Trip of a Lifetime: Le Tour de France

There are so many ways I can start this, bottom line is that it was an incredible trip. From start to finish I cant say anything bad about the trip. We were told that the French do not like Americans and that it would be difficult to get around if we did not speak French. Nothing could have been more wrong. Everyone went out of their way to help us, from local police, our hotel managers, taxi drivers, bus station attendants, and waitresses at the local restaurants, everyone could not have been kinder to us.


Our only bad luck was losing one of our travel partners before we even started, Coach Dave fell very sick and was unable to travel. We called everyday and even as I write this he is still struggling. I hope he recovers soon. Despite losing Dave, Dean Adams and I struck out on our trip. With 50 pound back packs and no checked luggage we went out on our adventure. On our way to the Cincinnati airport we were told our flight from Paris to the south of France was cancelled because of a strike and that there were no other flights. So the adventure began before we ever left the states. Upon arriving in Paris we figured out that we needed to take two local metro subways to a suburb where we could catch a train to the Pyrenees. So two metros and a 6 hour train ride later we arrived in the City of Lourdes.


The picture above was taken outside our hotel. It was an incredible village with a magnificent castle overlooking from a cliff, it had great restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and variety shops everywhere. Lourdes had become the base camp for thousands of cycling enthusiast because you can access about 4 different mountain stages from this location. It is also the home of the "Gratto of Lourdes". Tens of thousands of pilgrims make their way to this location to see the place where St. Bernadine had 16 confirmed visions of what is called the "Lady of Lourdes", who people believe was Mary. Seeing the thousands that had made this pilgrimage was truly breathtaking. Words could not do justice to the feeling that came over me as I witnessed people touch the walls of the cave, and make the sign of the cross with the pure mountain water that came from inside the cave. The lighting of the candles and the quiet peacefulness that surrounded the entire area was surreal. This was an unexpected surprise on our trip and one that I will cherish for having the opportunity to have witnessed it.


I have been asked how close we got to the cyclists? Well let me show you. You may recognize one of the cyclists in the picture. Dean and I had camped out in this town for over 6 hours and on this particular spot for almost 3 just to make sure we had a good look. It not only landed us a great look, it got us on Versus TV twice. Yes, that is Lance Armstrong in the red kit. This was the Tourmalet summit finish stage. This was as close as we could get because they closed the top of the mountain down. There were too many people at the top, but we found this awesome village less than 18 miles from the finish atop the Tourmalet. It was still filled with thousands of people lining the streets.


The next day we paid to have a private taxi take us to the top of the Tourmalet so that we could actually see what it looked like and just how hard it was. There are no words to describe the scene. There were over 300 cyclists making the trip up the climb, suffering the entire way. It was cold, very cold and yet they were dripping with sweat from the torturous elevation and gradient of the road. This prooved to be the best decision we made. I would not trade that trip to the top for anything. Our driver was a Tour follower, and spoke great English. He gave us a unique history and perspective during the 2.5 hour tour up one side and down the other. I have a new appreciation for the incredible athleticism of these athletes. Check out Dean with the mountain as a back drop. The sights were incredible, my pictures cannot do the trip justice.


We moved on to the city of Bordeaux for the individual time trial. Again another spectacular city and we were just taken back by the breathtaking views of the river, the monuments, and the beauty of the architecture. The next day we headed to Paris for the final. Over 1 million of our closest friends joined us on the Champs Elysees to witness the final stage. It was pure madness!
It was impossible to get close to the fences unless you had camped out since 5am the morning of the race. The night before we went out and visited the Arch de Triumph and climbed the 284 steps to the top to capture a few pictures. This was worth the 9 euros and the walk up.



Everywhere we went in France I was struck by how lean and healthy everyone looked. I made several observations that I will share with my bothers. They eat small portions, all our meals were simple. Breakfast was usually strong pressed coffee, small juice, fresh bread (baquettes), fresh butter/jam, hard meats and cheese every morning. Lunch was usually a baquette sandwich with hard meats and fresh vegetables. Dinner was similar to home but again all the portions were small. You could also tell that everything was fresh and was not processed. Our steak one night was very lean and almost tasted like venison, I believe it is because they grow their livestock under different conditions. There is an emphasis on agriculture and the local markets have fresh produce everyday.

The French are not in a hurry, they are relaxed and social and perhaps that lends itself to their healthy lifestyle. They commute by foot or bicycle everywhere, there are actual public bicycle programs throughout the city's. Just jump on and go, drop it off at designated locations. You simply purchase an electronic pass and you rare ready to ride. They make being healthy very easy in all the city's we visited.

My comments do not do our trip justice, all I can say is that I would go again in a heart beat. Next time I am bringing my bike, I want to climb the Tourmalet. Who's with me? This could be our next adventure.


Schmidty
L3-Live, Learn and Lead