Our last day of riding in the Alps as well as Stage 14 viewing took us to the boarder of Italy up the Col d'Izoard, the highest elevation on this year's Tour at 2360 meters (over 7000 ft) and while the gradient inclines may not have seemed as austere as previous days, they were...and long! Totaling 19 kilometers in length, the first 11 averaged 5-6%, but in the last 8 the average gradient rose to 8.3%, at times pushing 9. Many riders prefer shorter & steeper climbs to the longer & more stringent gradient climbs--understandable! During my efforts of this storied Tour climb, who would I come across but DiDi Senft, the famous "Tour Devil"
(http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didi_Senft) who has graced the Tour "unofficially" for almost twenty years & become a Tour icon legend. After passing the 1 kilometer marker to the Izoard apex, I made my way through the growing crowd of fans to the last of 5 short harpin turns, stood up from the bike saddle and proudly "danced on the pedals" the final 600 meters to the summit, another cycling mecca conquered...
(http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didi_Senft) who has graced the Tour "unofficially" for almost twenty years & become a Tour icon legend. After passing the 1 kilometer marker to the Izoard apex, I made my way through the growing crowd of fans to the last of 5 short harpin turns, stood up from the bike saddle and proudly "danced on the pedals" the final 600 meters to the summit, another cycling mecca conquered...
After venturing my way back down the mountain to our group's viewing point, we settled in for our afternoon lunch & live stage viewing of the Tour, breaking from our chairs only for the spectacle of the Tour Caravan then finally the pro peloton passing us within inches; several of our Thomson support crew speak several languages and spoke directly to specific riders as they passed, Alejandro Valverde being the most notable, many of who responded & glanced at our group for some great photos. Our vantage point this day was much farther away from the finish than the previous day's Stage requiring us to drive two hours back to the hotel following the conclusion of the stage reducing our ride time a bit for the day, but having put in the effort of climbing the Izoard, the respite was very welcomed! It was also quite welcoming to have so many cycling fans surround our tent viewing area & join us in cheering the peloton and exchanging promotional "swag" tossed from the Tour Caravan--at that moment, the joy of sharing the bike community overcame any language barrier present as strangers from across the planet stood toasting the racers, the Tour, and life...
Arriving back to our hotel in Albertville, now almost 930 in the evening, the entire entourage of Thomson clients & crew kicked into packing mode in order to be prepared for the return trip to the Lyons airport early the next morning; as an added incentive, the hotel hosted a party for the group with a wonderful dinner (every dinner this week was wonderful!) of lamb, roast vegetables, and creme brulee', inspiring either some highly efficient packing methodologies or defaulting to lackadaisical logistics; I saved my "true" packing effort for the overnight stay at the Lyons airport hotel & focused on getting my bike packed as secure as possible--I'm hoping the British Airways attendants on the boarding side of my flight here were not trained by TSA...
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