Dauphine, and more

Bonjour

Well last week the Dauphine Libere pro road race came into our neck of the woods.

On Friday Jase did another Alpe d'Huez TT (still not permitted to publish the results, but a good 3 minutes faster than the week before - must be the coach I reckon!). I drove to the top and cheered him on at various intervals. This time I told him he was not permitted to speak unless positive words were going to come out of his mouth... so no words came out at all! Once at the top, Jase did a cool down and drove back as I began my 'adventure run' down a valley track. I had studied the map in detail to find an adventure for myself that was predominantly downhill. There was one small (about 1km) section of gentle uphill before I reconnected with the road. This part I ran backwards, and had no issues at all in doing this - other than looking like an idiot as I ran into the town of Huez, and almost tripped over several times! At the bottom of the hill, Jase met me with warm clothes and we stayed down there and watched the Dauphine race come through. It was actually rather non-exciting as they just whizzed by pretty fast (a small breakaway first and then the main bunch all together).

Saturday's race was a little more exciting to watch - the finish was at the top of the Alpe d'Huez, and Contador was always expected to attack up there. We headed up in the early afternoon and went to the Lakes and went for a bit of a walk - man it is beautiful up there. We then headed down into the town to get ourselves a good spot to watch the finish. We found a great spot out of the wind and right in front of the big screen - so we were able to watch the last couple of hours of the race. The Alpe d'Huez climb was pretty exciting, with Contador repeatedly attacking, but the little Radioshack man in the yellow jersey managed to stay with him until the end. We stood up to watch the final sprint finish up the home straight. Contador deserved the win after all his attacks, but I am not a fan. I am also not a fan of his crazy gun firing antics on the dias!

Other than this, I have been doing quite a bit of swimming, and generally have been sticking with the pool at Vaujany (1200m). I have also found that by breathing every 2 strokes I don't feel sick at all afterwards, and now I can handle 3km again. Jase came to the pool with me today. I have become buddies with the woman at the desk due to my feeble attempts at the lingo which she seems to enjoy, so told her that we had purchased the 'appropriate' swimwear for Jase now and that it was very funny. She just laughed but said he would fit right in! I'm not quite so sure if his cycle tan lines were too inconspicuous however!

On Monday we went to see a French sports doctor as Jase had forgotton to get a medical certificate for the race before we left. It was classic - the guy was about 6.5 feet tall at least, and barely spoke a word of English. He knew the words 'very good' and used them with varying amounts of emphasis as he checked Jase's heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing!

Last night we went up the Alpe for dinner. One of the Aussie Mtb'ers and his girlfriend are staying up there and invited us up. Andy is also gluten free so we had a feast of gluten free sausages, baguettes, etc. It is always good to speak to some fellow English speakers!

I am continuing to practise my French on anyone I can! I get it way wrong sometimes especially when I try to make full sentences! The people seem to like that I try though, and are always willing to help me. The guy who lives downstairs thinks I am a right idiot. I wanted to tell him something the other day so wrote it in a note as it was too much for me to say. He just read it and shook his head laughing. Then I google translated what I had written - it pretty much meant nothing at all!

Well that is all for now.
See some of you soon!
Jeanette