Six victories in a goddamn row.

Call it predictable if you want. Call it ìan easy winî if youíre the French press. Or call it ìthe least of my worriesî if youíre Bernard Hinault and youíve just lost your exclusive status in the ìclub of five.î But how you can be anything other than amazed with a guy who pulls off six consecutive years of domination in the Tour de France is beyond me. It simply takes an iron will to spend six straight years of fighting off competitors, attacks, illness, doping accusations, and the inevitable demons of self-doubtónot to mention father time. But the boy has done it. And come out stronger than ever.

Technically, this year his margin of victory was 6:19. One of his slimmest yet. But if you give him back the :19 he lost in the last day due to the simple break in the peloton, then give him back the time gain he should have had from the team time trial victory, plus maybe the extra :08 time bonus he should have had when he let Basso win stage 11, he would have won by over 8 minutes this year. Which would have given him his largest victory margin yet, which I think would best reflect his performance this year.

While the actual dayís ride was nothing terribly remarkableótypical champagne drinking, followed by hand-shaking and photo-shoots, a quick scolding of impudent Simeoni, then Dutch Tom Boonen getting the deserved victory sprint down the Champs Elysees in front of last yearís winner JP Nazonóthe meaning behind the dayís final result is rather spectacular. Not just because itís an incredible athlete showcasing his incredible discipline and ability. But because weíre seeing an athlete whoís also a man of conscience, a man of honor, and a man who cares as much about the sport as he does his own place in it. If you were watching the Tour these last few weeks, you probably saw the yellow wristbands on spectators, fans, commentators everywhere. About five to six million of them, all commemorating support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the fight against cancer. But what you may not have seen, was that this same wristband was being worn on the wrists of about 40 other cyclists who were competing against Lance Armstrong. Against, yet aligned with his mission and not afraid to show it on their arms. What other athlete in what other sport could draw such an action from his rivals? Which football player would ever initiate such a rallying cry, yet alone get half of their competitors to go along with them? Which basketball player could bring about such a barrier-breaking phenomenon? I canít think of any. Not even the mighty Jordan or honorable Tiger Woods could I see such leadership from. And thatís what weíre seeing here. If you can see beyond his dating a rock star, allow him to make his $17 million a year in endorsements, and accept that just maybe his divorce last year was actually the right thing to do in that situation, then maybe you can see him as a truly great public figure, not just a guy who happens to ride his bike faster than anyone else on the planet. To all his critics, I say: you try carrying all those pressures on your shoulder and see how well you do biking through the Alps for a couple weeks.

And yes, also that day, my friends and I got in one more ride in the Alps. Yes, we struggled up the 20 mile long climb to the Col du Glandon, featuring far more 12% stretches than I ever care to see again, and yes we nearly fell off our bikes by the end of our 75 mile jaunt. We would have even kept going another 25 or so if a certain Texan wasnít scheduled to ride across the Champs Elysees for his 6th win on TV about the same time. We went out and put in our last dayís effort just as he did, ìfeelingî the Tour, drinking in our last few drops of the topography. And it was terribly anticlimactic in a sense. It was hard to accept that this was the last day of the Tour. That there would be no more 6 hr rides to follow on TV. No more hors categorie climbs to run with Lance on. No more flat stages where some GC rider would inevitably crash out. And no more uncertainty. Lance had removed most of that by about stage 12 when his rivals were already falling off the back. And it was damn hard to take. Because, as much as we all wanted the boy to stomp on his rivals, we wanted another nail-biter like last year. But what we got instead was a virtuoso performance. A man at the top of his game, showing us how itís truly done when you get it all rightófitness, psychology, equipment, team, timing, and luck.

And it was magical to behold.

It seems that while Lance may well be capable of a 7th win next year on the Discovery Channel team, he may decide to finally focus on the Giro díItalia or Vuelta a Espana out of respect for the sport to answer the criticism that heís focused on only one event for far too long. And while, frankly, six Tour victories is unbelievable, Iím not sure what a seventh would accomplish, other than just rub it in. So letís see him try for a Giro. And if the boy fails, so be it. It would be nice to see him as a mortal again--perhaps evenn further ingratiate him with his fans. And if thereís one thing Lance clearly likes, itís new challenges. So have at it Lance. Wherever you go, weíll be sure to chase you down.

Until next year,

-Mark

Photos:

Glandon looms in the distance:

W/ George Putnam:

JJ & Todd on the Glandon.

Worth the climb.

Co trip-leader Jason Webster raises a glass in Lance's honor:

On one hand, itís become a bit boring to watch Lance throw down yet another beating. Yet on the other itís incredibly redemptive to see this oft-doubted 32 yr old have his strongest year yet. He went on record in the papers the other day saying, ìIím not giving anything away this year. If I think I can win, I will.î And win he has. Todayís victory gives him his fifth stage win this Tourósixth if you count the team time trial, and almost his 7th if Fabian Cancellara hadnít snagged the prologue.

And good on you, Lance. Youíve been generous enough over the yearsógiving a win to Pantani, letting Jan come across the line in front of you, touting the teamís strength over your own, not to mention spending half of your free time fighting cancer with your foundation and charity work. So go ahead: take whatís rightfully yours. To the victor go the spoils. If the rest of the world wants to accuse you of doping without evidence, to claim youíre washed up because youíre too old, to report that youíre getting soft on donuts, to say youíre distracted by your rock star girlfriend (and I donít know how you werenítÖ), then they can serve themselves up a nice big slice of humble pie as you prove them all wrong. Youíve had your share of bad luck (what with a life-threatening disease and all), so go ahead and drink down that record sixth straight victory. And may the world know that no one even came close this year. Youíve taken your place in the mythos of cycling, and this is one 34 yr old who felt like a kid all over again watching you do it.

Meanwhile, back in reality, our dwindling troupe of 10-15 remaining cyclists tackled another little 55 mile jaunt with an Alpen climb in mid-route. We rolled down the valley towards Alpe díHuez, but took a turn south to head up a nice 8% grade climb to St. Christophe. The road wound up along a mountain river carrying bluish water that had been glacial snow only minutes before. It was like cycling alongside a Monet for a few hours. And I must have snapped a good 100 photos on the way up, in between cresting my anaerobic threshold a few dozen times. Iíve now ridden eight days straight, but I only rode about an hour and a half yesterday, so I was feeling fairly strong today. I went ìau blocî up the 3500 ft climb to St. Christophe, but then carried legs of lead the rest of the day, unable to drain them of lactic acid. Itís a tricky battle keeping your legs fresh throughout multiple days of Alpe-climbing, and I have no idea who guys like Lance, Sastre, and all the other GC rock stars keep on top day after day. You really begin to empathize with these guys after a week or two or riding over here. Sure, genetic superiority, years of training, the best equipment, and a few dozen soigneurs donít hurt, but it must take some judicial allotment of your efforts as well. Itís no coincidence Lanceís domestiques all have their good and bad daysóAzevedo on top one day, Floyd anotheróyou just canít keep it up every day.

Unless youíre Lance Armstrong. In which case your legs will do whatever you damn well want them to.

So another fantastic Tour in the memory banks. My group will spend another day in the saddle tomorrow. While most of our 34 person group will have left for various airports throughout Europe, the remaining dozen will tackle Col du Glandon (the first big climb of the monstrous stage 17 the other day) before returning to the lodge for a final feasting on whatever meat and wine remain in the building. After watching the final stroll into the Champs Elysees on TV tomorrow afternoon, itís high time to pack up the bikes (quel dommage!) then head off to the Geneva airport for me, JJ, Rachelle, Todd early Monday morning.

Hope youíve all enjoyed reading along this year, and that youíve been as electrified by this yearís tour as we have. May your own personal heroes inspire new adventures for you as well.

Bon chance, et au revoir.

-Mark

photos from the rd to St. Christophe:

Weíre all still shaking our heads over here. Four victories in five stages? The four toughest stages of this yearís Tour, and he takes every single one? And this one in a sprint? Not even leaving a single smidgen of honor for the other racers to fight over?

Uh-uh. He came here to do one thing this year: destroy everyone.

And thatís what heís done. If the French were a bit sick of him winning before, this year will drive them mad with jealousy. But this year, itís almost become comical how unbeatable heís been. The other racers are clearly demoralized. Psychologically ruined. Done. Cooked and waiting for next year to try once again.

We spent the day chasing (or pre-Chasing) Lance again. We got an early start (7am) in order to make it to the Col de la Madelaine before the peloton arrived. We climbed the monstrous Col du Galibier (summit of almost 9000 ft) and then enjoyed a stupefying 36k descent, dropping 6800 vertical feet in about an hour. Unfortunately, we barely got to the Madelaine in time. The publicity caravan arrived 40 minutes early, which was exactly how much time weíd budgeted to climb up halfway to watch, and instead the Gendarmes forced us off our bikes to walk. Half our group just ducked into the nearest bar to watch on TV and then dart out onto the street when the peloton would pass, while the other half decided to pick our way up the mountain, getting back on our bikes whenever the Gendarmes werenít looking. Iím sure we looked like the ugly Americans, disobediently cycling up the col in the ìno movementî time between the caravan and the race, but we only cycled when there were no cars or motorbikes moving along. We picked a spot, then scrambled up the road to fetch water and sandwiches. But the peloton arrived a good 40 minutes early, too, and before we could eat, we found ourselves running with the racers again. At this stage in the race (less than halfway through), a few were off the front trying to gain King of the Mountain points: Simoni and a CSC rider were in the front, with Moreau and Virenque only a minute behind. Two minutes later, the peloton rolled through with Pavel Pardnos driving the Blue Train up front. Lance was safely tucked in behind George Hincapie about four riders back. I ran with them for another ten second sprint, snapping a good dozen photos (in complete focus, this time) before the road got too crowded to continue.

After the mayhem subsided, a few of us descended the Madelaine for a beer in a pub with a TV.

It was clear at this point that Postal was just trying to limit the leaderís gains. A few hours lateróafter our group had returned to the lodge courtesy of a 30 seat bus (with no air conditioning), we watched the fish on TV. At this point, the leaders had been reeled back in by the heroic efforts of one Floyd Landis, tugging Lance and about four stragglers along. The final 15k was a decent, and weíd all hoped that Lance would help Floyd get the win, but despite a strong descent by Floyd, soon Ullrich (who is normally not a strong descender) had bridged up and Lance would be forced to keep him or the other GC contenders from the win and time bonus. With about 1k to go, Kloden launched a staggering attack that looked sure to stick. We really didnít think the others would catch up once Kloden got a good 50 meter gap. But suddenly Lance attacked with only maybe 250 m to go, andówho knows how he did itóthe sucker bridged it and got the win at the line. In a sprint. The guy can truly do it all: climb, time-trial, sprint, you name it, heíll serve it up.

So four wins in five stages. Looks like this will be his most crushing Tour victory yet. Only one more flat stage tomorrow, then the final TT in BesanÁon, which Iíll be surprised if he doesnít win. Perhaps Jan will salvage at least a stage win by taking that TT, but I think Lance will be riding such a wave by then that no one will touch him. Crossing the line today, he looks like heís having the time of his life. All those who predicted that at 32 he was losing his form are eating a nice slice of crow about now.

Given the difficulty of getting online here in the middle of the Alps, I probably wonít have another update until after the final TT. Weíll be riding in to Italy to summit Sestriere tomorrow, then watch the TT in the nearest bar. For Sunday, some of our group go home, a few will trek off to Paris to see the final cruise along the Champs Elysees, and a handful of us will trek over the Col du Glandon for our final ride of our journey.

Hope this Tour has been as inspiring to you as it has to me. Our group is having a wonderful time and couldn't ask for more. I think weíre seeing sports history here, and I predict the cover of Time Magazine will say as much in a weekís time.

Cheers. And thanks for the fine show, Lance.

photos:
w: Sue on Galibier:

W/ Geoff Rogers on Galibier:

Publicite caravan:

The Blue Trqin on Madelaine

Chasing the big man:

Ready & waiting

We figured this was going to be one of the biggest days in cycling history, and the event did not disappoint. Along with an estimated 1 million of our closest international cycling friends beside us on the 21 switchbacks, we watched a staggering battle of wills up on the most famous climb in France. Our posse of 19 Lance-chasers suffered through the necessary 5am launch time to make it up there and witness the carnage. 13 hours later, Lance had won the day and taken his third victory in the last four stages.

Only 8 hrs to go

A few of us speculated that Lance might save himself for tomorrow痴 16,000 vertical ft stage and perhaps only get 3rd or 4th today, but hell no: he blew the mountain to pieces with a scorching win. A one-minute margin of victory over a surprisingly strong Jan Ullrich, and another two minutes over Basso, who was caught in the final few k by the maelstrom that was Lance Armstrong. Amazingly enough, Lance痴 actual time up the 13.8k climb was only 37:36, a full :46 off of Pantani痴 record, and only the 4th fastest ascent in history (after Marco痴 three record times). But it was a brutally hot day, and I知 not sure Marco痴 times were recorded after having won the day before, too, as was the case with Lance.

Nice view

The nice thing about today痴 event was that we got to see cyclists pass us for three and a half hours straight, whereas normally you only get maybe 30 minutes as a specatator even on the most spread out stages. They launched the riders in reverse-order of GC standings, sending them every minute until the final 20, which went at two-minute intervals to allow cushions for any potential screw-ups. Amazingly enough, I don稚 think there were any fan-interference stories, although there sure could have been with that many lunatics up there. Thankfully, I guess the fans were all pretty aware of the fine line between spectating and sabotaging a rider痴 day, and even those of us who decided to run managed to stay out of the way. Of the 19 of us in our group, about five of us ran with the riders as they came through宥eorge, Floyd, Eki, Leipheimer, and Julich, etc, but I知 not sure I will do it again in the future. The fan density is getting higher each year, and I think we池e really starting to crowd the riders this year. I ran with Lance for about ten seconds, and, as much as I was thrilled to cheer him on, I was equally terrified of tripping and becoming The Idiot Who Ruined Lance痴 Sixth Win.

Ekimov in action

Throughout the day, you could feel the drama gradually swell in anticipation. We had left our lodge 30k away at about 5am and made it to our viewing spot between switchbacks 10-9 (switchback #1 being at the top) by 8am. The race would not even begin for another 6.5 hrs, so we all changed into more comfortable clothes, hung our bikes on a rock wall behind our car, and spent half a day walking around and talking with other fans from Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, etc. A few of us scoured copies of L脱quipe to catch up on the details of yesterday痴 stage while we waited for the mayhem to begin.

Levi on the move

After the usual publicity caravan of sponsor痴 Disney-esque cars cruised through dropping off promotional trinkets, the first racer was off at 2:30. It took most of them about 22-24 minutes to reach our corner about halfway up, and so we could tell who was going well given the time split between their start time (from start sheets we壇 purchased from official vans) and their time to our switchback. About fifteen times, one rider was being caught by another right on our switchback. And the catch-ee was none-too-pleased to discover being a minute or two down already. Our spot was truly the center of purgatory for the riders; they壇 burned through their initial adrenaline surge and were now trying to dig into their 都uitcase of courage� (as Paul Sherwin would say) for some fuel to make it to the top. They were all soaked with sweat, gasping heavily, and wore faces you normally only see in horror movies. It was pure theatre.

Angry Jan

Setting my camera on burst mode, I ran with about a dozen different riders, snapping photos while yelling 鄭llez, Allez!� with everyone else. It was a bit tricky to get accurate photos while running, since you were just aiming the camera in their general direction while using your eyes to navigate around other fans. In the end, I got a few great ones, but most of mine of Lance suffered since from the low light due to the clouds that moved in just as Lance began. As Lance approached, we knew he already had the fastest intermediate time, so the fan noise was deafening. He got to our switchback at under 19 minutes, I think, and I could barely keep up with him in a full sprint, especially given the dozen other guys trying to run with him in my section. After ten electrifying seconds of running and yelling 哲o chain!� I bailed off to the side thankful that I壇 stayed out of his warpath. There痴 a ghost-like blur to my shots of him, but it somehow seems appropriate considering how damn fast the maniac was going. Right after he passed, along came the camera-motorbike, then Johan and Sheryl Crow, then about a hundred Gendarmes on motorbikes, and finally a whirlwind of dust and wind from the helicopter above. It was truly as if a tornado had just blown through town.

Here he comes

Lance 2

Lance 3

Within thirty seconds, every fan on the road bolted off to the nearest R.V. with a TV to watch the final results tally in. Twenty minutes later, he壇 become the only one to crack the 40 minute barrier, laying down a 39:41 and effectively putting the nails on the coffin containing other rider痴 GC aspirations. History had been made, and Lance had shown once again he had no come here this year to get 2nd.

After some celebratory high-fives, our group gathered up our gear and food, and began our descent with the other million fans. (Actually many would have to spend the night since they壇 driven up there and cars would not be allowed to leave until noon the next day to allow for the team vehicles to have free reign.) Three hours later after a tricky decent and a beautiful mountain traverse we were back at our Lodge, liver-deep in a few bottles of red wine.

Tomorrow, the Tour heads into its most feared stage of all: the cruise from Boug D-Oisans to Le Grand Bournard, featuring the Col de la Madelaine (where we値l watch) and six other cols adding up to 16,000 ft of climbing. Watch for Postal to just sustain tomorrow: we don稚 anticipate Lance needing to gain any more time on his rivals. Basso is now nearly 4:00 in arrears and fading. But a Simoni or Heras (disappointingly 61st today) might go off the front to save some face with a stage win. Stay tuned.

On the way to Villard de Lans, the GC contenders went firin� off the front and left the mortals gasping for air. By days end, Voeckler痴 legs began to finally buckle under the pressure of defending the Maillot Jaune and would find himself drifting off the back like his bike were made of lead. And while it wasn稚 a surprise that Lance would gain those measly 22 seconds and take the jersey from Voeckler痴 back, it was a bit of a shock to see Voeckler lose more than 9 and a half minutes. But it was perhaps even more of a surprise to see Lance go for yet another sprint win. He痴 said in the past that it痴 good to not be too greedy in the Tour, to let others get victories to satisfy the team sponsors, but it appears this year he痴 not showing any mercy. So, as the group of Lance/ Basso/ Ullrich/ Kloden, and (good to finally see him here) Levy Leipheimer approached the summit, Lance hit the thrusters from the back of the group and dropped them all. Only Basso could follow, losing by what looked like 2 seconds to us, although he was given the same time, then Ullrich & Kloden gasped their way in, and finally the toasted Leiphemer grabbed a respectable fifth. Levy痴 effort would move him into fifth overall, while Lance痴 20 second time bonus for winning would raise his lead over Basso to 1:25. Still a bit close, and Lance was sure to remind reporters in the post-race interview that 渡othing痴 over yet.�

The speculation on the street, however, is that, while Basso will probably cork a top 3 result tomorrow on Alpe d辿uez, he will undoubtedly lose a few minutes on the final TT in Besancon. So, barring disaster, Lance痴 sixth win looks fairly bankable. In fact, even after his first win two days ago, L脱quipe reported that they polled all 20 director sportifs from the 20 teams racing the Tour, and every single won predicted Lance to win羊ather remarkable with still 8 stages to go. They also predicted Basso to hold 2nd, and Kloden to retain 3rd. Only one director (probably from T-Mobile) predicted Ullrich on the podium, and that was for 3rd. So poor Jan; he must be thinking heavily about a career change around now. If I were 2nd six times, and then slipped back to 4th or 5th, I might call up DeVry and look into a good plumbing program.

As for our group, we decided to take a jaunt up Alpe d辿uez a day early to actually be able to ride it 渡ormally,� meaning without the estimated 1 million fans strewn across the road. However, a full day before the big TT, the road was already littered with insane fans. Roads were painted with racer痴 names, RVs were parked everywhere, flags were hung from rock walls, bottles of wine were being poured, Italians were teasing the Germans, and everyone was turning this race of all races into a Dionysian celebration of life. There wasn稚 a single space available on the whole 13.8km climb for a car (which is why our group drove one up there the night before with a day痴 supplies for our TT watching crew

So we had a great 30k descent to the foot of the Alpe, then the 14k climb (the actual TT tomorrow will add 1.7k of flats through town to the front just so the racers can get a bit of a warm up). ). As many know, Alpe d辿uez is one of the steeper climbs at 7.9%, even though it痴 shorter. Myself, I壇 much rather tackle a 21k climb at 6% than a 14k climb at 8%. The difference between 6 and 8% is excruciating. And if you池e truly a glutton for punishment, go follow the Tour of Spain where a number of climbs average 9%. (This is where even Roberto Heras used a triple crank様ike me預 few years ago.) On our way up, we tried to time ourselves, but there was a lot of traffic on the way up forcing stops. We had to get off the bikes a few times to wait for a few cars to un-jam themselves. By the end of the ride, accommodating for delays, I壇 say I could personally do the actual 13.8k climb in an hour on my best day. Pantani has the record at 36:50 from �95 (I had thought it was 37:30 in �98, but that was inaccurate). So it appears my decision not to pursue a bike racing career after high school was a wise one; I wouldn稚 be giving Lance anything to worry about tomorrow. There are a few guys in our group who could do the climb in more like 53 or so. We happen to have a guy named Lane who was once a national TT champion in the US. Despite his near 200 lbs these days, he left me gasping for air.

Anyway, I致e included a few photos of the day, including some incredible shots of our traverse home along a high-mountain pass that exits Alpe d辿uez at the 3k mark from a small town called La Garde. Those of you who値l be watching tomorrow, look for us around switchbacks 10-9. I知 sure we値l be easy to spot amongst the other 200,000 US fans here wearing Postal gear揺a, ha. Here痴 to a hell of a day of racing.

Supporting the Lance Armstrong Foundation:

local cuisine:

entering 9th concentric ring of hell:

Tour leader/ guide Chuck List:

George Putnam; others:

But for France, it was yet another day to celebrate as their cause celebré Thomas Voeckler got to hold on to the Maillot Jaune for not just another day, but TWO more days since the next day is a rest day. As an example of their idol worship, the cover photo on L’Equipe (the main sports paper here) was not of Lance Armstrong who won the stage and basically assured himself of a sixth victory, but instead of Voeckler, who managed to barely hold on to the jersey by a mere 22 seconds. But his face coming across the line well deserved the photo. He was absolutely ecstatic. And he’s clearly been riding out of his head to defend the jersey, because no one expected his defense to last so long. He himself even admitted he was only “renting” the jersey until the eventual leaders would claim it, but he will now have had it for a good ten days. Not bad, Mr. Never-Heard-of-You-Before-Last-Week.

Meanwhile, my troupe of co-riders here in Geneva have been making the most of the local terrain. (Unfortunately, our leader JJ has yet to receive his bike from British Airlines, so he’s been on the phone the last two days. Terribly frustrating for him. But I loaned him my bike yesterday so he could at least get in some riding.) So Todd and I took in two official Tour de France climbs the last two days. Yesterday, we went on a 70 mile rider that featured a climb up the dreaded Col de Joux Plane, where Armstrong completely bonked a few years ago and lost almost two minutes to Ullrich after having skipped a feeding zone. Even though it’s only about 8 miles long, it’s almost an 8% AVERAGE grade, with plenty of 11-12% spots, and virtually no quick little flats to recover from. Then, add in the fact that the road is in complete disrepair, barely smoother than gravel, and a temperature around 90 degrees, and I can tell you it was an abusive little monster. I decided to give it my all and maxed myself out. I felt great till about halfway, then it was just a matter of trying not to quit. I think I did it in about 50 min, so really averaging only 8-9mph. The Tour riders will do it at about 13, a good 50% faster. Terribly humbling. But that’s why we’re here: you can see the Tour on TV, but to feel the Tour, you have to ride it. It gives you a much more profound appreciation for the heroic suffering these guys undertake.

Today, Todd and I scouted out the Col du Faucille, which will be featured in stage 18 of this year’s Tour, about four days from now. This was a much more likeable climb—only 6.5%, great road surface, windy switchbacks, phenomenal views, and only about 3000 vert feet. Three hours later, we’re back in the hotel, packing up, and are off to La Grave in about an hour. From there, we’ll ride Alpe d’Huez tomorrow (a day before the TT), then return to just watch it the next day, then four more days of Alpe climbing after that.

I’ll be back with a report in a day or two. Wish me luck connecting online from our tiny little lodge in the Alps. If I can upload them, the reports should be good.

Some photos from our rides:

Other than Lance痴 dominating climb today, all of us who made a host of pre-tour predictions are scrambling to get reoriented, because everything just changed. Sure, Lance won his first stage of this year痴 Tour (if you don稚 count the team time trial win) and is only :22 out of yellow now, but what happened to all the other riders, no one could have predicted. The favorites are no longer Ullrich, Mayo, and Hamilton. They致e been usurped by Ivan Basso, Toschnig, and Kloden.

Granted this was a stage of Herculean proportions. No less than seven cols. With 15,000 feet of vertical climbing. (You know that little climb up Mt. Everest from base camp? These guys did that much just this afternoon.) We expected a shakeup. But not one like this. In the words of Jason Lee from the OLN 鼎yclysm� commercials, 釘ehold:�

First, Haimar Zubeldia abandons early in the race with 188km to go. This guy got 6th in the Tour last year.

Then預nd I still don稚 really believe it葉he before-today unconquerable Tyler Hamilton abandons the Tour, unable to put up with his back pain any longer. If there痴 any guy who can suffer, it痴 Tyler. So this must have been truly unbearable. I still don稚 know the full story, but just looking at his position on the bike yesterday one could tell his body was not cooperating. But with his few early crashes and the death of his beloved dog, he壇 been dealt a few more bad cards than he could handle. And when this is your third straight year of dealing with tragedies (broken collarbone last year, broken shoulder in the Giro the year before), sooner or later you reach your limit. But God bless you for coming this far, Tyler. We know you fought as hard as you could, and look forward to your inevitable comeback.

And then, since bad things always happen in threes悠ban Mayo first falls over twelve minutes off the leading group, then ABANDONS. This was the guy who ruled the slopes of Ventoux with an iron fist only five weeks ago. And now he痴 dropped out of the Tour like an exhausted domestique. A few minutes down, sure, but dropped out?! Abandoned? It can稚 be true. He痴 got his Alpe d辿uez title to defend, doesn稚 he? It just goes to show how absolutely far you can fall in this sport once your luck turns. Still don稚 know the real reason he痴 out, but it simply appears like mere discouragement at this point. Perhaps he fell and we didn稚 see it (the race only finished an hour ago, so more info is forthcoming), but we池e all disappointed.

And, in perhaps a fourth installment of bad luck, Roberto Heras crashes. He rejoins the group, but would eventually finish 51st. Over 21 minutes in arrears of Lance. So much for leaving Postal for finer pastures. Better luck in the GC next year, Heras.

Meanwhile, up the slopes of the cruel and unusual Plateau de Beille, US Postal lit up the afterburners and ripped the peloton to shreds. They were truly weapons of mass destruction, leaving guys like Jan Ullrich to peel off the back like someone was towing him in the opposite direction. Chechu and Azevedo were truly earning their salaries today.

In the end, after all the breakaways were pulled back in, in the final 10k it was a complete replay of yesterday痴 stage. There they were, Lance and Basso, fighting it out for supremacy of the Pyerenees. But today, Basso was actually doing some work, unlike yesterday where he coasted along in Lance痴 draft. But we all knew what would happen in the end; no way was Lance going to give up this stage. He wanted confirmation of his dominance. And with about 800m to go, he sat up and zipped up his jersey. Now there痴 only one reason you do this: you intend to win the stage and want your sponsors� logos to be perfectly clear to the TV cameras when you cross the line. Less seasoned pros often fail to consider this when they win atop of a mountain. But not Lance. So when he zipped it up, we all knew the stage was his. Because if he zipped it up, he KNEW he was going to have no problem coming around Basso. And the four of us watching the TV in our hotel room simultaneously raised our beers in celebration when said zipper was zipped. And 20 seconds later, the stage was his.

As it should have been.

So unless there are any unique developments (like Lance crashing or getting acute appendicitis in the next week) this Tour is his. His main rivals are so far back they can稚 even see the podium. (if I were Jan, I'd line up a good therapist right now. He's gonna need it after watching yet another Tour slip away.) And the new threats (Basso & Kloden) while strong, aren稚 really expected to make much more progress. Hard to believe it痴 over already, but Lance is just that dominant right now. After he got that 2nd in the prologue葉he way he was standing and sprinting the whole way through悠 think we all knew he was back. And out for vengeance. I won稚 be surprised if he wins this year痴 tour by his largest margin yet.

But there are 7 more stages to go. A lot can happen. And I hope it will.

As for my fellow friends, JJ spent the day still waiting for his bike to arrive from British Airlines (I can稚 believe he痴 not in front of their office picketing by now), while my roommate Todd and I got in a beautiful 60 mile ride all along the south end of Lac Leman in Switzerland, ending up in Geneva, right on the border of France. Actually, the whole south side of the lake is essentially France, so technically we biked so far we ended up in a different country today. Sort of.

It was a beautiful ride, as these pics should explain. Tomorrow we head into the Alpes for a good climb, while the Tour enjoys a flat stage (only 900 ft of climbing) and then a rest day after that. Apologies for those of you who couldn稚 access the site for a day. We had some technical difficulties, but all seems fixed now. Keep tuning in. It should be good for the duration.

The fountain in Lac Leman.

View from our hotel room.

My roommate, Todd, soaking up the views.

Halfway around Lac Leman.

That's no WalMart...

Cheers and stay tuned.

The mountains have arrived and the fun and games are over. No more cozy days sitting in the draft of the peloton. If you want a nice place on GC now, you致e got to start paying for it in blood. And that痴 what happened on the slopes of the Tourmalet this afternoon as Ivan Basso takes a (gifted?) win just in front of Lance with a stunning climb.

There was the regular jaunt off the front by a couple of relative unknowns early in the race, but once the peloton hit the bottom of the Col d但spin, the wattage output to the pedals started to increase, and by the time the contenders were halfway up the Col du Tourmalet, it was redlining. The Postal boys began slowly burning the legs off the mere mortals, ending with Hincapie, then Landis, than Chechu and Azevedo (I believe) to propel Lance to the final few Ks. By then Carlos Sastre had launched a not insignificant attack. But it was only a few minutes later before Lance had bridged with Ivan Basso on his tail. At the line, it appeared Lance chose not to contest the win, letting Basso slip by. We could see Lance trying to say something to him in the final Ks, having a chat. The report later was that Lance 'let' Basso win because Basso's mother is suffering from cancer and Lance, as a long'time friend, has been helping her get the right treatment. So Lance said he felt it was the right thing to do to let him have the victory in light of his situation.

It wasn稚 a surprise to see Lance make sure to be in the top few today. What no one expected was how quickly Ullrich and Hamilton would get shot out of the back. They finished 2:30 and 3:30 back, respectively. Even Ventoux champ Iban Mayo finished a minute down. And Roberto Heras was a few minutes out as well. So if today is any indication, Lance won稚 be getting much more of a challenge in the mountains. But this is only one day, and we can assume everyone will have their ups and downs. One can稚 help but feel for Tyler, having had to put his dog to sleep the other day. Surely, he値l rebound soon.

For now, Lance has moved up to 2nd in the GC and will perhaps leap ahead tomorrow if he can win at Plateau de Beille.

A longer report tomorrow.

Ps If you think the OLN coverage is good, you should see Eurosport. Covers the whole stage. Interview cams in the team vans. Hanging with the stage winners at night at celebration dinners. And the best-they actually have satelite heartrate monitor connection with a few of the riders. Yesterdaz one of them was Benjamin Noval. His was at a steady 170 out of a max 200 on the col d'Aspin. So much more info for us freaks...

You can bet it’s going to be a record sales year for France’s Champagne producers. Because the French cyclists are giving their countymen plenty to celebrate at the Tour this year. On top of the success from Jean Patrick Nazon's win, then Thomas Voeckler’s yellow jersey run, and Richard Virenque’s epic solo victory yesterday, Cofidis rider David Moncoutie steps up and gives his fans another reason to raise a glass. Right after the longest stage of the tour, Moncoutie goes on a breakaway and claims the shortest stage, a 102 mile jaunt from St. Flour and Figeac. The result had little impact on GC standings, however.

(Photo by Roberto Bettini)

All the main podium contenders were content to save their energy. And they’ll need it, because they enter the House of Pain on Friday. (Which translates to “la Maison de Douleur” in French, charmingly enough.) Two massive stages in the Pyrenees in a row, both with mountain top finishes. Friday's stage features two climbs we did last year when following the Tour: Col d'Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet. Tourmalet is a brutal one, and HIGH up--you're cycling alonside llamas and mountain goats up there. Get out the GU, boys, and go ahead and apologize to your legs right now for what you’re about to put them through. This is when the dogfight begins. This is when the climbers finally emerge from the shadows and leave domestiques and sprinters crying in their wake. This is when guys like 198 lb Magnus Backstedt can lose 30-40 minutes a day, assuming they can even finish.

And hopefully, it’s when a certain Texan will giddy-up and ride.

Be ready for an earthquake to rattle through the GC...

Leaving the peloton at the 30-40 km mark with partner in crime Axel Merckx (yes, son of 5-time winner Eddy), they got a remarkable 10 minute gap on the field at one point. Apparently the two struck a deal that Axel would let Virenque win all the coveted King of the Mountains points (which go towards the polka-dot jersey) if Virenque would stay with him and help Axel to the finish. But it seems Virenque felt Merckx was holding him back and strolled away from him with about 70 km to go. So Virenque did a solo time trial to the end, holding off the peloton just fine on the longest day of the Tour.

Lance & the other rivals sprinted in over five minutes, later, not terribly worried about Virenque’s place in the GC. (His performance usually fades after a few of these efforts, but don’t be surprised to see him do the same thing again within a day or two.) He’ll usually drop a good 20-30 min back eventually.

A sad note for Tyler Hamilton fans: as some of you may know, his dog “Tugboat” has been ailing for some time, and today they found out he has terminal cancer. Unfortunately, he will have to be put to sleep Thursday while Tyler’s racing. An absolutely awful tragedy for Tyler as he’s had this dog for a long time. As dog owners know, this will be quite a blow to his morale. But hopefully it will inspire Tyler to dedicate a stage win to Tugboat—perhaps on Alpe d’Huez? That’s my prediction. I've known Tyler since we ski raced together in New England and I hope he and his wife get through this the best they can. But if you’d like to send Tyler and his wife Haven your condolences, visit:

http://www.tylerhamilton.com/

(w/ Tyler at the '98 Tour)

They Pyrenees start Friday, but tomorrow’s stage offers another opportunity for a good breakaway effort. It’s actually a rare stage in that it finishes 400 meters lower in altitude than it starts, but it is hilly throughout. I’m sure Virenque will go again, but maybe some young opportunist will up the ante.

As for me, I finally leave the states and fly off to France tomorrow, and I can’t wait another minute. Riding in Seattle has been fine, but it’s no comparison to the cycling heaven that awaits. I’ll actually land in Geneva but will be riding in the Alps ASAP. The daily riding reports will get much more interesting once over there.

Cheers, and I’ll be back with an update Friday night after the first Pyrenean stage.

At long last: the finish on the Champs Elysees.

The energy in Paris in the Tour’s final hour pulses through the entire city. The fan population reaches an all-time high, adding a fresh crop of Paris-only viewers to the madness, far from the secluded roads on the Alps. Between the American families on vacation, the college students traveling abroad, and the Parisiens whose interest in the Tour is limited to the day of the final sprint, the fan base grew exponentially. So the racers take ten laps on the Champs Elysees, rehearsing their moves for the final sprint, and with each pass of the peloton the crowd noise swells to a triumphant roar. Racers jockey for position, police bikes and Mavic support cars swerve in and out of the way, various French riders take their stab at a brief lead on cycling’s most famous address, and at some point, a handful of riders get a good :45 up on the pack.

But it ends as it always ends, with the teams of the green jersey hopefuls reeling the naïve escapees back in, and the entire last lap becomes one long pursuit race at ungodly speeds. By the time Baden Cooke, Robbie McEwen and Jean Patrick Nazon are lunging for the finish, the peloton is spread out nearly a minute behind them. (Lance was actually far enough back in the pack that a gap resulted in his group being assigned a time that was :15 behind, rather than the whole peloton getting the normal ‘same time’ result—thus explaining how Jan was able to recoup :15 on a day that was supposed to be competition-free.) But it was an incredible sprint finish, and Jean Patrick Nazon amazed us all with his mercurial speed at the end. He truly did France an honor by giving his country the final victory. (We would run into him almost two hours after the race in a backstreet still signing autographs and grinning like a schoolboy.) And of course, Lance has retrieved his Holy Grail—the coveted fifth consecutive victory. With all the bullets he dodged this year, it’s truly an accomplishment. It’s as if this was the year that he was supposed to get third with all the bad luck he encountered (2 crashes, illness, dehydration, a near collision with Beloki), but his abilities are such that he was able to overcome it all and still win. The fact that he suffered so much and seemed so vulnerable this year actually seems to have endeared him to all of us that much more.

After the awards, after hearing the national anthem playing in the streets of Paris, after wondering what was up with the new suits the Postal team were wearing (saying “US. Mail,” for which we never got an explanation), and after watching all the teams cascade down the Champs Elysees for a post-race celebratory lap, we walked back to our hotels, grabbed a quick bite from a backstreet creperie and said our goodbyes, trying to stave off the realization that the adventure was now over.

I’m back in Oregon now, fifteen hours of international flying behind me. My bike is back in a box, the Alps are nowhere in site, the sound of the French language has vanished, and the newspapers on the street no longer have cyclists on the cover. The Tour is over and it’s back to reality, unfortunately. I already miss the anticipation of the day’s ride through ancient towns and over Category 1 climbs. The walk down to the nearest Tabac for a fresh day’s copy of L’Equipe. The knowledge that between the hours of 3-5pm each day something momentous would unfold in the Tour. And of course, the sight of legends like Jan, Virenque, or Lance pounding away on some 10% grade as if powered by afterburners.

But in the afterglow of it all, there are plenty of milestones and memories to savor: It was the 100th anniversary of the world’s greatest endurance event—fittingly punctuated with a final parade of all still living Tour winners including Indurain, Hinault, Fignon, Riis, and the legend himself, Eddy Merckx. The riders finished with the fastest average speed of all time. The race itself came down to a fierce duel that wasn’t decided until nearly the last day of racing. And of course, this was the fifth consecutive victory for a cancer survivor. I can’t imagine a more memorable year, but I’ll try to come again next year in hopes of just that.

If this web site serves any purpose other than to chronicle a great sporting achievement, it’s to spread enthusiasm for cycling and the pursuit of adventure in general. If you were inspired just reading along with this site or watching on TV, I highly recommend getting yourself over to France at some point to catch Tour fever in person. You’ll be overwhelmed by magnificent views, daring athleticism, and the mesmerizing passion for food, wine, art, leisure, and humanity that is the French spirit. Go to see legendary athletes sweating bullets for a moment of glory. Go to push your own physical limits on some of the most grueling climbs in the world. Go to be inspired by the rolling vineyards and sky-piercing mountains.

But whatever you seek there, I promise the days will seem to last for weeks.

Over and out.

-Mark

I had one of the most memorable...

got to ride the final 30k of the race course into Paris with 10,000

other amateurs in the official Randonee du Centenaire. We assembled at

8 am just south of the Eiffel Tower and spent a few hours slowly

cruising the race route that the pros would be thundering down later

this afternoon. As part of the celebratory measures in this yearís

tour, the organizers wanted a parade of yellow jerseys to fill the

streets in the morning hours before the race gets underway. So 10,000

lucky registrants got a free jersey and a free cruise down the most

famous street in cycling: the Champs EíLysees. I took about 100 photos

as we moved our gargantuan peloton through the cityís cobblestone

roads, but unfortunately the battery ran out of juice and Iíll have to

upload the photos once Iím back in the US tomorrow. I hope the photos

will do the experience justice. It was a tremendous visual experience

as well as a bit of an emotional one too. In between marveling at the

Eiffel Tower, the Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, the Musee dírsay,

the Place de la Bastille, and of course, the Arc de Triomphe, I

realized that this was my final ride here in France. Tonight I will

revel in the bliss of Lanceís fifth victory, drink wine with the French

in the streets, then return to my hotel, pack up my bike and head home

tomorrow morning. And if I could hit pause on the VCR player of life to

drag this experience out a little longer, I would. But everything

thatís beautiful must come to an end at some point, and so must this

fabulous experience of ëchasing Lance.í My friends and I have witnessed

first hand an incredible milestone in sports history, and Iíve fallen

back in love with cycling again. I hope those of you whoíve been

reading along have had a similar experience. Thanks for following

along.

The Eagle has landed...

is still 1:16 or so ahead of Ullrich and assured of a fifth consecutive

Tour de France victory after today﨎 final time trial.

The "Lance Chasers" posse arrived back in Paris late this afternoon to

prepare for our departures in the next few days, and we made it into a

bar just in time to watch Armstrong and Ullrich duke it out over the

49k﨎 of ultra-slick roads to Nantes. It was a nail-biting experience

watching the two of them try to steal time from each other. On French

TV, the commentators had a statistic underneath Ullrich the whole time

that accounted for his deficit of 1:05 and accommodated for his time

respective to Armstrong﨎. So we would watch it drift up to 1:08 when

Armstrong was charging ahead and cheer like wild monkeys. Then groan

when the time would drift down to 1:04. When they were absolutely tied

after the 15k mark, we marveled at the deadlock we were witnessing.

When Jan crashed about halfway through, it was clear his quest for

yellow was over. In a time trial so close, the last thing you can

afford is a scrape along the pavement for thirty feet. But we all let

out a collective groan when he hit the decks, watching his front wheel

lose its grip. And he very well might have won the time trial if not

for the crash, but it seemed impossible that he would gain much time on

Lance. Second place was his for the duration, fight it though he may.

And so Lance cruised to a third place finish, knowing he no longer

needed to risk everything to win, taking it easy in the turns to finish

behind cruise missile David Millar and as predicted Mr. "still got

something up my sleeve" Tyler Hamilton. So Tyler and Lance finally got

to share a podium, though unfortunately it won咜 be so for the overall

standings. But fourth place in the Tour de France is a staggering

achievement for a man with a fractured collarbone. Consider Tyler the

main man to threaten Lance﨎 run for a sixth victory next year.

We叝e about to head out for dinner tonight, so we hope we匀l find

plenty of Lance supporters in the streets. The mood in the group is one

of total bliss, as we feel we咩e seen the final assembly of Lance﨎

masterpiece, the matching of five consecutive Tour wins, though we all

hope we匀l be back for an unprecedented sixth next year.

I will be heading home on Monday, after the finale tomorrow on Sunday,

but first, I have been lucky enough to get accepted into tomorrow

morning﨎 Randonee du Centenaire, which entails 10,000 cyclists

traveling around the same Champs E匀ysees route that the riders will

follow from 8-11am tomorrow morning. (I applied for it a few months

ago, and was accepted through mail, though I must send thanks out to

Dena Blevins who was kind enough to rifle through my mail back in the

US and give me the necessary info through email to get my jersey here

in Paris.) So if you咩e got really good eyes, pick me out as the one of

the 10,000 riders wearing a ceremonial yellow jersey tomorrow. (I匀l

try to don a US Postal jersey in mid-route during the ride to make it

easier.

I咩e also included some photos of our final ride in the

Pyrenean hills in Spain, as well as a few of the place where we stayed

at night. My apologies for any ensuing envy.