Lots Of Driving

Today's drive was lengthy, but extremely picturesque.

I need to start writing these updates sooner in the morning or late at night because the days are starting to blur together.

Tuesday, Stage 2 will go down as the epic driving day. I drove more than 450 kilometers. (I'll leave it to you to convert that to miles.) It started with a long drive to the start, then an even longer transfer from start to finish, followed by a 90-minute drive to the hotel after the finish.

As I wrote in previous entries, I am driving the riders to and from the start each day. I'm actually driving "The Crafter" (shown at right) and not "The Caravelle." The crafter is the larger vehicle of the two - a mini-bus of sorts. This makes it a challenge on small, winding and narrow roads – all of which I drove on today. Fortunately, Scott Nydam was along for the ride again and the two of us had a lot of fun on the nearly three-hour trip between the start and the finish.

As I tweeted, if there was a race between the support teams at Paris-Nice, Scott and I would have won Stages 2 and 3. Today, we actually created all kinds of havoc. It started right after the start when the lead bus (of 21) went the wrong way. All of us were following it, but one of the buses toward the back (where we were) got it right. In an instant, we moved from four-from-the-back to third-from-the-front. (I had just remarked to Scott how easily it would be to screw with people by taking a wrong turn.)

Not more than two minutes after the back-to-front shift, our GPS told us to make a left when the two buses in front of us were going right. I had programmed our GPS, so I was confident it was taking us the right way. But I doubted it for the next hour as we made our way along tiny roads that resembled alleys more than streets. At one point, Scott was probably thinking I was out of my mind. But we ripped up the road and cavorted along.

About two hours later, we hit a wide open highway and passed two team buses. And that was it, we were back in front. We ended up arriving at the finish more than 20 minutes before the next team. The guy who runs the parking lot – who doesn't a lick of English – must be marveling at the two Americans who keep beating the Euros to the finish on their own turf. (And no, we're not speeding.)

On the way back to the hotel, we had a very close call with an low viaduct. Fortunately, the team cars had slowed to see if they would make it. We would not, and had to double-around. But having a Frenchman on the team is definitely a plus in France and Amaël Moinard came to my rescue with directions.

Once we got to our hotel, I distributed the wifi code to everyone on the team via e-mail. And 20 minutes later, that was it – no more free Internet as it came to a grinding halt under the crush of riders and staff trying to access it.

So I was left to do other tasks, which included eating dinner with Tony Rominger. Yes, that Tony Rominger – three-time winner of the Vuelta a Espagne, two-time winner of Paris-Nice and previous holder of the hour record. I had a nice time chatting with him. He said he had no problem setting the hour record. "I didn't suffer at all," he said. Wow. But he did suffer in the heat, he said, and I told him I recall his reddened face in the Tour de France. No wonder he won most of his races in the spring and fall.

Today also marks the first time I have ever – since 2007 – had the team do my laundry. It was quite nice to hand it over in a bag and get it back at night.

Some other miscellaneous notes:

- I don't know what it is with cars dying, but the BMC Racing Team had its motorcoach lose its clutch, followed by a team car not starting before Stage 2. RadioShack also had a car die and we were pushing another of a team's cars to get it started this morning.

- We didn't sell very many autograph cards today. Probably because we arrived later to the start.

- I thought I lost my camera this morning. Fortunately, it was found wedged in the bottom of my new Thule backpack.

- The weather continues to be nice. Low 50s in the afternoon today, with plenty of sun.


Check out the signs on these shops. "Gan" used to sponsor a cycling team. And a comb?

My view in the press room.

This is John Lelangue's map of tomorrow's stage – and his notes.

The toll receipts I collected today.

The new BMC Racing Team autograph cards are out.

My view to and from the stage today.

For Julia – separate room for the toilet.

The beds were tiny. But I didn't spend much time in mine.

The girls know "petit salads." Here's a "petit bar."

Strange sidewalk sign.