Tour de France 2013

This year the Tour de France organisation decided to climb Alpe d’Huez twice during a stage, passing through the resort, descending on the east side along a narrow back road, to end up at the foot of the main climb again. This attracted a lot of spectators, and the valley was filling up with supporters until there was not a single empty spot left. All available space was covered by camping cars, parked cars and tents, and people were cycling and walking everywhere. Luckily our little hamlet remained an oasis of peace, despite the closeness to the Alpe. On the day itself Piet and the girls (Mary stayed behind to recover from the overnight trip with Beau) walked up halfway the climb, and first saw the publicity caravan passing (even distributing condoms this year!). Then the cyclists came, first a scattered front group, following by a small peloton led by Team Sky of Yellow Jersey wearer Chris Froome. After this the non-climbers followed in several groups. Due to the steepness of the road they go (relatively) slow, and we were able to recognize quite a few. The second time round the situation hadn’t changed much, except that the favourites had attacked each other, and were spread out. Dutch hopes Bauke Mollema and Laurens ten Dam had a very difficult time, and lost many minutes. When the last rider had passed all the people on foot and bike started descending, a massive “migration” as there were numbers of 700.000 to 1 million people mentioned!

The next morning we watched the publicity caravan again, and saw the peloton at the foot of the Col du Glandon. The cyclists were busy forming a break away, and were speeding along at 50 km/hour, so recognising them was a challenge this time…..

Christophe Riblon, the stage winner, during the first ascent of Alpe d'Huez

Andrey Amador, first Costa Rican in the Tour de France

Team Sky leading the leftovers of the peloton during the first ascent

Tom Veelers is struggling by himself, only halfway the first ascent

Moreno Moser will finish third in this stage

 Dutch favourite Bauke Mollema is dragged up Alpe d'Huez by Gesink and Nordhaug

Tom Veelers during the his second ascent, still on his own

Summer holidays (part I)

Summer holidays: time to move the Lambregts household to France again. Like in 2012 we took Beau along with us as well. He was declared fit after a long rehabilitation of 4 months, and Mary and the girls just started building up Beau's strength again. He was loaded into the trailer, and we drove through the night without any problems. In France he was offloaded, had a quick taste of fresh grass in our garden, and then was put in his box in our barn for a rest. The next day he met up with his lady friend Image, the village pony, who is keeping him company during the holidays. Life of fresh grass, free roaming in our garden, and some daily exercise started.

After a few days Beau started to show some signs of colic (severe intestine cramps), and the local vet was called. His injections did not help, and panic mounted, as colic will be deadly when treatment does not work. After the 3rd visit of the vet it was decided to move him to a specialist clinic, and at midnight Mary and Paula left for a place between Grenoble and Valence, a 2 hour drive. They came home exhausted early next morning, and Beau was left in the care of the clinic. The main treatment was “greasing the system” until he started producing horse shit again. Luckily Beau improved quickly, and after 3 days came home. Although he did not have any problems last year, the colic was most likely caused by the change in diet to fresh grass, and the change in climate to hot summer weather. Building up his strength started from scratch again…

Outside all this excitement life in Bassey continued as usual: some work in the garden, hiking, climbing Via Ferrata’s and cycling. The girls also got infected by the cycling bug (probably helped by the move of stable owner Cecile to the Ardeche region), and joined Piet on several rides. They also cycled up Alpe d’Huez with a few of the village grandkids, something we planned for the end of the holidays only! The weather has been tropical, real summer with some thunderstorms, so we spend a lot of time reading and playing cards in the shade as well.

Beau's first careful steps near our house

Susan and Dorien in the Via Ferrata of St. Christophe

Dorien on a tricky stretch of the same Via Ferrata

Piet's bike on Col du Galibier, the highest mountain pass in our region

Paula and Dorien taking a break during a hike

Dorien and Piet near Alpe du Pin

Checking directions

Mary and Beau on a recovery ride after his colic

Along the Romache

Dorien arriving in Le Mollard