So long to Lourdes

Friday 2/23 - Left Lourdes in two buses headed to the feed station in Sabres. The feed station is a point on a stage ride where the riders receive their food and hydration rations in excess of what they carry on their person. Typically, riders are handed a shoulder bag called a musset bag that they sling over their shoulder and root through various food stuffs, cans of coke, etc. It's usually a pretty good place to observe the riders in that they slow down (do not stop) during the approach and handoff, kind of like a moving pit stop. There are usually a lot of fans around the feed stations because riders often throw their water bottles and stuff they don't want tot he crowds before they start racing again. We arrived in Sabres about 11:30 with the anticpated arrival of the riders around 2pm. We unloaded the bikes (we had prepared our riding gear in advance) and started out pretty much as one group for a ride. The group quickly broke into a couple of groups which ended up going different directions and for various lengths. Because of the inclement weather the last couple days, one of the buses and 36 or so select riders decided to ride the Tourmalet instead of meeting at the feed station. From the Tourmalet, the riders would descend back to the bus which would then head directly to Bordeaux. I chose to ride with a group from the feed station area that included our tour guide Tom. About midway through the 25+ miles that we rode we stopped in a small town and had lunch. There were at least two other groups, one that chose to ride a longer ride at a more brisk pace and the other a more moderate pace and in a different direction. I think I chose the right group because we encountered alot of traffic on the way to Bordeaux and our trip wound up being a good deal longer than originally anticipated. After heading back to the bus from lunch we timed it about right to see the riders coming through the feed zone. Not long after seeing the riders pass through we headed back to the bus, changed and after taking a head count, loaded the bikes and headed to Bordeaux.