By Gail and Jim Spann

Woke up wondering if I had the energy to haul my suitcases downstairs again, but first…BREAKFAST. A treat here in the Europe. We walk into the traditional buffet of meats, cheeses, croissont rolls, yogurts, cereals, eggs, potato pies, every kind of fresh fruit and crusty bread. The bread is awesome, along with some Brie cheese, strawberry jam..yum.

Hot brown stuff they call coffee, and hot tea..much more to my liking. Peach juice is often served for breakfast too, but so is apple and orange juice. This morning they had cheesecake and apple pie!

We jumped onto the bus and head out to intersect the course, loading our bags first and dressed in our cycling attire. When we get to the area to unload Jim asks if I have seen his bag with his helmet and gear. Uh, no.

Seems he has left it at the hotel some 2 hours behind? So, being such a nurturing person, I hand him my shoes, pedals and helmet, gloves and camelbak. All the while I am glaring at him…he never will meet my stare!

Off he goes while I jump in with the tour leader and drive behind chatting about life in Europe as compared to Australia. Not really upset after I see the mountain climbs that I missed, I wait for Jim and he loads his bike in the trailer and hops in with us to get to the top of the mountain climb to see the racers go by. We have a special pass for the van that Lawrie is driving, so we manage to bypass the anger of about a 100 or so Policia that line the climb.

We get out and see the helicopters coming along…then the rush of energy as it travels up the climb with the fast moving official’s vehicles and motorcycles.

The intensity of the crowd and the constant chatter all lead you to look at the road constantly in case you miss the first sight of a race leader.

We end up saying hi to others we know, some of the team vehicles have people in them we have recently met and they are all stressing to get out of the way before the race comes too close..yet they manage a quick hello.

ENERGY. EXCITEMENT. ANTICIPATION.

It’s all there, in gobs!

Here they come, fast..uphill! Their tongues are hanging out..it is very hot. Many have white residue of salt around their lips, others are red and sucking air..but fast they are and moving along.

Many grunts and grimaces, these men are amazing. They are superhuman as far as we are concerned, a very rare breed of man that makes his living in this grueling way.
We are in awe.

They come in groups, over the top and down the other side. They know there is a huge group of fans at the top and they give us their best. As huge as this is, it is much smaller and more intimate than the TDF.

They are gone, but we have passes to the VIP areas at the finish line so we head down and meet up with the rest of the group..some had ridden more, some were not riding at all.

We go grab a glass of red wine, visit and chat for a while, then we all head over to the finish line.

Jim and I end up about 100 meters from the finish..in the press area. We had a clear view of the final climb as well as the finish line. The crowds were pounding the metal gates in excitement as the racers came along, this let everyone know they were about to round the corner.

We got photos of them all, they were exhausted but still amazed us with their strength! Voeckler, Zabel, Danielson, Noval, Heras, Pettachi, and the list goes on. They finished then turned around and head back down, along the far side…so this gave us double opportunities to get photos…and we did! Oh boy, did we ever. I am averaging 350 photos a day. I am also putting many on CD’s for the others in the group. Many shots are of them as well.

We packed up and head to this hotel which is atop a mountain along the prettiest countryside I have seen in years. The hotel is elegant, roomy and very luxurious. The staff is delightful and dress beautifully in a traditional outfit of white shirt, red collar and black pants/skirt along with a black vest. They have been very accommodating.

We called about Jim’s bag, it is being sent to our hotel in two nights over…near Madrid . In the meantime, we have borrowed some items that will make it so we can both ride!

The mountain we are on is peppered with tall trees, cattle and lovely tiled roof homes down a little ways.

We all had a drink after dinner in the bar which is huge, lots of old wood and great tapestries, copper pots and stuffed couches in front of a massive fireplace! It is another Paradore hotel, the finest!

It is after midnight yet again and Jim has just gone to sleep. We are riding in the morning then going to an ancient city to watch the finish line. It is surrounded by a wall with turrets, very beautiful!

This trip has been wonderful so far and we are having a really fun time! Very comfortable here even though our Spanish stinks! We found that being patient and smiling will get you what you are hoping for.

All our best!
Gail and Jim Spann