Rob G's day 18

Day 18 - La Tour De France - Porte de Bale's
Another day in paradise. Slept till 8.00 am after a troubled nights sleep.
After breaky we went for a little spin around the mountain which took approximate 1 hour. It was so nice and cool and not to steep with lots of slight decent. It didn't take long to work out once we were under way that the tour would be passing this way. There were so many cars along the road and lots of bikes heading up to the mountain. So very impressive.

Got back and changed to go shopping. We drove to the Shoppi, which is a super market here. Most super markets seem to be small. Maybe that is because we are staying in small places.

Got backup and has ham and cheese rolls which was why we went shopping. Lots left over for another lunch on the mountain we are climbing today.

At 12.30 we headed of to watch the tour go past on the Porte de Bale's I was very excited and I think every one else was as well judging by the discussions taking place. It was a nice easy pace along the flat before we headed up what is normally a good incline for us now days. Evans hill grade. This was made harder by the packs being carried, especially Andy who did seem to have the heaviest in the end. Dave and I also carried packs.

The I inclined steepened for a couple of ams before we met a Gendarme who made us get of our bikes many ams before the top which was disappointing. We walked our bikes for a while and then hopped back on and continued to ride. We were told this may happen by Chris our host. E clime steepened amid became more exposed which made the climb difficult. It soo became apparent this may yet prove to be our most difficult climb, packs or not given the signs telling us how steep the next 1 km is on average. Scary when it states 10 then you go flat for a 100 metros. You have to make up for that flat in the average. So soon you amending 11% and pushing very hard and sweating hard and unable to drink due to the steepness. I stopped twice just Sonia could have a drink and I havenever had to do that before.

Up and up we went past the many thousands who had stopped lower down, the many cars parked along the road and then the many thousands who had hiked up from below. One thing I was amazed at was the nature of the people the people on the side of the road. Most were over weight and those that weren't smoked. Hence the weight control. Even at the top where there were some many riders, people were puffing away in our faces. Yuck.

Getting to the top was a major challenge. The caravan came behind me which was something totally else to be believed. I passed e same @&<€#}%{]+¥£ coffee van about z15 time which was so frustrating. People were driving up in sponsors cars and van, loud speakers blaring away and giving away stuff. The traffic became thick with these caravan trucks and the pedestrians as well as other bike riders. It was nice to have allnthese thousands of people cheering us on as we headed to the top.

The closer to the top the hotter it got and the more traffic until wen just stopped. Man thats so frustrating. All I wanted to do was reach the top, come back down, find a go place to view and we stopped and walked and then rode and then stopped. Finally I made it to the top to meet the other moo moo's who had already made it.mew had a drink then walked through the grass along the slopes looking for a good vantage point. We did stop but decided to go the Chris out guide and see how the view was fro. Where he stopped. Needless to say it was fantastic. We carried our bikes up this very steep dirt slope and plonked ourselves down to rest and ear, which we did.
Next came the caravan proper which consisted og vehicles done up for the sponsors, full of very good looking young girls throwing goodies out ton the crowd. Time to work on my body as the young guy next to us, who was gorgeous got so many goodies thrown at him it was ridicules. The young girls have good eyes it would seem.

It was very sunny but not to hot which was good. I could feel the rays doing there thing on my skin tho. I know have an amazing bike tan line. I even have a glove mark. My hands are white but my forearms are very brown.

We could here the helicopters which was a good sign the riders were getting closer. You could feel the tension grow among the crowd. It wasn't long and the first rider, which we could see from approximate 1km away was in view and the crowd surged to see. The French were going nuts as yet again they had a rider In the lead on a good breakaway. We were lucky as there were so many breakaways we got to see many of the riders well.

Now for the riders. Little skinny blokes I would say. Great legs but most would make good jockeys. One thing in their favor, they were very fast . Most looked like they were riding on a flat road. Riding no hands drinking coke. Handing out newspapers they grabbed of the crowd. Just seeming to cruise along. This is the same road that 2 hrs ago I slogged up pushing hard and thinking when will this end. Unlike them I had not just ridden 145kms non stop which made all the worse.

Many many photos were taken before and all gone past. Andy Shleck had his chain incident just down from us which seen him approximate 20 seconds behind when they came past.

It took 30 mins for the riders to go past and then came the decent. It was great. So many bikes, so many cars all heading down the mountain. Guess what, bikes go faster than cars and motor bikes down hill so it was a real hoot to pass the slow riders, scream past the cars at every opportunity and even over take up ton three motor bikes in one go. Yeee haaaa.

We got home after a fabulous ride down that seen some risk life and limb. Bob riding down leaning on a car as another came from the other direction. Not much room there Bob.

We vote back, all tired from the day in the sun, enjoyed another lovely dinner and then warted the highlights. Guess what. We were there for approximately 0.75 of a second. Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh

Now it is bed time. A dream come true. So much riding, so much more to do and today we seen the worlds best at the type of riding we do. You have to love it.

Van Velo