Farrar finally on the TOP step!

Vattenfall Cyclassics: Hamburg 213.7km
Garmin Slipstream's American sprinting sensation finally crossed the line in 1st. A Pro Tour race with Pro Tour level podium girls...NICE!

P.S. Tyler, your legs are HUGE brother!

My ride

This is how I roll in Myrtle Beach

Dream Team?

So based on the latest World rankings released by the International Cycling Union (UCI), the good ol' US of A get to field a FULL roster of nine riders for next month's World Championship road race.

I know that it's near the end of the season for a lot of guys and many top pros have other commitments yadda yadda yadda, boo hoo hoo...BUT, if every possible US pro were available and willing to throw down at the WCs, who would YOU field for your US Dream Team???

Here's one possible fantasy roster:
Hincapie, Levi, Vande Velde, Horner, Zabriskie, Lance, J-Mac, Cozza, Farrar, (back-ups: Pate, Tommy D, Frischkorn, Craig Lewis)

Killing Another Layover

Just me, the iPhone, and a beer.

Now that I don't have to worry about an outragously expensive
international data plan, I'm catching up on some internetting.

My wife and daughter are going to meet me at the airport when I get in
at midnight... I CAN NOT WAIT!

Tomorrow I'll sleep off some jetlag, spend some QT with my baby girl,
mow the lawn and prepare for the real world to smack me square in the
face on Wednesday morning...until then mmmmmmm beer.

Bon Voyage

On the plane waiting to take off.

Twenty hours from now, I'll be back in Gaines-Vegas!

Petite Snack

On the Champs Elysees in Paris, having some pate, formage, bier and
baguettes. The race caravan just rolled through so the peloton ought
to by within the hour.

What I See

Looking out over Paris from the lower level of the Eiffel Tower.

I have to Oui Oui.

Where we are parked

Headed to Eiffel Tower, parked on random street...we tagged the GPS
cooridinates and photographed the street so maybe we'll be able to
find our car tonight.

Eiffel Tower?

I think I see it...not as impressive as I thought it would be.

Pit Stop

After talking with a few of the guys from the Garmin-Slipstream team,
we left the start town of Montelimar.

We're on our way to Beaune, France. On the way we stopped in a town
called Vienne to watch the Tour stage at a bar. It'll be interesting
to watch as the pro peloton ascends the same slopes that we climbed
yesterday.

Next stop...Beaune...then Paris in the morning.

At the Startline

Montelimar, France...hoping to get some autographs...French people are
very pushy and have NO respect for "personal space"

Bikes are Packed

We've completed our last ride in Europe. Mont Ventoux was incredable.

Now we're at a nice patio cafe in Bedoin at the base of the mountain.
When we're done here we'll head over to our hotel in Avignon.

What I See

Prevonce, France from the top of Mont Ventoux.

3:00pm, Friday, July 24, 2009

Laverie

We've been hunting for a laundromat for a couple of days now. We got
close yesterday in Chambery, a nice French kid gave us directions to a
Laverie, but the language barrier was proving too much to overcome so
he had us follow him in our car as he drove us to one...it was closed!
Good try though, and we did our part to keep up foreign relations.

Here we are back in Grenoble and the front desk girl at the hotel gave
us a map to the laundromat pictured here. We arrived at 8:00pm and it
was closing at 8:00 pm...nobody is here to lock up, so we're still
washing.

Tomorrow, we climb Mont Vontoux!

Made it

Made it to the top of the Galibier and back. Windy? That would be an
understatement! I was getting blown sideways near the top, and there
aren't any gaurd rails (and the drops are HUGE!

Stopped in Valloir for a beer on the way back.

By far our biggest single day if climbing so far.

Galibier

It's 11:00am here in St. Michel Maurienne, France. We're heading out
to climb the Col du Telegraph and the Col du Galibier...we'll be
riding to almost 10,000 feet and it doesn't look like the nicest
day...major wind gusts here in town so I can only imagine what the top
will be like.

I've packed everything I think I'll need, so I should be ready for
anything.

Fingers crossed...

Riccola Dudes

They were on the top of the mountain blowin' their horns...pretty cool.

Right now I'm...

FREEZING!!!

In a liitle village, standing in a doorway out of the wind.

Just climbed a STEEP 8.8 K to today's stage's 2nd to last catagory 1
climb.

Stage 16 Climb

This is a view of the climb where we were watching from. The peak of
the Col du Petite St. Bernard is the border of France and Italy...we
were on the Italian side.

Stage 16 - Petit Saint Bernard

Greetings! Out of touch again, my iphone data plan has proven to be incredibly inadaquate. Internet at the hotel is sllllloooooowwwwww as well, so this'll have to be breif.

We rode to the top of the finishing climb of yesterday's stage, Le Petite St. Bernard. We purchased some sliced proccuito, cheese, a loaf of bread, some sausage and a bottle of wine and then made our way to a good spot about 500 meters from the top of the climb.

The race caravan came through tossing out all sorts of cheap goodies for the spectators on the side of the road. Thirty minutes later the race rolled through in bits and pieces and we had great views of the whole thing.

We got stuck on the top in a traffic jam for a few hours (due to Jens Voigt's crash that took him out of tour. Finally made it back to the hotel about a quarter after 11:00 pm.

We're off again this morning...I'll try to chieck back in soon

Luxury Suite

We've made it to our Hotel in Chambery. It's basically a small box
with bunkbeds, a 13" TV (that only shows ten channels in French) and a
bathroom that is about half the size of one that you'd find in an RV.

Early day tomorrow, we're climbing either the Petite Saint Bernard or
the Gran Saint Bernard depending on the timing of the Tour stage that
climbs both of those. We'll be roadside to watch the race come
through, keep an eye out for my Gator flag.

Dinner al Fresco

Stuck around in Bourg D'Oisans for a great dinner. A couple of beers,
great pasta and outdoor dining in the city- central...great finish to
a great day.

Now, back to the car, load everything up and head to Chambry, France.
We'll be at that hotel for the next 3 nights...I'm very much looking
forward to that.

Paninis are on the way

We're pretending we're Europeans.

Here's a shocker...my drink was served with ICE!!! Only 2 pieces, but
I'll take it. Hot paninis just arrived, I'll post again after we
plumet down this mountain.

On Top of the World

Just finished climbing Alp D'Huez..beautiful weather! I'm taking the
scenery in while I wait for Rodrigo then we're going to relax at a
cafe for some lunch.

Le Alp

We slept in a bit this morning and then checked out of the Hotel
Patrick in Grenoble.

We grabbed a bite to eat on our way to Bourg D'Oisans which is where
we currently are.

We found a nice shady parking spot across the street from this cool
little hotel to get dressed and get ready to climb Alp D'Huez.

Awesome day in Switzerland

So I've been out of touch today due to some crazy charges I would've incrued while in Switzerland. I'm back in France now, so I am once again connected.

Rodrigo and I stayed in Geneve, Switzerland last night. Our Hotel wasn't the classiest joint I've stayed in, but I was able to sleep off 36 hours of travel. We had dinner at a place called "Buffalo Grille". There is something funny about eating at a foriegn restarurant that is attempting to serve American Bar-B-Q. Not bad, not great but our choices were severly limited. We picked up some things at the local grociery after dinner so we'd have breakfast this morning.

We woke up and drove to a little town about 24K from the finish line of today's stage called Martigny. We unpacked the bikes and rode all the way to the final climb in Verbier. TONS of people everywhere...very exciting to climb a mountain on your bike in that kind of atmosphere, not to mention the views, WOW...pictures on the way.

Hung out on the top about 50 meters past the finish line. We met Jeremy Schapp, an ESPN commentator. He was really cool and talked to us for about 30 minutes. Got a ton of great shots of the pros as they crossed the finish and met up with their sougnier's (team helper).

After the crush of people died down we started to make our way back down. We saw Bob Roll along the way and stopped for a quick chat and a photo. We passed about 10,000 cars on the way back to Martigny (not that much of an exageration)...loaded everything back into the car and drove about 3 hours to where we are now, Grenoble, France.

Tonight's hotel is much nicer and we're just about ready for bed. Tomorrow is a rest day for the Tour de France so we're going to get up at our lesiure and drive towards the little town of Bourg D'Oisans and climb the fabled Alp D'Huez.

Stay tuned as my posts should come more frequently and accompanied with photos.

Au revoir

The last stage...

We're picking up our rental van here in Lyon, France and we'll be off
to Geneve, Switzerland.

Looking forward to a shower, a good meal and a bed.

Still Traveling...

I'm now sitting at the airport in Paris drinking a latte and reading
(really only looking at pictures and yesterday's Tour stage results)
L'Equipe.

Rodrigo just showed up and we're off to Lyon in about an hour.

Finally Boarding

The layover from he'll is drawing to a close. My eyes are burning and
I'm hoping I'm just sleepy, which will soon be solved. My fear is that
I've contracted a rare bug from one of the 2 million coughing dirtbags
I've encountered today.

I just went to the bathroom, so I can now be considered "Duty-Free".

Sent from my iPhone

The Presidents Club

I'm hanging out I'm the Continental Presidents Club at the airport in
Newark trying to kill my 8 HOUR LAYOVER. The free food, drinks, booze,
WiFi, cable and magazines makes it a bit easier...thanks Rodrigo.

I currently have a hazy view of Manhattan although that alone doesn't
make this MASSIVE layover worthwhile.

Next stop, Paris.

Checked In - NO CHARGE!

I'm sitting at the newly-renovated Gainesville Regional Airport. I
just checked my 44 lb. suitcase and my 50 lb. bike box without even
getting charged for an extra checked bag!

The lady working the desk asked if I normally get charged for my bike,
to which I said, "no", so she said, "well I won't charge you then."

I'm off to a good start.

Sent from my iPhone

Tightly Packed

I was feeling pretty good about the packing job, everything was in the
suitcase and getting it zipped shut would be NO problem...OOPS, I
still hadn't packed my 4 Zip-Loc bags!

After some re-shuffling, I've got all my provisions ready to go. Bike
box is in the car, medium suitcase and a backpack are all set... It's
3:45am and I'm getting ready to head out the door.

Next stop...Gainesville airport.

A Day of Errands

After running all over North Central Florida diligently crossing
things off of my "to-do" list, I've finally begun the packing process.

Cycling gear, 3 Zip-Loc bags each containing a jersey, pair of bibs,
undershirt, socks and gloves. One Zip-Loc containing cycling
accessories, i.e. knee-warmers, long-sleeve jersey, cycling cap, shoe
covers and wind vest.

CHECK!

I have pulled the canvas tarps off the ol' 5count blog! I've removed the cobwebs, dusted and aired the place out in order to make room for the 2009 Tour de France Travel BLOG.

Starting this Friday, July 17th, I'll be throwing up short little posts and photos chronicling my adventures as I follow the last week of the Tour de France. I'll be riding many of the famed climbs of the Alpine region of France as well as spectating the pros roadside.

Follow along for eleven days as I leave Gainesville, Florida...and finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France.

re-landscaping anyone?

On the Start Line

Ride to Remember

Playin' Hookie

Out on a ride...country roads...no traffic...blue skies...warm
weather...skipping work never felt soo good!

Take #2-Rock gets it right...

I guess Michael Ball read my previous post about Tyler's kit at the the Tour of California. He's made some adjustments and now we have a kit worthy of the U.S. Road Race National Champion.

I just wish this kit was racing at the ToC.

Pro kit review #?

So today I'd like to talk about the Rock Racing's 2009 kit, or at least Rock Racing's February 2009 kit...and more specifically, Tyler Hamilton's kit.

I get it Michael Ball, you're a bad-ass, your team is full of bad-asses and the persona that you're so desparatly trying to project is one of bad-assedness...we all get it, you "don't follow the status quo", you're a "renegade" and you "march to the beat of your own drum". The whole grunge/spray-painted/grafitti-type of design you're going with is right in line with what you've been doing for a couple of years now. It's not exactly cycling jersey design style, but yet it's highly contemporary and as a designer I very much appreciate the envelope-pushing.

Of the Rock designs that have poured out of this team in the recent years, the one aspect that I absolutely love is how there is no limit to the portions of the overall kit that have been printed on. Head to toe, side to side, every inch of their kits is designed and printed. Some find them busy, and while I may tend to agree in certain designs, it's the evolution that I love.

Back in the day you only printed a strip on the chest of the wool jersey. The sublimation process eventually allowed for the entire jersey to be "decorated". Then they added a single panel on the side of the thighs, then a panel on the back of the shorts and now there isn't any part of the team kit that is off-limits to the design. For this I applaud you Mr. Ball, however, I have a few comments on Mr. Hamilton's kit specifically.

Tyler Hamilton, as in the U.S. National Road Race Champion Tyler Hamilton. I was expecting big things for Tyler's 2009 kit. I figured that Mr. Ball and his design staff would take the "stars and bars" theme and cram it down the throats of cycling fans worldwide! I pictured a gawdy display of the red, white and blue. I envisioned patriotic symbolism on Crack!

But what did we get??? A subtle touch of America behind the Rock logo that BARELY distinguishes him from the rest of his own team let alone the entire peloton. His stars and stripes on the sleeves of his jersey look more like he's a former US National Champion, not the current one.

COME ON! At least get rid of the mainly black and replace it with a some blue. I had to really study Hamilton's kit just to see that they did anything at all! Garmin-Slipstream did an outstanding job of OBVIOUSLY incorporating the good ole' red, white and blue into Zabriskie's TT suit while still maintaining the signature argyle look of the team.

Sure, it says "US Road Champ" on the side panel of Hamilton's jersey, but with all the paint splatter and other elements, those words disappear into the jersey just like Tyler disappears into the field.

I know the Rock Racing team has had it's fare share of issues this past off-season and are probably behind the 8 Ball in many aspects of the team-management, they're even reportedly spray-painting their bike frames. My only hope is that when Tyler toes the line at his next race, Michael Ball will have gotten my message and rolled out an entirely new National Champions kit for him.

But I doubt it.

Buy My House

We've run out of room in our great little starter-home that we've loved for the past 6 years. Just like hitting the drive-thru at Micky-D's, we've supersized our living space with the purchase of a palatial estate just a few miles north (by palatial estate I mean a bigger house). We are now left with two mortgages so our little gem with great location must go.

A friend and I have just put together a web site that sings the praises of my newly listed property. Stop by and check it out...be sure to scope the built-in grill on the back patio that I built a couple of years ago...great for entertaining!

Palmetto Woods Home dot com

Coming soon:

Palmetto Woods Home dot com

Too Similar

As a self-professed critic of Cycing kits, this is an exciting time of the year. The pro teams are holding their team training camps and new kits are being distributed.

My first observation of the year is the new Columbia kits. I do like the fact that this organization has finally incorporated the shorts and the jersey in the same design (as opposed to a jersey with plain black short; see T-Mobile, Highroad and last years Columbia kits).

Unfortunately they have adopted a kit that looks way too much like the now defunct Sanuier Duval team. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with their new bike sponsor, Scott Bikes, but I wish they could've been more original.

I also prefer ProTour teams steer away from mainly yellow kits as it adds confusion to picking out riders in the peloton at the Tour de France. Once, who had a very yellow kit, used to switch to a pink jersey at the TdF but teams nowadays aren't required to follow Once's lead.

Lastly, I'm not a fan of the "faux abs" printed on the abdominal area of the jersy. It was cool and original when CSC did it a few year back, but once again...where's the originality?

On a 10pt. scale, I'll give it a 7