Arrivée en France

After two long days of traveling, I finally arrived at Le Phebus in Joucas. To get here required flying first to Houston, then a very long flight to Paris, a very short flight to Marseille and a 1-1/2 hour drive to Joucas. As we neared Joucas, we passed this beautiful view of the charming little town of Gordes. I took this panorama on my iPhone using an app called Pano; it's actually a conglomeration of about four different frames taken from the same spot where we stopped last July.

About 10 friends from previous years are back, together with several new couples who are joining us for their first trip to the Tour de France. A few more will join us on Saturday for the "official" start of this tour. We spent some time this afternoon getting our bikes ready, then about eight of us set off on a short warmup ride, just to be sure that everything was ready for our big day tomorrow - the 40 km ride to Bedouin and then up and over Mt. Ventoux.

On the warmup, some of the group rode just from our hotel up to Gordes, and then Tony, Bill and I continued on through the village for a while farther before doubling back to the hotel, a relatively short ride of about 20 km though beautiful Provençal countryside. It felt hot and very arid, but good to be on the bike and on French roads again.

We assembled at 7:00 for dinner, which lasted until 11:00, during which time we regaled the newcomers with tales of our exploits in 2008 and 2009, drank lots of wine and enjoyed countless delicious, if small, courses. After just a few hours, it already feels as if we're all going to be great friends.

Tomorrow our plan is to leave at 8:00 a.m. in order to get a good start before it gets too hot (temps in the 90s here). That will, of course, be preceded by a full French breakfast, and I plan to fuel my ride up the Ventoux with croissants, butter and coffee. To start.

It'll take about 90 minutes to get to Mt. Ventoux, if I remember correctly from last year. This includes a short, steep climb from the hotel and the not-inconsiderable climb over the Col de Mur before descending to Mormoiron, Bedoin, and finally the gruesome 21 km climb up the "Geant de Provence." And this year, no crowds to cheer us on. Since even the returnees from last year didn't get to the summit (for a summary of which see here), there's quite a bit of excitement about reaching the top tomorrow. The newcomers are nervous, and we've tried to reassure them that a good time WILL be had by all.