Tour de France Cycling Vacation

[jrenaut]

Oh, I thought this was going to be explaining why you couldn’t make happy hour tonight.

[americancyclo]

@jrenaut 25062 wrote:

Oh, I thought this was going to be explaining why you couldn’t make happy hour tonight.

that would be nice. the real reason is I need to pick up the munchkin at 5:45, so happy hours tend not to work so well unless they’re really close to falls church.

[jrenaut]

I hear you. My wife does the pickup most Thursdays, so this works out well for me. And unfortunately I have no idea what it’s like to do a Tour vacation. I’ve been to France, and it was cool, but it had nothing to do with cycling.

[dasgeh]

Depending on your ratio of time to money (i.e. if you have a lot of the former), Trek Travel leads a trip organized around the Tour. http://www.trektravel.com/race-france-bike-tour.php

Ty husband and inlaws have done Trek Travel trips and loved them. They are unfailingly well organized and well supported, but you pay for the privilege.

I’ve traveled a lot around Germany and a little around France and found it all very easy. Though I haven’t been near the Tour (most of the travel predated my cycling-enthusiast days). If you end up in/near Germany, I’d be happy to help.

[Greenbelt]

@americancyclo 25061 wrote:

Hey y’all-
Been talking with the family about a desire to go see the Tour de France in another year or three, and I’d love to ride some of the course. Probably be going with my brother-in-law who rides and our wives and kids who don’t love cycling as much as we do.

Has anyone been on a TdF cycling vacation? Has anyone researched it before? I’d love to hear any opinions.

A frequent ride buddy is currently riding Giro D’Italia routes, including some of the most famous and notorious climbs. I will post pictures/comments when he gets back.

[Dirt]

Skreaminquadz is just finishing his right now…. right before starting a cross country ride. I’m sure he’ll talk about it.

There are a lot of companies that do a great job of this. They’re all expensive. Marty Jemison is one of my faves. Trek and Cannondale also do them.

In 2009 the tour started in Monaco… about 20 minutes away from my mom-in-law’s place. I went for the week before the opening time trial and just rode every day in the area. A few of the teams were bunking in hotels a few blocks from where we were staying. I hung out with the Skill Shimano team a bit… I’d join them for their warm-up.. then they’d go for their serious ride and leave me in the dust to finish my ride. It was nice.

The days leading into the Grand Depart are TONS of fun. There are lots of festivities and team introductions. You can walk through the team vehicles and see people doing their jobs and the bikes they’re gonna ride. Definitely cool. The day of the opening TT, the course was open to bicycles while the teams were warming up. I rode many laps of the course, riding with the guys who were gonna be racing. I didn’t bug them… but the Skill Shimano guys surrounded me and talked for a few before going off to hammer a few faster laps.

Watching the road stages are fun, but not as much fun as the opening or closing parts of the tour because of the additional festivities. With regular road stages, you spend a lot of time finding a good place to watch, then zooom! everyone goes by and that’s that. The caravan is cool, but not all that cool. Going on an organized tour gives you a lot more support to help you get great spots to watch and maybe more than one spot to watch for a particular stage. The big mountains are fun, but MOBBED with people, some of which have camped out for many, many days to get a great spot to watch.

Ask some questions. I’ll answer. I gotta finish a few things up for the day.

Skill Shimano team riding off on the TT course after chatting for a few.

[jnva]

^^^^
Wow that is totally awesome. I would love to do something like this. One day…

[Dirt]

The time trials are pretty cool to watch. You can really get a whole day’s entertainment out of seeing your favorites ride by.

Ryder Hesjedal at the KOM point of the TT in Monaco.

Watching the entire peloton roll out before KM0 is pretty cool too.

Stage 2 start in Monaco.

[off2ride]

Not sure what your budget is but Trek Travel is probably the biggest one out there. It is pricey but a lot of people say it’s worth it if you’re really into the Euro Cycling scene. I would suggest to bring your own bike computer and pedals. They’ll take care of the rest.

[Dirt]

@off2ride 25095 wrote:

Not sure what your budget is but Trek Travel is probably the biggest one out there. It is pricey but a lot of people say it’s worth it if you’re really into the Euro Cycling scene. I would suggest to bring your own bike computer and pedals. They’ll take care of the rest.

I met the group from Trek Travel. They were all extremely happy with the trip and the riding. They were well taken care of and really went first class.

[KLizotte]

When I was at FreshBikes last week for my final fitting with Clovis he mentioned that his brother travels early to the TdF in order to ride the hardest part of the course ahead of the big race. He’s been doing this for years with a group of other riders. If you are friendly with Clovis, you may want to ask him to put you in touch with his brother if that is the kind of riding you are looking to do and are seeking advice.

[Arlingtonrider]

Listen to Dirt. He has the real scoop. I forgot about the earlier Italy trip.

[americancyclo]

@KLizotte 25112 wrote:

When I was at FreshBikes last week for my final fitting with Clovis he mentioned that his brother travels early to the TdF in order to ride the hardest part of the course ahead of the big race. He’s been doing this for years with a group of other riders. If you are friendly with Clovis, you may want to ask him to put you in touch with his brother if that is the kind of riding you are looking to do and are seeking advice.

I don’t know Clovis, but I am heading over to FreshBikes next week to pick up a pair of shoes, so maybe I’ll ask around.
Got some more details to work out, but that will have to wait until after Friday Coffee Club.

[Dirt]

@Arlingtonrider 25118 wrote:

Just to clarify – Skreamingquaz is riding from Oregon to Colorado, not in Europe. Also riding on his own, not with a tour group.

He just got back from riding in Italy… right before going on the first half of his cross country trip.

He’s in Idaho right now, it looks like: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0rKaNXLIR2Si8CJiEt8BKbWkhkNANUHY6

[vvill]

He’s also been updating his blog – last I read he mailed most of the gear in his front panniers home as they were making his bike handle too weirdly!

[Author]

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