Day 3b

This was a great day in Toulouse/Lourdes area. Weather was cool and a little breezy, great day for climbing. We rolled out of the hotel and headed straight to the Col d'Aspin. We rode for 15 miles or so, then hit the 8.5 mile climb. The fun part about this adventure was the grade. First third of the climb at 6%, second third at an average of 7%, then topping it off at 8% for the last third. The people on the route were great. The cheered for all riding the climb, and there were hundreds attempting the climb and 10s of thousands along the route. The funniest part was about 2k left in the climb. There were about 12-15 Rastafarian looking dudes who appeared to be totally baked (stoned). The roamed out in the road and cheered me on, slapping me on the ass, it was so funny because both they and I knew it was all a big joke. It was really pretty hilarious. For the fellas on the team, the Col d'Aspin climb is a little like the back side, easier side of Hog Pen.

The ego boost of the day was the descent from the Col into the finishing town. We had 10k of pretty technical corners on the descent and then 15k rollers to flats with a modest head wind. Once I cleared the congestion of descending riders and people walking up the back side to find a spot to watch the race, I forgot about the brakes and let it fly - fun stuff. On the rollers and flats, I was riding it pretty hard with our group leader, Eric Van Lancker, Graeme Baxter, another former pro and friend of Eric's. We had about 10 of us in all from our group. I was taking pulls on the front rolling at 30+ mph until we hit the town; what a rush.

The Tour had an exciting day as well. The finishing town had a huge mob of folks and when the solo rider who, Ricardo Ricco, went off on the Col come into the last 150 meters, where I was standing, the crowd's roar was deafening. Unbelievable to see this event in person. The crows on the climbs are going nuts and in your face, the crowds in the town are going nuts, behind the barricades making more noise than a rock concert. Incredible.

Dinner tonight was also pretty special. Allan Davis came by for a 15 minute interview. Allan is a stud sprinter, formerly on Discovery (Armstrong's prior team). Allen is taking a year riding with Mitsubishi, but I'd expect him to be on Team Columbia next year.

Finally, I posted a boring video compilation from my first day's easy ride around Paris. It is a 2 minute video, pretty boring 2 minutes of your life you'll never get back, but it is only 2 minutes. With this as the selling point, how could you not view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pKMmHFjXfE&feature=email.