stage 11 - the Tour de France

We got up really early this morning to drive to see Stage 11 of the Tour de France. Someone at Paul's work told us where to go and how to get there - big help when you are clueless. We packed the car with food, blankets, chairs, directions, and our Texas flag (actually it's a bandana) tied to a croquet mallet handle. Off into the Alps we went. When we got to the course, from the base of the mountain upward, every little nook and cranny was taken with cars, campers, and lots of people. Once we got to the very short downhill area, we found lots of room so we parked the car. It was about 9:30 am and we knew that the racers would come through around 3 or 4pm. OK.... so we took a walk to the town Valloire. It was full of people and there was a festive feeling in the town. We stayed there a while and debated whether or not to stay there to watch. Around lunchtime we walked back to the car to eat and decided to stay put near the car. We were standing behind the car with our Texas flag flying and 2 guys walked up and sheepishly did the "hook em horns" hand sign. They probably weren't sure if we were really Texans, but we cheered and said hello and started talking to them. They were from Austin.

The mountain was full of serious bikers who wanted to ride the actual course. It was fun watching all of them go up the mountain. One biker had on a Texas jersey, a bike helmet with huge longhorns sticking out on each side, and a Texas flag flying behind him. I was so shocked to see him that I didn't even think to get a picture.

Just before the racers came by, the sponsor vehicles came through. It looked like an "art-car parade". Vehicles in the shape of rubber duckies, teacups, pigs, coffeepots, and many things that I couldn't even identify. They were throwing goodies, just like at Mardi Gras. Then after those things went by, the team support vehicles came, then the security guys, and then finally the racers. It didn't go by as fast as I thought it would. There was plenty of time to see them.
It was really, really exciting. We saw Lance go by in 7th position. My camera got the first 3 leaders, then Lance's 3 teammates, but not him. Darn!