Castle

As I have mentioned before, this is my second time on the tour de france.

The main thing I hoped to accomplish this trip which I didn't last time is behave like a professional.
In 2008, every mountain town & chateau we stayed in excited, the bejesus out of me. This year I am hoping to not have as many highs and lows...stay a little more even keeled...So far mission accomplished, but last night I definitely had the first ZOMFG moment.

After stepping off the highway to find a gas station my car mates and I struggled to find a way back onto the main road. Once we lifted our heads away from the GPS's & maps, we saw this .

It was really impressive and definitely the coolest thing I've seen so far on the race, especially considering we really were in the middle of no where.

***

This morning at breakfast I asked, Thibault, one of our French PA's where we were:

"Thibault, I'm really sorry to ask, but where exactly are we?? Things are starting to blur together and I don't know where in France we are."

"Kevin, you are in Red-Neck country"

He is so right...while the towns we are in are still very beautiful they are very very small. The way the towns are set up, the types of buildings I see, and the types of people I meet (while I hate to generalize) all indicate that I am in fact in red neck country.

After today's stage, we head east to the Alps for the first Mountain top finish of this year's tour. While noone will most likely win the tour tomorrow, they can lose it. Lance has already lost time on the other top contenders, so it will be interesting to see his response tomorrow.

I find it ironic that a day before the highly anticipated cobblestones stage things started to get a little bumpy out here in France.

Not for me or my co-workers at Versus, everyone has gotten over the excitement of the fact that we are in France and now comes prepared everyday with a "just another day at the office mentality".

It was bumpy for my favorite team in the race, Team Garmin (the argyle team). The day of stage 2, it was a bit rainy on the course even though we had really nice weather at the finish line in Spa, Belgium. The rain affected the peloton and a series of crashes blew up the course.
Among the affected were last year's 2nd place finisher Andy Schleck and two good american riders in Garmin's Tylar Farrar and Christian Vande Velde. Farrar is reported to have a fractured wrist, but will still continue on in search of a stage win. Vande Velde however, fractured to ribs (which added to fractures he was already riding with from a previous crash) and had to withdraw from the race.

This is a shame for Versus because Vande Velde was the American rider who probably had the best chance of placing on the podium outside of Lance Armstrong. He was a rider we were really hoping to build up for the post lance era and get people to like. This is his 3rd serious crash in 2 years.

Yesterday was the first day the tour went through France, & I stayed at a really nice Inn. It was old with restaurant attached to the front, I had a really big room, with a massive bathroom (maybe actually bigger than the bedroom.)

Hopefully a better blog will be on it's way later & I apologize for the rare updates, but things are busy here and I'm having too much fun taking in the sites to bother writing them down. I will say that having a couple of my buddies from the office is make this time a little more enjoyable, last time around I was far and away the youngest person on the crew and had a hard time finding people with common interests this time a couple of us seem to see eye to eye and it's making things much more fun for me.

I hear it's quite hot at home...Hope everyone is staying cool the weather here has been phenomal although today as we are the "Champagne City" of Reims, it is supposed to get rather hot.

Oh Rotterdam, this is my Jam!

Something I think most people are surprised to hear is that, even though the tour de france ends every year on the Champs Elysses in Paris, it follows a different and unique route each year. The route is decided by the tour's organizers, the ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation)
For the first time since 1996 the tour de france has started in The Netherlands.
This time the ASO's city of choice is Rotterdam, a city Tour director Christian Prudhomme selected because it is a modern city which showcases bicycles as urban transportation. Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe & was the largest in the world until 2004 (totally copied and pasted that sentence from wikipedia...as if you couldn't tell)

I have to admit, I didn't realize how big of a city this place is (actually the 6th largest municipality in all of Europe!) Rotterdam is a nice clean city & although I can't say it with valid facts to back me up, it is probably one of the most diverse cities out there and from what I have noticed it also has alot of young people....
So young, in fact, that last night when I went out to dinner with a couple of the guys we were the oldest people in the restaurant!
An interesting phenomenon which we all discussed was the spontaneous outburst by diners and patrons at restaurants and bars into patriotic songs. Perhaps it had alot to do with the world cup or maybe this is just normal. Eitherway, I'm happy this doesn't happen in the states...I'd much rather listen to Lady Gaga when I'm cutting up the dance floor!!


The Race Starts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow's stage is a time trial around Rotterdam. A time trial is when riders ride the course on their own. Competing against the clock for the best time. Look for a time trial specialist to take the yellow jersey tomorrow and wear it for a few stages.

WELCOME BACK!!

Bon Jour from France...Well, the Netherlands...

For those of you who do not know, I have the good fortune of getting sent out by VERSUS as part of our team which broadcasts the Tour de France. It's exciting, but long, hard work. This is my second time on le tour. The last time I made the trip was in 2008. I'm viewing this trip with a much different perspective than my last...

In 2008, I viewed my trip to France as the finish line. My thought process was to the effect of, "Nice!!! All that hard work I have put in paid off and they are sending me to France!" This time I am approaching the trip as a job, and while it is nice to be in another country and see different things I still have a job to do and bosses to make happy.
This time around, my job is the same as last, I am a production assistant assigned to manage all of our records. Essentially each day I make sure that the race is being recorded where it needs to be and that all of the tapes are in their place...doesn't sound like much, but if no one does it, things can get chaotic. I was encouraged yesterday when I received my credential to see I am no longer an Ass. Prod (an unfortunate french abbrev. for Production assistant) & I am now a Charge de Production, which translates to the same thing, but less jokes come along with it.

SO KEV, WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT YOUR BLOG OR A SILLY BIKE RACE?

This year, the Tour de France presents us with a tremendous storyline. As I'm sure many of you have heard, Lance Armstong has announced that this will be his last tour. (I'll believe it when I see it)...last year after a brief "retirement" at the age of 37, Lance came back to the tour and raced well enough to finish 3rd overall. His teammate, Alberto Contador, finished 1st. Neither Lance, nor Contador has made many bones about the fact that they do not like each other. Last year after returning to Spain with the yellow jersey Contador said, "My relationship with Lance is Zero." This year Lance has created his own team (Team RadioShack) & will be given the opportunity to compete directly against Contador who is riding for Russian based Team Astana. Lance is no longer the superior rider he once was, but his team is stacked and with the support of other riders' he could potentially win the tour. Having said that, noone is as talented a rider as Contador right now and I believe most would be shocked to see anyone other than him take home the Maillot jaune (yellow jersey)

Outside of the Lance/Contador feud there are many other story lines to this year's tour which I hope to touch on & clearly communicate to everyone back home.....as we say in TV...STAY TUNED!

SO MICHAEL SCOTT IS LEAVING THE OFFICE!

If you clicked on the link above you would know that I am a big Michael Scott fan. I'm bummed out to hear that Steve Carrell has announced that this season of The Office will be his last. I'm also surprised to hear that the show plans to continue without Michael Scott leading the way at Dunder Mifflin.
Those are big shoes to fill. Michael Scott is the straw that stirs the drink on the Office. He is the epitome of the word ignoramus & as a result he's lead to many of the show's greatest moments. Without him, Dwight, Jim, & Andy would all be much less entertaining.
So when looking to fill his shoes, I think the office should go a different route...noone is going to out "Michael Scott" Steve Carrell. I'd like to use this forum to publicly endorse one candidate who I feel can bring a fresh perspective, but still maintain the show's awkward, cringe-factor hilarity. Larry David. Curb your Enthusiasm has finished shooting it's 8th season...Larry David has an NBC pedigree from his time with Seinfeld so it might work. Plus if he brings along the hilarious JB Smoove (that link may be extremely offensive to some...high comedy to others)
I think they could fit right in with Dunder Mifflin.

Who does everyone else think would be a fun replacement for steve carrell?? I'd love to hear feed back...Plus get to know what kinds of things people would enjoy for me to post while I have this blog on le tour.

If I post twice in 24 hours does that make me a loser??

Two posts for the price of 1 today! Things are winding down here and I've got a little bit of time in the truck as we pack up.

Yesterday was the second rest day of the tour. We spent it in a ski lodge & I had my own little condo. A very nice place with my own kitchen, living room and bedroom. I woke up around 11 and as I left my condo to get breakfast Joel was on his way out to go white water rafting. I did have plans to lay out at the pool and drink some beers, but I can do that anywhere. Where else am I going to get a achance to go white water rafting in the French Alps??

The ride was real intense and they set us off with something of a baptism by fire. Within the first 200 yards we had already gone down about a 6 foot drop. Joel and I were in a kayak together and we took it like pros. We were one of the first two groups to go, so we got to watch everyone else which was wayyy more gratifying than I expected it to be.

Joel and I did fall in twice (the water was freezing!) once when we tried to stand up in the kayak and again when we tried to switch seats in the boat. Erik and Karl fell in 3times though & I had to comment how much they looked like Kate and Leo from Titanic while Karl was sitting in the in boat holding on to Erik for dear life!!


"The Johan Incident"

After the trip we went back to our hotel and the whole crew went out for dinner. Our crew had gained a new member earlier that day! Johan Bruyneel will be commentating on the Tour for Versus for the rest of the duration! His in-sights will be very welcomed since he is the Scotty Bowman / Bill Bellichek of the sport. He was Lance Armstrong's Director for all of his Tour Victories & last year he lead young Italian Alberto Contador to his first Yellow Jersey in Paris. He is now the Director for Team Astana which is not riding in the tour this year because they are serving a suspension for Doping which occured before he took on a leadership role with the team. (He's also plugging a book he wrote)

Before last night I was only aware of the persona Johan projected while he was coaching his riders to tour victories, which was intense and reserved. This couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality he is very friendly, always smiling and more than willing to talk to anyone! I'm very lucky this is the case, because at dinner he sat down at a table next to me to talk to Phil and Paul (the race announcers - both GREAT dudes!) He hadn't been sitting down for much more than ten minutes when I reached for a pitcher of water and knocked an entire bottle of red wine all over his lap.

I saw my entire career flash before my eyes. I've just moved into a new apartment in Stamford to be closer to work and now I thought I would be out of work! Here is a very important guest spending time with Versus & I just ruined his entire outfit! Luckily for me, he was totally cool about everything. I couldn't have been luckier, He easily could have had me on a plane home, but I lucked out and spilled wine on the nicest guy in cycling.

So for those keeping track, that's two rookie mistakes for the Rookie Bear. This trip has been a great experience for me, but I'm still real green when it comes to producing TV on the road, so there has been a learning curved, but I would say that last night, was the first huge rookie mistake of tour.
Tonight we head to Alpe D'Huez where many authorities on the sport think the race will be won. Definatly a stage to watch for anyone interested. Also stay tuned to the Blog de France because I'm sure I'll have some good stories. Tonight is Leslie's b-day celebration and there's a chance I could be catching up with my old college roommate Ben!

Italy

Sorry for the lack of updates. Lately the internet has been rather unreliable. It's good to know people are reading though, I've received many e-mails complaining about how long it's been since my last post.

The tour made a quick pit stop in Italy (yes rocco, that Italy!) for the last three days or so. After Stage 14, Mike had some extra work to do and was going to be late. I really wanted to drive through the Alps while the sun was still out so I abandoned my regular car & hopped in with Ally, Jeff and Leslie. Their car was pimped with a pink feather boa on the dashboard.

The ride from Dignes les Bains, France to Prato Nevoso, Italy was incredible. We started out on a narrow winding road next to a river. The Mountains hung over the road, it felt like a ride out of Disney! Ally's aggressive driving kept the amusement park vibe going strong. Going through the Alps Leslie made a great observation, "Our friends may make more money than us, but they don't get to see things like this."

We arrived at the Ski Resort town of Prato Nevoso, Italy rather late. When we arrived, I was shocked to learn that they speak Italian in Italy!! My french has been getting better and I'm not as timid to use it, but the only Italian I can really speak is, "Now that's a spicy meatball!" I did not let the language barrier get in the way of a good time. There was a discotech in the basement of the hotel we were staying in and on top of that...it was karaoke night!! My rendition of OutKast's Hey Ya! was so good, the Italians asked for an Encore!! Of course I obliged with Justin Timberlake's Senorita (Sarah, you would have been proud!).

Time for me to get back to work, but I'll try to find time for a post later today, updating everyone on my second rest day. It started out as one to remember, and ended with an event I hope to forget soon!!!

The French word for Bowling is Bowling.

Doping Scandals have struck the tour again. Young Itallian Riccardo Ricco, was arrested yesterday morning, right after we had pre-taped all of our pre-race segments...basically a whole morning of work out the window as we scrambled to get the facts straight and find footage.
Ricco tested postitive for a new form of EPO (red blood cell booster) called CERA. CERA is the same as EPO only it is taken in smaller doses; making it harder to trace.

I have to admit, I am a bit bummed about this. Ricco and Mark Cavendish are my two favorite riders in the tour. They are both about as old as me and somewhat cocky. Ricco was brash and emtional; although not as extreme, I think it may be fair to call him the T.O of the Peloton.

As bad of a day as it was for Ricco, my other favorite rider, Cavendish, had an amazing day sprinting out at the end of the race for a Stage Win. He is now the first British Rider to win 3 Stages in the TDF.

Our Productions trucks were parked in the front of a sports facility. It had a swimming pool, skate park, ice rink (!), & bowling alley. After the race a few of us played a couple games of bowling. It was a welcome break from what has become the routine of: Wake up, work, drive all night, wake up, work, drive all night.

The only interesting bit of culture I can add is that, the bowling alley experience is pretty much the same across the pond as in the States (I know, shocker, right? - please note sarcasm).

Also Buriesci (or as I like to call him, the Father of All Foot- Fouls) has all the grace of a monkey with diarrhea when he hurls a 14 lb ball down the lane - a technique which resulted in an inordinate amount of strikes.