Famous Cols of the Tour de France in GPS Coordinates

GPS Coordinates for

ALL the famous Cols of the Tour de France

Enjoy some Kraftwerk while you werk:

Tor da Fraunze

News:

07-11-2005:

Why read my news when U can read
PEZ CYCLING's LATEST NEWS

Neat TdF Blog contest

I was on vacation 07-01-2005 thru 07-10-2005.
With no cable/sat TV access,
I followed le Tour via my mobile phone's web access
on BBC-cycling and Eurosport; with up-2-tha-minute coverage there!

06-30-2005:
Attended the
the Tour de France Kickoff Party
benefit for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
@ the Arlington [VA] Cinema 'N Draft House.
This was a special screening of the hit film
"The Tour Baby" with filmmaker Scott Coady hosting the event!
It included a silent auction featuring a
Discovery Channel jersey signed by Lance Armstrong
and a raffle for a new road bike, courtesy of Trek!
[My buddy Paul's ticket had five of six numbers,
but the last number was two digits away from the winning ticket!]

Here's my reflections on the evening and Scott:

I decided at 4:00pm that day with my buddy Paul to zoom over on my motorbike from DC to Arlington, VA to attend the fund-raiser. I forgot to pre-register so I was in the "stand by" line waiting anxiously to see if we could get in. At that time, a gentleman came out of the theatre and into the lobby that was anxiously trying to make sure all attended. I assumed it was the host so I asked him, over the din of the crowd in the lobby, "...are U the filmmaker?" He warmly responded "yes!" I went over and introduced myself and added '... that my wife was a Executive Producer at the Discovery Channel..." to try and grease the skids of my position in the line.
He took time at that busy moment for him to engage me in conversation for a few minutes with a genuine interest that only someone truly passionate for his cause would do. He then reassured all in the standby line that, "we'll get you in, 'cauz we WANT your Money!"
He was true to his word and we all got in and enjoyed the screening's festivities.
Afterward, I went up to Scott during the 'meet and greet' session and I stated I had no more cash on me, so I "...would buy the DVD via the WWW."
He stated he would make special arrangements to get my wife a DVD as a professional courtesy. I provided him mine and my wife's email for future reference.
I returned from ten days of vacation and AGAIN true to his word, his Project Coordinator had already sent me an email on 7-5-05 requesting the address the DVD should be sent to!

This is what I wrote her:
"...Thank you SO VERY MUCH for taking time to respond SO RAPIDLY to Scott's generous offer to send the DVD to my wife.

I so very much enjoyed meeting Scott at the screening of this and his fine cut of the Paris-Roubaix (P-R) at the Arlington, VA fund-raiser I attended.

Scott is such a warm wonderful person, watching him live his dream, following the International cycling circuit (that is mine also), through his films is such an honor and treat for me!

For Scott to follow through, amid his Tour travel preparations, with his offer to forward the DVD based on my conversations with him shows the truly wonderful giving nature of his character; I will see if I can make another donation to his cause today via the WWW.

I was away on vacation from that Friday after the Arlington, VA screening until Sunday 7-10 so I have only seen the OLN coverage of Stages 8 and 9 of le Tour so far. Like trying to watch for THE DEVIL or other TdF fixtures, I have been watching for Scott on OLN. In Stage 9 on the Col de Bramont summit there was a man running alongside momentarily with a dark blue shirt AND NO PANTS ON and I compared that butt with the one Scott bared in those famous P-R showers in his fine cut he screened to see if it was HIS butt! ..."

Scott's previous work was laying out of the route of the
TEAM DISCOVERY Channel training ride January 2005 Ojai
(that was quickly moved on contingency to Solvang, CA)
[pdf about it]
He wrote up a journal about his rides with the Team
(and Sheryl Crow) that day
on pezcyclingnews
It was delivered in his always fabulous,
always yer right there with him signature style.
I read his coverage of that on the paceline in the Winter
and it had me dreaming of California Sunshine.
PezCN is now has employing him to cover this year's TdF.

06-27-2005:

Shop for Team Discovery Channel gear
(i got, via the Discovery Employee internal site, the cap and the ACG pullover, AWESOME!)

Ride with Team Discovery Channel contest

Sirius sat-radio broadcasting Lance during 2005 TdF

roadcycling.com-TdF 2005 coverage

Cycling news

SpokeRadio.com

05 TdF blog with news

including
Team Discovery Channel's TdF team

DudeGirl TdF trips

2005-06-24:
Here's Lance's Discovery Channel schedule for week of 06-27-2005.

2005-06-12:
Rock Creek Trestle ride

2005-06-05:
Went up to Philly for our annual trek to the USPRO Wachovia race.
Pictures my buddy Paul took at the race
that he gave me as gifts
on my 44th Magnum birthday, June 07.
We ride the closed course every year at dawn before the race starts.
Fun to ride behind the Italian Women as they do reconn on the circuit,
you just try and keep up with them!
So we travel up to Philly on Saturday and stay in Center City
near Rittenhouse Square that has its Arts Festival each year that weekend.
One year, in the afternoon before, as we were at Cosi,
we saw Chris Horner toolin' by on two wheels, looking more like a Messenger.
Last year, after our 'night before the race ride' dinner,
we overheard a chap asking for directions to Race Street.
It was none other than Mr. Phil Liggett, with I believe his wife, a beautiful blonde haired phillie.
I pulled out my handheld GPS and showed him on its map where his hotel was.
He asked slightly confused, "How did you know which Hotel I was staying at?"
This year in the feed zone before the race,
I saw the later 05 Liberty Classic (women's race) winner, and I also saw Bobby Julich.
I waved and said to him, "we love you Bobby!" and he smiled back.
I love how THE WALL fills me with such intrepidation
that my heart is always in my throat on my race route ride
as I hit Main Street in Manayunk before that right turn onto Lyceum Ave
and go under the train tracks to start the climb UP Levering Street,
"You's kin do it."
Some other people's photos of the Race.

2005-05-29:
Attended the CSC Invititational:

I really enjoyed the race, and my buddy Paul JUST
MISSED grabbing one of Bobby Julich's bottles he
tossed it at turn TWO at under ten laps to go. We made a new friend that day in Chris who snagged the bottle. He said he might be meeting the CSC team afterward where he was going to show it to Bobby!

When we first came up upon the race, after climbing straight upfrom the Potomac river viasteep Key Blvd in Rosslyn, VA to Wilson Blvd
(having taken in Rolling Thunder on the Memorial
Bridge), we were standing at turn 5 for a while behind a guy andtwo dark haired roadie riders. After a few laps of watching the race zoom through the downhill apex turn 5, the three of them offered Paul and I their spots 'on the barricades.' After the race, as I was flying on myColnago back toward DC, I cameup upon the back of that same menage` a trois, so i gotto follow behind their behinds for a couple miles on that downhill roller coaster ride that is the eastbound Custis Trail. Nowwasn't that well worth the $12.50 donation I made to get the Breakaway Pass at the Race!After watching the race at each turn for a few laps, culiminating with watching the finish, and immediately after the prize presentations, my buddy Paul andI took a lap around the still-closed circuit, that was FUN to get a feel for what the racers did a hundred times.

My bikes and moto-fotos

Le Tour - Tour de France

Alps:

Proud to call him,
my bro-in-law
Marek's dispatches from his very own TdF:

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 11:16:43
From: Marek M.

Today was the first big day. My own l'Alpe d'Huez TT.
What a humbling experience. All in all though things
went ok. The new bike was great, although the very
first time my feet ever touched the pedals I was
climbing a 12-13% grade. I came in at 64 minutes even.
I thought I was going to break 60 minutes but the road
went up further out of Huez (to the Altiport° than I
thought. I'm sure Timo would break 60 min first go
round and I will next time. I was a little held back
by 1: my tires needed about 20 psi each, so I was on
3/4 filled tires 2: my legs were sore from hiking
Megeve yesterday 3: I had two bottles of wine last
night and fell asleep with a chew in. The TV doesn't
begin to depict how epic and steep the climb is. After
descending in 10 minutes, I road north then east out
of Bourg d'Oisan to the Col du Glandon and Croix de
Fer approaches. I'm in trouble on Friday: Croix de
Fer, Col du Telegraph and the big daddy the Col du
Galibier. I honestly don't think I'll make it! The
valley floors are near sea level and all these
climbs go straight up for miles and miles. The next time I
do this it should be with you guys. This is too good
to do alone.
------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:41:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Marek M.
Subject: Re: L' Alpe
To: "John D. Kazeva"

I met this 55 year old alpine guide who bikes in the
summer. He wants to take me on this crazy death ride
tomorrow: Megeve- Col des Aravis- Col du Colombiere-
Cluses- Col de Chatillon- JOUX PLANE!!!!!!!- Morzine-
Col de Chatillon- Cluses- Megeve. 180kms. I think this
old man wants to kill me.
---------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 00:59:05
From: Marek M
To: john.kazeva@gsfc.nasa.gov

St. Jean de Marienne- Col de Telegraphe- Valloire- Col
du Galibier- Le Grave- Bourg d'Oisans- L'Alpe d'Huez.
By far the toughest five hours I've spent in a saddle.
Totally and completely epic. When cyclists die and go
to Heaven they land somewhere around here. l'Alpe d'Huez
took 75 minutes I was so thrashed. From St; Jean to
the summit of the Galibier, it's a 3 hour climb. My
mutual service vehicle, a grey Opel station wagon
driven by some hot American chick (who doubled as my
personal CycleSport photographer), supported my weak
a** all day with peanut butter/banana:honey sandwiches.

Today she hikes, I go Megeve- Flumet- Col de Aravis-
Le Grand Bornand- Col du Colombiere- Cluses- Megeve.
Thank God the road down from the Joux Plane to Morzine
is closed. If you are receiving this email get started
on whatever you need to do to make this happen summer
'05.

Col du Telegraphe

Col Du Galibier: 5.4 miles @ 7% avg. grade

L Alpe D Huez: 8.5 miles @ 8.5% avg. grade

Col du Lauteret: 15.4 miles @ 4% avg. grade

Col de la Core

Montvernier: 18 switchbacks

Les Deux Alpes: 5.5 miles @ 6.1% avg. grade

To be added: Col de Semnoz: 11 miles @ 6.7% avg. grade

Evian-Les-Bains

Col du-Glandon: 16.7 miles at 4.5% avg. grade

To be added: Col de la Faucille: 7.1 miles @ 6.3% avg. grade

Pyrenees:

Portet DAspet

Fabio Casartelli Memorial

Fabio Memorial

Col de Mente

Col d Aspin Aure

Col du Tourmalet: 10.2 miles @ 7.5% avg. grade

Luz Ardiden: 8.4 miles @ 7.5% avg. grade

Plateau de Bonascre

Col d-Aubisque: 10.1 miles @ 7.1% avg. grade

Col de la Colombiere

Col d-Grand Colombier

Hautacam: 8.3 miles @ 7.9% avg. grade

Col de la Madeleine

To be added: Plateau de Beille: 11.5 miles @ 6.4% avg. grade

Provence:

Le Mont Ventoux

Ventoux deux

Cycling in Italy:

Giro d'Italia high fashion

Tifosi Store

2003 Granfondo Campagnolo

Monte Zoncolan Versante di Sutrio: tappa 12 Giro d’Italia May 22, 2003

Campagnolo factory: Vicenza

Colnago factory: Cambiago

Ferrari factory: Maranello

San Pellegrino Terme

I have them on a GPS " .mps" file for Garmin.

Questions?

never_a_dull_moment@johnkazeva.com

Washington, DC area road riding

A 1925 DC Bike Race photo here

1938 Six-Day Race in Pittsburgh history

Intro
The DC Trails
DC Links
Reference Links
Racing
Tour de France Links

Please allow me to introduce my bicycle self:

2004-me-at-USPRO.jpg

My various cycling-photos

I own a Colnago

I live in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, a.k.a. , the courteous, attentive driver Capital here in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic bayou. Being an urban dweller means my rides are usually Great Circle routes in and out of the city on any given day, or taken day for that matter, if one of those two weeks of Spring and Autumn here necessitate such hedonistic actions. Sometimes my rides follow much larger Keplerian ellipses because, not only is it easier on my conservation of angular momentum, it just makes sense since after all the zero milestone in town here is set on the north end of one.

I love to spin on the maddening city streets and sidewalks of the downtown and Federal City of Washington. I absorb much wonderful imagery for stress control on my peacefully paced explorations of the posh, tree-lined neighborhood streets throughout the varied Northwest quadrant of the District of Columbia. I also hit the great roads to the north and west of Washington in Maryland and Northern Virginia. I typically drive to rural places out in the rolling ripples of the foothills of the Shenandoah or travel upriver along the Potomac and ride in day loops from there.

I cherish quiet, LIB (low incidence of blader) days spent on one of the many trails in and around Washington, DC:

Beach Drive / Rock Creek Trail

A winding, two lane road that follows the creek in Rock Creek Park, the gorgeous tree-lined ravine that cuts through NW DC. Beach Drive is open to human-propelled locomotion only on the weekends and holidays. The Rock Creek trail runs from the Kennedy Center downtown all the way up into Rockville, MD.

The Crescent Trail

An excellent Rails-toTrails reclamation of a narrow gauge rail line that ran from Georgetown in a crescent-shaped path to Bethesda, MD. It is very nearly complete pending some final bridge construction.

The C & O Canal Trail

A fast rolling rocky trail that originally was the beast-of-burden path that parallels the historic barge canal . The Canal follows the Potomac river from Georgetown 184 miles up river to Cumberland, MD, the point of departure for the original "National Highway" west into what was then the Ohio wilderness. The trail rises in step-wise manner every mile or so with a small incline around the locks that defined the "pools" of the canal to accommodate the elevation changes. I ride the C & O trail out of Georgetown up to Great Falls. I've also rolled along at a nice clip on the C & O trail headed upriver on the opposite shore from Harper's Ferry to the undiscovered community of Shepardtown, WV. Like Amsterdam and Goa, this is also quite the place, tailor-made for jumping off the rat race. Zen and the art of living Life is practiced in this small town. An early morning departure on the trail across from Harper's Ferry put us in the center of the Shepardstown farmer's market at high noon on one Sunday Pual, Stevie and I did it on. Paul and Mssr. Jay-Beau had a sojourn there again as it was sure fun the first time we all did it. Paul is a seasoned rider and well practiced in the ways and means of plausible deniability. During the flooding in January '96, we slipped under the police tape in Georgetown and rode up the C & O to the Arizona Bridge. The river had breached the Canal above that. Fletcher's boathouse has markings of the height of the water level that day. In summer, one may find a wasp's nest near that marking as the flood waters were lapping at the eaves of the building.

The Mt. Vernon Trail

The Mt. Vernon trail is a narrow paved trail that starts in Rosslyn,VA and travels a full day's riding distance. It passes the thickly wooded hiking trail-lined secret known as Roosevelt Island, directly across the Potomac from the Kennedy Center and a world away. The trail continues near Arlington National Cemetery where the Rock Creek trail merges with it just across the Potomac in the Commonwealth of Virginia across the [Lincoln] Memorial Bridge. It heads south past the second bike trail out of DC; the 14th Street bridge crossing where the ill-fated Air Florida flight bounced in 1983. The trail follows under the blast of the planes at the end of the large runway at Washington National Airport and proceeds down through Old Town Alexandria. After being disguised as a pedestrian walkway in the heart of Old Town, it re-emerges paralleling the GW Parkway down to the US's first president's house. There is always a bit more bicycle (and blader and baby jogger) traffic on it then I prefer to negotiate. It may lighten up south of Alexandria, I've never ventured to find out. Maybe next summer, as I've said for eight years now.

The Custis Trail

A paved trail with large roller coaster hills that leads out of DC along Lee Highway through Rosslyn, VA on its way to points southwest.

The W. & O. D. Trail

Another Rails-to-Trails reclamation of a nice east-west running paved trail. This trails runs out beyond Leesburg, VA.

The Four Mile Run Trail

I really liked the Four Mile Run trail in Arlington, VA. On this trail, one suddenly leaves the pavement trapped heat of Shirlington and the traffic of the Mt.Vernon trail behind and descends into deep shade of thickets of stream-fed, dark leafed trees along a kiddie roller coaster course of swoops and dips over and next to the stream flowing along the path. This is where you knock it down a gear and ride just off the saddle, being enveloped in the deep shadow under the tree canopy. The sudden transition very effectively blinds the rider with the lack of ambient light. Then one pops back out in a blinding rush of sun to heighten the experience with drastic contrasts of light.

I also re-visit rides on roads that I've found when I'm out riding my well-liked BMW R65 motorcycle :

I love riding out from NW DC toward Potomac, MD and all around the Seneca/Poolesville/White's Ferry area back roads. A fun road route I've taken is to start at Beach Drive going up through Chevy Chase, then over to Bradley Blvd. I follow Bradley through Bethesda to get to River Road. This route puts me on my way to Potomac, gateway to the great country roads out near White's Ferry. An alternate way via road is to come up MacArthur Blvd. from Georgetown to Persimmon Tree Road past Avenil or stay on MacArthur Blvd. to Great Falls Rd., bearing with the road at the Great Falls park entrance and continuing on to River Rd.

Primarily I am a road rider on a Peugeot PX10LE Pearl Blue Frameset stage racer comprised of Reynolds 531DB thru out. The custom version of this model, the PY10LE, was rode by John Marino on his first record run across America in 1979. Before the contraption known as a Mountain Bike was ever heard of East of the hills around Jerry Garcia's spread, I special ordered my ride from my all time favorite shop, Gatto Cycle Shop . I wonder whatever happened to that rep Dave I ordered it from.

For a bike that is half my age, it still has the same comforting spring that I felt when I rolled it off my stand at dawn so many wakie-bakie Sunday's ago. At dawn the Pearl Blue paint job goes from a hue of Periwinkle thru Seafoam Green to Pearl Blue better than the J. Crew catalog. The black anodize drilled Stronglight 105 crank juxtaposed against this color still reveals the French's talent for grasp of the aesthetic. It is set up with vintage down-tube Nuovo Record friction shifting for that crisp analog response that is just not learned in this digital age. Some progress I can live with. I've owned the Brooks leather racing saddle since somewhere back as far as ninth grade, I believe.

I own a Colnago Master Light with a Campy Record 10 gruppo. I used to have a Stumpjumper fitted with the thinnest Avocet Cross tires made but I much more enjoy riding on lugged steel with the forgiving geometry that is inherent in a frame with a horizontal top tube. The only Mountain Bike I want is the Colnago-Ferrari II

I get out on the road bike usually about two/three evenings during the week for five/ten miles and one day a weekend when I'm lucky.

My first tale from the trail:
Wild, Wonderful West Virginia Romp Sunday, August 20th, 1995

My second tale from the trail for you is from:
my journal entry for Sunday, November 3rd, 1996

DC area links

WABA - Washington Area Bicyclist Association

http://bikewashington.org/

Mountain Biking @ singletrack.com

http://www.babesonbikes.org/

Some Reference Links:

bikeride.com

Gear Chart Calculator

The Bike' alog - Bike Specs Compendium

http://www.johnkazeva.com/bicycle/easyGPS

Some  Racing Links:

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team

Wachovia Cycling - USPRO Championships

Here are my photos and cam phone videos of 
2005 USPRO 
including shots of 
the very cool and oh so hot 
Liberty Classic start line-up,
with emphasis on 
Velo Bella.

http://www.johnkazeva.com/bicycle/philly_bike_route_maps.html

 VeloNews Interactive

OLN


Track racing

 
BBC Cycling coverage

 Eurosport TV Cycle Racing Coverage

Tour of Flanders, Koppenberg:

http://www.grahamwatson.com/2002/koppenberg/koppencover.html

 Fleche Wallone,  Mur de Huy:

http://www.spore.org/users/mmurphy/archives/000242.html#000242

 la Redoute (Liege-Bastogne-Liege):

 http://www.bike-zone.com/racinghistory/lbaastl.php

 Spring Classics tours:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/cyclingtravel/sunderland/springclassics.shtml

Tour  de  France links:

Le Tour de France - The Official Site

 
TdF 4 dummies

Lequipe

My TdF planning:

I bought this excellent book on France cycling:

http://store.yahoo.com/velogear/lonplansercy.html

It has great maps/info of the major mountain stages of Le tour.

Here's a good overpage of the 03 Le tour:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=default

here's their mountain stage summary:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=stages#mountain

I think it would be nice to watch/ride Le tour in the mountains

primarily/exclusively. This is so I could try and climb some of them, its

pretty scenery, and one gets (slightly) more of a chance to see the riders

while they are moving slower. The down side is of course the crowds/traffic

jams and limits of hotels. I would like to also get a perch to see them

flying down the mtn’s too, less crowds but they would whiz by in a flash.

Here's a potential plan:

Arrive in Alps:

Maybe stay in Evian les Bains:

http://www.eviantourism.com/

Avoid the crowds at points closer to the tour, and they have nice

spa/hotels. (Not sure how difficult traveling the few dozen kilometers

between Evian and the tour stgs. would be though with traffic and

circuituous mtn roads/passes.)

------------

NOTE: I assume the F-1 race in Nevers, France (MAGNY-COURS) is going to be

In July also; could plan a French F-1 GP sidetrip

-------------

famous Alpine climbs:

km 125.5 - Col du Télégraphe: 12.1 km climb (av. gradient: 6.8 %)

http://www.iseran.com/Atlas/telegraphe.html

km 149 - Col du Galibier: 18.5 km climb (av. gradient: 6.7 %)

http://www.iseran.com/Atlas/galibier.html

km 211 - L' Alpe d'Huez: 14.1 km climb (av. gradient: 8 %)

--------------------------

Bourg d'Oisans - Gap

Col du Lauteret:

http://www.grahamwatson.com/2002/tdf/tdf8/image19.html

http://www.iseran.com/Atlas/lauteret.html

----------------------

and then travel from Alps (perhaps via a day a la plage?)

then drive to Toulouse (France's space industry area)

to see

http://www.cite-espace.com

(Since I’m a Rocket Scientist, I would like this exhibit because of its space theme, but I imagine

Toulouse could be boring because so many aerospace engineers must live there).

I think after taking in the space city exhibit, then proceed directly to

stay in the mtns to see the Pyrnesses

km 168.5 - Col de Pailhères: 15.5 km climb (av. gradient: 7.8 %)

km 197.5 - Plat. de Bonascre: 9.1 km climb (av. gradient: 7.2 %)

km 103 - Col du Portet d'Aspet: 5.9 km climb (av. gradient: 6.8 %)

km 118.5 - Col de Menté: 7 km climb (av. gradient: 8.2 %)

-----------------------------------

and stop at the Fabio Casartelli memorial along the way:

http://www.komcycling.com/casartelli.htm

http://townsleyb.members.beeb.net/procycle/casartel.htm

pic at bottom of this page:

http://www.lancearmstrong.com/bio.html

is the famous pic of Fabio's teammate Lance when he broke away from the

pack to win for Fabio on Stage 17 of the 95 TdF after racing resumed after Fabio's

death. Lance stated he knew Fabio was with him that day. The day after

Fabio's death Team Motorola rode on the front of a non-racing peloton as a memorial procession).

http://www.dewielersite.net/coureurs/casartelli_f.htm

shows a picture of the memorial.

---------------

Famous Cols of the Pyrenees:

km 94 - Col d'Aspin: 12.3 km climb (av. gradient: 6.4 %)

km 124.5 - Col du Tourmalet: 17.1 km climb (av. gradient: 7.4 %)

http://www.iseran.com/Atlas/tourmalet.html

km 159.5 - Luz Ardiden: 13.4 km climb (av. gradient: 7.6%)

in the region

--------------------

The 11th edition of l'Etape du Tour

Vélo Magazine will take place between

Pau and Bayonne, on the course of the 16th stage of the 2003 Tour de France.

http://www.letapedutour.com/2003/us/home.html

the only day one is "allowed" to ride on the tour route.

Since it looks like from first hand accounts, the gendarmes dissuade people

(sometimes forcefully) from riding on the course at all other times, this

could be fun, but i would prefer seeing the actual tour route on our

anniversary, its a much more famous route than the Pau to Bayonne stage route.

--------------------------

Then we could head back toward Paris following le tour along the way or go

on ahead to return to Paris to get ready for its arrival the following weekend.

--------------------------------------

I am trying to see what time of day one could start out to ride these mtn

stage routes before the gendarmes start hassling.

I would love to park atfoot of the famous climbs pre-dawn, do the mtn route ride to summits at

sunrise with a backpack, then roll back down to spot scoped out on ride up,

spread out dechune' and blanket, hang out and enjoy "schwag" publicity

procession, nap, tune in to radio and a portable solar powered TV to watch

stage start/procession, then watch riders go by, then ride bike back down

to parked car/eurovan or hotel if close to beat throngs going down to then

dine in town, then follow similar plan the next day. I am open to a night

or two of camping with a eurovan rental, but i prefer to not have too many

subsequent days of camping in a row, to save my back and just get better rest.

--------------

I am looking into renting a bicycle in Paris like from Paris a velo.

Its not worth the risk/hassle to me to bring my Colnago.

---------------

biking in Paris:

http://www.jpricaud.com/velo/an_velo.html

------------------

Graham baxter's tours has nice overview of the mtn stages:

http://www.sportingtours.co.uk/index.html?letour/letour.html~main

-----------------------

Here's my research so far:

Pyrennes and 1st hand travel accounts/tips on following le Tour:

http://www.wideopenroad.co.uk/Pyre3.html

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bicycles-faq/part1/section-23.html

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bicycles-faq/part1/section-27.html

http://chainreactionbicycles.com/diaryfrance.htm

-------------------------

GPS le Tour mapping software/data:

http://www.travelbygps.com/special/letour/letour.htm

http://www.travelbygps.com/resources.htm#EasyGPS

--------------------

Physical maps:

http://www.mapsworldwide.com/mwwlive/dir2.asp?subsecid=182

http://www.mapsworldwide.com/mwwlive/itempg.asp?itmid=2112

http://www.mapsworldwide.com/mwwlive/itempg.asp?itmid=2111

http://www.mapsworldwide.com/mwwlive/itempg.asp?itmid=2117

http://www.mapsworldwide.com/mwwlive/itempg.asp?itmid=13362

----------------

Misc. Euro tour info:

http://www.ariege.com/courses/letour/history.html

http://www.traveloffthebeatenpath.com

http://gofrance.about.com/library/blpages/bltravelsavoie.htm

----------------------------

Col d'Aubisque

http://www.grahamwatson.com/2002/tdf/tdf4/image9.html

http://www.iseran.com/Atlas/aubisque.html

http://www.huwhitchin.freeserve.co.uk/france/img/aubisque.htm

Ventoux:

http://www.iseran.com/Atlas/ventoux.html

http://www.iseran.com/Atlas/photo_ventoux.html

http://www.cycling.uk.net/alps/south/vent.htm

approaches:

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/3892/

----------------

Italia climbs:

http://cgm.cs.mcgill.ca/~luc/climbs.html

----------------------

Some good maps of the roads and mountains' profiles with city names that help in my creating GPS routes:

http://www.cycling.uk.net/alps/index.htm

http://www.ocd.org.uk/

http://www.komcycling.com/

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/5912/ciclismo.html

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/2922/

MISC:

A California bike club listing on:

mybikesite.com

Looks like a neat book:

Bike Cult

"Get on your bikes and ride!"

Listen to Clips of “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Bicycle Race” here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000OAH/qid=1102740405/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8845607-6007961?v=glance&s=music