Sunday July 19

We spent a great day today on my birthday with a ride in the morning with Gary and Daniel to the Chateau Villandry - a nice slow ride of about 30 miles. We rode along the Loire and along a very bumpy cobblestone section built by the Romans - glad I had my water bottle secure. At the end of the ride, we finished on the same street as the finish of the Paris-Tours race - very cool. After the ride, we showered and went out for bread and a dglass of wine at Gary's favorite watering hole in town with the baby and Leah with us. After this, we came home and were greeted by Daniel and Francois and Valerie's grandmother who came over for a huge celebration of my birthday, Daniel's birthday on the July 17th and Gary's birthday on Tuesday. After a great lunch of beef on the bar-b-que, salad with warm goats cheese, fresh zuchini, local bread and a great bottle of 1991 Chateauneuf-de-Pape followed by a 1995, we followed all of this with three great cakes and champagne - needless to say I fell asleep for the next two hours but awoke in time to catch the last 20 kilometers of the Tour and watched as Alberto Contador powered to his first stage win and overall leader of the 2009 Tour!

Saturday July 18 - Ride Home

Instead of continuing on we decided to head back to Tours - the rain and wind proved to be too much to have fun riding and watching the Tour live. We drove 5 hours back to Tours and listened to much of the Tour on the radio on the ride home. We got stuck in a traffic jam through the city of Orleans, but managed to make our way home by late lunch. I shared a stroll through the beautiful city of Gary and Valerie's hometown in Tours and visited with the kids - here are pictures of the Schaffer house and some of the city of Tours.

Friday - July 17 Vitel to Colmar

After a terrible sleep on a bed that felt like something Barney Rubble would have enjoyed we dragged ourselves out of bed. Not only was the bed hard, it rained much of the night with lighting and wind. At breakfast we met a British couple who was traveling to Switzerland to see a stage later in the week (It seems as though all of the British we meet either know Mark Cavendish or have ridden professionally??? Because of the rain today we decided to travel 30 miles to Vitel to see the start. On a cold rainy day we walked to the official rider Bus area and stayed to see the riders leaving the bus to sign in for today's ride. It was great fun seeing all of the riders and we saw the start and then traveled back to our next hotel in Bourbonne-Les-Bain which is know for its natural hot spring and spas. Here we are watching today's finish on TV in our room and all is good - looking forward to another great meal tonight and a long ride tomorrow.

Thursday July 16 - Tonnere to Vatan

We woke up early today for a 34 mile ride to the start of today's stage in Tonnerre which is located in the Burgundy region (good wine). After a hard ride into the wind and up and down rolling hills, we made it to the start about 30 minutes before. We were able to park ourselves just outside the village of Tonnere where we were treated to the "parade" of the riders as they slowly made their way through the city before the official start. During the short wait for the parade to start the temperature started to quickly rise until by race time it was approximately 90 degrees. Gary and I both started to drink any and all liquids and we were fortunate enough to have a family standing next to us that shared their Vitel. I don't think I have ever had as much liquid - - The family then shared directions to one of their favorite local restaurants and proceeded to lead us in their car - a distance of approximately 10K! We had an interesting meal which included one of the best salads I've ever had - one half of a Camembert deep fried (like a mozzarella) over lettuce with walnut oil vinaigrette. The meal also included annuiette sausage (it tasted like the rear end of a cow or pig or a combination of both). Desert was a chocolate tart which helped take the taste of cow or pig anus away. Also, looking back I think I had the courage to try the sausage only because Gary and I shared a carafe of local Burgundy wine (not good for a 34 mile ride home in 90 degree heat). Needless to say, both Gary and I suffered on the way home and I just couldn't get the taste of anus out of my mouth ( although Gary swears his father-in-law loves that sausage). 70 miles and 2500 calories later we were home and hydrating for the next two hours. We drove 2 hours to our next hotel in Arc-En-Barros near the forest in south Champagne.

July 15 - Vatan to Saint Fargeau

We woke up early today after staying at a noisy, small hotel room across the street from the train station in Bourges. After eating breakfast across the street at the hotel restaraunt, we packed the car with our bikes and suitcases and drove about 5 kilometers to a parking spot wher it looked like it was safe to park the caar for the day - still in the city, but outside the heaviest traffic area. We got the bikes out of the car and off we went - for about a 30 mile ride to see the start of todays stage. After about 10 kilometers, we found out that route took us onto the Tour De France course and we rode in the opposite direction that the tour would be taking in a few hours. The crowds were growing as we rode and many of the small villages had already begun festivities in anticipation of the riders coming through in a few hours. It was great fun as people cheered for us as we motored by - on our way to Vatan. After riding 25 miles and less than 5 miles from the start, we were stopped by the geandaime and told to get off the course. I tried reasoning with the officer by telling him I was "with the team", burt it sounded like he had heard this before - we were kicked off. After zig-zagging through the back roads of the town we were in, we found ourselves back on the course, but headed in the opposite direction - the way the boys woulod be coming in a few hours. We traveled back about 5 miles with people again cheering for us along the way until we came to a small village by the name of Mehun sur Yevre with a cafe right on the course! We stopped and parked our bikes and sat down for a cup of tea and we decided this wouod be a gret spot to watch. After about 45 minutes, the caraavan began to pass by with the crazy drivers throwing free samples of hats, water, trasding cards, plastic wind ponchos and anything else you could think of. In another 30 minutes, the riders came through the village with two riders off the front and the rest one minute behind. Gary was luck enough to snag an Astana water bottle that was discarded and thrown by none other than Lance himself. (Gary has decided to submit the bottle to the French authorities to see what it contained, but not before he took a swig of what was inside - now I know why he rode back to the car at 45 miles an hour....). Right after the pack passed through, we got back on our bikes for the 25 mile ride home. We were now back on the same course the boys had just passed through and the crowds were still huge as the cheered us on - again, great fun with some of the team and support cars following us along the way. After about 90 minutes, we were close to where we had parked the car - - or were we? My Garmin GPS was pointing us in one direction back to the car - but it was not correct and we had not written down exactly where we had parked. For the next 2 hours, we searched the city for the car and we even back tracked to the hotel we had spent the night before to try to re-trace the drive we had taken earlier in the day. After riding more than 70 total miles, we finaly "stumbled" on our beloved car. We quickly got the bikes into the car and proceeded to the bar across the street for a "soothing cup of tea". After relaxing for 30 minutes we began our journey to the next city, Aix-En-Othe, about a two hour drive away where we will ride the next morning to the start of Thursday's stage - this time, we will not rely on the Garmin GPS to get us back!

July 14, 2009 - Limoges to Issoudon

After a 150 kilometer drive from Garys home in Tour, we parked in a town by the name of Ardenet, which was about 20 miles outside the finish town of Issoudon. After unloading our bikes, we packed the backpack with our shoes and cameras and rode a beautiful flat ride through the sunflower farm areas of rolling hills to the finish town. We rolled into town at about 3 PM - one hour before the caravan and two hours before the pack was scheduled to finish. We found a spot along the final kilometer sprint and parked our bikes. After a few minutes, a group of people from the home directly behind us on the street came outside their door and were obviously having quite a party - they wanted us to join them for Sangria and food. Well, was they say, when in Rome....we decided we had more than enough time to enjoy the local folks so we joined in the party. We met the extended family, tasted the wonderful food and drank the libations they offered. We spoke about where we were from, spoke to them about growing up in Issoudon and what the finish of this years Tour De France meant to them....this was also Bastille Day so the celebrating was extra heavy. At about four o'clock, we heard the caravan begin with honking horns and yelling and screaming so we knew it was time to get outside and get to the gutter to see the cars come by and then the riders. Soon after, we saw a huge pack of riders enter the turn and sprint to the finish with Mark Cavendish from Colombia HTC grabbing the win! We rode back to the car against a stron headwind and drove to our hotel in Bourges - about a 60 mile drive. We stopped at a McDonalds for a quick salad before getting to the hotel where we both quckly hit the sack in anticipation of tomorrows tour.

Ira Follows the Tour - Rest Day

After a long flight from LA to Paris, Gary picked me up at the airport and brought me to his home in Tours. Tours is located about 1.5 hours from Paris At the junction of the Loire and Cher Rivers, Tours is a busy university town and the traditional point of departure for exploring the Loire Valley. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the great pilgrimage sites of Europe. Today, the city boasts wonderful Renaissance and neo-classical mansions, which are clustered around the famous Plumereau square, fine museums including a collection of craftsmen's masterpieces and the Cathedral of St-Gatien. Famous wine region, especially Vouvray, Chinon, Bourgueil... The most interesting sites in the Surrounding area are the châteaux of Azay-IeRideau, which reflects on the river, Villandry, surrounded by Renaissance gardens, Ussé, said to be the original Sleeping Beauty's castle, Langeais and Loches, as well as the splendid medieval city of Chinon.

After getting to Gary's house, I spent the day recovering from the long flight and had a great dinner of BBQ'd duck breast and fresh string beans and salad and local wine - lots of wine. After sleeping like a baby, Gary and I met Gary's father-in-law, Daniel and a neighbor and rode from Tours down the river valley and explored the local vineyards including the vouvray region which is a sweet white wine. We rode along the loire river and through winding roads and vineyards - very cool. During the ride, Gary's neighbors bike frame broke in half about 5 kilometers from home and Gary had to go back an pick him up. Tomorrow, we head out for the first day following the Tour as today is a rest day. We'll head out via car to our final destination which will be about 20 miles from the finish. We'll ride to the finish, watch the sprint into town, then ride back to our car - thats the plan....but you know what often happens to plans. More tomorrow.