Two hundred and twenty five meters – And some odd ball stories

Today is the last day of the tour and a formality for Lance and the yellow jersey. Our real reward is two fold. Part # 1 is that Dave, Amy and Amy’s man got seats on the finish line on the Champs Elysees. We were on the side of the road where they sprint on as opposed to last year when we were on the opposite side. Our seats were perfectly situated between two signs. We were almost exactly between the 200 meter to go sign and the 250 meter to go sign in effect at 225 meters to go. Wow. Even cooler was the big screen across the road. We would watch the big screen and then look at them zoom by live and in color.
But before we did that though, this morning Dave and I had to remove the racks from the two vans we had to drive to Holland tomorrow. It was time consuming to say the least but not really a hard task. The silly bolts could only be turned about 1/8 turn because of the tight spot the wrench went into. So an easy task but slow. No big deal though.
In the evening was the second part of our reward. The team dinner. Our team had done this each year win or loose. All told there were over 400 people invited including the team (directors, mechanics, soigneurs, doctors, chiropractors, etc.) and almost every sponsor we had. The two most notable speakers were like last year Lance and Robin Williams. Lance was in total awe of his team mates and told a story of each one during the 3 weeks. Then Robin Williams got up for about 20 minutes and had everyone on the floor in stitches. Cocktails for this shindig started at 8:30, we sat down at about 9:30 and probably did not start eating till almost 10:30 or 11:00. We left there at 2:30 to go to another private party which was supposed to end at 3:00. They tried like heck to kick us out and we did leave … Eventually…….. I think I got home at about 4:30. Ouch, but what fun!!!
Some other stories.
Dave Bolch is out team Soigneur. But he can also turn a wrench or two if needed. He does ALL of his own stuff on his bikes at home. Just before we did out Champions club trip he was helping at a CSE event (the other half along with Tailwind Sports that owns the team). As the story goes, one of the riders got a cut in his tire and Dave came to the rescue with a Pringles can lid. He cut a piece to boot the tire so he could finish his trip.
Here is Dave with the remnants of the pringles lid that he used as a tire boot.
MS (Bling-Bling) fashion coordinator AKA Amy Bramblett
As the story goes. Sheryl asked Louise (Media person with the team and coordinator of our Champions week) if she could get a new chain for Lance. Now I’m talking about the chain that he wears around his neck that his pendant hangs from. Lances current chain supposedly did not allow the pendant to “Slide” back and forth. So, Louise asked Amy to find one and she did. The whole trip I gave Amy a bit of ribbing. I asked her why she got one so big (fat/thick/heavy). I then teased her the if Lance lost it was because his necklace/chain was TOOOO heavy. Since I had to keep laying it on, I asked Amy if that was from the Gang Banger collection. Something Snoop Dog might wear. Almost. OK Snoops would be even fatter/thicker/heavier. A little Bling-Bling for Lance!!