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.
1 comment:
What a great day! I am soooo jealous -- flat ride, good food and wine, and watching The Cav rocket to victory. Sheesh, can it get any better than that?
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