La Tour de France

Oh how the Kraftwerk songs continually regurgitate themselves in my travels. This time, Brian and I had a true adventure away from Avignon in the town of St Remy de Provence. Its likely that we did not get on TV since no one told me we showed up, but we had an amazing day!!! It started thusly:

With a cafe in the cool air and heating sun, we watched cyclist after recreational cyclist go by. Clearly, the mood of cycling was in the air. After a cafe in the sun talking about our previous night of camping in a monument parking lot, we grabbed our gear and bikes and set off for the edge of town. Passing the tree lines streets with the morning sun bouncing through and around the full green leaves, we decided to stop and set up in front of a waterfall of a canal. The water roared continually and we laid our bikes, with a fresh blue bed cover over the seats. The bed cover was a creation of the previous night as the mosquitoes bit me in twilight, writing the words TOUR de AWESOME in black shoe polish I picked up in Avignon.

We set up and expected the riders in the next few hours, which turned into about 4 hours before the riders showed up! This did not stop the fun, though. At 945, we opened a bottle of wine and were the only spectators drinking until a kindly family across the route started to smile and laugh with us and then Jean Vincent insisted we come over, share in their Pastise, and joke about doping, the Tour, and work feverishly on my French. Vincent happened to be a shiny headed former chief of police of Avignon with a penchant for Pastise and more friends in town than I have in the world. He was kind and caring and very warm toward us for no reason whatsoever.

Finally, the Tour arrived at 1130, except it was the LEAD PACK in other words, 40 sponsors with floats and freebies being throw out of cars at high speeds. This was a spectacle of American proportions and I did not even know this existed! Between floats and police and cars with empty bike racks atop their roofs, we ran over to Vincent and our new family of approximately 4 adults and 3 children, all amazed by us and our desire to partake in their festivities. They were so warm and I will hope to remember them as the true French.

When the riders passed, there was cheering and holding our banner, and picture taking. Ten men led and then the peloton followed within seconds of the lead pack. All told, approximately a minute of excitement with 4 hours of build up. We returned to our family, they fed us cheese and bread and meats and home made local wine with no label. They insisted we return to their home and continue the celebration and we rode, with a little wobble, about 500 m to their house and sat under a shade tree in their garden at their kitchen table, learning a French card game.

Pushing a jar of fresh home jarred Jean Vincent honey into my hand (hes bored in retirement), Jean Vincent drove us back to Avignon in his white and green 1960s peugeot convertible jeep at about 5 PM. I hung out the window taking photos with our bikes piled up in the back. We finished the day with a picnic of Cecily and friends overlooking the bridge with no end over the Rhone in Avignon.