately impressed with it. We have lovely and spacious accommodations and our hosts are so sweet. We unloaded our things, then went in search of food. We found a small restaurant on the city square where the waitress tried to be so helpful, but again, knew no English. We did lots of pointing again. D'Andrea was able to tell us most of what the menu said and if she thought we'd eat it. By the end of dinner, the three of us were so tired. We have a couple of team tactics for tomorrow's stage but we're unsure which we will use. We're going to bed now and hopefully, after a good night's rest and some cafe créme, we will be 100% ready to go get that yellow jersey.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Lance's crash won't be a Dealbreaker...
If you watched the stage yesterday (and let's face it, if you're reading this, you watched it at least once), you know that Lance Armstrong had some miserable luck and lost quite a bit of time to the other "big dogs" in the race. He was already sore and battered from crashes that happened earlier in the week. Probably 50% of the cyclists in this year's Tour have either crashed or had issues of some sort that have caused discomfort. For Lance, the time lost means there will be no 8th Tour de France win this year.
As American cycling fans, the three of us have the utmost respect for Lance and his place in cycling history. We appreciate the Livestrong Army that he has created and the inspiration he has given to so many affected by cancer. We like watching past Tours and the complete domination he showed over adversaries such as Ullrich & Beloki.
But we are cycling fans first. Lance not being a main contender doesn't change our plan. It doesn't hurt our feelings, upset us enough to cry, or make us fret at all over our game plan in France.
For the first time, the United States has FOUR, count them, FOUR! teams in the Tour. How crazy/wonderful is it that we have four teams in the biggest bike race in the world? Not counting Lance, we have seven other hard-ass American cyclists participating in this year's Tour de France. We are so proud of each and every one!
To recap on the rest day, we're going to list a few things that have made us smile this week:
*Fabian in yellow We can't help it. There's just something so right about it.
*Jens driving the peloton. Enough said.
*Seeing George in Stars & Stripes. He's a perfect representative of the U.S.
*Watching Tyler continue racing. What a stud.
*Cav crying. Yeah, we're suckers.
*Brent Bookwalter's prologue. Georgia boy's living the dream & kicking butt!
*Watching Samuel Demoulin. It can't be easy to be 5'2" and ride the Tour de France.
*Trying to figure out French teams' tactics. Boy, they hate each other, don't they?
*Thor. Nothing in particular. Just Thor.
*Ryder as the new team captain? We're good with that.
*A world champion in yellow. That's just cool.
*Listening to Phil and Paul. Just hearing them puts us in the zone.
So, as you can see, there's plenty to smile about. We could have gone on and on. We're happy Lance is staying in the race. We hope to see him ride well and help his team. We're cycling fans first and foremost. We'll cheer for all of the boys and pray that they stay safe. Think about the moments this week that have made you smile. My goodness. We still have two weeks left. Thank God.
As American cycling fans, the three of us have the utmost respect for Lance and his place in cycling history. We appreciate the Livestrong Army that he has created and the inspiration he has given to so many affected by cancer. We like watching past Tours and the complete domination he showed over adversaries such as Ullrich & Beloki.
But we are cycling fans first. Lance not being a main contender doesn't change our plan. It doesn't hurt our feelings, upset us enough to cry, or make us fret at all over our game plan in France.
For the first time, the United States has FOUR, count them, FOUR! teams in the Tour. How crazy/wonderful is it that we have four teams in the biggest bike race in the world? Not counting Lance, we have seven other hard-ass American cyclists participating in this year's Tour de France. We are so proud of each and every one!
To recap on the rest day, we're going to list a few things that have made us smile this week:
*Fabian in yellow We can't help it. There's just something so right about it.
*Jens driving the peloton. Enough said.
*Seeing George in Stars & Stripes. He's a perfect representative of the U.S.
*Watching Tyler continue racing. What a stud.
*Cav crying. Yeah, we're suckers.
*Brent Bookwalter's prologue. Georgia boy's living the dream & kicking butt!
*Watching Samuel Demoulin. It can't be easy to be 5'2" and ride the Tour de France.
*Trying to figure out French teams' tactics. Boy, they hate each other, don't they?
*Thor. Nothing in particular. Just Thor.
*Ryder as the new team captain? We're good with that.
*A world champion in yellow. That's just cool.
*Listening to Phil and Paul. Just hearing them puts us in the zone.
So, as you can see, there's plenty to smile about. We could have gone on and on. We're happy Lance is staying in the race. We hope to see him ride well and help his team. We're cycling fans first and foremost. We'll cheer for all of the boys and pray that they stay safe. Think about the moments this week that have made you smile. My goodness. We still have two weeks left. Thank God.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The TDF: It's Not Boring....
Wow. After stage 2 of the Tour de France, we are really wondering who will be left to battle for the overall when we finally get to the Pyrenees! Prior to the start of the tour, we knew that stage 3 had cobbles and would be a decisive stage. We had no idea that multiple riders would crash by the end of stage 2 and favorites would be completely out of contention.
As for us, we've loaded songs and some French words into ipods, ordered Euros (which have a really pretty iridescent strip on them, BTW), made ID badges to attempt to convince non-English officials that we're pretty important, printed t-shirts with sponsors listed on them, uploaded Euro maps into the new Garmin, changed phones to make sure we are "global-ready", and bought some new clothes. Barbara is going full-throttle, between working full-time and going to school. D'Andrea is attempting to live in 2 states at once while preparing for 12 days in France. Anita is enjoying summer break and spending time with @Bike_Dude.
We have set up some media outlets for you to follow our journey to France. Besides this blog, you can watch videos at: http://www.youtube.com/TourdeFranceTV
You can follow us on twitter at: @divastourfrance
We can't wait to experience this trip of a lifetime and can't wait to share it with you!
As for us, we've loaded songs and some French words into ipods, ordered Euros (which have a really pretty iridescent strip on them, BTW), made ID badges to attempt to convince non-English officials that we're pretty important, printed t-shirts with sponsors listed on them, uploaded Euro maps into the new Garmin, changed phones to make sure we are "global-ready", and bought some new clothes. Barbara is going full-throttle, between working full-time and going to school. D'Andrea is attempting to live in 2 states at once while preparing for 12 days in France. Anita is enjoying summer break and spending time with @Bike_Dude.
We have set up some media outlets for you to follow our journey to France. Besides this blog, you can watch videos at: http://www.youtube.com/TourdeFranceTV
You can follow us on twitter at: @divastourfrance
We can't wait to experience this trip of a lifetime and can't wait to share it with you!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Happy Tour de France Eve!
Welcome to the best three weeks of the year!
The Divas are counting down to both tomorrow morning for the start of le Tour, and our date of departure. Currently, we have plans to leave on Saturday, July 17th. It is entirely possible that we move this up a day to the 16th. We plan to bring you pictures, tweets, stories, interviews, and videos. Hopefully, you will feel you are there with us! Stay tuned to our many forms of media to get all of our posts!
~A
The Divas are counting down to both tomorrow morning for the start of le Tour, and our date of departure. Currently, we have plans to leave on Saturday, July 17th. It is entirely possible that we move this up a day to the 16th. We plan to bring you pictures, tweets, stories, interviews, and videos. Hopefully, you will feel you are there with us! Stay tuned to our many forms of media to get all of our posts!
~A
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