Tour de France

On Thursday, July 22, 2004, we went to see the last mountain stage in the Tour de France. The stage was from Bourg d'Oisans to Le Grand-Bornand. We set up camp just above the village of Manigod on the last climb of the day, to the Col de la Croix-Fry. After arriving at about 10 a.m., we hung out in the shade of a big tree until about 2, when the advertising caravan started coming by.

The riders started arriving about 4. Virenque had led for most of the race but had been overtaken. Sastre had broken away in Manigod, just below us, and was the first up the hill, followed by a group including Lance Armstrong.

Important to note: While Lance Armstrong passed about two feet away from me, I have no pictures to prove it because Alex didn't realize he had the auto-shutoff feature enabled on his camera. Despite a valiant dash straight uphill to try to intercept the Armstrong group after the switchback, he caught only the back of the group (basically, he got a Postal rider's butt on camera). But I did see Armstrong...I swear.

Note in hindsight: Of course, all these guys were doping. Takes away from the achievement of it, but it was still fun to watch.