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.
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
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. 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?”
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
So it begins. Today we biked the Col du Petit Saint Bernard, which lies on the border of France and Italy. The saddle of the pass lies at an elevation of 2188 meters (or 7178 feet) and the road is only open from May to October. Apparently, archeologists have found various objects that indicate humans have been using the pass since the Iron Age. Hopefully they won’t find us there someday.
Ready to roll (L to R: Phil, Martha, Jason and Dave)
After breakfast with the group, we loaded up the van with our gear and snacks and secured the bikes to the trailer. We drove about 30 minutes to the base of the Col du Petit Saint Bernard in the municipality of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. From here a portion of the group started up the mountain for the full 26km ride (the portion not named Matt and Jo).
Varsity team hits the road (L to R: Phil, Martha, Jason and Paul)
We stayed with Amy and the van for a bit longer and started our ride at roughly the halfway point of the mountain near the ski resort of La Rosière, which is where stage 11 of the Tour de France concludes on Wednesday.
Ready for the arrival of the Tour
Our ride was about 13km of 5-6% grade incline up to the summit, starting at about 1600m. A couple rest stops along the way to catch our breath in the elevation and we soon reached the top. The scenery was amazing, of course.
Helpful km markers with distance, elevation and grade
Looking back down at Bourg-Saint-Maurice
Heading up toward Italy
About 1-2km from the top
Final switchback
One mountain pass down!
It’s nice up here
At the top, we waited for the rest of the group to catch up. As suggested by Amy, our group proceeded to cross the border into Italy and take a cappuccino break — as one does in Italy. We were treated with beautiful views of Mont Blanc (most of it), the highest mountain in Europe, and the surrounding Alps.
Much better than the French cappuccino place
The hills are alive with drying laundry
The weather started to turn, so rather than descend into Italy (to La Thuile), we determined it would be a better plan to get back down on the French side to about 400 meters above sea level for lunch in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. The ride back down started with rain, but quickly warmed up.
Almost beat the weather off the col
Better weather descending thru La Rosière
Claiming a prime spot for Wednesday’s stage 11
It only took about 30 minutes to descend from the top back to Bourg-Saint-Maurice — despite riding the breaks the whole time. According to the bike-tracking app we downloaded, Matt hit a top speed of 35.8 mph (which can’t be right, can it?!?). After that adrenaline rush, lunch was delicious. Plus, the weather was sunny in the valley, which was perfect for the gathering throng of French soccer fans preparing for tonight’s World Cup Final.
Celebratory lunch Cokes
French soccer hooligans
After lunch, we rode along a 15km bike path (flat) to meet up with the van. The ride was very pleasant and the path followed a rushing river with plenty of kayakers, rafters, etc. We managed to keep up with the group (for the most part) and made it back in one piece, having survived the first day.
All together, Matt and I rode 35 miles on the day, including a gain of over 2,000 feet in elevation. When we got back to the Chalet, everybody ended up watching France beat Croatia in the World Cup Final, 4-2.
Back in Le Praz
Afternoon view from the chalet
Everything coming up Milhouse for France
Dinner again was once again fantastic and we were able to watch a recap of the ninth stage of the Tour de France over dessert. We hung out for a bit before getting to sleep. Another mountain to climb tomorrow, so hopefully we will be functional.
Now we begin France Trip Part 2: Crazy Biking Adventure! We won’t actually start biking until Sunday, but today we meet our tour group in the Geneva Airport, and head deeper into the Alps to our chalet in Courchevel.
We didn’t need to meet our Alpine Chaingang group until mid-afternoon, so we took advantage of the extra time to sleep in. We enjoyed a leisurely hotel breakfast and fixed the fancy espresso maker ourselves when it looked like there was going to be an interruption in the caffeine intake.
World Cup fever in the Ibis lobby
Since we practiced taking the train from the airport to downtown Geneva yesterday during our rental car return operation, we had no problem getting ourselves the opposite direction, back to the Geneva Airport.
That’s the train
Meet your cycling destiny here
At the airport, we found the Montreux Jazz Cub which was our designated meeting point at 2:30pm. We were a bit early and hung out while waiting for the others. Dave Beattie, the owner of Alpine Chaingang (and unmistakably a biker), soon arrived to greet us and help load our bags into his van’s trailer.
Bags (and bike bags if your not a bunch of novices!)
On the tour there are seven people. The five other participants are: Paul and Jason, two friendly gentlemen from Manchester who are seasoned cyclists and members of their local biking group called the “Northern Collective”… Martha, a triathlete and nurse from Cleveland… and Phil and Eileen, a couple from Scotland who are frequent guests on the ski trips Dave’s company runs here in the winter. Phil is a Royal Military engineering corps veteran and will be biking with us. Eileen is not biking, but may potentially be our best friend as she’ll be in the support van riding along. 🙂
No matter how things go from here, we tried a Royal with Cheese
The ride from Geneva to Courchevel was roughly two and a half hours, taking us back into France (our fourth border crossing in the last 24 hours, lol) and south toward Annecy and Albertville. The road became more mountainous and the temperature cooled off a bit. For the fist time on the trip, we saw some rain drops. But do not fear, from what we can gather on the weather apps, there are often rain showers on even the nicest of summer days in the Alps.
Heading to Courchevel
When we arrived at the chalet, Dave set up our bikes and spent about an hour helping us practice with them. Divvy bikes these are not. For starters, they are incredibly light. Also, these suckers use pedal clips. As predicted by literally everybody we talked to, both Matt and I fell over due to the clips on our first attempts (Matt made it until he attempted to turn about 30 yards away, while I made it about an inch).
With requisite impact injuries under our belts, we devised a series of mental rules to hopefully avoid the next ones. Rule 1: Remember to clip out before coming to a complete stop (or to be clear, before you even think about stopping). Rule 2: Failure to clip out is not an option.
For example, you might try to clip out and fail. Your brain will then say, “Hey, so I see that clipping out didn’t work, but that’s ok, let’s just move on to the next task of bringing this bike to a complete stop.” But your brain is an idiot and gravity is persistent. So with these concepts in mind, we managed to stay upright for the rest of our practice session.
Here’s hoping I can tame this beast
And these in particular!
After bike practice, we all met in the chalet common room to go over some general information for the week, and outline the specific plans for tomorrow. The more seasoned riders will start at the bottom of the Col de Petit Saint Bernard, while Matt and I will start a bit higher up. After tomorrow we will have a better idea of all of our levels so we can plan and adapt the rest of the rides.
Plan of attack (L to R: Jo, Martha, Paul, Jason, Phil and Dave)
Alpine Chaingang is a family business and Dave’s daughter Amy will be with us for the first few days as well. She’ll be our support van driver, chalet host, and chef. As far as the chef part is concerned, she already proved amazing, serving up a wonderful three-course dinner. This tour might be worth it for the accommodations and food alone.
Our chalet’s common room area
Very cool light fixtures
After dinner we relaxed in the common room for a while and heard Bastille Day fireworks in the distance. Checking in for the night, we are excited to see how tomorrow plays out on the bikes.
