Rob Kish approaching the village of Orleans, France, in Le Tour Ultime

"So, Robert, I guess you are the only virgin on the team?" This question caught me off guard as I waited to go through Customs at the Schiphol Airport in Holland, but I quickly caught on to what they were getting at. "Yes, this is my first time in Europe, even out of the United States," I replied.

Selected to join the Kish Krew for the Le Tour Ultime 4000-km bicycle race as navigator for the Scout vehicle, I was no virgin to ultra cycling. No one on the Kish Krew knew me, though, and I only knew Rob and Brenda Kish by reputation, having shook Rob's hand once at RAAM. Rob competed in 20 Race Across America events, winning three times and setting a transcontinental record. Brenda was his crew chief every time. And here I was, working for the RAAM legend.

We were to stay ahead of Rob and Marshall Reeves, his teammate, and our job was to get off-course so they didn't have to. With a route book, route maps, and GPS, they were counting on us to keep wrong turns and errors to a minimum, a task that was a full time job as they raced through Europe on two-lane roads, one lane roads, and roads...well, that hardly existed.

The Le Tour Ultime (The Ultimate Tour) began Sept. 1 for solos and two-person teams, and Sept. 3 for 4-person teams. LTU brought together racers from the United States, Brazil and various parts of Europe. Only it's second year, there was a low number of participants but the course had no mercy on the riders, no matter how few or many there were. Rob Kish and Marshall Reeves were the two-person American team. Also representing the United States was the four-person Team Extreme USA made up of Jeff "Bubba Shrimp" Stephens, Charlie Liskey, Shanna "Banana" Armstrong, and Steve Winfrey.

Marshall Reeves half way up the Tourmalet just before a rider exchange

The DeLiehof Hotel in Oisterwijk hosted the start of the race. Race director Guus Moonen built a start ramp to give the event a Tour de France-style presentation: a large yellow archway with Le Tour Ultime in black letters and a KLM sponsor banner for a backdrop. A motorcycle or automobile escort led the racer(s) in five-minute intervals past a row of national flags, down the driveway from the start ramp, past crowds of spectators, the hotel entrance, and through iron gates to the course ahead.

Racing through Holland, Belgium and France, across the Alps and Pyrenees, we were treated to the sights of the legendary Tour de France. Critical moments in decades of Tour de France history ran through my mind — I remembered the greatest cyclists from France, America, Ireland and Spain pursuing and attaining the goal of wearing the "maillot jaune" as best rider in the Tour de France. And monuments to those who had fallen in the event were present on the course as well.

Unfortunately, our task as Scout did not allow us to enjoy all the sights in France. Our assistant crew chief for advised me to take as many pictures as I could, saying we would be so busy and the days would blur together, so we would not remember what we saw. That was very true!

Robert Giacin at the Col du Tourmalet

Navigating in Europe was not quite as complicated as I was first told, though still no easy task. Having lived and ridden back roads in Missouri, I found navigating similar in Europe. Rob and Marshall settled on a 12-hour rotation for their relay tactic. I had not heard of such a tactic before but I can see in hindsight it was an excellent approach.

Tight turns and constant maneuvering kept us on our toes, and taught us the meaning of European handling in automobiles. While we did not encounter as many automobiles as we do in the U.S., fast driving is the norm. The moment when on-coming vehicles approached on one-lane roads without slowing and only yielding half the road became affectionately known as "mirror jousting." The small villages in France were beautiful.

In real estate, "cozy" means very small and we were left with many cozy villages to navigate. Several times we thought we were driving down an alley, or even a sidewalk, but it was in fact the correct road. At one point the course even crossed a dry creek bed. We only knew we were on course when we found a LTU route arrow fastened to a tree. Then over the hill netted vineyards greeted us as we wove our way around and between the groves.

All riders signed in at reception hosted by TS39 in Overpelt, Belgium and received a piece of signed artwork from the artist herself

Besides navigating the course ahead for the riders and pace vehicles and watching out for hard to see turns, we also looked out for hazards on the course: broken glass, a fallen limb, or rocks and cobblestones, especially on descents at night. Our team engineer set up all the vehicles with ham radios for communication. With this system we were able to call back directions and make pace vehicles aware of turns, hazards, and free roaming cattle. While we could sweep glass and gravel, and removed large rock by hand, none of us had cattle rustling skills.

Ascending Mount Ventoux, cattle, horses, and sheep grazed close to the roadside. At the end of another descent one morning, we found nearly 20 head of cattle with long horns strolling down the road through town. With just inches between their horns and our vehicle, we laughed hysterically as we made our way through the rush hour cattle. Maybe we were tired, but as Marshall reached the same village several minutes later, we received a radio call with his pace crew laughing hysterically as well.

We heard after the race that crewmembers for Team Extreme USA had to exit their vehicle to prod sheep off the road to make room for to proceed down the course. A wild boar as long as the width of our van nearly ran into the side of the van the same night as a herd of about 20 small boar crossed in front of us on the course. Another night a few head of cattle left our rider a gift on the road as we used our horn to move them off course. What could we do? We had no shovel!

Marshall Reeves & Rob Kish finish Le Tour Ultime.

When the pace vehicles had to stop for fuel or the riders descended away from their pace vehicles, Scout would pace for a while. It was great to work for Rob Kish and Marshall Reeves; they both rode so strongly and efficiently. I especially liked to watch them climb in the mountains. I could see how Rob put energy into the whole pedal stoke as his leg muscles flexed in the upstroke as well as the downstroke.

I thought Rob and Marshall could finish in under eighth days, maybe as quickly as seven and a half. With a finish time of 7 days, 19 hours, and 21 minutes, they were the only two-person team to finish Le Tour Ultime.

Hygiene was a concern of mine during the event. In eight days of racing I managed three real showers, two in hotels, and one in a waterfall. Our French translator found a waterfall on the third day and was as excited at the thought of bathing as were the other two of us in Scout. You could not help but enjoy his enthusiasm as he shouted, "Oh, Roberto! There's nothing more invigorating than a Full Monte under a waterfall." I was just glad to feel clean and the experience that came with it.

Rob Kish, Marshall Reeves & the Kish Krew after Le Tour Ultime

Having a French speaking person with us most the time permitted good communication. Sometimes we sorted things out on our own. Gas and food were our basic needs. For a restroom, you simply ask in one word, "Toilet?" Fortunately, I always found one.

Those who are crew veterans of RAAM know that there are times when things get tense on a crew, when people are tired and things may not go as smoothly as we hope. My time with the Kish Krew was the best crewing experience I've had in all my years. My first trip to Europe was both exciting and humbling. I made new friends through cycling and I hope to return to Le Tour Ultime for years to come.

After racing LTU 2006 UMCA Treasurer Jeff Stephens said "Le Tour Ultime is epic. The event deserves our support." We'll publish his account of the race in the next few weeks.

More information at www.letourultime.com