Up and Running! er..make that biking...

How does one start a blog for such a monumental adventure. Listed below are some ideas. Feel free to use whichever one amuses you.

• A physical educator, a pizza shop/bar owner, a school principal, and a geology professor all get into a van in France. No one speaks French, but they all have bikes.
• It all began 30+ years ago being dragged to this thing called a velodrome in Trexlertown, PA to watch a funny kind of bike racing. The old man liked the bike, the boy just rode his to get places.
• I always planned to follow the Tour beginning about 15 years ago. Due to my "mancrush", and predisposition towards tearing up during Nike, Trek, and Livestrong commercials, I figured I had missed my chance when Lance retired.
• What pushed me over the edge?.....The Tour Baby! The epic, cult hit about following what is arguably  the greatest spectacle of sport - the Tour de France - and 3 other people just crazy enough to say "let's go".
• As the great ski poet and cinematographer Warren Miller says: If you don't do it this year, you'll just be another year older when you do (paraphrased due to memory loss).

So pick the one you want. Clip in and come along for the ride. I make no claims to be a great writer or chronicler of our adventure, so if you have feedback - be nice... and send it my way.

The background is this:

3 Corvallis, OR residents: Scott McFarland, Andrew Meigs, John Schneider, and a Portlander (Andrew's brother) Patrick Meigs, are all headed over to France to follow the Tour de France for about 2 weeks.

We've opted to bypass the arranged tours and go it alone. We have a van, camping stuff, bikes, one known connection for a place to stay near Narbonne, and lots of optimism and passion to soak in the Le Grand Boucle (why is it called that anyway? - ask google and you shall find out). 

We are focusing on the mountain stages in the Pyrenees and the Alpes and have promised not to get on TV running in a Borat thong, although as members of Beaver Nation, the thought of a well placed logo on a thong would certainly bring local notoriety (Go Beavs!). However, I, Mr. Schneider have a job to keep. One of my main goals is to see how hard these climbs really are. For example: Can I even do 2-3 pedal strokes (uphill)? Can I even walk my bike? How was it possible for Marco Pantani to climb L'Alpe d'Huez in 37 minutes?

Last and certainly not least is to have a great adventure with friends and try to find some interesting tidbits to share along the way.

At this point I bid you adieu. More to come tomorrow as bike packing begins - of course after my 5:30 wake up to watch Stage 5 - and more details are sorted out.

I also solicit any feedback from those who have gone before. Please feel free to share your wisdom and lessons learned spectating The Big Loop (google answer).

Oh, has anybody EVER gotten anything other than "Sorry, try again." on that damn Saab Fly to the Finish Sweepstakes wheel?