The Return of Monsieur Squarepants!

It's my final week in France and--even worse--my return to work is quite imminent. Reality is very much staring me in the face. Here in France they would undoubtedly have a countdown since these things seem to be quite popular (days until the election, days until the world cup commences, etc.). By my count today is Jour J-8 which means that in 8 days I will have to start being cheery at 7 AM again. OK, enough whining, this post isn't about whining, but rather a very pleasant weekend.

First off, I finally took the GMAT (entrance exam for business school) after studying for part of the summer and was very pleased with the outcome. So I can happily say that I accomplished at least one thing this year (that is, other than working on my house-husband skills). Later that evening, France beat Ireland in the Rugby World Cup--we watched the matched with several thousand screaming French fans on an outdoor big screen. While I'm quite a novice when it comes to understanding the game, I must admit that le rugby can be an entertaining sport to watch. The next day, we threw ourselves a little going away party. Which leads me to the subject of this post. To my massive surprise, our friend Hannah had baked/made/engineered a cake of Spongebob Squarepants!!! Or Bob l'éponge as they call him here (Bob the sponge). I'm not sure what happened to his squarepants during the translation, but Bob l'éponge can occasionally be seen in the shops around Toulouse and on French TV. Apparently the exploits of a sea sponge in the form of a yellow household sponge dressed in knee-high socks, short sleeve dress shirt and tie, and who works as a short-order fry cook and lives in a pineapple under the sea are quite universal. Duh.

So while I'd like to be able to take credit for this creation (and thus double my accomplishments for the year), all of the accolades go to Hannah. I'm not sure how long it took to make the cake but it clearly took some detailed work. I'm quite touched by the effort (and the results!). I may have to try such a feat back in the US and claim it as an original idea of my own. :) The cake will be one of the highlights of a fantastic year spent in France. Bravo!

[The Creative Team of Hannah and Frank]

Gossip

It's 7:15 in the evening and I'm listening to "le mouv FM" which as far as I can tell is a pretty mainstream radio station (part of Radio France). Anyway, I'm blogging because they're playing "Standing In The Way Of Control" by Seattle's** very own the Gossip!! Granted, this song came out before I left the States but unless the band totally blew up while I've been gone, I think it's pretty damn cool they're being played in France. And if you haven't heard the Gossip, I highly recommend checking them out... lots of catchy hard rock songs. They are on the Olympia-based label Kill Rock Stars of Sleater-Kinney (amongst others) fame. **Not actually sure if they're from Seattle, but they play there a lot!! Hmm, I must be thinking a lot of my imminent departure from France if I'm blogging about this kind of shit. Oh well.

My Tour de France Withdrawal

Well, I see that this blog is quickly becoming a cycling blog--perhaps now that the Tour is over, I'll begin to write about something else. Soon, but not yet. I think I'm still going through withdrawal. As a recreational biker and cycling fan, I was quite excited for this year's Tour. However, I had no idea just how much I would enjoy the spectacle of the Tour de France. Being in France during the Tour is simply amazing. The Tour receives so much coverage!! I read about it everyday in the famous sports daily l'Équipe, subscribed to the French radio podcast, and then Tivo'd just about every TV program there was: pre-race, race coverage, post-race, highlights show. It's unbelievable.
[happier times: pre-withdrawal, post-publicity caravan]
During the race coverage alone, France television has reporters at the stage start, 2 commentators (one of whom is cycling great Laurent Fignon) following the stage from the finish, 2 reporters (one of whom is the omnipresent Laurent "Jaja" Jalabert--I think he's been mentioned in at least 1/2 of my blogs) following developments on the course directly from the back of motorcycles, and, this being France, a guy who tells us about the history of the various châteaux, churches, and historical sites that the race goes by (normally accompanied by a brief pause from the race to show some of the sights along the way). It's also entertaining to hear non-natives speak French. While George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, Levi Leipheimer, and Greg Lemond don't speak great French (actually, Lemond speaks pretty well), the French press truly appreciated the effort (since most of the other riders don't know French and speak through interpreters).

What I didn't appreciate in the States is how big of a cultural/social spectacle the Tour de France is. For many of the small towns that the Tour passes through (the course goes primarily through rural France), the Tour is in many ways a showcase of their region. Each day there is a TV talk show that takes place in the village where that day's stage departs. They highlight local celebrities, history, famous sights, and speciality foods (this is France afterall and just about every town has its own special cheese, alcohol, confection, etc). So in addition to seeing a bike race, you also get to learn about the area the race goes through. It's quite nice. The locals also go out of their way in preparing big signs and displays welcoming the tour which the TV coverage loves to show! And you see lots of people who take the day to have a picnic out in the countryside and then cheer when the race rolls by. The French will take any excuse to have a pleasant meal outdoors--wouldn't you?

Given the daily soap opera involving le dopage, the social/cultural aspect of the Tour is, in my opinion, what has kept the Tour afloat (at least for the moment). Thank god, because this year's Tour was quite a scandal. Every day there was something unexpected happening off the bike, which was sad because there was a lot of good action on it. To give you an idea, here were the headlines of l'Équipe on 4 consecutive days (and my feable attempt at a translation/explanation) showing how crazy it was:


7/23: "IL EST TROP FORT" / He Is Too Strong (talking of Rasmussen winning at Plateau de Beille)

7/24: "LE COURAGE DE VINO" / Vino's courage (Vinokourov's stage victory after failing miserably the day before)

7/25: "LE CHAOS" / The Chaos (the very next day, the same courageous Vino (whom the French loved) tests positive and is kicked out of the Tour)

7/26: "EXCLU!" / Excluded (Rasmussen kicked out due to very suspicious behavior)

While quite intriguing (I would anxiously look forward each day to buying l'Équipe), the scandals surrounding this year's Tour and the history of doping in general definitely made me more cynical. I still love the majesty of the Tour and the many great mountain passes it traverses, but I'm also disappointed by all that has happened. Interestingly, the French press always talks of Lance Armstrong as having been doped. While there's never been any hard evidence, I'm having a difficult time believing even his story these days. Maybe I've been in France for too long!

Watching le Tour de France

[an absolute highlight: meeting the famous Tour de France devil]
As Katie and I had learned shortly after our arrival in France, several stages of the Tour de France would be passing very close to Toulouse!! After many months of waiting, the Tour was finally here. I ended up spending the entire weekend watching the Tour and I wasn't disappointed. On Saturday we saw the Stage 13 individual time trial in Albi, and then the next day I saw the mountaintop finish of Stage 14 at the Plateau de Beille in the Pyrénées (Katie was extremely nice and stayed in Toulouse on Sunday to meet our friend who was arriving from the States). All of our pictures from both days can be found on our Picasaweb page. Both stages had their attractions.

Albi was nice (in spite of the afternoon rain) because there were riders passing by for most of the day so you could walk around the course and see them from various spots. We also got lots of goodies from the promotional caravan: I was dreaming of one of those polka-dot hats and big green hands! I now have more of those things than I know what to do with! From a race point of view, the time trial was important as it established who the main favorites for the race would be. The big surprise was that Michael Rasmussen managed to preserve the yellow jersey heading into the Pyrénées.

The Plateau de Beille was what I would describe as a classic mountain stage: lots of crazy people crammed onto the sides of narrow mountain roads. There were definitely more hard-core fans on this stage and lots of pre-race festivities (you have to arrive at least 6-8 hours before since they close the roads). The race, however, goes by in a relative short period of time (though didn't seem too short to me). As for the goodies, they were few and far between. When the publicity caravan made it to the slopes of the Plateau de Beille, I barely got anything! Too many people and the people giving away stuff were quite stingy. Oh well. The excitement of the race more than made up for it. The first mountain stage in the Pyrénées did not disappoint. The first riders to pass were Alberto Contador and Michael "Chicken" Rasmussen, the yellow jersey. The crowd around us went crazy when they went by (they were going super fast, I might add). There was even a guy in a chicken suit (a Rasmussen fan, I assume) running right in front of us (this made all the TV highlights so we could see where we were on TV).


[Contador, Rasmussen, and his fans in pursuit]

It's difficult to describe just how close the riders, motorcycles, and support cars get to the crowd. You can literally stick your hand out and touch the riders if you wanted to. Everyone covers the road prior to the riders arriving and then moves out of the way just enough to let the police motorcycles (who are trying to clear the way) pass. The riders are directly behind but it would be quite hard for a rider to try and pass someone for fear of running into the crowd. I actually saw a motorcycle cop shove a fan a few feet on a later telecast. As a rider, I guess you just focus on riding and assume the crowd will clear a path for you.


[in the words of my friend Adam: Kaku-fanboy]

And what cycling-related post would be complete without a reference to Laurent "Jaja" Jalabert? Actually, Stage 14 started in the town of Mazamet which is, in fact, where Laurent grew up.

Alpe-d'Huez (Sheryl Crow, Eat My Dust!!!)

Prior to my arrival in France, my only definitive goal was to ride the famous climb up to the ski town of Alpe-d'Huez in the French Alps. I had seen it many times while watching the Tour de France on TV and wanted to experience the "fun" myself. While not the longest or steepest climb, the 21 switchbacks leading up to Alpe-d'Huez are probably the most famous in all of cycling. Katie convinced her cousin and two friends (all from the States) to join us (we also did some rides in the surrounding areas) in early July. Although we didn't have a lot of time to ride (the weather was also unseasonably cold and wet), we did get a taste of Alpine riding. We ended up riding l'Alpe-d'Huez (the mythic climb), les 2 Alpes (nice views, not too hard, and a short ride--especially if you take the cable car down!), and the Col de la Croix de Fer (our longest and coldest ride--windy, rainy, even snowy at times--yet the most beautiful by far). We also drove up to the Col du Galibier (part of stage 9 of this year's tour). The following is a brief account of my Alpe-d'Huez climb (you can check out all of my photos here).



Each hairpin on the way up to l'Alpe-d'Huez is numbered and named after a rider(s) who has won a Tour stage there. The first turn is #21 (Fausto Coppi/Lance Armstrong) and is located in one the steepest portions of the entire climb... not an enjoyable way to start! Fortunately, I'm happy to say that in general I felt quite good on the climb. After the enormous amount of hurt I felt on Mont Ventoux (see my earlier blog), I learned my lesson and was much better prepared for l'Alpe-d'Huez. I was also highly motivated to beat the hour and a half time that Sheryl Crow (Lance Armstrong's ex-girlfriend) recorded a few years ago. The way I see it, Sheryl Crow is to the Alpe-d'Huez climb what Oprah is to marathoning. As someone who considers himself a decent biker, I was not going to be embarrassed by some pop singer. And apparently I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's all about pride.


[a nice view of some of the hairpins--you can see the town of Bourg d'Oisans, where the climb starts, in the upper left]




From what I had read about the climb, I was pretty nervous during the ascent. My legs felt really good but I was worried that I would run out of gas before the top. Thankfully, that moment never hit. When I finally made it to turn #1 (Giuseppe Guerini), I was in a good rhythm and making decent time up the mountain. I also kept my concentration up since turn #1 is NOT the final turn. While it's called the famous 21 hairpins of Alpe-d'Huez, there are in fact a few more turns to get to the actual finish. Actual is italicized because apparently the finish line keeps moving. The climb used to finish just after turn #1 (at the entrance to town), but as the town grows the Tour de France finish moves further and further back. Apparently the current TdF finish isn't even accessible now (it's in the middle of a construction site), so where we finished is as close as you can get (they have a nice little sign there). All in all, the ride is about 8.7 miles with an average grade of 7.7% (12% max)--at least according to one website I read.

And for those of you keeping score at home, I made it to the old finish line in just over 1 hour (1:01) and to the "official" finish line in about 1:05. Either way, I beat Sheryl Crow!! Mission accomplished, and I didn't feel like I had suffered all that much. Just to give you some context, the best Tour de France rider (Pantani) did it in around 36 minutes--and this is after they've ridden 100+ miles and have gone over 3 or 4 "above category" (HC) climbs before this. The most Katie and I have done so far is 2 passes (Category 1 & 2) on one ride and about 70 miles. Doped or not, it's quite impressive to see some of the mountains the tour riders go over. All in all, I was quite happy. Riding up the Alpe-d'Huez was something I wanted to do for a long time. Katie and I definitely intend to ride some of the famous climbs in the Pyrénées before we head back!


[The happy group: Joe, Amanda, Katie, Me, and Paul]


[At the top of Alpe-d'Huez... for me, a dream come true]