and so it starts . . .

NAN: What started out as a dreamy proposal to bike around Provence with my biking pals and our spouses, and then join up with the Tour de France to watch the famous (and infamous) TdF cyclists ride by in the Pyrenees mountains, has turned out to be a trip with us biking through the Pyrenees ourselves! While I am full of trepidation at the prospect of climbing mountains, since my bike legs were only recently formed on the Midwestern flats, I am more full of sheer excitement at the prospect of this trip. Biking in France and seeing the Tour de France with my husband, Doug Hasegawa, and two of my closest friends, Julianne Meurice and Ben Schapiro?!? Doesn't get better - unless my kids could come, too. The four of us have our work cut out for us - developing climbing legs will be no small chore. But it will keep us in shape, always a good thing after 50. Meanwhile, have to get the cowbell out of cobwebs. And who knows, maybe we’ll have to find at least one devil-and-pitchfork costume to wear along the race route! Lance, here we come. And now (and this is for my kids – they’ll understand) I can personally yell at those nuts along the sidelines of the race who run in front of the cyclists risking crashes! More as this trip develops . . .