Tour Trip (Chapter 6)

Thursday 7/22. Expected to rain all day. Mountains were socked in with clouds and fog. The plan was to take the bus to the start of the second run up the Tourmalet with a mountain top finish. This would be probably be the last and decisive stage between Contador and Schleck to determine the overall winner of the general classification of the Tour de France. Andy Schleck needed to put some time between he and Alberto Contador since Contador was highly favored in the individual time trial discipline that would essentially be the last racing stage of the tour on Saturday. Plan was to go see the start, hang out at the team buses, etc., take in a little of the sights at Pau and return to the hotel in Lourdes to either watch the finale of the stage or weather permitting, take a ride. When the bus arrived in Pau, everyone exited and kind of went their separate ways. I wound up hanging with Patty as a group of us would head towards the starting area. Somehow, Patty and I along with Ann found ourselves on the inside of the pedestrian fence, the side where the team buses would pull up and prepare the riders bikes for the start. We kind of lucked up as we headed towards the Radio Shack bus. Right when we got there, some of the team support guys came out and roped off the immediate area and started unloading the bikes. Our timing was just right and we found ourselves right in front of the front door of the bus and within minutes the crowd behind us was about 5 people deep. The Radio Shack guys were real nice and talkative. They came out with a supply of cycling caps and gave them out. Not sure of each guys specific duties but some were mechanics and one guy was Lances nutritionist. We could see activity inside the bus (probably the team meeting) but that was about it. Shortly thereafter the guys from Velo News (cycling newspaper) and Versus TV came up with their cameras and microphones. A young woman pushing a baby carriage came out from some where and I was told that she was Lances girlfriend and mother of his newest child. The bus door opened and a guy stepped out and started talking with Frankie Andreau with Versus. He was the CEO of Trek Bicycles, Radio Shacks sponsor. There was a second door about half way down the bus that opened and several of the other team riders came out. Levi Leipheimer, Andres Kloden, Rast, and a few others. There was a little confusion when a long curly haired guy entered the mix. I didn't know who he was but supposedly he was some big time surfer dude. They interviewed him on Versus. I guess he was a friend or guest of someone on the team. Finally Lance came out the front door by us and immediately was interviewed by Versus. We were only about 4' away but I certainly couldn't hear anything. Since Lance was unsuccessful in Tuesdays attempt to win the stage, speculation was that he might try again going up the Tourmalet for the second time. Unfortunately, he had kind of blew it out on Tuesday and just didn't have the legs or recovered enough for the effort. I understand completely. Although he's just 39 or close to it, recovering from such a hard effort just two days before is something that is much easier for the young twenty somethings. Before we went to the Radio Shack bus we did get to go see a couple other team buses and riders bikes. Mark Cavendish's bike (Columbia/HTC team) had a stem about 4" wide. The stem is what holds the handlebars onto the steerer tube of the front wheel. Most stems are just tubes maybe 1-1/4" or so in diameter. As the premier sprinter in the world he must put so much torque on the handle bars when he sprints all out that he needs the additional support and stiffness for both safety and to transfer all the power to the pedals. Funny thing cycling, you would think that sprinters with their large quadriceps (thigh muscles) and strenght would be strong climbers, but that typically is not the case. I guess it has to do with fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers along with overall endurance conditioning. That's why guys who are strong climbers typically win the Tour de France. As with all stages, the publicity caravan would come through and with the riders signed in, the start would begin around 1pm. The start area was cordoned off so we could not get close enough to see anything, so we headed back to the bus then back to the hotel. We arrived back in time to go get something for lunch. It had basically stopped raining but everything was very wet so riding did not seem to be a good option at least at that point. The dinners at the hotel in Lourdes were adequate but I was longing for a salad (we didn't have any green veggies in our meals for like 3 days). I went with some other folks who I had not been hanging with and we eventually settled on a small cafe down one of the side streets. Food was actually pretty good and reasonable and a welcome change from the banquet style dinners we had been getting at the hotel. We stopped at a pastry shop I had eyed along the way and got some treats to take back to the hotel and watch the remainder of the stage which was a beauty. The hotel had a small room off the lobby that had a big screen and there were probably 20+ there, mostly of our group but also some other cycling guests. Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador after breaking away from the rest of the riders would basically ride side by side the whole way up. Andy would try and attack but Contador just had to make sure that Andy didn't put 30 seconds to a minute on him. At one point Contador attacked sprinting up ahead about 10yds ahead but Andy would fight his way back. The weather on the Tourmalet was wet, cold and foggy. They would finish almost together at the top with Andy winning the stage by a few inches. At the end of the stage, Andy would be 39 seconds behind Contador. It is amazing to me that riders can race 2,400 miles over three weeks of mountain climbs, downhills, flat stages, etc. and the difference between 1st and 2nd place be a mere 39 seconds. Having witnessed another classic battle in the mountains, some of us decided to try and go for a spin before dinner. We wound up having about 10-12 of us do a 20+ mile out and back ride towards Pau. About half way into the ride I noticed dark clouds looming ahead and a couple of us decided to turn around and head back before the bottom fell out. It turned out to be the right decision as it started raining just about the time we reached the hotel. I would go get cleaned up for dinner at the hotel and then went to a internet cafe with Don and Stan for desert. It was a good day. Tomorrow would be a travel day to Bordeaux.