Finally the last part of my month long trip to France. I'm trying hard to keep the stories brief, but there is so much to tell!
After IM France, Jon and I set off for a few days to drive along the Italian coast. After a few gelattos, glasses of wine and the Cinque Terre, I was starting to feel a bit better about what had happened at the race. I was also plotting out what my next race would be in an attempt to just keep looking ahead and not behind.
As we made our way from Italy back to the south of France and the Pyrennes, we got the pleasure of spending the evening with our Tucson friends, Karin and Rodger. They have a great place in the country where its beautiful and quiet. It was good to get a nice run in and great to get caught up with friends!
On to the Pyrennes. Wow. These mountains are spectacular! We were riding in Ax Troix Domaines, over to Col de Mente, Peyresourde, Aspin, and on and on, but the biggie was the ride up the Col du Tourmalet where Jon and I exchanged our wedding vows! What a spectacular climb and an even more beautiful day to do it! We had a few other travelers at the top that were more than happy to take our picture, congratulate us, and even one guy offered us some of his baggie full of trail mix as a wedding present. I even reused one of my old race numbers, wrote 'Just Married' on the back of it, and pinned it onto Jon's back. It was hilarious!
After IM France, Jon and I set off for a few days to drive along the Italian coast. After a few gelattos, glasses of wine and the Cinque Terre, I was starting to feel a bit better about what had happened at the race. I was also plotting out what my next race would be in an attempt to just keep looking ahead and not behind.
As we made our way from Italy back to the south of France and the Pyrennes, we got the pleasure of spending the evening with our Tucson friends, Karin and Rodger. They have a great place in the country where its beautiful and quiet. It was good to get a nice run in and great to get caught up with friends!
On to the Pyrennes. Wow. These mountains are spectacular! We were riding in Ax Troix Domaines, over to Col de Mente, Peyresourde, Aspin, and on and on, but the biggie was the ride up the Col du Tourmalet where Jon and I exchanged our wedding vows! What a spectacular climb and an even more beautiful day to do it! We had a few other travelers at the top that were more than happy to take our picture, congratulate us, and even one guy offered us some of his baggie full of trail mix as a wedding present. I even reused one of my old race numbers, wrote 'Just Married' on the back of it, and pinned it onto Jon's back. It was hilarious!
We stayed in some great B&Bs, ate great food, drank great wine and just relaxed and took it all in.
Then came the day we watched Stage 7 of the Tour, the first mountaintop finish. Now, I've seen a few stages before and I always love taking in the sheer chaos and madness that is the Tour. It's basically a rolling circus through France!
We had a great spot at the 1k to go mark and got to see all our favorites creep on by up the hill. Great fun. How impressive are these guys to do this day in, day out, for 4 weeks? Geesh.
Time was coming to an end for Jon's trip and we had to say goodbyes for another week or so while I continued on to the Alpes to ride as a guide for Reilly Cycling Tours. These are a great group of people and you shouldn't pass the opportunity to ride on one of their tours to France, Italy, Switzerland or even Ireland! Stories from that week of touring to come. Keep in mind I'm still riding a borrowed bike through all of this....! :) All this climbing is helping me choose my next race venue...
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