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Published: August 16th 2013
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Our drive through the Pyrenees on the way to the tour actually wasn't too bad. We decided to take the shorter route(3 1/2 hrs) and forgo seeing Andorra. Maybe next time. The drive actually turned into a little over 4 hours bc we got a little off track and mountain driving means not a lot of road choices. The scenery was beautiful though, and Andrew loved driving. I did not enjoy riding so much. He raced through the switchbacks up the mountain and I looked out my window at the sheer drops just feet from me. I was very glad to see the sign that we were on the mountain where we would "camp". Driving up the mountain was so exciting. Seeing tons of campers and people from all over the world all hanging out and waiting for the big day. It was such an exciting atmosphere even for me, and I'm not the cycling fanatic that Andrew is. I think he was a little in shock that he was actually going to see the tour. We got settled, as much as we could in a tiny hatch back. The seat laid down, but with a large hump in the middle,
so we had to sleep in the front seats. After walking around, meeting some interesting people and getting the lay of the land, we settled in for a long, cold, sleepless night. In the daytime it was warm enough on the mountain for shorts and tank tops, but after the sun went down, it was frigid. We weren't prepared, and spent the night sporadically turning the heat on full blast to get the chill out. People were partying all night though. Someone even lit off a bunch of fireworks, so that kind of made up for missing the 4th of July celebration here at home.
I was up early the next day. Mostly because I really just slept in short increments between trying to get comfortable and trying not to freeze to death. The set up was already in full swing though. The trucks with signage had arrived and were starting to set up as I hiked to the top of the mountain in search of coffee and bread(some local restaurants had set up a few tents at the top so the spectators had a place to buy some food. It was actually wonderfully convenient and a smart idea
since we were a long way from anywhere and all of the roads in and out were closed. There was a buzz of excitement in the concession tents, and it was incredible listening to the crazy mix of languages all in one place. The mime method worked for getting some breakfast since I don't speak a word of French. The coffee roused Andrew, and it was time to get the day started. We hiked over the mountain to the switchbacks the riders would be climbing and settled in to a spot in the english speaking switchback. There weren't many of us, and everyone kind of congregated together so we had people to talk to on the wait. There were 2 other american groups and several brits near us. Around noon the police started coming through, and you could tell the party was about to get started. Then the caravan rolled through throwing tons of hats, tshirts, food, key chains, etc. They threw so much we ended up with 2 of most things. It was a huge fast moving parade of small floats with blasting music. Then the official cars came through, and you knew the riders were close. A guy
near us had a tv, and everyone was going to check the tv and then going to look over the mountain to see if they could catch the first glimpse of the riders. After about 20 minutes, 6 helicopters emerged from the valley and the riders were on the mountain. Everyone headed back to their spots along the road to wait. Andrew, I think, had the time of his life cheering and running along side the riders. And then, in less than 5 minutes, it was over. That's my kind of sport. None of these boring 4 hour games, 5 minutes of sport is all I need. So, we headed back to the car and began the long trip to Pamplona. The road was closed the way we needed to go, so we joined the group going down the other side of the mountain. It was 1 lane of switchbacks with drop-offs, but several large motor homes did not get the memo and were coming up the mountain against traffic causing huge jams. It was a stressful mess! After finally getting to the bottom of the mountain, we discovered that we were going to have to drive a long distance
out of our way as the only nearby way across the mountains was back up the way we came. The GPS was zero help and kept telling us to turn around, so we wandered around the mountains for several hours before finally getting back on track. Anyway, our 5 1/2hr drive to Pamplona turned into a 9 hour drive. We ended up pulling over at a gas station and sleeping along the way at 3am. Even with the drama, the tour was probably one of the most fun days I've ever had traveling.
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