Howdy sports fans. Welcome to Paris, site of the finish of the Tour de France. On Saturday morning, I took a TGV (tres grande vitesse = very great speed) train from Bordeaux to Paris to meet Jane, Renee, and Abby at the airport in France. I got there around 12:15 and the girls arrived just at 1pm. They were a bit tired, as none of them had slept very well on the way. We got their luggage and then took various trains to downtown Paris, and then walked a few blocks to our hotel. The hotel rooms in Europe are usually small, and the Hotel Astor was no different. We all showered and then went to dinner with Taylor's friend Gabe Kennedy, who had also just arrived. Initially, we had planned on having Taylor come up to Paris, but our plans had changed along the way and he had an important workout to do on Saturday at the velodrom in Bordeaux, so he and Connie stayed there.
Sunday was the finish of the Tour on the Champs Elysees, and we had some breakfast and then relaxed a little before heading toward the finish area. We were lucky to have some media passes that gave us great access. I had to meet up with a couple of folks while we were there, and got all of the work done while enjoying the finish. We stood at the place de la Concorde for the first 3 laps (of 8), and then walked down to 100 meters before the finish - and just in front of the Versus TV truck. Yes, we saw Frankie Andreu, Bob Roll, Phil Ligget, and Paul Sherwin there. The finish was fast, and Geert Steegemans of the Quick Step team won. We watched as the riders returned toward the team trucks. Some looked happy, some thrashed, and others in between. It was overall a pretty amazing day. I had carried a GPS (a sweet Garmin 705, no less) throughout the day...and by nightfall after dinner we had walked just over 20-miles in total! Attached is a picture of Abby "driving" the Garmin-Chipotle team bus...she was pretty jazzed!
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