Tour links to Ojai
By Jesse Phelps

When Ojai's Wanda Cecchi made plans to visit and cycle through France this summer, she knew she was in for something special.

This year's centennial edition of the Tour de France featured the closest race in years and a record-tying fifth straight victory for American cyclist Lance Armstrong. Cecchi, who owns Mane Tangle hair salon in downtown Ojai, and is an avid rider herself, went for two weeks with her boyfriend and another couple from San Francisco to witness history.

"It was the 100th anniversary this year, so we just wanted to go for that reason," she said. "And also because Lance was going to go again and we just wanted to support him."
The group arrived near the beginning of the race and witnessed several stages, leaving just before it ended.
"Paris just had so many people there," she said.

Cecchi says the vacation wasn't all about relaxation. It encompassed a rare opportunity to ride several stages of the tour, from both this year's layout and past layouts.
Her toughest day, she said, was the most grueling, notorious climb in the tour, up the legendary and infamous mountain leading to the alpine ski resort called L'Alpe d'Huez.

"We went to the very top. It was very hot," she said. The climb, which Armstrong routinely completes in around 45 minutes (after riding miles and miles to get there), took the foursome around two hours, according to Cecchi.

In all, Cecchi said, she and her three companions rode between seven and10 different stages from tours past and present. "My boyfriend and his friend, they did extra days," she said with a chuckle. "Us girls took days off."

Armstrong took the lead this year, and the famous yellow jersey of the leader, on his ascent up to L'Ape d'Huez.
By that time, Cecchi and her companions had lined up beside the roadway, in the tradition of the fans of the tour, cheering the mammoth effort put forth by the competitors.

Watching Armstrong was a particular thrill. "I could see his face," she said. "And all the sweat dripping off of him. It was amazing."
In one scary moment of this year's race, Armstrong took a tumble when one fan caught a handbag on his handlebars. Cecchi said it wasn't her. "I didn't want to get in anybody's way and trip and fall," she said with a laugh.

Cecchi said it was intense to see the concentration and effort expended by all the riders, not just Armstrong. She remembers particularly watching 1997 champion Jan Ullrich, a Dutch cyclist who wound up losing by about one minute, the nearest margin of defeat in 14 years.

"He was (not happy)," she said. "I mean, he was really upset because he was behind. His face was amazing."
This was Cecchi's first trip to France and, thus, her first opportunity to witness the tour in person, though she said she's a long-time fan. She was impressed by the dedication exhibited not only by the cyclists but by some of the fans as well. One picture she took features a compatriot in red, white and blue full-body paint and an American flag cape.

Enmity between France and America during the past months didn't put a damper on the trip, said Cecchi. In fact, she met great people; a real international community of cycle fans arose around the race.

Cecchi said that after riding up the mountain and finding a place to watch the L'Alpe d'Huez stage, the four sweaty Americans were given an umbrella and welcomed by a group of Dutch fans.
The group stayed in several "rustic" bed and breakfasts, said Cecchi, beginning in Allemont, near the Alps. For the second half of the trip, they went to the Pyrenees. "We stayed in a little town called Seix (pronounced "say"), which we called "sex" because we couldn't figure out how you say it," she said, laughing. "That was really remote town, there was nobody there. We had a river behind our place, so that was cool."

Cecchi is one of about 10 women who ride in the Ojai Bicycle Club, a group of 50 or so local riders. "We ride a lot. It's something that we like to do," she said. Another club went at the same time, people her boyfriend knows from San Francisco. "We would run into them on different rides," she said. "Their itinerary was really tight. We didn't want to do that. We'd rather enjoy it and get to see it. It was incredible."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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