In France the peleton (go back a few days and read The Tour 101) is splitting apart as breakaways are the order of the day as riders start to take chances to position themselves for a stage win. At this point the GC (general classification) riders look to watch each other closely and set themselves up for the big mountain stages looming in the Pyrenees beginning this weekend. the two US teams - Team Columbia and Team Garmin are having excellent Tours so far. While not a surprise, it's an awesome turn of events in the wake of the folding of Team Discovery. I still - ouch, bad collision..right into a tree! - have huge sentiments towards Lance's former team, so it will be fun to visit and hopefully connect in some way with one of the teams to begin anew. So far, as I mentioned, both teams have provided reason to do so!
Well, today is the day! Here's how one gets to Europe (using United Mileage Plus Miles):
Friday July 11
- 8:30am - ride Hut shuttle from Corvallis (OR) to Portland airport.
- 1:49pm - United to Chicago O'Hare (3 hours 33 minutes)
- 10:00pm - Lufthansa to Frankfurt (8 hours 30 minutes)
- 3:50pm - Lufthansa to Paris (1 hour 10 minutes)
- Airtime: 13 hours 13 minutes
- Travel hours: 23 hours 30 minutes
Cost of new bike: $0
Cost of not having a new bike: angst, but relief (if mine gets stolen, it's not a huge loss)
Cost of driving a van in Europe: unlimited as Bloomberg News just had a reporter in the pits saying a new record was just set for the price of a barrel!
Cost of eating awesome cheese, bread and drinking excellent cheap wine: maybe a few pounds
Cost of immersing yourself into an epic athletic spectacle: Priceless!
It's The Tour Baby! 2008
More to come in France!
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