July 13

I started the day by building the tandem while Angie slept an extra hour. I’m smart enough to know when she needs some extra sleep and it benefits me for her to get it (grin).

Soon we left for the Office of Tourism in Montpellier to get a map of the Tour route. We had figured out the basic route last night but needed some directions and street names. It was a short drive to the finish area and our plans for the day were pretty simple. We would meet up with our buddy Chris Brewer, that maintains the www.paceline.com - Lance’s website, find Bob Roll - the OLN announcer and eventually go to the Discovery Team bus after the race to see the guys roll in and say hello to Chechu Rubiera.

As we wandered through the crowd it wasn’t long before we met some Americans and were talking about Lance and the LAF. Georgina, was from California and was there with her family. She was asking us about the Ride for the Roses in Austin, so we gave her all the details and told her to email me if she had any questions. When I handed her my card, she said she had just talked to someone that had a similar business card. It was Ilene Winters, another mentor from the LAF. Seems we were both working the same crowd here in France.

We made our way over to the media center and found the wild man of OLN, Bob Roll. There’s not a bigger Lance fan than Bob and speaking of Lance fans we gave him one of our yellow ‘Lance Fans’ for him to use on the broadcast. We now only have 9,999 left to pass out! Bob came to Austin last year for the Ride for the Roses and emceed the Peloton Project dinner. He said he had a great time and he hopes to come back this year. We also talked with Cathy Cooper (OLN producer) and Kirsten Gum (OLN on camera talent) We had spent some time with them last year over a cold beer on a rest day. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, Davis Phinney, was also there but he was headed up to do an on air interview so we didn’t get a chance to speak. Davis recently started a foundation for Parkinson’s Disease, from which he suffers. He always come to Austin to support LAF’s Ride for the Roses Weekend.

We left the media area and walked towards the finish and met Chris Brewer. We met CB when his family’s cancer brought him to Birmingham, where we live. Even though we didn’t really know him, except that he was involved in the LAF and a cancer survivor himself, it seemed silly for him to stay in a hotel so he stayed with us on all his Birmingham visits. He managed to bring his bike and we got some good rides in as I introduced him to the hilly area where we live. Chris was having a ball this Tour. This was the first Tour that he was reporting from start to finish from France.

The riders were getting close so we walked over to the Discovery team bus and waited on the riders to roll in. George was the first one back and he signed Angie’s hat as well as a jersey I brought from our local bike shop that helps us with a LAF bike ride that we put on. Jose Acevedo was next then Chechu. The other riders scurried quickly into the bus, but Chechu stopped to chat. He said he wasn’t feeling very good because he had a cold, not what we wanted to hear with the mountains coming. We wished him well as the bus rolled out.

As we were making our way back to the car several gendarmes led a Discovery Team car away with Lance tucked safely inside. I was waving my pom poms and Jerry held up a LAF sign as Serge and Irwin (Lance's body guards) waved from the front seat as they sped past. Lance was in the back, but I suspect he saw the obvious American/LAF presence.

We made it back to the car as fast as we could and headed towards one of our favorite little towns, Ax le Thermes. The drive took a lot longer than we anticipated. By the time we arrived it was after 11:00pm and another long but fun day.

Although I was glad to be there, the room was about 5oo degrees! I was hot and feeling nauseas because we ate cupcakes and chocolate buns for dinner on the drive. I broke out our battery powered fan and Jerry went to look for a cold drink (a tough thing to find!) I couldn't get to sleep even though it was after midnight because it was so hot! I finally got up and wet the t-shirt I was sleeping in to cool off.