I leave for France exactly two weeks from today. It's almost here and it seems I still have a lot to prepare. This is the July 4th weekend so I get an extra day to do stuff. I am taking my bike in to the shop today to have my new carbon handlebars and seatpost installed and do some tweaking with the shifting etc, then tomorrow I am planning a north Georgia mountain "Gaps" ride. This will more than likely be one of the last tune-ups to what I will be actually riding in France, long medium grade mountain climbs. In today's paper there is a two page article about the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong. The Tour is the third most watched sporting event in the world behind the World Cup (soccer) and the Olympics. They predict 15 million people will view the Tour roadside along the 27 or so stages over the three weeks. Yes, I will be one of them.

I took a little break from riding last weekend because I had out of state family guests. I needed a little break and we had a great time. I didn't ride for four days. I rode the Monday recovery ride, Tuesday at Stone Mountain and the Decatur Ride last night. All these are approximately 20 mile rides. One last ramp up this weekend and next week and then I'll taper off a little to make sure that I'm recovered and rested before my trip.

I know I will have a great time regardless, but for someone who likes to get the most out of every experience, it's a little unnerving. My son Daniel, who is going to be staying at the house and taking care of the dogs, car etc., has not been the most trustworthy in the past. I am placing a lot of faith in him to do the right thing, but trusting a 21 year old with all that responsibility is certaininly a little worrisome. I guess I am just harkening back to my younger days when my parents would go out of town and leave my step brother Charlie and I at the house. Oh crap, I definitely don't need to think about that :-)

Back to the trip. I don't know how I am going to feel once I start riding there. Hopefully, I won't trash myself to the point that riding becomes more of a chore than the fun challenge I hope it is. Secondly, I want to document all this in pictures and continue this blog along the way. I am not taking a laptop, so I hope I have access to a computer at the hotels or internet cafes and the time to make some entries. Also, can I upload the pictures I hope to take along the way and how often will I be able to stop and take pictures. Will I find a group of riders I feel comfortable riding with (pace). After riding, who will I pal around with for after hours? I probably know a handful of the people maybe more I don't know, because only about 30 of the 75 people going were at the initial meet and greet. Doug, who will be my roomate, I know casually from riding, but that's about it. He's an anesthesiologist and has been on a couple of these trips. He should be a good resource to help me get the most from my trip. He's also a strong rider and may be a little out of my league, I don't know. He's a smallish guy, probably about 150 lbs and small guys always are stronger riding in mountains. I got an email from my friend Matteo (in Italy). I sent him my itinerary and invited him to join us for a couple rides if he can. We can probably put him up in the hotel with us for a night or two if need be.

Questions, questions, questions, the language barrier, the food, the whole culture thing. I feel a little like Barney Fife goes to New York City. Hopefully I can just embrace the differences, roll with it and have a great time. That's what I'm counting on. Well, Delta wants to charge me $200 each way to fly my bike, so I am going to ask another guy to take my bike on the Air France flight which arrives a couple hours after mine both ways. His wife is not taking her bike so they volunteered to take mine. Air France is charging $50 each way as a negotiated group flight rate. I do know that at least one person I know, Stan is flying my Delta flights. He's another one that has done several of these Tour trips over the last couple of years. Back to reality and work. Till next time.