Click on the photos to enlarge
Step one: Get bikes to France
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| Lance helped take our bikes apart... |
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| ...and pack them in boxes... |
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| ...and hauled them off to the airport. |
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| The bikes were 99% ready to ride when we got to France. The final step was to installed the pedals we had in our carry-on bags. |
Château de Mazan
Mazan, in the Provence region of France, was our home for the first week of the trip. It's a lovely little village.
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| Château de Mazan was our home for the first week of our trip. |
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| Château de Mazan is a bicycle-friendly hotel! |
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| The Castle was once the home of the Marquis de Sade! |
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| Our rooms were in The House, just across the street. |
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| Fresh flowers in the lobby. This might also be the only photo we have of The Butler! |
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| The daily breakfast "buffet" included meats and cheeses... |
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| ...do-it-yourself egg station... |
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| ...wonderful breads... |
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| ...and buttery croissants and sweet rolls! |
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| No wonder the internet is so slow in France! |
Market Day in Isle sur la Sorgue
Sunday is Market Day in Isle sur la Sorgue. It was, hands down, the largest street market I've ever seen! It stretches from one end of town to the other.
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| Market Day in Isle s/ la Sorgue literally takes over the city! |
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| Sea Salts |
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| Herbs and spices |
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| Dried flowers and fresh lavender |
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| Barbara browsing for textiles |
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| Fromage |
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| Saucisson in every imaginable variety |
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| Fresh fruits |
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| This guy had a bird's eye view of the market |
A Ride Around Mazan
A ride around Mazan to check out our bikes
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| Lance and the beverage cart |
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| Barbara, John, Paul, Rob, Lance |
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| Narrow roads leading out of Mazan... |
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| ..open up into vineyards |
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| Malemort du Comtat |
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| Tree-lined roads of Malemort du Comtat |
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| The ride was cut short by rain |
St Hubert and Gorges de la Nesque
Our first day of real riding. We weren't really sure what we were in for. The ride up to St Hubert eased our nerves about French roads. The descent through the Gorges de la Nesque was just plain fun!!
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| Pre-ride bike check |
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| Lance leads the way |
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| Rob shares the road |
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| Lots of vineyards surround Mazan |
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| The first of many hairpin turns |
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| Outside Mazan |
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| Tree-lined roads of Malemort du Comtat again |
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| Let's hope they know where they're going. |
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| Scenic overlook |
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| Barb and Lance enjoy the first climb of the trip |
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| HEY! |
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| We could smell this load of melons before they passed us. Now that's farm fresh! |
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| Lance providing direction to lost cyclists from Germany |
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| Barb likes riding in France! |
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| Lance says "Hydrate everyone" |
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| Paul fills up in Monieux |
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| So does Barbara |
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| Cafe is another option |
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| Heading up to the top of Gorges de la Nesque |
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| The road in the Gorges is twisty |
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| And passes very close to the houses |
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| There's several tunnels and arches, too! |
The Giant of Provence
We took advantage of blue skies and cooler temperatures to attempt to ride up Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence.
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| All roads seem to lead to Mont Ventoux |
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| The start of the climb is marked by, appropriately enough, a bike shop |
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| Lots of bikes |
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| After 15 km of continuous climbing we reach Chateau Renard. |
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| Cold eau potable! |
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| Lots of cyclists riding at lots of different speeds |
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| We'll save the stop at the Tom Simpson Memorial for the descent |
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| Almost there! |
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| Lance leads the charge |
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| All...most...there |
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| Great job, guys! |
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| The longest 2 hours, 7 minutes I've spent on a bike. It was glorious! |
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| Barbara and the weather station |
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| These markers line the route announcing the grade (mostly 8% to 14%) and distance to the summit |
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| The lavender was in full bloom |
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| Another ride through the Gorges de la Nesque was the final reward of the day |
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| Paul enters a tunnel |
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| Rob likes what he sees |
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| Lance wanted to "shoot the gap". |
Recovery Day
After climbing Mont Ventoux the previous day, we planned an easy day of riding around in the Ventoux Valley.
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| A leisurely breakfast on the patio |
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| Downtown Mazan |
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| The roads around Mazan are relatively flat |
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| Welcome to Bedoin |
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| This statue welcomes riders to Bedoin and Mont Ventoux |
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| We decided to stay in the valley |
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| Later we stopped by a winery |
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| Le chat |
St Remy and Les Baux
We decided we on a change in scenery. Not that the scenery around Ventoux is bad! Off to St Remy and Les Baux.
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| The van's all loaded up |
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| Paul knows where we're going..we hope! |
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| The roads around St Remy are much wider |
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| Barbara and Lance enjoy the climb from St Remy |
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| Lots of wide-open roads for speed work! |
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| Paul asks Rob and Lance "How steep is the road to Les Baux?!" |
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| Barb's Game Face |
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| A descent brings a smile to Barbara's face |
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| The road up to Les Baux... |
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| ...is steep! |
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| The descent is too! Notice the ledge to the left of the photo? It's level! |
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| Lunch Time! |
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| Biere |
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| Awesome burger and fries. Must be the duck fat! |
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| Another chat |
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| Pastries are good post-ride supplements! |
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| The Hotel Van Gogh. We stay here, in the "Gardener's Shack", a few years ago. It's "around back" of the regular hotel |
Gorges de la Nesque part deux
We had so much fun riding the St Hubert and Gorges de la Nesque loop we wanted to do it again!
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| Cafe and lump raw sugar! |
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| John hoping of inspiration with the Ventoux jersey |
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| The jersey must have helped! We were 15 minutes faster this day to the farmhouse at the St Hubert! |
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| Cyclist and hikers share the road |
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| The hikers unleashed The Beagle! |
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| It's a twisty road to Monieux |
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| LANCEWICHES!! |
Three Cols Ride
For our final ride in Mazan, we headed north to ride the cols to the west of Mont Ventoux.
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| Paul in Serres |
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| Vineyards as far as the eye can see |
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| Outside Le Barroux |
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| La Roque-Alric |
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| No parking |
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| Col de Suzette was first |
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| Lance brings up the rear |
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| Col la Madeleine was next |
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| Col de la Chaine was third |
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| The pause that refreshes |
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| Another Lancewich! |
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| Le chats de Crillon-le-Brave |
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| Al fresco dining at Restaurant du Vieux Four |
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| A local rose to toast a fantastic week of riding! |
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| Dinner at Restaurant du Vieux Four in Crillon-le-Brave started with delicious chèvre |
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| Main course of tasty pork loin |
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| Fromage to cleanse the palette |
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| We ate dinner as the sun set on Mont Ventoux. Somehow it seemed a fitting end to the week. |
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| Apparently, the French like to line dance! |
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| Lost in translation! |
Into the Alps
We're off the the Alps and the Tour de France!
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| You are here |
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| Barbara and Paul |
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| Kayakers take to the river flowing through Brides-les-Bain. It was directly below our hotel room window. |
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| It took team work to get the van into the parking lot |
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| A tight squeeze! |
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| HELLO! |
Notre Dame du Pre
Our host at the hotel was a cyclists. He said we wouldn't be disappointed with the ride up to Notre Dame du Pre. He didn't tell us there were 26 switchbacks!
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| Moutier |
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| Near Salins-les-Thermes |
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| Church on the Rock |
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| Lots of switchbacks |
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| Some have cows |
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| Rob in Notre Dame du Pre |
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| The church in Notre Dame du Pre |
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| The cows moo'd us on! |
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| Off to dinner in Brides-les-Bain |
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| Brides is a resort town and a "fat camp"! |
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| We were told by a visitor that the "fatties come for the water" |
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| Lots of flowers |
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| Not a Lancewich, but pretty good none the less |
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| Boule Lyonnaise |
The Alp
Since we were here, why not climb l'Alpe d'Huez?! After all, we practiced switchbacks on the ride up to Notre Dame du Pre.
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| One of the breakfast tables warns diners of the "dangerous" foods. |
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| The hills are alive |
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| Signs warn of road closures |
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| Campers arrives days early to get the perfect spot on the climb up the Col du Glandon |
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| Meringues |
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| Barbara and John on the descent from the Glandon |
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| Share the road has a whole different meaning in the Alps |
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| l'Alpe d'Huez: only 14 km and 21 switchbacks to the top |
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| Paul cruising up the lower slopes |
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| Barbara fills up with eau potable |
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| Each switchback is numbered and dedicated to a rider |
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| Some of the switchbacks that make l'Alpe d'Huex famous |
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| Breathtaking scenery |
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| Barbara attacks another switchback |
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| The top in 1 hour 18 minutes! |
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| The most delicious beire of the trip! |
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| Pizza! |
Tour DAY France Stage 10
We had a short ride to Culoz to find a good spot to watch the racers on lower slopes of Col du Grand Colombier.
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| Crowds on the lower slopes of Grand Colombier |
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| The gendarmes in Culoz made us walk our bikes |
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| Here comes Le Tour! |
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| Barb and Paul waiting for the pre-Tour caravan |
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| Mmm, gummy candies! |
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| All the race sponsors have cars and floats in the caravan that throw their products to the crowd |
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| Bike in grape vines |
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| And they're off! |
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| Barb and Paul are really excited! |
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| Rubber ducky, you're the one! |
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| King of the Mountain hats for everyone |
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| Lucy |
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| Team cars |
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| Jambon beurre sandwiches |
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| Grapes |
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| The daily racing form |
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| Respite amongst the vines |
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| Here comes the lead pack |
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| Thomas Voeckler near the front |
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| More team cars |
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| Helicopters above mean more racers are on the way |
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| Bradley Wiggins in the maillot jaune |
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| Fin de course aka "the broom van" |
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| What goes up must come down |
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| Bikes make the descent faster for this young fan |
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| The Colombier is 18 km long with grades up to 14%. That's steep!! |
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| We watched the finish of the race on Jumbotrons in Culoz |
Tour de France Stage 11
We had a bit more time for Stage 11. We watched the pre-race Caravan come through Le Chambre before riding to St Jean de Maurienne to watch the racers climb to Le Toussuire.
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| Jersey pennants |
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| Mmmmm |
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| Leave it the the French to improve on the hot dog |
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| Gotta hand it to Barb! |
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| Le Chambre |
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| Hi, mom! |
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| Matchy, matchy |
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| You'll never go hunger waiting of the tour |
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| Waiting for the riders can be boring |
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| The leaders on the climb |
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| The boys from Skye lead Bradley Wiggins up the final climb of the day |
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| Tejay Van Garderen in the Best Young Rider's white jersey |
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| Christian Vande Velde |
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| Barbara and Paul cheering the riders up the mountain |
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| Tommy Voeckler is the King of the Mountains |
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| Rolling ER Notice the rider's right foot is on the left side of the bike so the doc can spray it with magic spray |
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| The main peloton was about 3 minutes back |
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| Recounting the day over beers in Le Chambre |
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| Hillside villa |
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| Probably the best carbonara I've ever had |
Day 13
Our amazing cycling adventure comes to a close. Lance and Rob drop us off in Geneva on their way to Italy.
Well, that's a look back at our two-week cycling adventure in France. We hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures as much as we did pedaling around Provence and the Alps. Lance and Rob were fantastic guides on our first European cycling experience. We can't wait to go back!
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| One last switchback at the Geneva airport |
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| We spent the last night wandering around Geneva |
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| A $2.5 million Buggati parked on the street. Notice the Range Rover behind it? There were two Bentley in front of it. All with Saudi tags. |
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| L'entrecote and frites were a fitting final meal |
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| Our bikes (in their boxes) were spotted at the Amsterdam airport |
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| Back home. |
