Dream come true?

Our landlord in St. Colombe mentioned he was going to Bergerac for the race, too. Maybe he could find us tickets to the Technology Camp? Maybe!!!! Dude, we got into the heart of the TV, radio, timing and scoring center of the TdF. Be still, my beating heart...

First, we had to park and find the finish line with the TdF Village adjacent. It was pouring buckets while the crew was setting up steel fence, banners, inflatables and more. 

Then they would need to pick it back up when the wind and rain blew everything down - just like our races. 

Then we met Jean Marc and he had E Ride tickets! He works for Orange, the big French telecom company who had the contract to provide WiFi, digital transmissions for photos, and a thousand other projects keeping the Tour connected with the world. They were staged inside this enormous compound set up next to the finish line with miles of cables everywhere

We had a tour of 1 of their semi trailers packed to the gills with equipment

And then we got to the Finish line itself. Inside the timing booth, checked out the photo finish equipment, oogled the location

We entered another trailer, this one set up for press conferences with a TV link back to the school auditorium 500 yards away that served as their press center. Everybody got a shot at the microphone and then they made a BIG mistake - they gave me my turn......

I did not get the job

I got the consolation prize - a nice lunch while waiting in a dry place for a very rainy finish to the race. WHAT a day at the races!