Tuesday, July 17 - Still here...

I know it's been a while, but a lots been happening. When you pay an extra 100-300 euros a night, an Internet connection is no longer free and they become a little less frequent....

And, Trish is here. So, we've been busy together.

Since I last posted, I climbed L'Alpe-d'Huez twice. I must say, it's easier than the Madeleine was. A lot easier. And only half the distance. Steep, but not too bad.

I did it the first day in 1 hour, 19 minutes. That included a 1 minute stop. Yeah, that first section is a little steep.

After I got used to it, I did it the second day in 1 hour, 12 minutes, 45 seconds. I was happy with that.

A view from various points along the road.

An outline of the route to the top of the mountain. There are 21 switchbacks on the way to the top. They're all named after famous tour riders. The top switcback, number 1 is named after Lance Armstrong.
This was the view from my hotel room. By the way, that was fresh snow that fell while I was there...often. It got a little cold at night and during the day.

I took a drive and took this picture at the top of the Col du Lauteret.
I left the Alps to pick up Trish at the airport in Nice. I stayed in Digne-les-Bains for 1 night. Not much going on. It was a long beautiful drive to get here, but not much time for pictures. I got to the hotel and packed my bike. The next morning I drove about 3.5 hours to go 100 miles - the roads and/or traffic suck here!


I did drive briefly throught the Gorges du Verdon on the way.

And, that is a Smart car. Just big enough to hold you and a fart!
More later...

Aime FR, July 7, 07

Sorry everyone, but I couldn't resist the opportunity. Normally I would be inclined to follow the sign, but I'm here to climb some mountains, so I have to go to the left instead.

Last night the woman at the hotel reception desk informed me that the Col de la Madeleine was nearby. I had been interested in riding it, because I read that it was one of the more difficult climbs, but I had not found it on the map. I checked again and found it. By the way, the picture above is along the climb.

Another thing along the climb is steepness. NON-STOP STEEPNESS!!!

And that's where I'm heading off in the distance.

It still looms around many, and I mean many, bends.

Mont Blanc, yet again. It looms too.

Just another picture along the way.

What this ride is turning too!

Did I mention that it's steep?

Ooh, ah!

My bike made it anyway!

Yeah, I did too.

I gotta tell you, that was the most difficult climb I've ever done in my entire life. It was only 16 miles, but I felt more beat down than likely any ride I've ever taken. That includes after riding 140 miles a day on PAC Tour.

O.K., so I haven't trained much for these hills before leaving Cincinnati, but I was riding decently before I left. I just did a 110 mile hilly ride with Dino two weeks before I left.

Some shots from the top.

A little more about this climb. When it's in the Tour de France, it is an Hors Categorie (HC), which is above classification. That means it's hard. One of the hardest. I can't argue with that!

Here's the profile.

I took this picture while eating dinner at a restaraunt on the hillside.

Aime FR, July 6, 07

These are the things you must know...

When I cut the cheese, it smells like cheese...French cheese at that. When I pee, it smells like cured meat.

Strange thing is, I'm not really eating that much of either. I guess a little bit goes a long way.

By the way, I'm starting to think my vacation is cursed. c'est la vie!

I woke up this morning feeling a bit like under the weather. So, I ate a small breakfast, changed for a ride anyway and set off.

I got about oh, 50 feet or so to discover that the "new" wheel I bought in Chamonix wasn't in such good shape. It just happened that there was a sporting goods store that had the tool to fix what ails the bike though.

Off again. This time I got about 1/2 mile and my tire blew to shreds. Dammit Jim! (not the bike shop).

Anyway, I turned around, went back to the hotel, changed my tire, and set off again. I climbed La Plagne today. It goes up to 6,600 feet (2000 meters). It has 21 named switchbacks of which I know nothing about and it was an 18km (~11 mile) climb. That doesn't seem like much, but it was steep enough to take me almost 2 hours to climb! Keep in mind, I'm not the fastest climber either. At least there were other people riding in the vicinity at about the same speed as me, so I felt a little better about my seemingly snails pace.

A view of town from above.


I could see my hotel, so I just kept zooming in.

1992 Albertville Olympics Bobsled site. In case you can't read the blur above.

That's the chute. It's not as long as I would have expected.

Mont Blanc is still out there somewhere.

Entering the village of La Plagne. It was a chilly ride that started out cloudy, but the weather improved as the ride went on. By the time I got to the top, the sun was out and it was a beautiful 45 degrees.

The official top of the road - Aime 2000 (2,000 meters / 6,600 feet).

Yep, I am here.

The ride down was fast and chilly.

Note to self. Before I ride tomorrow, I need to change my rear brake pads. They were melting on the way down the mountain and the compound was sticking to the rim. What does that mean? It means that as it sticks to the rim, when I apply the brakes, the pads jerk the back wheel. That's not good because with the front brakes working just fine and the bake brakes jerking, I almost did an endo (end over) going around one of the switchbacks. Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. I'm enamoring it a bit.

After my ride I took a drive to Moutiers (Moot-ee-aye) with much emphassis on
the sillahbills. It's a cool town from a few centuries back.

I then did some ride scouting and drove up Courchevel and Meribel. More Olympic villages. Courchevel hosted the long (ski) jump in 1992. The ramp is still there and jumping was going on, without snow. They have padded slopes with rollers on them for the jumpers to jump in summer. Weird, but cool!

I had a shot at dinner. It's called Genepi. It made from Genepi berries that only grow above 6,000 feet in a small area of France. They take straight alcohol, add the berries and sugar and let it set for a winter. By the time it's ready to drink, it's only 40% alcohol, but it is a different tasting drink.

Aime FR, July 5, 07

No way! I woke up to clouds, rain, cold, etc. Whooda thunk it?

I stopped at the bike shop where I dropped off my wheel yesterday. It wasn't done. Why? Spokes for that wheel are not readily available and would be "on command" as the French say. But fortunately he had a new wheel for sale and it was only 79 euros. Not bad, really. That's about $115 U.S.

It was 11:00am when I stopped in. He said it would take until 2:00 to change the tire and cassette onto the new wheel. 3 hours for a 15 minute job! He compromised at 1:00.

I had some time to waste so I took another ski lift ride into the abyss. I went to the top of Le Brevent. It is across the valley from Mont Blanc and I thought I'd take a chance to see if the cloud cover would brake, if not for even a few minutes. No luck.

I did have a cup of coffee and a blueberry tart (Myrtille), walked around in the snow that was falling and then came back down the mountain. I have a monstrosity of a camera bag with me and whenever I have it with me, people think I'm looking for a hotel. So when I'm top of the ski slope with my bag, people are laughing at me. But, we all know that happens all the time...regardless of the bag...

Glacier des Bossons from across the valley.

The view down from the ski lift station.


"vous ete ici" - you are here.

Some snow! A little brake from the gloomy weather.


Views from the ski lift.

I went to pick up my wheel and set off for Italy!

Courmayeur, Italy is about 15 miles from Chamonix, France. To get there, you take the tunnel that is bored straight through Mont Blanc which is the highest mountain in Europe. The actual tunnel is about 10 miles long. The price to travel through the tunnel is a mere $4.80/mile!!!!

Highway robbery I tell you. Beats a 6 hour drive though! Oh, and when Italy, the mountain becomes Monte Bianco.
The good thing; bright, shiny, warmer skies.

I came this way through Italy just so I could get in another country and some real Italian pizza.

First things first though. I had to use the restroom and thought I would capture this moment for you. Not the act, just the toilet. Those Italians! Thinking of Cindy and Ron right now...

Back to the pizza. I was not disappointed. It was about $5 for two slices of pizza. I tell you this because that is cheap. If I haven't mentioned it enough, mediocre food does not come at a mediocre price! And that's the pizza place on the left.

Moving along. I've had my pizza, now it's time to go back to France. I crossed over the Col du petit St. Bernard. It's just like St. Bernard back home....

It was awesome up here. More Monte Bianco.

A monument to St. Bernard.

My destination today is the French town of Aime (M). I drove through a lot of nice towns to get here. This hotel is a step down from the other places I've stayed so far. Except the people are very nice and the bed's comfortable.