Tour De France Sweepstakes Update 2011

UPDATED (7/10/11): If you are looking for Tour de France Sweepstakes info, welcome back. This year's sweepstakes has changed to IZOD Race for the Podium . If you know the current stage's code word beofre I get to update this blog, please post them in the comments and I will add them to the list below as soon as possible.

Here's a few tips and observations: The sweepstakes game has typically been time-sensitive, awarding prizes to the person who comes closest to spinning at a predefined (and ever changing) time. You can guess at words, or look at the past code words on this blog (They recycle them well. After all, there are only so many cycling words that make sense.) however, there is a limit to how many entries you can have per email address (technically "per Household"), so don't waist all you turns before the first Rest Day. For all my years of playing, I have only won once, but it was a sweet T-Shirt.

Thanks for checking in and leaving your comments.  If you need to purchase anything from Amazon or any other advertisers, I would appreciate it if you would click through from this site. Vive La Tour!

UPDATE: I've posted another article below for anyone who wants to track the Spot Clean Bottle contest too. Leave your sighting info in the comments. Thanks for the suggestion.

STAGE 1: breakaway
STAGE 2: aerodynamic
STAGE 3: sprint
STAGE 4: peloton
STAGE 5: lead out train
STAGE 6: watts
STAGE 7: speed
STAGE 8: cervelo
STAGE 9: pedal
REST DAY: echelon
STAGE 10: izod
STAGE 11: cadence
STAGE 12: domestique
STAGE 13: feed zone
STAGE 14: team director
STAGE 15: green jersey
REST DAY: podium
STAGE 16: descent
STAGE 17: polka dot jersey
STAGE 18: attack
STAGE 19: switchbacks
STAGE 20: time clock
STAGE 21: paris

THANKS for visiting again this Tour and thanks to those who helped submit code words! Come back next year for your missing code words.

Tour De France 2011- Spot Clean Bottle Mascot Contest

Adding this as at the suggestion of another follower. If you are playing the Spot Clean Bottle Mascot on the side of the road at the Tour de France, please leave a comment below. I will not update the list myself or be able to answer questions, so review the comments below for updates and if you post a sighting please be sure to specify the Stage or Date and exact answer for the contest (ie beginning of the intermediate Sprint, Slope of ______ mountain, Feed Zone, etc.) Thanks in advance for the contributions!

Here's the contest link: Spot Clean Bottle!

Camping on Lake Murray

Last weekend Grant and I went camping on Lake Murray with his Scout Troop.  The boys worked on Water Sports and Canoeing merit badges as well as other advancement requirements.  The weather was questionable going into the weekend, but turned out to be great where we were.  To top it off we had delicious BBQ Chicken for dinner Saturday night.  Here are some of the pics I took:

Backpacking the Linville Gorge Loop

Last weekend my friend, Tom Sliker, and I completed a 22 mile backpacking trip around the Linville Gorge Loop.  This hike was written up in Backpacker Magazine last year, much to the chagrin of those who frequent the Gorge.  It was rugged terrain, described as appropriate only for the "fit & adventurous".  I figure 1 out of 2 ain't bad.  However, about halfway into the trip I felt much less adventurous.  This time of year was a good time to go, as the wildflowers were in bloom, the weather was comfortable and there wasn't too bad of a crowd.  Linville is near Morganton, NC (which is kind of between Boone and Hickory). I used to go rock climbing here in my younger days, scaling routes on NC's Table Rock and in the Gorge, but this was my first backpacking trip here.  Here's the play-by play:

Day 1: (6 miles)
We started Friday morning parking at Wolf Pit Road Trail head (near the southeast end of the gorge.) We climbed the trail to Shortoff Mountain for our first glimpse into the Gorge.  from here we hiked along or around the East rim for about 6 miles.  The upper rim was spectacular and, although difficult, well worth the effort.  Water was much more available than we had been led to believe, but possibly because of rain earlier in the week. We camped in an area called the Chimneys under a huge overhanging rock.  I was able to use some knot-tying/rock-climbing skills to suspend my Hennessey Hammock under the rock overhang in the absence of trees.  Because this campsite was along the rim of the gorge, it was too windy to safely have a campfire, but we enjoyed incredible views as the sun set. 

Day 2: (10 miles)
We packed and left camp around 8:30am and headed toward the Table Rock parking area.  This is NC's Table Rock in case you're confused.  There are clean privies here and garbage cans, so it was a nice resting spot. From here we began our descent into the gorge via the Little Table Rock trail, which was brutal for about an hour, but then became almost boring, once it connected to the Spence Ridge Trail.  It finally emerged at the Linville River, with one-sided, split-log bridges across.  This is a rocky river, laden with enormous boulders.  Some fishermen were in the river, but apparently without any luck. 

We hiked South along the river the rest of the day.  This section of the trail was poorly maintained, with lots of fallen trees to climb over, rocky footing, up and down sections, and many more hikers than the previous day (probably because it was Saturday).  We were hoping to camp at Daffodil Flats, an old homestead campsite, but it was occupied when we arrived, so we proceeded downstream for about another 45 minutes.  We actually passed a couple of other options electing NOT to camp on a sandy riverbank nor at a site where previous "campers" had left dozens of cans of uneaten food (potential critter bait).  we found a respectable site near the end of the river trail.  It needed some clean-up too, but it was nice and we rested well.

Day 3: (6 miles)
Sunday we awoke, ate breakfast and headed out later than planned (around 9am).  We quickly hit a turn in the trail that begins to circumnavigate some private farm land on the valley floor.  Although it was supposed to be marked with blue blazes, it was almost vertical and the blazes disappeared quickly.  At one point we missed a turn and found ourselves lost for about 15 minutes.  We were less than 50 yards away from the trail, but the terrain was so rugged it took us a while just to get back on trail.  With course corrected we headed around the Gorge and back towards the Linville River.  This loop trail "fords" the river (which was actually one of the things that drew us to this hike.)  Conditions were safe enough and we took turns crossing.  NOTE: always unbuckle your pack and try to use a walking stick when crossing a river.  This river was slightly higher than knee deep at the deepest point and the current was gentle.  After taking a break to dry off and snack we began the climb back out of the gorge, via the Mountains to Sea Trail.  We gradually made our way back to the car at Wolf Pitt Road and headed. home.

If you are interested in a shorter trip, I recommend parking at the Table Rock parking area and camping nearby.  There are many great day hikes available from that area, but I suggest climbing the back side of Table Rock (via trails), and hiking out to the Chimneys, Rock Peak, or even Shortoff Mountain.

Moving Day

I have not been blogging much over the past six months due to a very busy home building project. We were scheduled to move in Monday of this week, but due to the snow storm we got delayed until tomorrow. We have been extremely blessed to be able to live with my parents while between homes and I think we will always remember that special chapter of our lives. However, we're also excited to finally move into our dream home and begin this new chapter. Come see us.

Happy Snow Day

We were scheduled to move into our new house today, but had to postpone thanks to THIS guy.

Where in SC?

While passing through Greenville...

Paul "Ferdlings" Reaves demonstrates how to do "girl pushups" ... almost. Keep working at it, Paul.

Introducing: Tighty Whitey's "Skid Markx"

Skid Markx Blog

In response the popularity of this blog each July (over 31,000 visits so far this month) I will moving all my Tour de France and Sweepstakes Code Words to a new blog, called SKID MARKX after this year's Tour.  You're all welcome to keep visiting TightyWhitey if you'd like, but I wanted to offer a place dedicated to cycling and the TDF Sweepstakes Code Words.  This will also you to subscribe to the Blog and RSS Feeds without having to get updates about my family and friend during the other 11 months of the year.  Check out my first post on SKID MARKX, take the poll, and subscribe now and I'll see you all there in 2011.  Thanks for visiting this year!

TDF Cadillac Lead The Pack Sweepstakes Code Words

Last Year (2009) I posted the Code Words for the Tour de France Cadillac Ride of Your Life Sweepstakes and received a tremendous number of visitors and comments on this blog. So, even though Cadillac changed the name in 2010 to Lead the Pack Sweepstakes , I'm going to try to do it again . I will try to post the daily the code words shown during the Versus telecasts, Bicycling.com, and Twitter Also, I included the two code words from Versuswap (which apparently do not change.)

If you're a visitor and know a code word before I get to review my DVR and post an update, feel free to leave a comment with the code word, stage number, and where you found it (especially if it's from some other source). Also, I've noticed over the years that this sweepstakes recycles code words, so feel free to look back at last year's words and try them out. Older Code Words from previous years or from commenters to this blog can be found by clicking here. Good Luck Playing and thanks for visiting.

Prologue (7/3/2010) PODIUM - ROTTERDAM - SPEED

Stage 1 (7/4/2010) ENERGY - SPRINT - DRIVER'S CAR

Stage 2 (7/5/2010) SADDLE - LEAD THE PACK - CTS SPORT SEDAN

Stage 3 (7/6/2010) DOMESTIQUE - COBBLESTONES - SRX LUXURY CROSSOVER
Stage 4 (7/7/2010) POWER - LEADOUT TRAIN - AUTHENTICITY (Correction Tweeted late)
Stage 5 (7/8/2010) GAP - HELMET - CTS SPORT WAGON

Stage 6 (7/9/2010) PELOTON - DRIVING DYNAMICS - SUPERCHARGED V8
Versuswap Code Words (7/9/2010) MOBILE - TEAM RADIOSHACK

Stage 7 (7/10/2010) TEAM CAR - CERVELO - HIGH DEFINITION

Stage 8 (7/11/2010) ECHELON - CLIMB - HANGING ON

Rest Day (7/12/2010) PEDAL - DRAFTING - VERSUS

Stage 9 (7/13/2010) ONSTAR - DISC WHEEL - ICONIC BRAND

Stage 10 (7/14/2010) TEAM DIRECTOR - BREAKAWAY - BICYCLING

Stage 11 (7/15/2010) GRADIENT - EPIC CYCLE - 556 HORSEPOWER

Stage 12 (7/16/2010) DIRECT INJECTION V6 - GEARS - CADILLAC

Stage 13 (7/17/2010) PROVEN PERFORMANCE - CTS COUPE - SPOKES

Stage 14 (7/18/2010) FEED ZONE - HYDRATION - HAMMERING

Stage 15 (7/19/2010) CRAFTSMANSHIP - DESIGN INNOVATION - (no Twitter or FB word today)

Stage 16 (7/20/2010) CADENCE - HEART RATE - DESCENT
Rest Day (7/21/2010) V-SERIES - TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED - TOUR

Stage 17 (7/22/2010) WATTS - ATTACK - (repeated Twitter and FB words today)

Stage 18 (7/23/2010) AERODYNAMIC - GREEN JERSEY - RPM

Stage 19 (7/24/2010) ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE - TIME CLOCK - WHITE JERSEY

Stage 20 (7/25/2010) YELLOW JERSEY - PARIS - CHAMPAGNE

Sweepstakes Issues Acknowledged by ePrize

The following email was sent this morning to those who logged their issues on the Cadillac Lead The Pack Sweepstakes website:

Hello,
We are currently working to resolve the issue.  We will email once the
issue is resolved.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
ePrize Customer Service

UPDATE: Later today the following email was broadcast out:

Hello,
We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced. The promotion should now be functioning correctly.
Thank you for contacting us regarding this promotion. Should you need additional clarification, or have any other questions regarding this promotion, please reply to this email.
Sincerely,
ePrize Customer Service

Hopefully, this has resolved everyone's technical problems.  Good Luck!

Technical Problems Plague Versus Cadillac "Lead the Pack" Sweepstakes

SCROLL OR CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST OF CODE WORDS

Many people participating in the Versus 2010 Cadillac "Lead the Pack Sweepstakes" are experiencing problems with the online sweepstakes application, which runs as a promotional campaign during the 3 week Tour de France event.  Despite the sweepstake's terms of a 74 Code Word limit, contestants are being denied submission of valid code words after the entry of only 37 valid code words (exactly HALF of the allowable words), with a mesage stating "You've entered all the code words you can."  With this year's Tour de France only halfway completed, it will be interesting to see if if Versus and/or Cadillac will get this corrected before the peloton arrive in Paris on July 25th.  If not, the problems will increase as more viewers/contestants hit the limit and become disenchanted which will no doubt have a negative impact on Versus viewership and web stats, not to mention poor marketing ROI for Cadillac.

I have personally played this sweepstakes during the Tour for years without error.  However, early Wednesday (9/14/2010) I hit my 37 word limit too.  Like many of you, I have submitted my issue to the sweepstakes administrator and received an email stating that I would be contacted within 3 business days (as of 7/17 I have still not been contacted).  Based on the comments left on this blog by others, that may not actually happen, so I've re-registered with an alternate email address.  Based on my interpretation of the rules, as long as you don't play a code word twice for the same individual or exceed the 74 code word limit, this should be OK.  I hope that under the circumstances Versus and Cadillac will permit it.

If anyone else has any insight, recommendations, or has received feedback from the sweepstakes administrator, please leave your comments below.