Hello from Tierra del Fuego!

Day 2: P. Arenas/Torres del Paine

Updated: July 29, 2019

After a much needed night of extended sleep, we enjoyed breakfast at the Rey Don Felipe Hotel and were ready for our pick up by Explora. The van arrived right on time and we drove back to the airport to pick up our fellow American (Boston by way of New York) travelers Dan and Tara. Their flight was a few minutes late, but once they arrived, we were ready to go.

Breakfast with historic photos of Punta Arenas

Airport sunrise. It looks like it’s 6AM, but it’s 9:30AM

It is winter in Chile and Punta Arenas checks in at about 53 degrees latitude south, so the eastern sky starts to lighten around 8:30AM and the sun finally rises at about 9:30AM. About two hours into the drive we stopped for lunch at the Hotel Rio Rubens, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. We ate lunch by the wood fire stove for extra warmth and fueled up for the rest of the drive.

Along the way, we were treated to beautiful views, and a glimpse of the gaucho life. There are few trees here due to the harsh conditions in the area, which made for an interesting landscape. We saw a sea lion feeding in the water, along with a lot of sheep, cows, and horses. We also noticed a unique signaling technique that the drivers use to say hello to oncoming traffic… they turn on their driver-side blinker as they approach each other. Really?!

Gaucho and his sheep dogs herding sheep

Winter roads

As we neared the park, the views continued to amaze. Explora is one of the few hotels located inside Torres del Paine National Park and open during the low season. The tourism significantly decreases in the Winter, so we’ll practically have the place to ourselves the next few days. We received a lovely welcome and tour of the hotel, then quickly prepared for our first exploration, a hike to Condor lookout.

Not too shabby, Chile

Heading to Mirador Condor

Our guide, Nacho, stopped along the way to tell us about the flora, fauna, and geology. One thing we did notice, is that all the guides here REALLY like their birds. Our driver this morning spoke very little English, but would point out every time he saw a condor. Nacho also stopped mid-sentence while explaining the parasitic mistletoe plant to draw our attention to the “condor!”

Nacho describes the flora

This mistletoe is fake!

On the way to the top

We made it to the top of the conglomerate for a 360 degree view. Only 40 percent of the people on the hike got engaged along the way… Congrats Tara and Dan! Winter is the “non-windy” season, but it was still plenty windy for us. Nacho produced some (celebratory) coffee from his pack and we warmed up while we enjoyed the view before heading back down.

This rock looks cool…

…sort of like a fish head

Windy coffee

Rio Pehoe (between Lago Pehoe and Lago Nordenskjold)

Heading back through the burned out forest

We arrived back at the hotel with time to relax with a Calafate Sour before our Welcome Presentation where we learned about Explora and the explorations they offer. We spoke with one of the guides who explained tomorrow’s weather forecast and suggested which explorations we should do. We decided a horseback ride to Laguna Negra in the morning and a hike around Lago Sarmiento in the afternoon is the best choice. The guides also offer a short talk every night on various topics. Tonight, we learned about the history of Patagonia before going to a fantastic dinner and hanging out near one of the fireplaces in the lounge.

Day 1: Punta Arenas

by Joanna

Updated: July 29, 2019

Leave a Comment

We are off to Chile! From Chicago, it takes at least three flights to get to Punta Arenas, which is the southernmost city in the Americas. Since we are still scarred from the “Amsterdam incident”, we booked our tickets with plenty of time for layovers and jumped through all the hoops necessary to get confirmed seats on the “partner” airlines. Hooray!

Therefore, of course, the first thing we see on Friday afternoon is a text from American to notify us that our flight from Chicago to Miami is delayed by an hour and a half due to the previous flight coming in late. Nooo!!! Well… they ended up switching the plane and we didn’t have to wait for the late flight after all, so we were only delayed by an hour. Ok then.

Bye for now, Chicago

We made it to Miami with plenty of time to catch our next flight. The extra time turned out to come in handy when we discovered that we had to exit the domestic terminals, walk across the airport, print our new boarding passes, go back through security, and make our way to the LATAM gates in the far end of Terminal J… as in “Terminal Jeez, that was far!” But no worries, we still had time to grab a sandwich before the flight.

How are you not entirely under water, Florida?

Next leg!

The overnight flight to Santiago was pretty uneventful. We drank a couple Argentinian beers with dinner, fell asleep, and successfully woke up for breakfast. We ended up landing in Santiago a bit earlier than planned, which gave us about four hours until our next flight. We found our bags and went through customs without any problems.

From this point onward, we were no longer joined by the throngs of travelers headed to Santiago to see the total solar eclipse on July 2nd. We checked our bags again, and made our way to the domestic terminal for our final flight to Punta Arenas. We passed the time taking quick naps (when not being poked at by gruff old Chilean guy and his apologetic wife) and trying the local fare, i.e. the Marraqueta from McDonald’s. (Pro Tip: The Santiago McDonald’s airport coffee is terrible, but the KitKat blizzard is great!)

I’ll have the avocado toast

Finally, the time for our flight arrived and we boarded the bus to our plane on the tarmac. We settled in, quickly fell asleep, and after 24 hours of total travel, we were in Punta Arenas! The airport is very small with about six gates and two baggage carousels, so once we picked up our bags, we were swept up by a taxi driver offering us a ride to the city center.

Lovely weather for the flight.

Punta Arenas is not the Southernmost city in the Americas… if you are a penguin.

After arriving at the hotel and quickly settling in, we made our way to the bar for our Calafate Sour welcome drink, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

New drink approved

Calafate is a blueberry-like fruit, common to this region of Punta Arenas. It gets turned into a syrup, mixed with Pisco and lime, and makes a delicious drink. In search of some dinner, we walked a few blocks out of the hotel towards the restaurant area. We ventured through a park with a statute of Ferdinand Magellan, the local Cathedral, and a bonus Pride rally.

The Pride rally was small but mighty.

He’s sooo gellin’

After checking out a few of the open restaurants (and by Ã¢â‚¬Ëœopen’ we mean Ã¢â‚¬Ëœtotally empty during the early bird special’), we decided to try a place called Restaurant Beagle, presumably named after the boat sailed by Charles Darwin and Captain Robert FitzRoy on expeditions thru and to Tierra del Fuego. Either that, or a showcase for a very eclectic interior designer.

Dinner…

…was delicious!

We ended up back at the hotel fairly early in the night to catch up on some sleep and get ready for our first full day of adventures tomorrow.

Getting Ready for Chile

by Joanna

Updated: July 15, 2019

Leave a Comment

It finally feels like summer here in Chicago, so obviously, we are getting ready to flee the heat and head to the mountains of chilly Patagonia!

Alphabetical order… New Zealand, Norway, Paris, Patagonia

After two days and three flights, we plan on arriving in Punta Arenas, Chile, the most populous Southernmost city in the Americas, for a quick night. On Sunday morning we will be picked up by Hotel Explora for six nights in the Torres del Paine region of Patagonia for hiking, horseback riding, and site seeing. They even have a spa.

Our future home for a week.

From there, we spend a day in Chile’s Capital, Santiago, recovering, warming up, and exploring. Next stop is Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, for three nights. Their statues have long been a wonder, but there have been some problems with tourism destroying the statues. We will be sure not to get fined for touching the Moai. While a part of Chile, Rapa Nui is a volcanic island, similar to Hawaii, so this is the closest we will get to the relaxing beach vacation some of you loyal readers long for.

Moai statues on the beach

Flying back to Santiago, we get another two days to explore the city before making our way back to Chicago.

Santiago Skyline

Adventures start Friday. Stay tuned.

Day 18: Airports

by Matt

Updated: September 14, 2018

1 Comment

Time for the always-exciting final blog entry of the trip, wherein I try to find entertaining ways to include some of our least-exciting photos — the ones we took as we make our way thru various airports en route back to the U.S. But first, here’s a good one…

Century 21 finally emailed our photo booth shot from Lorient

We rolled out of bed and showed up bright and early for the Ibis breakfast at 6AM. After consulting the bus timetables, we grabbed our bags, checked out, and caught the No. 5 line from the Palexpo (some kind of convention center) to the Geneva AÃƒÂ©roport.

Bus stops, bus goes

After waiting in a patience-testing slow line (gasp) to check our bags and get seats for our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, we easily found our gate and determined it would be better to exchange our euros back to dollars in Germany, rather than in the land of Swiss francs.

The short flight from Geneva to Frankfurt was quite pleasant because Lufthansa apparently hasn’t gotten the memo that airlines are supposed to cram as many people as possible in coach. Thumbs up to leg room on Lufthansa!

Seems mean to just discard your pet plastic bottles

Take-off over Lake Geneva (presumably)

Upon arriving in Frankfurt, we eventually navigated our way to both a currency exchange and our connecting flight to Chicago. Not sure if it’s just me, but the Frankfurt airport is pretty darn confusing. From the map, it looks like the terminals are stacked on top of each other (?!), but the signage in the airport doesn’t really help convey such a layout. Anyhow, that probably explains all of the “bus” gates, where you get a shuttle ride to board your plane on the tarmac.

Great idea! What if we stack all of our terminals???

Boarding on the tarmac

Somebody likes Trans-Atlantic flights a bit too much

Eight hours later — after a few decent airplane meals, a couple free beers, and plenty of sleeping (or watching 20-year old movies like Saving Private Ryan!) — we landed in Chicago and breezed thru customs thanks to Global Entry. To repeat, Global Entry is the best. Jo’s parents picked us up and we celebrated by going out for Mexican food. Trip officially complete!

Considering we didn’t know exactly how the second week of our trip would play out with the Alpine Chaingang biking tour, it’s now safe to say our France trip was a huge success. The biking trip was incredible. The weather was amazing. We saw five stages of the Tour de France (stages 4, 5, 10, 11 & 12). We caught up with old friends and made some new ones. We biked crazy mountains in the French Alps, and (technically) visited or traveled through four countries. Heck, we even got the GoPro to (sort of) work.

The only downside is my daily Divvy Bike commute is now permanently ruined.

Might as well pedal a Sherman tank to work

And last but not least, for the next week, we watched the remaining stages of the 2018 Tour de France each morning on NBCSN. Hard to beat the soothing sounds of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin providing commentary on the race and describing gorgeous French countryside over breakfast. Well, unless you are there in person. 🙂

Geraint Thomas wins the 2018 Tour de France

Til next time!

Day 17: Courchevel/Geneva

by Joanna

Updated: August 4, 2018

Leave a Comment

Alas, our fantastic biking adventure has come to a close. Last night, we packed up our bags and cleared out all of our gear from the Chalet room closet so all we needed to do this morning was wake up (unless you stayed up all night packing), enjoy breakfast (another round of dippy eggs!), and be ready for our ride back to the Geneva Airport (in the posh white van with the Swiss vehicle tax sticker).

Where’s Martha? 🙂

Ready to roll

The clouds tried to make up for lost time — being AWOL the last week — as we drove down from Courchevel, but eventually blue sky made an appearance. For our return trip to Geneva, Dave opted to take us on the scenic route north from Albertville and we were able to see Lake Annecy along with some final views of the Alps. Also… Dave’s driving playlist… top notch.

Leaving the clouds in Courchevel

The comfy Alpine Chaingang transfer van

Looking south-ish near Albertville-ish

The view east over Lake Annecy

Arriving at Geneva Airport, we said our goodbyes and *poof* it was all over. Standing outside the departures concourse with our bags, we consulted Google Maps (Lycamobile actually worked in Switzerland this time!) and found walking directions to the nearby Ibis airport hotel. We made it, although our route was a bit unorthodox (sans sidewalk). We checked in and got our free transportation passes again, so we’ll gladly take the bus for the return trip in the morning.

Ibis Styles are pretty hip

We both fell asleep almost immediately after making it to our room. Apparently, biking up the Alps for six days in a row is tiring. After our satisfying naps, we found the UK sports channel on the TV and watched Stage 14 of the Tour de France. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent relaxing with complementary Ibis beverages, catching up on the blog, and watching a Top 40 music video countdown.

Watching Stage 14 of the Tour

Sunset over Geneva Airport

Tomorrow we hop a bus back to the Geneva airport, connect through Frankfurt, and head back to Chicago.

Day 16: Col de la Madeleine

by Joanna

Updated: September 14, 2018

Leave a Comment

It is our last day of biking with Alpine Chaingang. While the Tour de France has moved south out of the Alps, today we will ride up the northern approach of the Col de la Madeleine — a portion of the route the Tour covered yesterday (before getting to Alpe d’Huez).

On the bright side, it looks like we saved the best for last, as the Col de la Madeleine might be our most scenic route yet. The road is usually buried in snow from November to June. It is a very popular with the Tour, having been featured nearly thirty times since 1969.

Feeling great on day six!

Setting off 21km from the top

The varsity team was a man down today, as Phil and Eileen visited some local friends for lunch. That left Paul, Jason, Martha and Dave, all of whom started from the Chalet driveway and biked down from Courchevel through Moutiers to reach the base of the climb. Matt is getting pretty good at this — but he’s not that crazy — so he hitched a ride in the support van and started his ride near the base of the climb.

Great weather, once again

For all you blog/waterfall fans

Meanwhile, I joined Ben (Dave’s son filling in for Amy) in the support van and had a great time. Ben is an avid skier recovering from an ACL injury (which he incurred playing soccer, of all things), so my helpful duties included taking pictures and offering snacks/water to our riders.

Traditional French Alps KwikTrip

Scenery leveling up

Scenery leveling up some more

The north approach of Col de la Madeleine is considered an “HC” climb by the Tour mainly due to its 26 kilometer (16 mile) length. The gradient averages 7%, but there are several 9-10% sections to make it a challenge. There is roughly a 1500 meter elevation gain along the way, topping out at 2000 meters.

Turns out the French street and sanitation crews do a pretty good job of cleaning up after the Tour. The only remnants from yesterday’s race were chalk/paint messages on the road. Only one or two unclaimed sponsor caravan freebies were seen lying on the embankments.

Paparazzi getting shots of Matt on Col de la Madeleine

Scenery reaching critically scenic levels

Scenery meter busted

Matt reached the summit feeling good and we enjoyed a celebratory smoothie/espresso from a patio bistro while taking in the view. The weather on the other side of the Col looked a little bit threatening (but cool!), so we opted to eat lunch inside one of the friendly alpine restaurants at the summit.

2000 meters above the sea

Dramatic-looking weather to the south

Alpine patio furniture

Best support van wing-woman

Salads in the French Alps are legit

By the time lunch was over, the weather cleared a bit and we started our descent on a nice, dry road. Everybody made it down in one piece, which means it’s official… Matt (and I) have survived the biking portion of our bike trip!

Dave, what if I want to go 70 mph down the mountain???

Ok, how about ~20-30 mph

After loading up all the bikes and riders at the bottom of the mountain, we drove back to the chalet in Courchevel and had plenty of time to finish our last bottle of cider while watching stage 13 of the Tour de France on TV. As a special treat for our final night of the trip, Dave arranged a celebratory dinner with the group at a local restaurant called Refuge du Bois in Champagny Le Haut.

Garden behind the chalet

On our way to dinner, the rain started coming down as soon as we got in the car. Knowing our biking was finished, this was oddly satisfying! To reach the restaurant, we drove down the mountain, passed thru Bozel, and followed switchbacks on a small road up into the mountains on the other side of the valley.

The Refuge was aptly named and very cozy. Dave’s menu selections were amazing, with lots of local cheese and house wine. The delicious main course featured turkey breast, wrapped in ham, doused with melty cheese along side a generous portion of hearty Savoie region specialty pasta called Crozets. Afterwards, we ended up with a bottle of Genepi on the table and everybody downed some celebratory shots.

Arriving in Champagny Le Haut

Traditional herbal liqueur in the Alps

After our best dinner in France, we made our way back to Courchevel in the foggy rain and enjoyed our last night hanging out in the chalet listening to the storm. Tomorrow we all head back to Geneva and most of the group flies home.

Day 15: Alpe d’Huez

by Joanna

Updated: September 14, 2018

3 Comments

It’s our fifth and final Tour de France day! Today, the 12th stage of the tour starts in the familiar location of Bourg Saint-Maurice and concludes atop the legendary climb of Alpe d’Huez. The Alpe d’Huez is a staple of the Tour de France with an elevation of 1850 meters (6070 ft), a length of 13.8 km (8.6 mi), and an average gradient of 8.1% (with maximums of 13%) over 21 hairpin turns. So — obviously — that’s why Matt and the boys will attempt to bike it before watching the stage finish on the same roads later in the afternoon.

2018 Tour de France Stage 12 map

First order of business was getting to the town of town of Borg d’Oisans, which lies at the base of Alpe d’Huez — about a two hour drive from the Chalet. We set our alarms for an earlier wake up call and breakfast and got on the road by 7:30am. Most of us nodded off a bit in the van ride for a little extra sleep. When we arrived, we parked a few km outside of town to help avoid getting caught in traffic on the way out.

Learned my lesson yesterday, so attaching a second water bottle bracket today

Another beautiful day in the French Alps (heading into Bourg d’Oisans)

After biking into town and finding the base of the climb, it was immediately clear why people say Tour de France day on Alpe d’Huez is something to behold. It was 10:30am, the race was not scheduled to come thru until roughly 4:30pm, but the place was already bustling with thousands of fans and other bikers starting their trek up the climb. Crazy costumes, music blaring from speakers, you name it.

The well-known Devil dude is a Tour de France fixture

Going up, up, up…

Friendly support from these chaps

The first six turns (counting down from 21) are the steepest part of the climb. If you can power your way thru those, the gradients get a little easier. But — as Dave suggested — don’t look up yet, because you’ll see a massive wall with the rest of the 15 turns winding back and forth as high as you can see.

Looking down is more encouraging than looking up

Another turn in the books

Eventually, in the final turns, the ski village of Huez comes into view. The village center was packed with fans and cyclists milling about, buying souvenirs and eating lunches at the bars. Matt biked to the point where security has closed the area for the finish line, and then immediately looked for a place to buy a giant bottle of water.

Approaching the ski village of Huez

Only finish line security or dehyrdration can stop me now!

Meanwhile, as the guys biked up the mountain, Eileen and I walked from the car to Bourg d’Oisans and stocked up on supplies including waters and sandwiches. We continued walking through town and headed up the base of Alpe d’Huez to just beyond the first turn (Turn 21), where we found a good spot in the shade (for the moment) to camp out and watch the race go by — plus the always-exciting sponsor caravan.

Phil reached the top and came back down the mountain first. He descended so fast that neither of us saw him pass our location, but after a few calls, he made his way back up to turn 21 and joined Eileen and myself. Next down the line was Paul and Jason, who proceeded into town and found a bar to spend the rest of the afternoon.

Finally, I spotted Matt on his way down and successfully got his attention to join us as well. It probably helped that I was not trying to flag him down in any of the crazy party zones he biked thru higher on the mountain, including the well-known “Dutch Corner” on Turn 7 of the climb. Here’s a video Matt shot at Dutch Corner — about 4 hours until the race arrives: Video

Approaching Dutch Corner

It’s a full-on party up here

Wave anything in the air like you just don’t care!

Those Brits at Turn 20 are not as crazy, but still going strong

It wasn’t long after Matt arrived, that race officials shut down all bike and car traffic on the road. Dave warned us about “getting stuck” up the mountain, but from our location, we would be able walk down from Turn 21 if needed.

As the afternoon sun crawled across the sky, our shady race-viewing spot slowly became quite sunny (thanks astronomy). The four of us braved the heat and drank every last drop of water in our supplies. Then… like a miracle, the trusty Vittel water truck appeared! Unfortunately, they weren’t handing out water this time. But… they were handing out really nice race shirts. Score!

The rest of the usual sponsor caravan came through shortly thereafter and we got even more free crap that, alas, was not water.

Our — now very sunny — viewing spot just beyond Turn 21

Thanks for spotting me, Jo! And bringing sandwiches!

Best race swag yet! Vittel water is our new favorite water company

After the sponsor parade, the arrival of the Tour cyclists gave us a jolt of energy. A Dutch rider named Steven Kruijswijk passed first with a ~4 minute lead, attempting to revive the storied history of Dutch riders winning Tour stages on Alpe d’Huez. See: Video

Steven Kruijswijk is the first to reach the climb

The next group of cyclists that passed included Team Sky, who were working together for Geraint Thomas (current yellow jersey wearer) and Chris Froome (defending Tour champion). Despite a nearly 4-minute gap as they passed us near Turn 21, the importance of teamwork during climbs was made obvious when these guys later caught the Dutch rider and Geraint Thomas won the stage. See: Video

But Team Sky will eventually catch him

After several more groups of riders passed, we started walking down the course along the fencing. We were able to stop and watch the other groups of bikers as they climbed up the mountain. Because we were on a mountain, the riders were actually riding slow enough to really see what was going on. 🙂 Here’s is a video I took of Peter Sagan as he passed by: Video

Once we made it to Bourg d’Oisans at the base of the climb, we IMMEDIATELY bought water and coke popsicles (or “ice lollies” as Eileen says). Refueled, we continued our walk back to the car, loaded up the bikes, and waited for the rest of the group to return.

Walking back to the van

Bike loaded… mountains in view… and more snacks!

We managed to hit the road just before 7pm and we arrived back to the Chalet around 9pm. After dinner, we relaxed a bit with the group before going to sleep. Tomorrow we have a bit later start (yay!) and the plan is to ride the Col de la Madeleine, while I’ll cheer/help out from the support van.

Day 14: La RosiÃƒÂ©re

by Joanna

Updated: August 11, 2018

1 Comment

It’s our fourth Tour de France day! Today the 11th stage of the race starts in Albertville and works it’s way eastward to the ski station of La RosiÃƒÂ©re. The fun part about this stage is we (ok, mostly Matt) already biked portions of the route. On Monday, we biked from Areches to Bourg Saint-Maurice, passing over the Col du PrÃƒÂ© and the Cormet de Roselend. Today, Matt and the others will bike from Bourg Saint-Maurice up to La RosiÃƒÂ©re to watch the end of the stage. I’ll hike into town with Eileen and watch the race come through at the base of the climb.

2018 Tour de France Stage 11 map

Due to traffic and road closures, we parked the van a bit outside of Bourg Saint-Maurice, at the base of the 18 kilometer (~11 mile) climb to La RosiÃƒÂ©re. La RosiÃƒÂ©re is familiar because on Sunday we passed through the resort town on our ride to and from Col du Petit Saint Bernard. Today the Tour is taking a different (and slightly steeper) route thru Montvalezan to reach La RosiÃƒÂ©re — which will also be the route Matt and the gang are headed up.

When the Tour shuts down automobile traffic

Biking through Montvalezan before TDF madness

Just two guys who totally look like seasoned cyclists heading up to La RosiÃƒÂ©re

Winding up the mountain above Montvalezan

While Matt and the others trudged their way up almost 5,000 feet on two wheels, Eileen and I stayed on two feet and walked from the van to Bourg Saint Maurice. We found the restaurant where we had lunch on Sunday, and Eileen managed to use her French to make us a reservation before we set off on a walk.

Our path took us from Bourg Saint Maurice to SÃƒÂ©ez, the next town on the route. Plenty of camper vans and cars were getting ready for the race. When we got to the end of the town, we turned around and walked back to the restaurant in time to meet Dave and Phil.

Meanwhile, Matt was riding to the top, along with Paul and Jason to watch the race. During lunch, Dave called Paul, who confirmed that Matt was “sitting under a tree, drinking a beer,” so I knew he was safe and happy.

Fans watching the race on the big screen down the hill

Mountain bleachers

Biking up that pink portion suuuuuucked!

Access to finish line is limited on race days, but I got within 250 meters

Dehydration and heat exhaustion, but with a view!!!

All better. Exactly as Jo imagined

When we finished lunch, Dave and Phil moved inside to watch the Tour on TV, while Eileen and I found a good spot outside. Matt, Paul, Jason and Martha descended to various portions of the steepest part of the climb (ranging from 4-6km from the finish line) to watch the race.

We saw another sponsor parade and scored some more TDF SWAG. I successfully caught some candy and snacks and stashed them for later. By comparison, it sounded like Matt’s catches up the mountain might have been vital for his survival (ok, slightly over-dramatic) and apparently his Goldbears/meat snack things were consumed ASAP!

Yellow jersey stuffed lion car

Watching the race in Bourg Saint Maurice

Matt waiting for the race up on the mountain

“You remember what color we are supposed to use there?”

Finally, the racers passed though. The earlier part of today’s stage included some very difficult climbs (including the Col du PrÃƒÂ© and the Cormet de Roselend that Matt biked on Monday), causing the riders to be pretty spread out. After most packs of riders passed us in the town, we returned to the restaurant to watch on TV. Then the race turned uphill where Matt, Paul, Jason and Martha had camped out in various spots. Here’s a video from Matt’s spot as Team Sky passed him on the mountain: Video

My roadside view about 5k from the top

Greg Van Avermaet has the yellow jersey on, but is going to lose it shortly

Not a stage for Sagan, but he’s ok with the other sprinters

Once the race finished, Dave and Phil biked back to the van, while Eileen and I walked. The four watching from the mountain started to make their way down with the throngs of people and bikers. Paul, Jason and Martha were diverted to the main road down the mountain (the route we descended on Sunday), but Matt was already headed down the actual race route through Montevalezan, where he and hundreds of other bikers needed to wait about 20 minutes for Mark Cavendish to pass through, far behind the peloton. Spoiler alert: Cavendish didn’t make the time cut and was ousted from the race.

Waiting for Cavendish to get the green light

Paul and Jason made it back first, followed by Matt and Martha about 20 minutes later (thanks, Cavendish). The race finished atabout 5:30pm and we arrived back to the Chalet at about 8pm. We settled in and devoured another delicious dinner. Tomorrow we have an early start as we will bike/hike the epic Alpes d’Huez and watch Stage 12 of the Tour.

Day 13: Col de la Croix Fry

by Joanna

Updated: August 11, 2018

4 Comments

It’s another Tour de France Day! Today, the tenth stage of the race begins in Annecy, where it heads south and east around the lake before going up a small category 4 climb and passing through ThÃ…Ânes. Our plan is to bike the category 1 climb from ThÃ…Ânes to Croix Fry in the morning before they shut down the roads, and then watch the race pass over the Col.

2018 Tour de France Stage 10 map

As usual, the varsity team opted for a warmup ride over the Col du Marais, which starts to the south in Saint-FerrÃƒÂ©ol. But warmups are for wimps, so Matt and I put our pedals to the road at the base of the climb in ThÃ…Ânes. Just kidding. Those guys are just really good at cycling. We’ll be good with our 12.8 km (8 mile) ride from the bottom to the top.

Applying sunscreen is no joking matter

The top of the Col has an elevation of 1,467 meters (about 4,813 feet) so that won’t be as large a factor as our previous rides. However, some of the gradients on certain portions of the route are pretty tough — some as high as 13 percent — which is why it has that catgory 1 designation. This Col has been used in the Tour de France a few other times, most recently in Stage 19 of the 2013 Tour.

Heading up from ThÃ…Ânes

Biking thru village of Manigod

Switchbacks above Manigod are legit

View to the south

Because the Tour was scheduled to pass thru in a few hours, the road was lined with extremely fun and supportive fans who cheered us on through the end. One couple we spoke to said we should come back and hang out at their chalet (next time!). Matt cycled up the entire time, while I honestly took more of a hike with my bike.

Tour fans cheer all the amateurs up the mountain

Showed up exactly when I needed more water

One of the final turns near the top

The view from the top was stunning. After grabbing a sandwich, we found a great spot on a hill to watch the Tour pass over the Col. As an added bonus, we found two “unused” chairs to chill in. Well, at first there were three chairs, and we assumed they must be reserved. But then we saw some random dude grab one of them, so we figured hey, let’s get in on that!

Hungry from the biking

Upgraded seating

Hydration is important for EVERYBODY

Turns out, that sponsor parade we experienced in Sarzeau and Lorient follows the entire stage, not just the start and finish. But we certainly didn’t want to give up our spot, or carry back too much junk, so we opted out of participating in the melee after we scored a pack of gummy bears and let the kids grab the rest. Fun fact: In the middle of the race, the parade cars drive much faster, and the thrown goodies become semi-dangerous, high-velocity projectiles.

Wanna gummy bear? They’ve been in my pocket for a while, so they’re real warm and soft

From our vantage point, we could see the riders coming down the road, and since they were climbing a 7 percent grade, they weren’t going quite so fast. Of course, “fast” is the relative term here given that they were probably biking uphill as fast as I descend. Here’s a video of the first rider over the Col: Video

Riders go over the Col de la Croix Fry

Once the race passed, the barriers were removed and people on foot, in cars, and on bikes flooded the streets, making the decent back to the car rather difficult. The group agreed to meet at the van at 4:30pm and we made it back with 10 minutes to spare. Once the rest of the group came through (after riding a bit more through the town), we loaded up and headed back to the chalet. There was a bit of traffic due to the race, but we managed to make it back in time for our evening routine and another fantastic dinner.

Ready to bike down among the crowd

Loading up the bikes for the day

Tomorrow we’ll do another ride to watch the Tour. Or to be slightly more accurate, Matt will still be doing the cycling. Due to my difficulties biking in crowds and staying vertical when getting on and off the bike, I’ll happily take a break from biking and enjoy the day watching the tour with Eileen.

The M&Ms do help Jo feel better about her biking war wounds

by Joanna

Updated: September 3, 2022

3 Comments

Good news. We can still move after biking up a mountain yesterday, so let’s do a couple more! Today we bike the Col du PrÃ© at 1748 meters (5735 feet) and then Cormet de Roselend at 1967 meters (6453 feet). Our exact route is a portion of the Stage 11 Tour de France route the riders will bike on Wednesday.

Dave hooks up the trailer

Preparing the bikes in Albertville

As with yesterday, the varsity team started the day several km farther out from the col in the city of Albertville. We got off on the next stop as Amy drove us to Areches, a village about 11 km from the base of the col at roughly 1000 meters elevation.

Arriving in Areches with Amy

Based on information from Dave — and cycling websites — we were aware that today’s route was going to be more challenging than yesterday. No kidding. Even though the climb from Areches to the Col du PrÃ© is only 11 km, the average grade clocks in at about 9 or 10 percent with some sections cracking 13. When the Tour comes by here on Wednesday, the climb is classified as ‘HC’ which means it’s beyond the difficulty of their usual scale of five to one (one being hardest).

Jo powers up the first switchbacks above Areches

If you farm well, you get awards for your rafters, just like pro sports

I got off to a rough start and struggled with the switchbacks as they got steeper and steeper. There are absolutely no flat sections for any sort of relief, which made it trickier to gain any momentum to get back on the bike and clip in. When the support van passed, I decided it was best to get a ride to the top and get back on the bike for the next section. Meanwhile, Matt continued on the road and somehow pedaled all the way to the top.

Some serious switchbacks

Don’t worry Jo, some trucks can’t handle the switchbacks either

Good news, 2 km left; Bad news, 10.7% AVERAGE grade

That was insane, but… Mont Blanc! (mostly)

With everybody gathered together, we stopped for lunch at the top of Col du PrÃ©. Matt and I smartly split a delicious salad and avoided tummy aches. After settling the check, everybody got back on their bikes (me too!) and descended to Lac de Roselend, where we passed over the reservoir dam.

Made it in time to steal a few bites from Jo’s salad

Our group and Lake Roselend

Route to Cormet de Roselend heads up on opposite side of lake

The most epic Paul photo

From Lake Roselend at 1557 meters, the route to Cormet de Roselend is roughly 8 km. Paul, Phil and Martha stayed on the road and knocked out the whole thing. Matt jumped out of the van to do the last 4 km to the summit. Jason and I took it easy in the wagon. The road was already filling up with camper vans for the Tour in two days, creating quite a fun atmosphere.

One left to go!

People already claiming their spots for Wednesday

The cows will have an excellent view too

Passing over the Cormet de Roselend, the next part of the ride was a long and technical decent down to Bourg Saint-Maurice. Although I descended well off Col du Petit Saint Bernard yesterday, I didn’t feel as comfortable with today’s slightly more death-defying route, so I continued my van adventure. Meanwhile, Matt cruised down the mountain on his bike (cautiously, of course).

Descending carefully… at up to 35 mph!

Doing my best to stay out of alpine ravines

We all met up at the bottom in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, which is the same city we descended to yesterday (from a different direction). From there, we all rode the same 15 km bike path back to the van waiting for us.

Hanging with the varsity team peloton

By the end of the day, Matt logged about 32 miles and almost 4,000 feet in elevation gain. Thank goodness we have several bottles of Cider left to drink upon our return to the Chalet. We relaxed, ate a delicious dinner of homemade ratatouille, and hung out with our biking compatriots into the evening before checking in for the night.