Tour De France with Marty Jemison cycling tours!!

It has been 20 years since Ive seen Marty and Jill Jemison and hey! they look the same! still as young, have a new addition-Atlas, their 9 year old daughter, and still enthusiastic about cycling, sunshine, and I'm off for an excellent week in the pyrenees!
more to come!!!
Sooo!! I was supposed to keep a current update on our tour but for various reasons I wasn't able too! Had a fantastic group from the US, Vancouver (or van as they say), and various riding experiences which all made for good fun and great stories. Important note is that everyone had a good taste for red wine which is always a bonus after a few climbs...
The firt few days were brutally hot-we started our tour in St Lary-riding to Arreau over the peyresourde and up to the gpm line of port de Bales where we watched Contador sail over the top with a 13 second gap on Schleck...The ambiance was typical TDF-caravans from belge, holland, uk, italy, spain with all kinds of bbq's, festivities, etc....
Once the last rider was over we picked ourselves up to ride back down Bales and up and over the Peyresourde...from there a dinner and hoping a quick drive over the tourmalet and down into Luz st Sauveur-our home for the next 3 nights. When we got to the top of the Mongie we were stopped by policemen who had baracaded the road and wouldn't let us drive the 15kms remaining. Apparently, French president Sarkozy had landed on the tourmalet so no one could get through...We ended up having to drive 60kms unstead of 15....oh well
The wait was worth it as we arrived in the quaint little mountain town of luz st sauveur...
next morning off we rode up to the top of the tourmalet to watch the tour again...having to confront a bit of adventure, we hiked up part of the tourmalet with our bikes on our backs to avoid road blocks...We made it to the top though and found great seats to watch the stage!
Our third day was the tour's rest day so we decided to ride the etape du tour....the weather wasnt as brilliant as it had been, with a bit of fog and light rain keeping us more than cool. We climbed the marie blanque and soulor...opting to head to the warmth of the hotel from there since we had already ridden the tourmalet. Nothing a glass of red couldn't fix!
The following day was pouring rain and a tad cold but hey! if you fly to europe to ride your bike than ride your bike you will! we rode up to Gavarnie which is the site of an amazing view-what the french call a cirque-a semicircle of mountains-cliffs-covered with ice formations and waterfalls dripping over them...it's really worth the ride! Froze my hands again on the decent but made it and truly enjoyed a very hot shower with a glass of wine in hand!
The following day we left Luz for the stage to bordeaux, very flat through more of a beach type atmosphere...we parked at a cafe along the course having premium seats right on the curb!
Every day via playing catch with the caravan we managed to catch anything from sausages to chewy candies or rain hats with built in umbrellas!
Final day-bordeaux time trial. We were in the same hotel as Astana, Garmin, and FDJ so we got to chat with racers and staff.
I myself got to meet a great group of folks, rode myself silly through heat and cold, and had a great time!