Confluence of Experiences
By Connie Carpenter

The climbing stage from Bourg Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand passes over 5 climbs of note before the descent and frenetic finish into the ski station of Le Grand  Bornand.  

1992.  One of the climbs is the category 1 climb of Les Saisies (Col des Saisies) which is a ski station one thousand meters above the valley of smog which is Albertville in the winter.  I was a volunteer with the US Olympic Team for the ’92  Olympics and spent two weeks there in 1992.  It was the venue for Biathlon and Nordic skiing.  I was the liaison between the athletes and the coaches.  I developed a rapport with some of the athletes that has endured but mostly I discovered that of all the difficult endurance sports, Nordic skiing is the most brutal.  You can have the best form but without the best skis (especially in terms of wax choices), you are screwed. A team of wax techs is working the skis right up until the start, the choice of skis and wax makes the difference between winning and losing.  I handed out water bottles high up on the course and realized on some levels it was not so different from cycling.  There on the shoulder of Mont Blanc, I fell in love with the Alps in winter.  



Mike Sr.  Two years ago when the Tour finished here, T-Mobile’s Linus Gerdeman won the race and donned the yellow jersey.  I was on the top of the Col de la Colombiere with a group of cycling fans and marveled at the spectacle through their eyes.  For most of them, it was their first encounter with the Tour.  Most fun was to be there with long-time pro (Columbia HTC High Road) Michael Barry’s dad Mike Barry while I received live-time text reports from my husband Davis who was at the Junior Nationals with Taylor.  I’ll never forget the confluence of experiences – the top players of the sport at cresting the top of the climb and my son Taylor struggling to medal at Junior Nationals.  Later that summer he won the Junior World Championships and his world changed forever…but on that day, at the top of the Colombiere – there was a sweet synergy, a sublime beauty, and a perpetual awe.


Stage 17 will be difficult, maybe even the most difficult of the Tour.  What will happen?  Who will prevail?  I’ll make no prediction but I’ll enjoy the memory of good times in these high alps.