TDF July 6

Wow! Take a look at the vans we'll be using for some of our Tour de France tours! We just got them back from the automotive detailing company, and they look fantastic, don't you think? Our Discover France guests will be riding in style, when they're not riding their bikes!
The Tour de France riders left Belgium and crossed into France this afternoon. The cobbles wreaked havoc, just as everybody expected.
In sympathy, I rode my the Verargues-to-St. Christol version of pave early this morning, before the sun started searing the earth (93F today!). These photos were taken around 6:30 a.m.... The sun seems to come up way before 6 here, and doesn't set til after ten at night. I don't think I've fallen asleep in the dark for weeks.
We are getting really excited for our first Discover France trip to start, our Alpes VIP group meets on Thursday in Annecy. Lots to do before then, but we're on it!

Ciao for now
Wendy

p.s. follow our adventures with a shortcut, on twitter, i'm cyclefrance

Tour de France Day 2 - Monday

Day 2 of the Tour brought slippery roads, more crashes. and a new yellow jersey rider! Hopefully Tuesday's stage won't bring more rain for the riders, as it's already promising to be a pretty treacherous day on the pave. Also, hopefully, there won't be a lot of abandon's after so many hard falls the last couple of days. We want there to be some riders left when we get to the raceW I've been watching the Tour de France on my MAC! It's pretty good, and I've been able to find a couple of pages where there are announcers who speak English. The announcers on the French sites talk too quickly for me to understand everything (Yesterday, all I needed to know was "tomber," which means 'to fall!)
Here are a few more things that make me love being in France:
- Camargue horses, from this region of Southern France. They are born dark brown or black, and turn white around age four. Really. I didn't believe it either, so I googled it. It's true.
-A couple next to me at breakfast at the hotel brought their little bird in a cage and sat it right on the table.
-Navigating on French roads is hard. We'll have Garmin GPS systems on our tours, but before then, I'm improvising with my Tom Tom for my car and hair bands. Laugh, but it works

Eating & Le Tour Start

Le Tour commence! The Tour de France begins! And what a great beginning it was. Lance looked strong, and I don't think I'm the only one who got pleasure from him beating Alberto Contador either! Right now, we're still watching the Tour on television, which is interesting, as, of course, it's in french. It's still exciting, and i still watch every second, but I'd be lying if I said I don't miss Phil, Paul, and all the Bob Rollisms. Riders on our VIP tours get to hang out with media covering the Tour one afternoon; I'm hoping we'll get to say 'hello' to the VS TV gang.

What's also begun is the return of getting to eat amazing French food.
I don't know what it is, but the French can take a few simple ingredients and make them into food that is really special. Who am I kidding? I think they just use a lot of BEURRE (butter. everything is, and should be, a butter delivery system). Of course, it's more than
that: Even at my little traditional family hotel in Lunel-Viel, I see the owners bringing in fresh bread and vegetables and meats every day.
I certainly do my part, by cleaning my plate every night! And one more
thing: Why don't restauants in America bring you hot milk for your hot coffee like they do here? I'd been looking forward to that for weeks before I got on the plane. Not disappointed.

Follow me on twitter for 140 letter updates at cyclefrance.

Ciao for now.
W

p.s. GO LANCE!

Riding to warm up for the Tour!

How does riding on narrow country roads through beautiful small towns on a beautiful misty morning sound? That's how my day started. The riding in France is really good, as (most) drivers are considerate of cyclists (good thing, because when I say the roads are narrow, they are NARROW!). Even when the ride is described as 'flat,' don't expect Florida flat. It's more like Maryland flat, with nice-sized rollers. I will say that for the somewhat directionally-challenged, like me, a GPS is a necessity, not an option. There's a little bit of trial and
error, to get from here to there sometimes, but it's all part of the
adventure.

Heading to Cyrpeo-Discover France, bike shop home base, to put the last of the bike racks on the van and work on bike route for our VIP Alpes guests.
Little cooler today, maybe? Nah.

Ciao,
W

p.s. follow me on twitter, i'm cyclefrance!