THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

The second chapter of the Euro Dog Tour found this trio of merry men, Peter and buddies Cliff and Webguy heading towards France to catch a few stages of the Tour de France from Frankfurt after Ironman Germany. Unfortunately the roads in Germany were not as straight as the direction we were planning on taking! Knowing we were required to be heading south west the car was heading in a North West direction and no matter how many times we consulted maps and the road signs we were uncontrollably pulled towards Köln and Düsseldorf! It was as if there was a magnetic force pulling us in the wrong direction! Short version: After an unplanned excursion through Luxemburg and Belgium we were finally heading in the right direction to see the big show!

Following the Tour is exhaustive. Up at 6, find some coffee, gas up the car, try to find the area you want to watch the tour and get there, buy bottled water, cheese and a couple of baguettes for something to snack on, find another coffee, dump the car where you think you can escape the mad rush after the tour passes by, find more coffee, tour around the community you have chosen for your “base station” for the day, maybe catch the early part of the stage on French TV in a café (hence more coffee) then head out on foot to where you are going to watch the tour. Then… wait for the 300-400 pre-Tour vehicles to pass you throwing out every imaginable trinket, candy, coffee, key chains, water, cycling caps, fan hands etc. This usually signalled that the first rider was somewhere within 45 - 60 minutes away. Then the riders went by and then you made off to find your vehicle to get back to your hotel. Eat at 8 PM, find a beer, trip around the city checking out the sights, find a coffee and hit the bed around midnight! Repeat!

Webguy got pretty caught up in this French sport, at Tour time, of “I can get more swag than you” from the Tour caravan. After body checking two 14 years olds out of the way to get a SAECO cap (my hockey skills from 30 years ago would come in handy)  and elbowing an old lady for a bottle of water I quickly realized that all you had to do was stand by the road and this swag would land at your feet. Feeling a little bad about the “big bunch of Canadian Wump Ass” I laid on the young boys I started handing the swag that landed at my feet off to my young opponents. They were pretty stoked about the mountain of swag that they were developing. On the Col d’ Aspin in a flash down pour of rain I had 5 -6 bags of candy launched out of a tour vehicle hit me in the face just about taking my eye out. Trying not to appear shell shocked I scrambled to gather the evidence and quickly dispensed my findings to 3 kids not so lucky to score a bag of candy.

Between Peter and Cliff, I was getting a quick lesson in professional cycling. Though I had been reading everything I could find on the net regarding the professional cycling scene I was no match for Cliff and Peter. I had religiously studied cyclingnews.com, bike.com, procycling.com, bikecafe.com etc the past six months, followed all the major tours, minor tours, the classics… still came off feeling like a cycling newbie around these two. Cliff had raced professionally in Belgium a few years back and Peter… Well Peter is a sports fan period. X country skiing, F1, alpine skiing, mountain biking, track, running, NASCAR… You name the sport… Peter has more than just a cursory knowledge base and interest and understanding of most sports inter-workings and intricacies. He knows the players, the strategies.

Early one day en-route to the stage we were gassing up the car – and you guess it right – getting coffee Peter played ga ga fan when he ran into the Canadian ex pro cyclist Steve Bauer! The many day possessor of the yellow jersey in the 80 and 90’s Tour de France and now cycling tour operator was found pondering what map to buy in the convenience store of the gas station. Peter was quick to go up to the Canadian and shake his hero’s hand.

When spending a week solid with a bunch of guys… well guys talk about guy stuff. Warped was the view of the world from the vantage point of a fireman and then mix it in with another who’s employment background  is adult corrections (read: jail) it was rather enlightening to say the least… crude was another word that comes to mind…bent and twisted are others. Lots of laughs… nothing was sacred. A band of three-beer-screamers driving their way around the rural roads of France listening to I Pod music, telling stories, looking for coffee, paying toll fees, attempting to appear to know exactly where they were going and following the biggest traveling sports show in the world! Life is good!

Webguy’s favorite tale during the 4000 kilometers spent in the car  was Peter’s account of his “break through” race as a pro. Nice 96. Pete had scraped enough Euros – Franc’s in those days – to get himself to Nice to compete as a pro in this premier event. What was interesting to me was that Peter’s bench mark for “making it” was not solely a reflection on his performance in the race… though he did pretty good in that area as well. Lacking funds for accommodations when arriving in Nice the plan called for taking a local bus to the hostel from the airport. Encountering a small problem such as the closest bus stop being some 3 kilometers from the hostel did not dampen the aspiring young pro. Dragging his bike box (sans wheels – see my French  coming out again?) and duffle bag of clothes and gear Peter makes the trek (no he rides a Specialized) over cobblestone sidewalks and streets to his temporary home in France. Short version: Peter places third to the likes of LVL and Simon Lessing and returns to the hostel after his podium performance to cake, balloons and a festive atmosphere put on by the hostel owner. Next day the proud rookie pro with his winnings from the race knew he made it to the big leagues as he jumped into a cab from the hostel en route to the airport to return home. “I knew I made it when I could afford to take that cab instead of making that 3 k walk to the bus stop!”