Rogers Tests Positive For Steroids ! ! ! Out Of Tour? ?

Well, doesn't that sound like the headlines of the past 10 years of the Tour? Read on.....

We left you on the "Descent in to darkness" that was Axe Les Thermes. It is hard to describe how one moment you can be climbing in sunshine, only to reach a peak and cross over into a cloud of freezing mist, but that is the essence of the Pyrenees! When we reached the outskirts of Axe, Dave said something about his fingers getting itchy, and then his torso. Then he said "Look at my face !"


Turns out, Dave has been stung repeatedly by bees in the past week, and the one that got him on the side of the face coming down the mountain must have been the Queen! He started developing hives all over his torso, his face became a real mess, and all of a sudden we were in a race to find a hospital. France however, can have a rather relaxed health care system! The first hospital we found had a cadre of nurses smoking like chimneys outside the "Prevention" wing of the place, and no Emergency Room. After a few tense minutes involving broken French, a little creative map writing, Julie mentioned GPS. This got the girls quite excited, and a whole group of them materialized to see what was up. But we couldn't get the thing going quickly enough, so off we went with some vague directions including a tunnel, and the Buffalo Bill Grill!

Before too terribly long, we arrived in the hospital in the middle of nowhere and got Dave looked at. The look on the entry clerk's face was priceless when in reply to her inquiry for Dave's insurance card, Julie handed her the entire policy, written in English! (They won't be seeing any bill anytime soon !) Sometimes that dang insurance card is just too hard to find! After some oxygen, and prednisone, and an admonishment from the doctor that he would be testing positive if he were in competition, we finally got on our way again. Just in time to take in the grill, a hotel and some serious zzzz....zzzzz.....zzzzz...zzzzzz's ! ! !
- Freddy