Provence & the Alps, June 2002

Inspired by Tim Moore's "French Revolutions", Paul and I decided to ride the route of the 2002 Tour de France before the riders. So we could really appreciate their suffering. First-hand. Before them. Looking at the map and our holiday allowance, it became painfully clear this was unfeasible. So, we compromised. It would be just the mountain stages. Scrutinising the gradients and the distances, it soon became apparent that even this was impossible for anyone vaguely human. So, just the Provence and Alps stages then. OK, OK, just a little bit of the Ventoux stage and the one Alpine stage from Vaison-la-Romaine to Les Deux Alpes. Which was the longest of the Tour. Well, we did only have a week.