And we’re off to the big show!

After the past week together in Girona the Garmin-Chipotle team is off for France. Camp, at home for most, provided us with one last opportunity to truly relax, top off sleep stores and log a few last solid training rides before the impending craziness ahead.

At this point there isn’t much one can do to improve form, but fine-tuning it heading into the start is key; keep the legs open and snappy, while making sure you’re completely recovered. A solid day Sunday in the hills with plenty of time behind the motor between climbs gave us all one last shock to the system. Today we had a few hours, short and sharp, with a couple bits running a quick rotating paceline and two climbs at a good clip; just enough.

The staff have been hard at work getting a ridiculous amount of gear prepared for the month ahead. As we riders and directors fly north on a chartered flight directly to Cholet they’ve spent the past two days driving six cars, a Sprinter, the big truck, the bus, and the camper-van to meet us upon arrival. New Garmin-Chipotle clothing is still on the way from Pearl Izumi and the soigneurs will be hard at work tonight sorting before we mob their rooms for yet another mid-season Christmas. Thanks guys! The magnitude of the Tour is finally starting to hit when looking at the logistics reports and noting the twice-normal-size support crew we’re rolling with here.

Tomorrow we’re previewing the Cholet TT course and running through all the TT rigs one last time before hopping on the bus for a three-hour drive to Brest. We all got a good laugh — well, snicker — looking at the housing list and noticing that after the team-organized chateau tonight we head to a Tour-organized Campanile for the next three. For those not fortunate enough to have spent an evening in a Campanile (hopefully most of you reading this), think somewhere between Super 8 and Holiday Inn Express. At the Tour. Wow — gotta love racing in France. Fingers crossed they make up for it down the road. Fortunately Chef Willy will be there to take care of the food for us!

Thursday and Friday will be two short rides followed by team- and Tour-organized press events. Massages, team meals, team rides, team meetings, team everything, will start up and we’ll get the bodies back into race mode after the relaxing time at home this past week. Then Saturday it’s time to roll!

With rain in the forecast, and without a prologue to sort things out, it’s going to be even crazier than normal. A short kick to the finish that is likely to split the field means positioning going in will be critical for anyone harboring GC hopes. For those of us not in that camp the pressure will be huge to get our leaders positioned going into the bottom.

For now, however, we have one final evening to relax before the real adventure begins!