The Itinerary

Since the Tour idea was announced the three of us (Me, Lyn and Margaret) enlarged to four (Vicky). The Tour idea is a celebration for the three Tarmac Tamers, respectfully we are 70, 60 and 50 in 2011. Vicky has kept her age secret but has a formidable athletic reputation having completed in Ironman events, but otherwise she is a peach. The final details of our Tour were sent out on Xmas Eve with Hotels and some of the Highlights. The details have changed slightly. The touring group will be 36, 20 guys and 16 gals, with  ages ranging from 36 to 70, mostly around 50, all Kiwis from Invercargill to Auckland. We meet up on July 11 in Toulouse and stay at the Mercure Toulouse Wilson Hotel for two nights. Then we move to Lourdes for three nights (13-14-15/7) staying at the Grand Hotel Modern; then we move to Avignon for three nights (16-17-18/7) staying at the Hotel Cloitre St. Louis; then we move to Serre Chavalier for four nights (19-20-21-22/7) and finally to Paris for two nights (23-24/7) staying at the Hotel Abba Montparnasses.
Prior to arriving in Toulouse I will be travelling to a small village near Lourdes, St. Savin to stay in a Cyclists B&B - La Lanterne Rouge. This is the name given to the last placed rider in any major event. I stay there for 11 days to get acclimatised to the summer heat and get some altitude training and sample some of the mountain climbs nearby - I will have, in no particular order, the Col du Tourmalet, Col du Borderes, Col du Soulor, Col d'Aubisque and Luz Ardiden to sample. The B&B can be seen at http://www.velopeloton.com/ . A feature of the climb up the d'Aubisque is the la Corniche du Cirque de Litor; the road has tunnels and otherwise cut out of almost vertical cliff face.
During the Tour we will have a choice of rides on most days of varying length and difficulty, not all days will be linked to the TdF however. We will have a chance to climb Mont Ventoux and Alp d'Huez.