July 19th-24th, 2005: "Thüringen Rundfahrt: Fatal Tragedy overshadowing the World of Women's Cycling"

Zeulenroda, Germany - Please read another special Scoop Xtra issue about this best organized and recognized women's cycling stage race that tragically turned into the Tour of Tears.


July 11th-14th, 2005: "The Tour de France Adventure"

Région Rhônes Alpes, France -
Day one - Courchevel. For Central European standards, it was a long drive from Stuttgart to Courchevel - 7 hours. When we drove up in the car on the eve of the first alpine mountain stage of the 2005 Tour de France, already dozens of hobby cyclists were filling the 1500-meter-and-24km climb to next day's arrival of the likes of a certain Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich...they were just a tad bit slower than the pros would be flying up the same road shortly after.

I had planned to go for a little spin upon arrival in the French Alps but the weather did not quite agree with my enthusiasm: A thunderstorm crawled across the neighboring mountain peak just after our car found its designated spot amid fellow crazy Tour de France fans camping out in a breath-taking scenery at an altitude of 1550m. So I decided to take a second consecutive day off the bike and relax some more before hitting the mountains hard and long on my Kuota Kharma with Dura-Ace for the next few days high up in the French Alps.

Since Thorsten did not have any camping gear, I brought enough for two to survive. I dug out two tents, camping stove, sleeping bag and whatever else you need to live and eat cheap outdoors. The car was packed to the roof, literally. We pitched our tents and lightened the camping stove to cook up some ravioli while the sun set behind the surrounding mountain peaks, throwing shadow on one side and shining golden on the other. It had been over a year that I used my camping skills hard core somewhere out there on the European backpacking roads, but I was happy to see that once you master the skill of independent surviving (synonym for backpacking), you never loose it. The tents were pitched in no time and food was simple but delicious without having to spent one cent of money for anything. Temperatures were dropping closer to zero as well but stayed above 5 degrees all night long...nice and cozy compared to the negative 9 degrees I have camped out in Bryce canyon during my American days!! :-) So we were all set and excited for the Tour de France Adventure!!!

Day Two - Courchevel. 6:30am. Time to rise and shine! Well...rise, yes, but shine? No. At the early hours of 6:30am, there was no sun yet that had risen high enough to throw a few warming sunrays onto our tents. The camp stove had to do the job again, boiling up some milk for Cappucchino and heating up the freezing camper body.




July 11th, 2005: "LIVE at the Tour de France: Camping & Riding on the Galibier"

Rhônes Alpes, France - FINALLY! Another item on my to-do list will soon account for more exciting anecdotes in my adventure repertoire: Watching the Tour de France live high up on a mountain after camping out there overnight with thousands of other crazy cycling fans, painting the roads, and having a picnic after having ridden the tour passes en velo. The time for 4 days at the tour in the Alps has come for me after over 10 years of watching the event passively on TV. Now i will be there, tomorrow I will be there! Yipee!!!!

The decision was a very spontaneous one in the last minute. Last week the suggestion was made and I agreed immediately. Now we are off heading South in a car stuffed with 2 bikes, tents, sleeping bags, camping cooking gear, flash lights, and many other utensils necessary to survive and have fun high up in the mountains watching the tour the cheapest way possible.

Looking at my pile of luggage to take on the adventure almost reminds me of Christmas break 2002/03 during my American days at the University of Arkansas: Back then my roommate Natalia, a classmate of mine, and I decided from one day to the next to hit the road...the big wide vast American road...for a 10-day and 5,000-kilometer trip from Arkansas to the Grand Canyon and back to Arkansas via further national parks such as the Glen Canyon (Lake Powell), Bryce Canyon, Zion, and last but not least Monument Valley. What an adventure....unbelievable trip!!! And gosh did Natalia and I pack for the end of the world...the Jeep was absolutely PACKED to the roof...with clothes for negative 30 degrees at least and food for a decade... on top of the cheapest, hugest, and heaviest tents and sleeping bags from WalMart. Anyhow, different story...very different and long story...but GREAT memories! :-)

So tomorrow I am off to hit the big wide fast but not vast European road... Destination: French Alps. Occasion: Tour de France 2005. I will go on the road trip with another cyclist from Germany. I am using the trip as a little mountain training camp to prepare for my final races of the season, getting some juice into those legs for the German pursuit championship from doing power hills along the tour stages. It is soooo much easier and sooooooooo much more motivating to be cycling in a breath-taking environment such as the Alps and the Pyrenees. Cycling in Germany just sucks...it is so unspectacular... but I guess I am rotten spoiled from having lived in the South of France all year...it can only go downhill from such a paradise! I don't even know the person really that I will accompany on the Tour Adventure. But heck, that has never kept me from discovering more corners of the world. I have gone on trips with people i barely knew quite a few times by now. It will be fun. And meeting new people and handling foreign characters makes the trip even more of an adventure, challenge and learning experience. I reckon I just love discovering new countries, new cultures, new customs, new landscapes, new languages, new people, new and foreign everything... just like cycling - a to-me foreign sport that I am discovering more and more every day of my new life as a rider but old life as a nomad!!!

I think this was a good way to leave you with for a few days... I am off on the big wide road... which one this time? The fast European one for the instant... Avec courage & sans chutes!

Yours truly Lilli-hammer