Final Tour July 16-17 / Final Tour July 18 / Final Tour July 19 / Final Tour July 20 / Final Tour July 21-22 /

Final Tour July 22 / Final Tour July 23 / Final Tour July 24 / Final Tour July 25

   And so the final Tour beings........

    Thankfully we had a very uneventful trip across the pond and subsequent train ride to Toulouse. Only a mild panic when one of our bags didn't show up for a while in Paris. A baggage handler must have been sitting on it to have a smoke, because just as we were giving up and looking for someone to ask about it, the bag came through the chute, long after everyone else was gone. Tragedy averted.

    A couple of hours waiting on the train wasn't too bad, got some lunch, had to move once when we sat down to eat because someone smelled way too bad to be sitting near while we ate. I still don't get that but obviously its something people get used to in Europe because we have faced it, or uh, smelled it a lot. It's the same with the smoking. Wow there are a lot of smokers around here. Clearly the phrase No Smoking Area, doesn't exist yet.

    We stayed at a hotel across the street from the Toulouse train station because it was convenient for us to pick up a car the next morning and drive to the final climb of the stage that day. One slip-up, I forgot that the rental car office wasn't open on Sunday at the train station, so we had to catch a cab to the airport to get our car. It really wasn't a problem since that's how I had planned it to start, I just forgot. Apparently the guy that smelled bad when we were eating at the train station was also our cab driver. Really glad it was a short ride to the airport.

    Picked up the car with no problem and headed to Axe-les-Thermes in the south of France. This has become one of our favorite places over the past several years. There are three climbs the Tour uses, very close to the town, so we've stayed here a few times. I had looked for rooms this year, but couldn't find anything. You have to keep in mind that many of these small French towns are quite small with just a few hotels and they're not high rise buildings. Some are smaller than  expensive homes in areas near where we live.

    We were meeting some good friends from Portland this year, which we were very excited about. We met them at the Seattle LiveStrong Challenge event 4 years ago. I think Jimmy was 14 then and had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was one of those stories and families that we just connected with and fortunately have been able to stay in touch. Jimmy is in a second recurrence now. After his re-diagnosis, he asked the doctors two questions, Can I still go to the Tour de France and can I still start school at Stanford in August? The docs gave a yes to both and we helped Dan, Jimmy's dad, with some planning and tips since we've already made most of the mistakes you can make following the Tour.

    We drove within 10 kilometers of the town and pulled off the main road to park. One thing we learned several years ago was it's a big advantage to have a bike in the mountains when chasing the Tour. Most of the famous climbs get extremely crowded which results in them closing them to cars, but you can ride a bike or walk. This is especially true for the mountain top finishes because they normally can't even get the team cars and busses to the top. I built our tandem, which breaks down to travel easy and is also very uncommon in Europe. The disadvantage is it really sucks climbing because it's heavy and we load the panniers with our food, water and LiveStrong banners for the day. The advantage is everybody cheers for us, either because they're proud of us for climbing the mountains or think we're not very bright and need the encouragement! We packed up and rode to the town square and Angie went to get us some lunch and water while I waited with the bike. Several people stopped and stared at the tandem and held their conversations in too many different languages for me to understand, but I know what they're saying and play charades and show them how it breaks down to travel, which intrigues them even more.

    As I stood there in my Mellow Johnny's cycling jersey several Americans spoke as they walked passed. I explained how the day would play out to a few Americans that were at their first Tour. One fun tip is to watch after the race finishes on these mountain tops, because the riders just turn around and ride back down to their team busses if they're not in any jersey presentations or held for drug testing. Several times we've quickly packed up the bike and started down as the racers head down and we've been able to chat with a few.

    Our friends, the Fowkes from Portland walked up just as we were about to head up the climb. They are taking the gondola to the top and walking back down and we're riding up and meeting at about 4K from the summit. Off we go.

    It didn't take long for the mountain to kick up quickly and for us to remember how much it sucks to ride the tandem up these mountains. No worries since we're not in a hurry. We ride a bit, rest, ride, rest, rest, rest and ride. Finally got to the 4K to go banners just as the Fowkes were walking down to meet us. Good timing, or luck. We unfurled our big banners and started hanging everything up. As soon as we get the first huge banner up, people begin taking pictures of it or with it. Sometimes they want us in their picture with them. Not sure why, but we jump in and smile!

Another couple of friends, Ilene and John Winters, joined us as well. They had walked to the top and were making there way back down to find the group. Lots of hugs and happy faces to meet up with friends in France! After setting up our camp, we usually have a couple of hours to catch our breath and rest, eat, drink, read a book while we're waiting on the race to arrive. The publicity caravan of sponsors proceeds the race by about an hour, think Mardi Gras floats throwing out mostly worthless crap that people dive for as if it's gold. The next clue is the helicopter that follows the leaders and you can hear the roar of the crowds rolling up the mountain. The lead rider passed, then the yellow jersey group, then Lance with another group. In the past Lance was always super focused and would usually give us a nod, wink or flick of the hand on his  handlebars. Since his bad luck has dropped him back he can relax a bit and he looked over at us with the Fowkes family and gave us a big wave and pointing at the group! The rest of the riders string out coming up in small groups for the next 20 minutes or so and then we pack up and head to the car.