On the Road Realities
By Leslie Varsha

Despite suffering defeat to Phil Liggitt and Paul Sherwen in the semi-final of the Versus Petanque (French Bocce Ball) competition, I still came out a winner because the rest day in Bonnat was superb.   The whole crew slept late and straggled to breakfast around 11AM.  We rented bikes from our hotel and set out to find a nearby lake.  There were two more serious cyclists on the crew who whizzed past us so some of the boys decided to give them the schlogue treatment by running alongside them like maniacs…t-shirts off and all!  After our bike ride, we hit the pool for an hour before heading to the town square for the Petanque competition.  I didn’t realize how small the town was until the mayor turned out and a photographer from the local newspaper.  I never saw the article, but somewhere in France I imagined a headline that read, “Americans come to Bonnat and disgrace the game of Petanque.”   

It’s always difficult to get back into the Tour routine the day after the rest day.  For some it’s a bit harder than others.  Yesterday, on the drive to the hotel, I came upon 2 cyclists on the road only to realize it was Bob Roll and Craig Hummer.  What I thought was a leisurely bike ride was actually a necessity for them to get back to the hotel because Bob Roll put unleaded gas into their diesel tank.  Whoops!  Bob Roll has been a good sport about all the teasing despite how relentless the crew, me included, has been.

On Bastille Day, we arrived in the town of Auxerre where we were staying for the night.  I went out with some friends hoping to see some fireworks since I missed our July 4th back home.  There were no fireworks to be seen, but we did come across a bizarre scene.  As we sat down at an outdoor café, we were treated to a live band.  Oddly enough, it was a Celtic band that played on France’s Independence Day…and they sang Celtic songs in French.  It was strange, but you never know what you’ll run into on the Tour de France.