Back home in Texas

I didn't get a chance to update the blog over the last couple of days due to a busy travel schedule and spotty internet coverage in France.

We transferred from Annecy on Friday morning to ride

Alpe d'Huez. What a beautiful climb. It was totally different than Mt. Ventoux, with it's 21 switchbacks, you can see the progress you are making the whole way up the mountain. We had a great lunch at the summit, then bombed a descent back to the van at the base of the mountain.

Transferred the town of Privas where we checked in the hotel, had dinner and got ready for Saturday.

Saturday morning we loaded up and headed down the road a bit and unloaded our bikes for about a 30km ride to Bedoin which is where the climb to Ventoux begins.

Word was circulating that the Gendermarie's had already shut the road down just outside of Bedoin on the way up due to the large crowds already on the mountain. I decided to see for myself. While they did have a barricade up on the main road, some of us found a small pathway that worked it's way back to the route where we climbed back on our bikes and started heading up the mountain. I was able to ride to within about 2km from the summit where they did have it shut down. I came down just a little and decided to watch from there.

It was some spectacle, people from all over the world gathered to watch the fastest guys in the world climb Ventoux. When they came through, it was unreal how fast they climb such a grade.

After the finish, it's pretty much every man for himself to get down off the mountain as fast as possible. Bicycle is by far the best option, but close attention must be paid to avoid the drunk european pedestrians stumbling their way down the hill.

Sunday morning we took the TGV Bullet train into Paris. Headed to the Hotel Le Meurice which is where we watched the final stage overlooking the Champs-Ellysees. A perfect ending to a fantastic trip. Arrived in Dallas this afternoon.