Omaha Beach

We started today with a short 30km ride to Omaha Beach (D-day landings) and that was another really nice ride through the country, though it was a bit cloudy and cold today.

We then went on to see the finish of stage 6 at Liseaux, where rain had been threatening all day, and about 15mins before the finish we had a huge downpour and got saturated and then the sun came out for the sprint finish! YAY!

Tomorrow we have a long drive  in front of us and we pick up the next group for the tour.
Today was also the last day of the first tour, so we say goodbye to the first group, who were really cool!

The Chateau and the Mummified Cat

On Tuesday we had a day off the bike and we decided to go and visit the château which was behind the hotel we were staying in. Its called the Château de Combourg, and its actually a fortress, it also has an interesting story about the previous owner and its cat - the Comte of Combourg who had a wooden leg, and had been dead 3centuries ago, appears at certain times accompanied by a black cat.

Well the mummified remains of a black cat (not necessary the black cat) were found in the wall of the chateau and are now proudly on display in a glass case. Ewwwww....

The Château de Combourg

Very nice place though, and very old.

Yesterday we were back on the bike and we had a ncie 50km ride though the Brittany countryside

Thomas was getting us lost again, but nobody cared because it was so nice to ride in the area!

St Milo

We then got on the bus and drove to Saint Mont Michael, having been there before I didn't go all the way up to the top to see the Abbey, instead we got some lunch and watched the TdF on TV!

It was one of our longest days yet, hence the late blogs and we have more long days ahead but I will try to blog at least every couple of days.



Stage 3

Todays stage was a flat stage, though the finish was a slight uphill but that doesn't really slow them down!

We biked about 30km today and we escorted across the finish line and then got to stand on the podium - kind of embassasing because there were thousands of people at the finish!

Me and Brandy on the Podium

after that we had to wait for the finish, and we got a good spot to watch it which was right across the line from the finish, though when the riders come through it is a bit of a blur....

We did get a surprise however when we came back to our bus, because all the team buses had parked around it! HTC was parked right beside us and we were able to see the riders come back to there buses.

Our bus is the blue bus, so we were boxed in by HTC - cool...

Finially here is me driving the bus...actually I don't think Pier would really have liked that...

Opps! I think I ran George over...

Tomorrow we go and visit a chauteu, and we are actually staying in one too!

 

TTT

Team Time Trial!!

A really exciting day to see the teams in action is the TTT and get lots of really up close pictures.

We got to ride the 23km course today before the stage started, and it was a really nice, flowing course with some little rolling hills. There were lots of people already on the course when we were riding through, so that was cool to have them cheer you on especially at the finish where there were hundreds of people!!

After we finished that we got to go to the start village, where we have special passes to get into the best areas to see the teams warm up. Leopard trek didn't start until 4.47pm so it was a bit of a wait to see them come out and warm up in from of you

Andy Schleck

Frank Schleck in the background

Getting ready to leave for the start

Fabian!

Anyway it was an awesome day, got a bit more sunburnt somewhere else and we spent 2hrs standing by the team buses starving and dehydrated, but some of the teams took pity on us and gave us some water :)

Nice to see leopard Trek got 4th and Cadel Evans only 1 second off the lead, so tomorrow should be another good day as we get to cross the finish line on our bikes and stand on the podium.

Stage 1 - TdF

Today was stage 1 of the TdF, it started at the Passage du Gois (which is where we biked over yesterday) and ended in Mont des Alouettes.

We biked from the hotel to the last 15km of the finish, so it was about a 60km ride, and it was a nice ride too, with a few photo stops on the way. I got quite sunburnt yesterday despite putting on sunscreen and today I got another dose of the sun and was looking red again!

Once we reached the last 15km of the finish we got on the bus and drive to the finish. There were so many people lining the roads and streets, it was amazing how excited they get when the bus goes past!

this was about 100m from the finish

We were in one of the VIP areas which was really cool as all the food and drink was free! YAY! and we were about 50m from the finish - which was an uphill sprint, so none of the sprinters actually won cos it was really too steep for them. The stage was won by Philppe Gilbert, followed closely by Cadel Evans. There was a crash about 8.5km from the finish which held up Berty Contador (what a shame)and a few others, but more importantly not the Schlecks!

It was an awesome day both riding and watching, and tomorrow is the team TT which will be really cool to watch and we also have passes to get into the start village so we can see them warm up.

Interestinly enough it is after 10pm here and its still very much daylight, makes it had to go to sleep!

This is our little viewing area

2 riders which I have no idea who they are!

1st Bike Day

Today was the first time on our bikes, though the TdF hasn't started yet, we went and ride the 1st 65km of the 1st stage. Its starts at the Passage du Gois, which is a road covered at high tide but at low time there magically appears a road!

The rest of the way was a really nice ride and followed where the TdF goes tomorrow (so all the roads have been freshly ahspelted again - awesome) we also happened to come across the Lampre Team at a cafe, so had a bit of a chat to them.

Brandy and Me at the "other side"



We got back to the hotel about 3pm and because we hadn't had lunch yet and we were so hungry, we went straight to the cafe with our bike clothes on! later on most of the tour group went out for dinner together.

Tomorrow we ride another 65km which is on the TdF stage and get to see the finish line, so we are all looking forward to seeing the riders

First day in France

Well it was a big first day today!

Got to CDG Airport at 6am and headed for the train station to catch my train to Nantes, they said it was a non stop journey, but it stopped about 6 times!

Anyways I got to Nante a bit late, but the bus was still there to pick me up and we headed straight for the Teams presentation.

What a show it is! It lasted for about 2 hours and it was held inside a medieval theme park. The teams and riders are introduced one by one, and each team arrived in the arena in a different mode of transport.

Notably:
BMC - arrive on the back of an old pick up truck. hehe
Leopard Trek - arrived in the back of a horse drawn cart. Laughed my ass off at that!!! (not really an image you would associate with them)

Anyway I got a few photos of the going ons:

Leopard Trek arriving at the presentation



Leopard Trek at the presentation

Horseys!!!!

Tomorrow is our first ride, so I'm really looking forward to it!