had the first ever meeting for spokes4strokes. made several decisions...
a. this year will be the first ever disorganized ride
b. we will ride the Recovery route,
c. there will be options for the 10 mile recovery route, 6 mile route and a 1 mile route
d. not much else will happen
e. there might be some sort of commemorative prize
f. need to look into copyright stuff (already emailed Ryan, will grab URL off go-daddy tomorrow)
g. next year will look to have ride in October 1/2 way between Yvonne's & mine anniversary
h. proceeds if any will go to Stroke network, an online stroke support community.
20090928
20090813
Back to Reality
Back to Reality
I’m slowly working my way thru the dvr’d Le Tour stages. Mt. Ventoux is next. Stage 17 was interesting to watch, cuz I saw that one from Col de Romme and had no idea that Thor Hurshoff lead most of the way, cuz he was in great difficulty as he passed by me far behind the leaders. I need to put a lock on that recording…ok, just did, now I can re-ride Romme any time I want..HA!
Finally put the bike back together on Friday night with the help from Jason. He was so excited to help, love that kid! link to pics of Jason helping:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85038&id=1038297795&l=fc90898d91
Then on Sunday I got back on the saddle and rode to the soccer game in Manor. All sorts of thoughts going thru my head, “I wish I was a better cyclist, wish I had climbed Ventoux, will I go back and attempt it on my 50th?, where do all these people who were on the trip and in incredible biking shape find the time to ride? How did they learn how to climb? Oh yeah, they live near mountains! And, they probably get up at the crack of dawn”.(I’m afraid to do that, there is something I love about hitting snooze!) oh and then there’s that little stroke issue! Anyhow, I do a lot of thinking on the bike, mostly because I’m by myself (group rides are too early and too far out of town and no one has stepped up to take Diane’s place) and riding w/ an iPod isn’t my thing—too dangerous, hard enough to hear while riding already.
What now???…get in better shape, get my shoulder to stop hurting, get my strength back on the left side, drop 10 pounds etc, etc, etc. Will I keep up the blog? Yes, probably more of just a personal diary that’s publicly viewable. Will prob write mostly about my boring bike rides.
Other bike rides since being home…Decided once a week I would bike home from work, then bike to work the next day…should be a 20% savings in gas and mileage on the car, and 20 miles I ride every week. Depending on how I feel I can always add more miles to the ride. My first commute home was kinda in the rain. One of those rare summer rain showers, I was actually excited, love exercising in the rain, but on the bike it adds extra things you have to be aware of—breaking soon enough, water in the eyes or dirty steamed up sun glasses, not turning too fast on any white spot on the road (they are really slick and you can wipe out), puddles –there was a huge muddy water one near Zilker yesterday and I had a car behind me, thankfully w/ a nice driver who let me go thru it first and didn’t try to pass me up and splash me! By the time I got to exposition, the streets were dry, so sad, no rain at my house.
No probs on the way back into work today, for some reason the hills are smaller! My hill I struggled on a year ago, no problem, but of course there is room for improvement…like not switching into that granny gear and going faster! I somehow made it to work 2 mins faster than pre-France! That made me happy.
I’m slowly working my way thru the dvr’d Le Tour stages. Mt. Ventoux is next. Stage 17 was interesting to watch, cuz I saw that one from Col de Romme and had no idea that Thor Hurshoff lead most of the way, cuz he was in great difficulty as he passed by me far behind the leaders. I need to put a lock on that recording…ok, just did, now I can re-ride Romme any time I want..HA!
Finally put the bike back together on Friday night with the help from Jason. He was so excited to help, love that kid! link to pics of Jason helping:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85038&id=1038297795&l=fc90898d91
Then on Sunday I got back on the saddle and rode to the soccer game in Manor. All sorts of thoughts going thru my head, “I wish I was a better cyclist, wish I had climbed Ventoux, will I go back and attempt it on my 50th?, where do all these people who were on the trip and in incredible biking shape find the time to ride? How did they learn how to climb? Oh yeah, they live near mountains! And, they probably get up at the crack of dawn”.(I’m afraid to do that, there is something I love about hitting snooze!) oh and then there’s that little stroke issue! Anyhow, I do a lot of thinking on the bike, mostly because I’m by myself (group rides are too early and too far out of town and no one has stepped up to take Diane’s place) and riding w/ an iPod isn’t my thing—too dangerous, hard enough to hear while riding already.
What now???…get in better shape, get my shoulder to stop hurting, get my strength back on the left side, drop 10 pounds etc, etc, etc. Will I keep up the blog? Yes, probably more of just a personal diary that’s publicly viewable. Will prob write mostly about my boring bike rides.
Other bike rides since being home…Decided once a week I would bike home from work, then bike to work the next day…should be a 20% savings in gas and mileage on the car, and 20 miles I ride every week. Depending on how I feel I can always add more miles to the ride. My first commute home was kinda in the rain. One of those rare summer rain showers, I was actually excited, love exercising in the rain, but on the bike it adds extra things you have to be aware of—breaking soon enough, water in the eyes or dirty steamed up sun glasses, not turning too fast on any white spot on the road (they are really slick and you can wipe out), puddles –there was a huge muddy water one near Zilker yesterday and I had a car behind me, thankfully w/ a nice driver who let me go thru it first and didn’t try to pass me up and splash me! By the time I got to exposition, the streets were dry, so sad, no rain at my house.
No probs on the way back into work today, for some reason the hills are smaller! My hill I struggled on a year ago, no problem, but of course there is room for improvement…like not switching into that granny gear and going faster! I somehow made it to work 2 mins faster than pre-France! That made me happy.
Amsterdam
So, I arrived 20 hours later than I was supposed to. I will say Amsterdam (ok, the hotel was nice, really nice). Getting onto the shuttle bus was kinda a pain, it was crowded and I wasn’t about to stand for 20 mins, so I pretended like I was riding the metro and pushed my way into the line, didn’t let a lady cut, and found a seat!
While waiting at the gate to leave Amsterdam, I start playing the “I hope I don’t have to sit next to that person game.” First ‘winner’ was “Miss Swine Flu” she kept coughing and blowing her nose, then she’d take a quick nap and start the coughing and blowing all over again. Then there was ‘Mr. What Not to Wear’ on an airplane or ever wear, especially if you are so furry! He was my biggest fear…heavy set 50 yr old man in a black wife beater shirt, fanny pack and to top it off, he was a laser hair removal ideal client! I think I actually said a little prayer asking not to sit next to him. Finally the plane started loading, I had lost track of Miss Swine Flu (I figured I had a bandana (ie face mask) and hand sanitizer, but I could not handle sitting next to Mr. What not to Wear, besides, he was easy to spot. He loaded way before I did, meaning he was either in the way back or misplaced in business class or first class, part of me wanted him in first class!
Once on the plane I find the correct seat and continue w/ the game, looking at each person coming down the aisle, hoping for someone who had showered w/in 12 hours and used deodorant. Finally, someone catches my eye and says, “I hate to have you move, but I need to get to my seat” I WON! I WON! I WON! First of all, she spoke English, second she was average size, third, she didn’t stink and she was polite. Turns out she was from Houston and had been traveling w/ her best friend for the past 10 days.
Pics from the last day are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85525&id=1038297795&l=010f8e24ad
While waiting at the gate to leave Amsterdam, I start playing the “I hope I don’t have to sit next to that person game.” First ‘winner’ was “Miss Swine Flu” she kept coughing and blowing her nose, then she’d take a quick nap and start the coughing and blowing all over again. Then there was ‘Mr. What Not to Wear’ on an airplane or ever wear, especially if you are so furry! He was my biggest fear…heavy set 50 yr old man in a black wife beater shirt, fanny pack and to top it off, he was a laser hair removal ideal client! I think I actually said a little prayer asking not to sit next to him. Finally the plane started loading, I had lost track of Miss Swine Flu (I figured I had a bandana (ie face mask) and hand sanitizer, but I could not handle sitting next to Mr. What not to Wear, besides, he was easy to spot. He loaded way before I did, meaning he was either in the way back or misplaced in business class or first class, part of me wanted him in first class!
Once on the plane I find the correct seat and continue w/ the game, looking at each person coming down the aisle, hoping for someone who had showered w/in 12 hours and used deodorant. Finally, someone catches my eye and says, “I hate to have you move, but I need to get to my seat” I WON! I WON! I WON! First of all, she spoke English, second she was average size, third, she didn’t stink and she was polite. Turns out she was from Houston and had been traveling w/ her best friend for the past 10 days.
Pics from the last day are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85525&id=1038297795&l=010f8e24ad
20090731
departure day
July 31, 2009 Departure day
I truly believe I have something wrong w/ my brain that prohibits me from learning any French. The funny part is I find myself knowing what I need to say in German and sometimes even Spanish! So, I did learn some German in HS and college and I must have picked up Spanish along the way. Anyhow, a ‘bonjour’ with a smile seems to go a long way. I will admit I didn’t put much effort into it…oh well.
I’m standing here at a recharge station practicing my typing. I could log in to the internet if Orange didn’t assign a stupid log in and pwd, I wrote it down once and then had firefox remember it, of course I have to access it from another page. Oh well, once I have this all typed I’ll pay to log on and upload so you have something to do today.
I got on the taxi at 8:15…flight leaves at 12:45, didn’t want to take a single chance at missing it! Crap, looked at the meter and it was already at 35 Euros and my terminal is nowhere to be seen (all I have is 40 Euros—thought it would be around 30 to get there)..thoughts start going thru my head, “don’t say anything until you are there.” “don’t panic you aren’t the fiarst idiot to do this.” “wonder if there is an ATM right inside the terminal” So, I didn’t panic, when we pulled up I explained my situation and the driver pulls out a credit card machine! Sweet!
Lug the bike and bag onto a cart, go inside, ‘Oh the lines!’ good thing I’m here 3.5 hours early! Find what I think is my line, move about 10 ft in 10 mins, finally find someone official who tells me I need to be at group 2, u-turn around, find group 2, yippee, short line! Weigh the bags, then I get to haul them to the oversize luggage drop off and go inside another room to pay 80 Euros to ship the bike back. Then thru security. I had to completely empty my camera bag—pull out each zoom, the gps, and of course the laptop. But I got to keep my shoes on! They were extremely nice in the security lines, not scary at all, I didn’t get that ‘you’re too slow feeling’ they even handed out ziplocks for the carry on liquids.
Found a bakery and spent more of my Euros on a macaroon, water & coke. I would so break the caffeine habit if I lived here…most places it is 3 Euros for a 50cl bottle—think that’s about $4.20. Maybe when I get back I need to put a $5.00 bill aside for each coke I drink..I’ll either save a lot of money or stop drinking them (the later would be the best!)
This is annoying can’t see anything about my flight…guess I’ll pay and upload …45 mins til I board, then Amsterdam, then Detroit (hopefully time for a chesseburger or a salad) before I fly into Austin!
Hope you enjoy today pics, I reverted back to my HS B&W fetish days!
It’s been quite an adventure...not sure what I’m going to do next or how I’m ever going to top this trip.
So, they are supposed to start boarding at 12:00, finally start at 12:47 for the flight that was to take off at 12:45, then I swear grandma was driving the plane when getting to the run way…going so slow, even stroke could have run faster than the plane! We taxi for about 20 mins…finally take off, finally land 2:28, taxi for another 15, my flight ‘leaves’ at 3, get off the plane and a lady is holding a sign saying go to T2, about 15 of us get to T2 to ‘transfer’ to the plane, sweet, maybe they are holding it...not so much! Get to T@ only to find out it left! Oh well.
I get re-booked on the 10:20 flight to Minneapolis tomorrow morning(too bad not enough time to se Barb, Lucy & Ellie, I'll wave as I fly over., they give me directions to get a hotel, find that, get the hotel and my ‘clean yourself up before you come back tomorrow bag’, now to go thru customs. I follow the signs saying you aren’t declaring anything, go thru the door and I’m outside by all the stores, no checks, no one to wave you thru, you just leave the baggage area like you were at ABIA. Darn it, no passport stamp. Decide to find the hotel shuttle bus area, find it and about the time I decide to go inside and get a t-shirt, the bus comes…guess I’ll sleep successfully tonight. Meet up w/ Tina from China who is a Piano grad student at Bowling Green in Ohio. We take each others pictures, then get to the hotel, end up eating a great dinner together.
Showered, used the stinky hotel soap, I hope the person sitting next to me tomorrow appreciates it!
Love the dry weave panties—2 mins under the hair dryer and whoa-la…clean underwear, of course I did wash them before drying (the smell good bag even had a tube of laundry detergent!) And the bag contained a XXL white t-shirt! Sweet!
Time for sleep, I really hope there's a good movie to sink my mind into on the way home!
When I booked this flight I thought to myself, you are going to get to spend the night in Amsterdam, only wish it wasn’t so far away! It’s like I’m at one of those road side hotels you see on the interstate in the middle of nowhere and wonder who stays there…now I know. Guess buying new jeans that fit will be put off until Sunday or Monday!
Cool pics are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84353&id=1038297795&l=85bfbcfbf5
I truly believe I have something wrong w/ my brain that prohibits me from learning any French. The funny part is I find myself knowing what I need to say in German and sometimes even Spanish! So, I did learn some German in HS and college and I must have picked up Spanish along the way. Anyhow, a ‘bonjour’ with a smile seems to go a long way. I will admit I didn’t put much effort into it…oh well.
I’m standing here at a recharge station practicing my typing. I could log in to the internet if Orange didn’t assign a stupid log in and pwd, I wrote it down once and then had firefox remember it, of course I have to access it from another page. Oh well, once I have this all typed I’ll pay to log on and upload so you have something to do today.
I got on the taxi at 8:15…flight leaves at 12:45, didn’t want to take a single chance at missing it! Crap, looked at the meter and it was already at 35 Euros and my terminal is nowhere to be seen (all I have is 40 Euros—thought it would be around 30 to get there)..thoughts start going thru my head, “don’t say anything until you are there.” “don’t panic you aren’t the fiarst idiot to do this.” “wonder if there is an ATM right inside the terminal” So, I didn’t panic, when we pulled up I explained my situation and the driver pulls out a credit card machine! Sweet!
Lug the bike and bag onto a cart, go inside, ‘Oh the lines!’ good thing I’m here 3.5 hours early! Find what I think is my line, move about 10 ft in 10 mins, finally find someone official who tells me I need to be at group 2, u-turn around, find group 2, yippee, short line! Weigh the bags, then I get to haul them to the oversize luggage drop off and go inside another room to pay 80 Euros to ship the bike back. Then thru security. I had to completely empty my camera bag—pull out each zoom, the gps, and of course the laptop. But I got to keep my shoes on! They were extremely nice in the security lines, not scary at all, I didn’t get that ‘you’re too slow feeling’ they even handed out ziplocks for the carry on liquids.
Found a bakery and spent more of my Euros on a macaroon, water & coke. I would so break the caffeine habit if I lived here…most places it is 3 Euros for a 50cl bottle—think that’s about $4.20. Maybe when I get back I need to put a $5.00 bill aside for each coke I drink..I’ll either save a lot of money or stop drinking them (the later would be the best!)
This is annoying can’t see anything about my flight…guess I’ll pay and upload …45 mins til I board, then Amsterdam, then Detroit (hopefully time for a chesseburger or a salad) before I fly into Austin!
Hope you enjoy today pics, I reverted back to my HS B&W fetish days!
It’s been quite an adventure...not sure what I’m going to do next or how I’m ever going to top this trip.
So, they are supposed to start boarding at 12:00, finally start at 12:47 for the flight that was to take off at 12:45, then I swear grandma was driving the plane when getting to the run way…going so slow, even stroke could have run faster than the plane! We taxi for about 20 mins…finally take off, finally land 2:28, taxi for another 15, my flight ‘leaves’ at 3, get off the plane and a lady is holding a sign saying go to T2, about 15 of us get to T2 to ‘transfer’ to the plane, sweet, maybe they are holding it...not so much! Get to T@ only to find out it left! Oh well.
I get re-booked on the 10:20 flight to Minneapolis tomorrow morning(too bad not enough time to se Barb, Lucy & Ellie, I'll wave as I fly over., they give me directions to get a hotel, find that, get the hotel and my ‘clean yourself up before you come back tomorrow bag’, now to go thru customs. I follow the signs saying you aren’t declaring anything, go thru the door and I’m outside by all the stores, no checks, no one to wave you thru, you just leave the baggage area like you were at ABIA. Darn it, no passport stamp. Decide to find the hotel shuttle bus area, find it and about the time I decide to go inside and get a t-shirt, the bus comes…guess I’ll sleep successfully tonight. Meet up w/ Tina from China who is a Piano grad student at Bowling Green in Ohio. We take each others pictures, then get to the hotel, end up eating a great dinner together.
Showered, used the stinky hotel soap, I hope the person sitting next to me tomorrow appreciates it!
Love the dry weave panties—2 mins under the hair dryer and whoa-la…clean underwear, of course I did wash them before drying (the smell good bag even had a tube of laundry detergent!) And the bag contained a XXL white t-shirt! Sweet!
Time for sleep, I really hope there's a good movie to sink my mind into on the way home!
When I booked this flight I thought to myself, you are going to get to spend the night in Amsterdam, only wish it wasn’t so far away! It’s like I’m at one of those road side hotels you see on the interstate in the middle of nowhere and wonder who stays there…now I know. Guess buying new jeans that fit will be put off until Sunday or Monday!
Cool pics are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84353&id=1038297795&l=85bfbcfbf5
20090730
Paris day 3: 20090729
Day 3 Paris: 20090729
Love the Metro, except for the pushing and cutting, but it is a great mode of transportation and so fun to figure out!
Got up early to eat breakfast w/ D&D, figure it would be funny and it was. Back to bed for an hour.
Finally found the sewer tour, very interesting and informative. Yet another good reason to go to college so you don’t have to work in a sewer! Funny how the sewer tour had the cleanest public restrooms!
Plan was to go to Notre Dame, but when I realized I was w/in walking distance < 2 miles, from the Rodin Museum, off I went. Stopped near the Eiffel tower and ate a power bar Courtney didn’t want to take home. Found a pretty flower garden, so I put my ‘Joyce’ hat on and took some pics. After looking at all Rodin’s sculptures, his models had nice butts…What has happened to the American butt and hamstrings! We all need to do more squats or something. Bring the butt muscles back!
Up next the Orsay, def more of my taste in art museums. Awesome sculptures (not so many weird penises) and an entire floor of Impressionism. Saw many Monet’s that I don’t recall seeing (like the ones of the church building in diff lights) and was able to compare several impressionist painters in the same room (of course their names escape me) but it was neat to see them side by side (thanks Llama for all the art ed on the side!)
Back to the Metro. Decided I would brave finding a restaurant in Bercy to eat at. Honestly, I haven’t been impressed w/ French food, but I never have been a food lover (sorry guys—you know who you are) and since I’m not really drinking, wine doesn’t sound that good, either. Why pay lots for something you don’t enjoy? So, I settled on a panini (one of the many styles of a French grilled cheese!)
I just want to know one thing, WHERE ARE THE VEGETABLES? I’m talking greens!
Here I stop eating all these white carbs in the states and now I’m craving good carbs! Hope it doesn’t take me too long to detox again! Laura, Nanez, & Sean you should be proud…after my cheeseburger in Detroit on Friday, I will be back to the good stuff!
One last day in Paris tomorrow—I’m thinking Catacombs, Notre Dame and something else, then shove clothes into the duffle bag, sleep, then have fun navigating airports.
I have learned so much…I loved the bike tour and can easily travel like that again, but this on your own in a huge city isn’t for me. I’ll have to say I’ve made the best of it, worn myself out daily, saw most of what I wanted to see, ate a crepe (once again, hate to disappoint, but it wasn’t that big of a deal) maybe I’ll stumble on those Macaroons tomorrow.
pics are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84221&id=1038297795&l=2797a6fdc5
Love the Metro, except for the pushing and cutting, but it is a great mode of transportation and so fun to figure out!
Got up early to eat breakfast w/ D&D, figure it would be funny and it was. Back to bed for an hour.
Finally found the sewer tour, very interesting and informative. Yet another good reason to go to college so you don’t have to work in a sewer! Funny how the sewer tour had the cleanest public restrooms!
Plan was to go to Notre Dame, but when I realized I was w/in walking distance < 2 miles, from the Rodin Museum, off I went. Stopped near the Eiffel tower and ate a power bar Courtney didn’t want to take home. Found a pretty flower garden, so I put my ‘Joyce’ hat on and took some pics. After looking at all Rodin’s sculptures, his models had nice butts…What has happened to the American butt and hamstrings! We all need to do more squats or something. Bring the butt muscles back!
Up next the Orsay, def more of my taste in art museums. Awesome sculptures (not so many weird penises) and an entire floor of Impressionism. Saw many Monet’s that I don’t recall seeing (like the ones of the church building in diff lights) and was able to compare several impressionist painters in the same room (of course their names escape me) but it was neat to see them side by side (thanks Llama for all the art ed on the side!)
Back to the Metro. Decided I would brave finding a restaurant in Bercy to eat at. Honestly, I haven’t been impressed w/ French food, but I never have been a food lover (sorry guys—you know who you are) and since I’m not really drinking, wine doesn’t sound that good, either. Why pay lots for something you don’t enjoy? So, I settled on a panini (one of the many styles of a French grilled cheese!)
I just want to know one thing, WHERE ARE THE VEGETABLES? I’m talking greens!
Here I stop eating all these white carbs in the states and now I’m craving good carbs! Hope it doesn’t take me too long to detox again! Laura, Nanez, & Sean you should be proud…after my cheeseburger in Detroit on Friday, I will be back to the good stuff!
One last day in Paris tomorrow—I’m thinking Catacombs, Notre Dame and something else, then shove clothes into the duffle bag, sleep, then have fun navigating airports.
I have learned so much…I loved the bike tour and can easily travel like that again, but this on your own in a huge city isn’t for me. I’ll have to say I’ve made the best of it, worn myself out daily, saw most of what I wanted to see, ate a crepe (once again, hate to disappoint, but it wasn’t that big of a deal) maybe I’ll stumble on those Macaroons tomorrow.
pics are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84221&id=1038297795&l=2797a6fdc5
20090728
Stage 21 in Paris
Wow, the entire city was in a buzz! I would have to equate it to one of the Bowl Championship Series games! People everywhere, security everywhere, party atmosphere, but once again, not as much alcohol as I would have thought.
We rode in on the high speed train from Nimes to Paris, awesome experience other than it was too early in the morning!
Once in Paris we hopped on another bus and went down to the Champs Elysees. They pointed us to the grandstands for those of us who had purchased seats. Thank you Susan for making that possible without it I'm sure I would have been stuck next to some really stinky and rude people, whereas w/ the seats, I was able to view the race around all the white hats. Wish I could have stayed against the rail, but that wasn't the case. I still ended up w/ some decent pics to remember the event by.
While waiting, they were showing some coverage on the big screen w/ Paul & Phil commenting...was so nice to hear English!
The Caravan came by but didn't throw any swag, I never did end up w/ a Bbox hat--Bbox is a telecommunications company in France, hopefully they will be an Affinegy customer one day.
After watching the riders whiz past 16 times (8 laps and I could see both sides) Cavandish managed to get backt to the front after having a flat right in front of us on the last lap to once again sprint to the finish and win the stage!
Then the riders made their way past us down to the buses, the winners rode by again, then back by after the presentations. Then the teams made their lap.
After waiting for Lance to go by, I made my way to the Metro and managed to successfully find the hotel. Quick shower to get ride of Le Tour dew, then Courtney finally made it back ..for some reason she walked w/ Dawn & Deb. someone told them it would only be 45 mins, 1.5 hours and 3 crepes later, they were back.
While I got a paper panama white hat as my souvenir, Courtney was given an official TdF shoe polish kit! Guess what her dad is getting!
Anyhow, pics are posted here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84063&id=1038297795&l=4ab88252d3
now to explore Paris! Personally I can't wait to get home!
We rode in on the high speed train from Nimes to Paris, awesome experience other than it was too early in the morning!
Once in Paris we hopped on another bus and went down to the Champs Elysees. They pointed us to the grandstands for those of us who had purchased seats. Thank you Susan for making that possible without it I'm sure I would have been stuck next to some really stinky and rude people, whereas w/ the seats, I was able to view the race around all the white hats. Wish I could have stayed against the rail, but that wasn't the case. I still ended up w/ some decent pics to remember the event by.
While waiting, they were showing some coverage on the big screen w/ Paul & Phil commenting...was so nice to hear English!
The Caravan came by but didn't throw any swag, I never did end up w/ a Bbox hat--Bbox is a telecommunications company in France, hopefully they will be an Affinegy customer one day.
After watching the riders whiz past 16 times (8 laps and I could see both sides) Cavandish managed to get backt to the front after having a flat right in front of us on the last lap to once again sprint to the finish and win the stage!
Then the riders made their way past us down to the buses, the winners rode by again, then back by after the presentations. Then the teams made their lap.
After waiting for Lance to go by, I made my way to the Metro and managed to successfully find the hotel. Quick shower to get ride of Le Tour dew, then Courtney finally made it back ..for some reason she walked w/ Dawn & Deb. someone told them it would only be 45 mins, 1.5 hours and 3 crepes later, they were back.
While I got a paper panama white hat as my souvenir, Courtney was given an official TdF shoe polish kit! Guess what her dad is getting!
Anyhow, pics are posted here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84063&id=1038297795&l=4ab88252d3
now to explore Paris! Personally I can't wait to get home!
20090727
Stage 20 20090725
I wanted to ride a short ride up the route to get a better biew of the race, but by the time we got to the vineyard (where we were eating and watching the race) the race directors had called our director to let us know the road to Mt. Ventoux was closed 100 km winds at the top, they weren’t allowing anyone thru, not even just 10 km, so I hung around in the little village near the TerraVentoux vineyards w/ Paula, Tim, Maura & Patrick. This also meant that the riders who signed up for D-day (doing the stage like the pros on the same day complete w/ full support, radios, etc could not do the climb up Ventoux.. bummer for them) Then back to the vineyard to eat our light lunch, drink wine and wait for the stage
Pics are here,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=83955&id=1038297795&l=49969704b9
Long ride back to the hotel in Nimes. Once there, quick shower then to dinner. At the end of dinner they gave out awards, yellow jersey went to Spencer…pretty hard core rider. Spencer had to give a speech and he was saying how his wife and best friend put this trip together for his 50th and how at one point since they were talking so much he thought they were having an affair. Courtney won the most km award cuz she was always ready to get out there and ride ride ride everyday, then they announced the award for the most determined rider and they gave it to me for my efforts up Cole de Romme. On the way up Romme, I ran into the former pro cyclist, Nick Gates. He wanted to take my back pack for me (it had the camera, etc, cuz I was going to hang out near the top to get pics) I told him that I brought it I will carry it, then I asked him to take my pic of me suffering. Then when I made it back to the bus, he thought to himself, "I'll be damn, she made it to the top! Good for her!" Then I had to give a speech. I was starting to tear up on the way up there, already. I accepted the bottle of wine & yellow TDF shirt w/ “Kim a Unsung Hero, Bikestyles Staff 2009” written on it, then they made me give a speech. So I start w/ “Some of you already know this, but most of you don’t, 20 months ago, I had a stroke and was paralyzed on the left side. I had to relearn to walk, etc.” I look at Dawn (fellow Texan and she’s crying..great). I pause to compose myself and Michelle or Courtney says, “it’s ok, go on” so I tell a little bit more, then about how I was determined to get to the top of Romme. So I end it with and this vacation is my celebration tour. As I walk back to my seat everyone stands up and applauds.
2 days later I still tear up when I think about Romme. As much as I feel that I have accepted the stroke, I don’t think I will ever completely get over it, I mean I can deal w/ the day to day issues (struggling to put my hair in a pony tail, having to constantly backspace when typing, really force myself to smile in pics so my left side isn’t drooping) but, it could be so much worse, so I can’t complain, esp when within the past month, 2 friends of friends have had strokes at very young ages 27 & 34, and I was very lucky. I can have my moments of emotions, just wish they would leave so I can figure out how to get to the Louvre! 30 more mins and I’ll figure it out.
Will update about the white hats and the final stage tomorrow!
Pics are here,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=83955&id=1038297795&l=49969704b9
Long ride back to the hotel in Nimes. Once there, quick shower then to dinner. At the end of dinner they gave out awards, yellow jersey went to Spencer…pretty hard core rider. Spencer had to give a speech and he was saying how his wife and best friend put this trip together for his 50th and how at one point since they were talking so much he thought they were having an affair. Courtney won the most km award cuz she was always ready to get out there and ride ride ride everyday, then they announced the award for the most determined rider and they gave it to me for my efforts up Cole de Romme. On the way up Romme, I ran into the former pro cyclist, Nick Gates. He wanted to take my back pack for me (it had the camera, etc, cuz I was going to hang out near the top to get pics) I told him that I brought it I will carry it, then I asked him to take my pic of me suffering. Then when I made it back to the bus, he thought to himself, "I'll be damn, she made it to the top! Good for her!" Then I had to give a speech. I was starting to tear up on the way up there, already. I accepted the bottle of wine & yellow TDF shirt w/ “Kim a Unsung Hero, Bikestyles Staff 2009” written on it, then they made me give a speech. So I start w/ “Some of you already know this, but most of you don’t, 20 months ago, I had a stroke and was paralyzed on the left side. I had to relearn to walk, etc.” I look at Dawn (fellow Texan and she’s crying..great). I pause to compose myself and Michelle or Courtney says, “it’s ok, go on” so I tell a little bit more, then about how I was determined to get to the top of Romme. So I end it with and this vacation is my celebration tour. As I walk back to my seat everyone stands up and applauds.
2 days later I still tear up when I think about Romme. As much as I feel that I have accepted the stroke, I don’t think I will ever completely get over it, I mean I can deal w/ the day to day issues (struggling to put my hair in a pony tail, having to constantly backspace when typing, really force myself to smile in pics so my left side isn’t drooping) but, it could be so much worse, so I can’t complain, esp when within the past month, 2 friends of friends have had strokes at very young ages 27 & 34, and I was very lucky. I can have my moments of emotions, just wish they would leave so I can figure out how to get to the Louvre! 30 more mins and I’ll figure it out.
Will update about the white hats and the final stage tomorrow!
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