Almost forgot

Almost forgot. The girl that we helped on Alpe D’Huez after her crash rode past us while we were on Les Deux Alpes. We stopped her on her way back down (she was walking her bike not riding) and spoke with her and she was doing fine.

All in all, a great day. Lance is over 4 minutes in the lead now. If we get out of the mountains in good shape, he’ll probably add some time in the time trial and we’ll be looking good for Paris!

24 July

(Jerry)We got up from our great hotel find from last night ready to go. We had breakfast, which was cold cereal with plain yogurt, some fruit and some cold orange juice. Anytime we can get a drink that is cold we like it even more because it is so rare. A bonus from our hotel was a picnic lunch they gave us when we checked out. We had no idea what was in it, which made it the same as most of our meals, a surprise to see what we get or what we ordered. We made our way to the spot we picked on the mountain yesterday, which was only a few hundred meters from the hotel. It was about 8 kilometers from the summit on a fairly steep section. We got right in the bow of the curve in the road. The riders tend to straighten out the road as much as they can, so we knew they would be brushing against us and the tv cameras would be on the other side to increase our chances of getting the LAF sign on. We sat down and prepared for the riders. Prior to the race there are always lots of people riding bikes up the mountains. Some of them are tour groups and some are just people riding the Tour route. They pass by at a rate of about 10 bikes per minute. Men, women, children, French, Spanish, Americans, a little of everything. We cheer for them all. Angie would make them all smile when she would shake her pom poms and yell, Allez! Allez! Several people commented on the LAF sign. Several “Go Lance’s in English and some “Armstrong’s” in other languages, sometimes accompanied with a thumbs up. We had some funny greetings from different people also. A guy obviously from Australia, some thick accents, quite a variety. Of course I’m sure they get a kick out of our deep south slow talking! A couple of guys from a Seattle paper stopped to talk to us and took some notes and pictures when I told them about my cancer and how we ended up in France. Always pushing LAF, that is why we’re here!

The caravan rolled through about 30 minutes early, which told us that the riders were pushing the pace. An hour later came the riders. There were a couple of riders out front, but nobody to threaten Lance’s overall lead. Lance got to us about 2 minutes later.

Angie and I both had to jump back off the road as they brushed so close to us. When I say close I mean inches away. No doubt they heard and saw us! George, Eki, Roberto & Floyd were right with Lance keeping watch. Not sure people realize how much of a team sport this is. In only seconds they’re gone. Crazy way to spend a day, I guess. Fly to France to sit on a mountain for hours waiting so you can yell support for a few seconds. If you’ve ever had cancer it makes perfect sense. Tour wins ultimately generate awareness and funds for LAF and that fights cancer and supports survivors!

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