MP and capri pants on the same dude at the same time.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sella Ronda Sunday - June 27, 2010
As mentioned the other day, Linda and I rode the "Sella Ronda" in the counter-clockwise direction on Saturday, June 26, because we knew that on Sunday, June 27, the local authorities had organized a "Bike Day" on the Sella Ronda and they called it. . . "Sella Ronda Bike Day".
We didn't know such an event had been organized until after we'd arrived in Arabba and saw signs for it. After learning of the event, I was a little worried about finding a room available for us to stay, but the concerns proved unfounded. There's another event in the area called the Maratona dles Dolmites (the Italians call it a Gran Fondo) that will be run on July 3rd this year. It draws upwards of 10,000 participants. I figured that if they were running a free event over parts of the same course that rooms would be taken up,but such was not the case.
Although the event was free it doesn't pack the same punch as the Maratona, I guess, and most people showed up the morning of the ride and really didn't need much in the way of overnight accommodations.
What the organizers did was close off the Sella Ronda to all but cyclists between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. All the cyclists were to take in the course in the clockwise direction--starting with the Passo Pordoi, then the Sella, Gardena, and finishing with Campolongo. There were a few ne'er-do-wells that decided to ride counter-clockwise, to make a statement, I guess.
I don't know how many participants they ended up with, but there were at least several thousand. There were cyclists of all shapes and sizes and experience levels. From the top of the Gardena pass (the third pass) you could look down at the serpentine switchbacks and the hundreds of riders snaking their way down in a long line--it looked so incredibly cool (how's that for adjectives?). I went to shoot video with my camera and my data card was full. Sorry about that. Really, though, we were there and it was amazingly cool to be amongst all these people, although we couldn't understand each other all that well. It was all in good fun, though.
The previous day, on our counter-clockwise excursion, at the top of the Pordoi, we met an Italian club from Tuscany--Team Gulliver (I have to remember to look them up: teamgulliverbike.com, I believe). I shot a bunch of pictures of them with about a dozen different cameras they handed me, while they shot pics of Linda and me (with their cameras) in front of the Fausto Coppi memorial. Linda ran into them again on Sunday and they were asking Linda, "hey, California, where's Arturo!" Super friendly group. Which is what we've found with just about every Italian we've come across. I'm not naive, I know there are good and bad Italians (this is the home of the Cosa Nostra after all, right?) but every Italian I've come across to date has been ready with a smile, and a genuine desire to try to help out, or answer a question, or share a laugh.
Linda and I had both wondered whether clockwise or counterclockwise would be more difficult. After riding the downhill portions of the counterclockwise trip, we fully expected the clockwise direction to be tougher. Turns out they were about the same. Campolongo's a little longer from the Corvara side (clockwise) but it's not difficult. Either direction gets a thumbs up from us.
When I mapped out the trip there were 5 things I wanted to accomplish: 1) Mt Ventoux from the three approaches, 2) Marmotte route in the French Alps, 3) Stelvio from both sides, 4) Mortirolo/Gavia loop, and 5) the Maratona dles Dolomites route.
I did 1. Almost did 2--I didn't make Alpe d'Huez, but I did do the two important things: the Col du Telegraph and the Col du Galibier from the opposite directions of those taken on our 2006 trip. Made 3 and 4. Sunday was the day for 5.
After finishing the Sella Ronda at about 11:30, I was able to stop at the hotel since it was at the start of the ride and I dropped off my now-useless camera, drank a coke, dropped off some extra clothing I wasn't going to need, and headed back out to run the rest of the Maratona route (after stopping at the nearby pasticceria for a piece of apple strudel! Nourishment is important on a long ride).
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/257780
The Sella Ronda was about 36 miles and four passes (to put them into some perspective, the four passes combined barely add up to either of the two approaches to the Stelvio summit). The Maratona adds about 50 miles and the Sella Sta Lucia, Passo Giau, Falzarego, and Valporola for a total of about 13.5-14k vertical feet of climbing.
As fun and as interesting as the Sella Ronda Bike Day was, what with closed roads (none of those ever-present, ever-annoying motorcyclists) and thousands of bicyclists, after I left the Sella Ronda course and headed for the remainder of the Maratona I came as close to cycling nirvana as I ever have. It was a wonderful counterpoint to my experience in the Alps with the Marmotte in the first week of this trip. I can imagine riding the Maratona on the day of the event is something to behold. I'm sure riding with thousands of other riders would be an experience, something like the Sella Ronda Bike Day.
Instead, I was out on the road almost entirely on my own with perfect temperatures, clear blue skies, gorgeous scenery, small towns--I was riding my bike in Italy. I can't imagine a better solo bicycling experience. It was the Italian equivalent of The Sound of Music (the scenery, I mean). It was something to behold.
The remainder of the ride went quite well. I was a little apprehensive as I'd heard of the passes I was going to take in, but I didn't know much about them--how steep, how long, etc. How long usually got sorted out with signage--distance to the top, then usually a count-down by kilometer. For some reason, they counted down by the half km, i.e. 8.5, 7.5, 6.5, and so on. I couldn't figure out why they didn't count down on the whole km.
They also gave a nice little sign at the bottom of the climb of how many switchbacks were coming, which is what they did with Giau. In other cases, they count up from 1. Unless they warn you ahead of time how many switchbacks are coming, I like the countdown approach better. I ran into a pass the other day that started off with 1, no warning of how many were to come. Turned out there were only 5 (hardly rated a count), but it spooks me when I don't know what to expect.
In the case of Giau there were 29 switchbacks, and about 6.2 miles of what I've read is a 9.3% average. It sure felt like 9% the whole way. It was an effort. Note to others that take the ride, if you need water at the top, the tap water in the bathrooms at the restaurant at the top has cold water that appears to be safe to consume. It's been four days and I feel fine!
After a long, winding descent towards Cortina, you take a left towards the Falzarego-Valporola combo pass. Falzarego freaked me out because it didn't have any indicaitions of length, gradient, switchbacks, nothing to gauge what to expect. It turns out it was the easiest of the passes on all counts, but it messed with my head and this 6 mile stretch was the least pleasant of the ride. At the top of Falzarego there were several restaurants to check into and get some nourishment. I had. . . any guesses?
Strudel and a coke. I also polished off the last of the cake thingys I'd bought at the grocery store (and which had been ground to a fine powder in my back pockets). I poured them into my mouth, threw away a couple of others. At this point, I was almost home. There was a sharp pitch to the top of the Valporola--it was graciously short, so pretty easy.
People riding the Maratona usually start in Corvara, this side of the Campolongo. The Valporola is the last pass for Maratona particpants. We were staying in Arabba, on the other side of the Campolongo. So I had to do Campolongo one more time. I'd already ridden it several times so knew its characteristics. Still, I was a little apprehensive whether my legs would seize.
I stopped one more time in Corvara to eat the last of these dried up little strudel things from the grocery store (these were too tough to get pulverized, I guess) and took off over the Campolongo. It was a good end to the ride. I rode it faster than I did over the morning pass--at least it felt that way. That was good enough for me.
Total time? 7 hours. Fastest times in the official ride? About 2 1/2 hours faster.
Boy, that's fast.
Still, felt good after it was all over. Didn't puke. I had an appetite. Linda was waiting for me in the church yard next door--praying for me??
We both had great days on the bike. Hanging out with the natives, working hard. Enjoying the scenery.
A great day. Here's a view from the top of Passo Giau looking towards Cortina, out there somewhere.
We didn't know such an event had been organized until after we'd arrived in Arabba and saw signs for it. After learning of the event, I was a little worried about finding a room available for us to stay, but the concerns proved unfounded. There's another event in the area called the Maratona dles Dolmites (the Italians call it a Gran Fondo) that will be run on July 3rd this year. It draws upwards of 10,000 participants. I figured that if they were running a free event over parts of the same course that rooms would be taken up,but such was not the case.
Although the event was free it doesn't pack the same punch as the Maratona, I guess, and most people showed up the morning of the ride and really didn't need much in the way of overnight accommodations.
What the organizers did was close off the Sella Ronda to all but cyclists between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. All the cyclists were to take in the course in the clockwise direction--starting with the Passo Pordoi, then the Sella, Gardena, and finishing with Campolongo. There were a few ne'er-do-wells that decided to ride counter-clockwise, to make a statement, I guess.
I don't know how many participants they ended up with, but there were at least several thousand. There were cyclists of all shapes and sizes and experience levels. From the top of the Gardena pass (the third pass) you could look down at the serpentine switchbacks and the hundreds of riders snaking their way down in a long line--it looked so incredibly cool (how's that for adjectives?). I went to shoot video with my camera and my data card was full. Sorry about that. Really, though, we were there and it was amazingly cool to be amongst all these people, although we couldn't understand each other all that well. It was all in good fun, though.
The previous day, on our counter-clockwise excursion, at the top of the Pordoi, we met an Italian club from Tuscany--Team Gulliver (I have to remember to look them up: teamgulliverbike.com, I believe). I shot a bunch of pictures of them with about a dozen different cameras they handed me, while they shot pics of Linda and me (with their cameras) in front of the Fausto Coppi memorial. Linda ran into them again on Sunday and they were asking Linda, "hey, California, where's Arturo!" Super friendly group. Which is what we've found with just about every Italian we've come across. I'm not naive, I know there are good and bad Italians (this is the home of the Cosa Nostra after all, right?) but every Italian I've come across to date has been ready with a smile, and a genuine desire to try to help out, or answer a question, or share a laugh.
Linda and I had both wondered whether clockwise or counterclockwise would be more difficult. After riding the downhill portions of the counterclockwise trip, we fully expected the clockwise direction to be tougher. Turns out they were about the same. Campolongo's a little longer from the Corvara side (clockwise) but it's not difficult. Either direction gets a thumbs up from us.
When I mapped out the trip there were 5 things I wanted to accomplish: 1) Mt Ventoux from the three approaches, 2) Marmotte route in the French Alps, 3) Stelvio from both sides, 4) Mortirolo/Gavia loop, and 5) the Maratona dles Dolomites route.
I did 1. Almost did 2--I didn't make Alpe d'Huez, but I did do the two important things: the Col du Telegraph and the Col du Galibier from the opposite directions of those taken on our 2006 trip. Made 3 and 4. Sunday was the day for 5.
After finishing the Sella Ronda at about 11:30, I was able to stop at the hotel since it was at the start of the ride and I dropped off my now-useless camera, drank a coke, dropped off some extra clothing I wasn't going to need, and headed back out to run the rest of the Maratona route (after stopping at the nearby pasticceria for a piece of apple strudel! Nourishment is important on a long ride).
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/257780
The Sella Ronda was about 36 miles and four passes (to put them into some perspective, the four passes combined barely add up to either of the two approaches to the Stelvio summit). The Maratona adds about 50 miles and the Sella Sta Lucia, Passo Giau, Falzarego, and Valporola for a total of about 13.5-14k vertical feet of climbing.
As fun and as interesting as the Sella Ronda Bike Day was, what with closed roads (none of those ever-present, ever-annoying motorcyclists) and thousands of bicyclists, after I left the Sella Ronda course and headed for the remainder of the Maratona I came as close to cycling nirvana as I ever have. It was a wonderful counterpoint to my experience in the Alps with the Marmotte in the first week of this trip. I can imagine riding the Maratona on the day of the event is something to behold. I'm sure riding with thousands of other riders would be an experience, something like the Sella Ronda Bike Day.
Instead, I was out on the road almost entirely on my own with perfect temperatures, clear blue skies, gorgeous scenery, small towns--I was riding my bike in Italy. I can't imagine a better solo bicycling experience. It was the Italian equivalent of The Sound of Music (the scenery, I mean). It was something to behold.
The remainder of the ride went quite well. I was a little apprehensive as I'd heard of the passes I was going to take in, but I didn't know much about them--how steep, how long, etc. How long usually got sorted out with signage--distance to the top, then usually a count-down by kilometer. For some reason, they counted down by the half km, i.e. 8.5, 7.5, 6.5, and so on. I couldn't figure out why they didn't count down on the whole km.
They also gave a nice little sign at the bottom of the climb of how many switchbacks were coming, which is what they did with Giau. In other cases, they count up from 1. Unless they warn you ahead of time how many switchbacks are coming, I like the countdown approach better. I ran into a pass the other day that started off with 1, no warning of how many were to come. Turned out there were only 5 (hardly rated a count), but it spooks me when I don't know what to expect.
In the case of Giau there were 29 switchbacks, and about 6.2 miles of what I've read is a 9.3% average. It sure felt like 9% the whole way. It was an effort. Note to others that take the ride, if you need water at the top, the tap water in the bathrooms at the restaurant at the top has cold water that appears to be safe to consume. It's been four days and I feel fine!
After a long, winding descent towards Cortina, you take a left towards the Falzarego-Valporola combo pass. Falzarego freaked me out because it didn't have any indicaitions of length, gradient, switchbacks, nothing to gauge what to expect. It turns out it was the easiest of the passes on all counts, but it messed with my head and this 6 mile stretch was the least pleasant of the ride. At the top of Falzarego there were several restaurants to check into and get some nourishment. I had. . . any guesses?
Strudel and a coke. I also polished off the last of the cake thingys I'd bought at the grocery store (and which had been ground to a fine powder in my back pockets). I poured them into my mouth, threw away a couple of others. At this point, I was almost home. There was a sharp pitch to the top of the Valporola--it was graciously short, so pretty easy.
People riding the Maratona usually start in Corvara, this side of the Campolongo. The Valporola is the last pass for Maratona particpants. We were staying in Arabba, on the other side of the Campolongo. So I had to do Campolongo one more time. I'd already ridden it several times so knew its characteristics. Still, I was a little apprehensive whether my legs would seize.
I stopped one more time in Corvara to eat the last of these dried up little strudel things from the grocery store (these were too tough to get pulverized, I guess) and took off over the Campolongo. It was a good end to the ride. I rode it faster than I did over the morning pass--at least it felt that way. That was good enough for me.
Total time? 7 hours. Fastest times in the official ride? About 2 1/2 hours faster.
Boy, that's fast.
Still, felt good after it was all over. Didn't puke. I had an appetite. Linda was waiting for me in the church yard next door--praying for me??
We both had great days on the bike. Hanging out with the natives, working hard. Enjoying the scenery.
A great day. Here's a view from the top of Passo Giau looking towards Cortina, out there somewhere.
MP of the day #2
Two for one in this edition. The MP is on the far left, and, the bonus, capri shorts are, well, plain to see.
You'll also note that the MP crosses all ages.
Where have the M&M's Gone?
Things were looking up when, upon stopping at our first store after entering Italy, we found plain M&M's! We'd been shut out of plain M&M's in France and we must've eaten three bags in three days (BIG bags).
We found them still at the store nearest our hotel in Bellagio. As we've moved east, however, the M&M's have become scarce. Non-existent, as a matter of fact. We've found a few bags (small bags) of peanut M&M's--but no plains.
Must be a regional deal. We'll see what Treviso and Venice have to offer. I can't imagine M&M's in Venice, though.
We found them still at the store nearest our hotel in Bellagio. As we've moved east, however, the M&M's have become scarce. Non-existent, as a matter of fact. We've found a few bags (small bags) of peanut M&M's--but no plains.
Must be a regional deal. We'll see what Treviso and Venice have to offer. I can't imagine M&M's in Venice, though.
So many strudels, so little time (and too few Euros)
Pasticceria (pass-tee-chay-ree-ah), my favorite Italian word. It's a pastry shop, a bakery. And here in Cortina d'Ampezzo, our current stop, there are a bunch of them. Pasticceria's are as common here in Cortina as Starbuck's are in any given town in the U.S.
Now the trouble is trying them all out before we have to take off, or before we run out of Euro's.
The best we've found, by far, both in terms of quality and price, was at a small German version of the pasticceria, which I think they called a "bakerai" in the small town of Prato allo Stelvio that we found while driving from Bormio to Cortina. Their strudel was chock full o' apples, flaky crust, excellent spices. And only 1.50 euros (about $1.75). I shoulda had two.
The leading contenders here in Cortina are shown in the photo. On the left, from Santuz, a small pasticceria a block up the pedestrian shopping area. On the right from Alvera, right outside our hotel's front door. The cost can't be beat, both pasticceria's sell by weight and both of these pieces came in at under 1.80 euros. A bargain considering others are charging 4.00 euros for inferior versions. I accidentally paid 3.50 for a strudel today because I forgot to ask "how much" prior to purchasing. We were just finishing a ride and I was famished.
I've tried the Santuz strudel, yesterday. It was our first purchase here in Cortina. It is excellent. I haven't tried the Alvera strudel yet, but judging by its girth it may prove to be superior to Santuz--I'll update later! ;-)
Monday, June 28, 2010
MP* of the Day
*Man Purse
Man purses are a big thing in Europe. France and Italy, anyway. REALLY big in France.
We'll have to do a daily knickers and capri shorts on men, too.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Sella Ronda
Linda and I rode the famed Sella Ronda today in the counter-clockwise direction. Tomorrow, we go clockwise, and it will be a completely different ride; both in terms of the views and the difficulty of the climbs. The route takes in Passos Campolongo, Gardena, Sella, and Pordoi (we'll do them in the opposite order tomorrow).
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/258803
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/258803
Bormio Revisited
I have reevaluated my opinion of Bormio. After spending some time walking around the downtown in the early evenings, I can appreciate the people and the history of the place. It's a nice, quiet, peaceful place. Very will kept, clean. This is the summer Bormio. I expect the winter Bormio is a different story. Skiing is king in these parts (as well as in the Dolomites).
Both Bormio and Arabba (and these regions) have heavy German influences. There's less Italian spoken, and more German.
And the strudel's much better than what we'd found earlier. The strudel in Pratto allo Stelvio was, by a wide margin, the best so far. But the search is never ending. I'll be trying strudel's from here to Venice in the next two weeks.
Both Bormio and Arabba (and these regions) have heavy German influences. There's less Italian spoken, and more German.
And the strudel's much better than what we'd found earlier. The strudel in Pratto allo Stelvio was, by a wide margin, the best so far. But the search is never ending. I'll be trying strudel's from here to Venice in the next two weeks.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Left Bormio, Now in Arabba
We left Bormio this morning. Headed to the Dolomites. We had a hard time deciding where to stay, finally deciding to stay in the town of Arabba, Italy, right on the route known as the "Sella Ronda". This fellow in this link does a much grander job of describing what the Sella Ronda is all about: http://pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=7150
I guess I should report that we had, really, fabulous weather in Bormio. There had been snow at the top of the Stelvio pass just a week ago (when we had our rain in the Alps). It was clear to the top of it, the Gavia, and Mortirolo. Nice temps--but hard to believe how cold it could get at the tops of the passes. Especially after arriving at the top soaking wet with sweat and then sitting still for just a few minutes.
I haven't been able to post photos from the the last two computers we've been using. We've got some good shots, some good video (to us, anyway--probably like vacation shots to anyone else).
Stelvio was a bear, one side's supposed to be easier than the other and, in hindsight, I guess the approach from the Bormio side is a little easier, but it's a relative thing. Neither is easy. Both are LONG slogs, but quite beautiful.
This is the view from the top of Passo Stelvio looking towards the Prato approach.
This is from about 2/3 of the way up the climb from Bormio.
Passo Stelvio--now THAT'S a climb. Long, steep, tons of switchbacks (48 from the Prato side). It's a whole bunch of work.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/257770
Mortirolo was, thankfully, shorter by 10-15 kms, I believe, but it was much steeper--avg over 10 %, while Stelvio averaged around 7.5%. Tough, tough climb. Met up with a couple of Italian gentlemen as I was headed from Bormio to Mazzo, the start of the Mortirolo. None of us knew exactly how to get to where we wanted to go, so I relied on their expertise in the spoken language to ask directions. Much more effective. Older fellows, both of them. One of them stayed with me all the way up Mortirolo until he dropped off with about 2 kms to go. I'm not sure why he dropped off, I think he didn't want to show me up. Nice, nice man though.
We waited for about 20 minutes for his buddy to show up. Meanwhile, an Italian cycling club showed up, probably about 20 strong. These guys ride these mountains all the time for their training rides. Yep, they's fast.
The three of us rode on to Ponti di Legno to the start of the Gavia--17 kms, 8% avg. We parted ways there because the faster of the two men wanted to wait for his friend, plus Linda was waiting for me at the top and I was already running late.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/258812
Linda climbed Gavia from Bormio--an amazingly long climb that you really appreciate when you realize how long it takes to go DOWN the thing.
My two buddies and I left a good bit before the Italian cycling club at the top of the Mortirolo. The whole way to the Gavia I was waiting for them to catch us. On the Gavia, I could see them coming. For whatever reason, they seemed to stall in terms of closing the gap. It was all I could do to stay ahead of them. Minor victories, eh?
I spotted Linda as I approached the final few hundred yards. She jumped up and came running to meet me. She'd been waiting at the top for 2 1/2 hours--that's love. Fortunately, there was a restaurant where she could get out of the cold, if need be, but the sun was out pretty strong that day so I think she spent a good deal of time basking in its rays.
Our plan's to stay in Arabba for 3 nights, then go to Cortina d'Ampezzo for one night, then to Treviso from which we'll make an attempt to see Venice (yes, not everything has to revolve around cycling).
Hope to find a computer from which we can post pics soon (and video). I'm an uncle again, or is it great uncle ("great" a noun, not an adjective)? June 24. Boy.
I guess I should report that we had, really, fabulous weather in Bormio. There had been snow at the top of the Stelvio pass just a week ago (when we had our rain in the Alps). It was clear to the top of it, the Gavia, and Mortirolo. Nice temps--but hard to believe how cold it could get at the tops of the passes. Especially after arriving at the top soaking wet with sweat and then sitting still for just a few minutes.
I haven't been able to post photos from the the last two computers we've been using. We've got some good shots, some good video (to us, anyway--probably like vacation shots to anyone else).
Stelvio was a bear, one side's supposed to be easier than the other and, in hindsight, I guess the approach from the Bormio side is a little easier, but it's a relative thing. Neither is easy. Both are LONG slogs, but quite beautiful.
This is the view from the top of Passo Stelvio looking towards the Prato approach.
This is from about 2/3 of the way up the climb from Bormio.Passo Stelvio--now THAT'S a climb. Long, steep, tons of switchbacks (48 from the Prato side). It's a whole bunch of work.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/257770
Mortirolo was, thankfully, shorter by 10-15 kms, I believe, but it was much steeper--avg over 10 %, while Stelvio averaged around 7.5%. Tough, tough climb. Met up with a couple of Italian gentlemen as I was headed from Bormio to Mazzo, the start of the Mortirolo. None of us knew exactly how to get to where we wanted to go, so I relied on their expertise in the spoken language to ask directions. Much more effective. Older fellows, both of them. One of them stayed with me all the way up Mortirolo until he dropped off with about 2 kms to go. I'm not sure why he dropped off, I think he didn't want to show me up. Nice, nice man though.
We waited for about 20 minutes for his buddy to show up. Meanwhile, an Italian cycling club showed up, probably about 20 strong. These guys ride these mountains all the time for their training rides. Yep, they's fast.
The three of us rode on to Ponti di Legno to the start of the Gavia--17 kms, 8% avg. We parted ways there because the faster of the two men wanted to wait for his friend, plus Linda was waiting for me at the top and I was already running late.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/258812
Linda climbed Gavia from Bormio--an amazingly long climb that you really appreciate when you realize how long it takes to go DOWN the thing.
My two buddies and I left a good bit before the Italian cycling club at the top of the Mortirolo. The whole way to the Gavia I was waiting for them to catch us. On the Gavia, I could see them coming. For whatever reason, they seemed to stall in terms of closing the gap. It was all I could do to stay ahead of them. Minor victories, eh?
I spotted Linda as I approached the final few hundred yards. She jumped up and came running to meet me. She'd been waiting at the top for 2 1/2 hours--that's love. Fortunately, there was a restaurant where she could get out of the cold, if need be, but the sun was out pretty strong that day so I think she spent a good deal of time basking in its rays.
Our plan's to stay in Arabba for 3 nights, then go to Cortina d'Ampezzo for one night, then to Treviso from which we'll make an attempt to see Venice (yes, not everything has to revolve around cycling).
Hope to find a computer from which we can post pics soon (and video). I'm an uncle again, or is it great uncle ("great" a noun, not an adjective)? June 24. Boy.
Yes I did. . .
Lose my credit card, that is. I last reported that I thought I'd lost it, then found it in my other pocket.
After originally discovering the card was missing, we pulled over to a pay phone to call Cap 1 and cancel the card. I asked Linda for her Cap 1 card so I could call the number on the back. I went to the phone, tried to use it and realized I needed a coin to make it run (I think it did, anyway--I couldn't make it work so I figured it needed a coin).
I went back to Linda in the car and asked for some change. She gave me a handful and I put it in my pocket. I started back to the phone, thought of something else to ask Linda so went back to the car, then finally headed for the phone. As I walked to the phone, I reached into my right pocket (I keep everything in my left pocket) and I pulled out a Capital 1 card! Crisis averted, right?
Next morning, Linda asked me what happened to her Cap 1 card. It immediately dawned on me that the card I'd pulled out of my pocket was Linda's card. In the 2 minutes between the time she gave me her card, and I turned for change and a question, I forgot she'd given it to me.
It's a bear growing old.
Canceled the cards without any issues--it hadn't been used or anything untowards like that. I've left a memento in Italy, at the ferry desk in Bellaggio, Italy.
After originally discovering the card was missing, we pulled over to a pay phone to call Cap 1 and cancel the card. I asked Linda for her Cap 1 card so I could call the number on the back. I went to the phone, tried to use it and realized I needed a coin to make it run (I think it did, anyway--I couldn't make it work so I figured it needed a coin).
I went back to Linda in the car and asked for some change. She gave me a handful and I put it in my pocket. I started back to the phone, thought of something else to ask Linda so went back to the car, then finally headed for the phone. As I walked to the phone, I reached into my right pocket (I keep everything in my left pocket) and I pulled out a Capital 1 card! Crisis averted, right?
Next morning, Linda asked me what happened to her Cap 1 card. It immediately dawned on me that the card I'd pulled out of my pocket was Linda's card. In the 2 minutes between the time she gave me her card, and I turned for change and a question, I forgot she'd given it to me.
It's a bear growing old.
Canceled the cards without any issues--it hadn't been used or anything untowards like that. I've left a memento in Italy, at the ferry desk in Bellaggio, Italy.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Bormio & Pizza
We moved two hours east of Lake Como today. We took a ferry from Bellaggio to Varenna. I had what turned out to be a minor emergency when I thought I'd left my Visa card back at Bellaggio. We thought about going back to get it (would've meant two more ferry rides and at least a wated hour), calling Capital One to cancel it (would've caused other issues with pending transactions and Landon's source of emergency funds).
Then I found the card in my other pocket.
Bormio lacks the Italian character we'd appreciated the last few days. It's more in the mold of Switzerland and Germany--very functional, deliberate, orderly. It's not a bad thing, just not as charming. The people are very nice, and it is pretty. There's just a vibe that seems missing.
The driving's about the same, though.
Pizza: I expected something of a religious experience eating my first pizza from the land of their origin. I've been underwhelmed to date. We have found some very good ones, yesterday, for example, at a joint called "Nick's Place" they had the best Margharita (I think that's how it's spelled). It's just crust, sauce, mozarella cheese, and olive oil.
A couple of the other pizzas we've tried have been as good as the best frozen stuff you can get in the U.S., or on the other extreme an inch thick piece of dough like at Sbarro's. We're still searching.
I like gnocchi, though. I'll be seraching for more of that.
Tomorrow, for June 23 (my son's birthday--20th) the weather's supposed to be good. Stelvio's on tap. Hopefully, Thursday will also be good and we'll tackle Mortirolo and Gavia. We're taking the Stelvio route as described in the Pezcyclingnews link, below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelvio_Pass
Then I found the card in my other pocket.
Bormio lacks the Italian character we'd appreciated the last few days. It's more in the mold of Switzerland and Germany--very functional, deliberate, orderly. It's not a bad thing, just not as charming. The people are very nice, and it is pretty. There's just a vibe that seems missing.
The driving's about the same, though.
Pizza: I expected something of a religious experience eating my first pizza from the land of their origin. I've been underwhelmed to date. We have found some very good ones, yesterday, for example, at a joint called "Nick's Place" they had the best Margharita (I think that's how it's spelled). It's just crust, sauce, mozarella cheese, and olive oil.
A couple of the other pizzas we've tried have been as good as the best frozen stuff you can get in the U.S., or on the other extreme an inch thick piece of dough like at Sbarro's. We're still searching.
I like gnocchi, though. I'll be seraching for more of that.
Tomorrow, for June 23 (my son's birthday--20th) the weather's supposed to be good. Stelvio's on tap. Hopefully, Thursday will also be good and we'll tackle Mortirolo and Gavia. We're taking the Stelvio route as described in the Pezcyclingnews link, below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelvio_Pass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavia_Pass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortirolo_Pass
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/default.asp?pg=fullstory&id=6588
Monday, June 21, 2010
Men's Fashion
I'm all over this. I haven't been able to get a photo yet, but man-purses are HUGE over here. I sooooo want one.
Oh, and capri shorts.
The men wear capri shorts.
Oh, and capri shorts.
The men wear capri shorts.
Summer Solstice
What's that? What the heck IS that?
To welcome the first day of summer 2010 in the Lake Como area, Mother Nature decided to provide clear, blue, cloudless (almost) skies. For the first time in a week and a half we did not have a single weather issue. No rain. No winds. No fog. Just clear, blue, beautiful sunshine.
So we rode.
We crossed over to Varenna via ferry from Bellaggio and put in about 65 miles through a dozen small towns. It was fabulous. Lot's of vertical (though maybe a couple too many tunnels, but you can't really get away from them). The route provided by Carlo at Il Perlo Panorama was terrific--kept us away from too many cars.
And my legs are still feeling like them old selves.
After a long day, we ate dinner at Il Perlo and, in honor of Maggie Champion, we had gnocchi for the very first time (with ragu sauce). I thought it was terrific. Linda liked the spaghetti last night better.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Garmoan
We have this love/hate thing going with our Garmin GPS Numi 275 with European Maps.
Our first experience with her, driving from Lyon to Carpentras, we were tremendously impressed. I think we made a few wrong turns based on some confusing instructions from her, but all-in-all it went quite well.
It all fell apart on the road to Bourg d'Oisans. Immediately after we started we ran into a closed road due to construction. I'll admit that I probably made a mistake by not hitting the "detour" button, but I figured that if I drove a different direction she'd simply recalculate the directions from whichever direction I was pointing. She says "recalculating", doesn't she?
This first close road resulted in her taking us onto some dirt road and boonie-crashing for about 5 miles before emerging on the paved road she'd originally intended. We should have learned something from the experience.
The trip to Bourg d'Oisans was supposed to be 3 hours. We were doing well until we came upon another road closure. How is it the French can close a road for construction, a road with no other way out but the way you came, and not let you know AS YOU ENTER THAT ROAD that the road's going to be closed down the way a bit? We were rolling along then, bam! Road closed. And we'd traveled a good 10+ miles dowm this road. We turned around and I again trusted the Garmin (Dum Dum, as Alan Coldray refers to them, playing off of the Tom Tom brand name) to get me out of the jam. She tried to steer us onto an upaved road (I learned later that you can ask her to ignore unpaved roads--that feature's been clicked on since).
At one point, she had us take a right turn and head up several switchbacks to the top of a hill. At the top of the hill was a ski resort and a roundabout (they use lots of roundabouts in Europe). Garmin then had me take the roundabout and head back the way I'd just come! After getting to the bottom of the hill, she sent me back down the road of the original closure.
We gave up, found our way to Gap, which I knew was on the way to where we wanted to be, and we bought a map. We figured out what to do, and also saw what Garmin was trying to do. She had us going a legitimate direction, but she didn't know what to do with the road closure. Next time, I'll try hitting "detour" and see what happens.
Lessons? Have a paper map back-up, take a look at the route generally and listen for any weird directions.
We've been using here consistently since and she's performing well. Much of what we experienced may have been novice mistakes.
We left Carpentras at 9 a.m. and should have been in Bourg d'Oisans around 12:30. We rolled in at 5:00 p.m. It was a long day. We saw a lot of France, though.
Our first experience with her, driving from Lyon to Carpentras, we were tremendously impressed. I think we made a few wrong turns based on some confusing instructions from her, but all-in-all it went quite well.
It all fell apart on the road to Bourg d'Oisans. Immediately after we started we ran into a closed road due to construction. I'll admit that I probably made a mistake by not hitting the "detour" button, but I figured that if I drove a different direction she'd simply recalculate the directions from whichever direction I was pointing. She says "recalculating", doesn't she?
This first close road resulted in her taking us onto some dirt road and boonie-crashing for about 5 miles before emerging on the paved road she'd originally intended. We should have learned something from the experience.
The trip to Bourg d'Oisans was supposed to be 3 hours. We were doing well until we came upon another road closure. How is it the French can close a road for construction, a road with no other way out but the way you came, and not let you know AS YOU ENTER THAT ROAD that the road's going to be closed down the way a bit? We were rolling along then, bam! Road closed. And we'd traveled a good 10+ miles dowm this road. We turned around and I again trusted the Garmin (Dum Dum, as Alan Coldray refers to them, playing off of the Tom Tom brand name) to get me out of the jam. She tried to steer us onto an upaved road (I learned later that you can ask her to ignore unpaved roads--that feature's been clicked on since).
At one point, she had us take a right turn and head up several switchbacks to the top of a hill. At the top of the hill was a ski resort and a roundabout (they use lots of roundabouts in Europe). Garmin then had me take the roundabout and head back the way I'd just come! After getting to the bottom of the hill, she sent me back down the road of the original closure.
We gave up, found our way to Gap, which I knew was on the way to where we wanted to be, and we bought a map. We figured out what to do, and also saw what Garmin was trying to do. She had us going a legitimate direction, but she didn't know what to do with the road closure. Next time, I'll try hitting "detour" and see what happens.
Lessons? Have a paper map back-up, take a look at the route generally and listen for any weird directions.
We've been using here consistently since and she's performing well. Much of what we experienced may have been novice mistakes.
We left Carpentras at 9 a.m. and should have been in Bourg d'Oisans around 12:30. We rolled in at 5:00 p.m. It was a long day. We saw a lot of France, though.
Autogrill
On the European freeways, there are petrol stops every so many miles where you can get gas and pay way too much for breakfast/lunch/dinner. Of course we had to stop at one on our from France to Bellagio. Not for diesel, for food. We paid too much. But we DID find M&M's! They're not quite the same, but they'll do.
Driving in Europe (ahhhhhh!!!)
Uh, these folks are nuts. Of course, that's according to our standards--and who's to say who's nuts? Look at all the road-rage headlines we hear/see in The U.S.
I am waiting for the right video to add to this post and I'll do so once we can get some great footage. When we were here in 2006 all we did is ride around as passengers in a bus. I drove in Spain in 2007 with Jillian and Landon and didn't have too much trouble.
France and Italy have been a real eye-opener. They're all over my behind. If these folks went to the U.S. and followed the same habits they'd be dead in 12 hours. . . we couldn't handle it. We'd take it personally.
Here, though, it's just the way it's done. They are fabulous tailgaters. They tailgate you until you either make room for them to pass, or they make their own move to pass. It doesn't always matter what they can see ahead of them when they make their move, either. Uphill, downhill, clear vision, foggy, rainy, blind curve--it doesn't matter. Trucks are just as aggressive as the automobiles.
They're always in such a hurry. Today I saw someone make a pass 200 yards from a known dead-end. It's their way and it seems to work. I don't see fights. I see an occasional gesture, but no road rage. I'd love to see statistics on traffic accidents and fatalities. I would not be surprised if it's favorable to the U.S. experience. I will say that their cars do have a higher amount of dents, scratches, scrapes, and the like. They bump into each other parking, passing each other in narrow lanes, coming too close to walls.
Racing is a huge part of the culture here--is that at the root?
I am having a hard time trying not to get caught up in the moment. I want to tailgate, too, but Linda keeps me grounded. So I drive like the old guys.
So what's this mean from a riding perspective? Well, they won't hit you, but they come really close. The cycling culture in Italy is very strong, so I think that helps. Our only ride thus far was around Lake Como. I will say that Lake Como is an ideal spot for cycling, but make sure you speak with someone that knows all the roads and can give specific advice on which roads to travel. We made some mistakes on route choices and ended up in heavy traffic areas. If you spend a lot of time around the rim of the lake, you'll be sharing the roads with lots of cars. The roads are narrow, the cars close, and there are many of them. It can be very unnerving. Carlo has many suggestions, as does an association he's affiliated with: Comolagobike. They can assist with great routes that will keep you safe and enjoying the ride.
I am waiting for the right video to add to this post and I'll do so once we can get some great footage. When we were here in 2006 all we did is ride around as passengers in a bus. I drove in Spain in 2007 with Jillian and Landon and didn't have too much trouble.
France and Italy have been a real eye-opener. They're all over my behind. If these folks went to the U.S. and followed the same habits they'd be dead in 12 hours. . . we couldn't handle it. We'd take it personally.
Here, though, it's just the way it's done. They are fabulous tailgaters. They tailgate you until you either make room for them to pass, or they make their own move to pass. It doesn't always matter what they can see ahead of them when they make their move, either. Uphill, downhill, clear vision, foggy, rainy, blind curve--it doesn't matter. Trucks are just as aggressive as the automobiles.
They're always in such a hurry. Today I saw someone make a pass 200 yards from a known dead-end. It's their way and it seems to work. I don't see fights. I see an occasional gesture, but no road rage. I'd love to see statistics on traffic accidents and fatalities. I would not be surprised if it's favorable to the U.S. experience. I will say that their cars do have a higher amount of dents, scratches, scrapes, and the like. They bump into each other parking, passing each other in narrow lanes, coming too close to walls.
Racing is a huge part of the culture here--is that at the root?
I am having a hard time trying not to get caught up in the moment. I want to tailgate, too, but Linda keeps me grounded. So I drive like the old guys.
So what's this mean from a riding perspective? Well, they won't hit you, but they come really close. The cycling culture in Italy is very strong, so I think that helps. Our only ride thus far was around Lake Como. I will say that Lake Como is an ideal spot for cycling, but make sure you speak with someone that knows all the roads and can give specific advice on which roads to travel. We made some mistakes on route choices and ended up in heavy traffic areas. If you spend a lot of time around the rim of the lake, you'll be sharing the roads with lots of cars. The roads are narrow, the cars close, and there are many of them. It can be very unnerving. Carlo has many suggestions, as does an association he's affiliated with: Comolagobike. They can assist with great routes that will keep you safe and enjoying the ride.
Grammar
I'm sorry for all the entries that seem to lack any form of paragraphs. I make the entries correctly, with paragraphs, etc. When the entries are finalized, they show up, or have been showing up, without any paragraphical structure. But you get the idea, right?
Baaaaa
On our way down from the Mt Ventoux last week, as we appraoched the end of the ride in Bédoin, we noticed that there were a whole bunch of people lining the sides of the road. We couldn't tell what they were up to, but they were obviously waiting for something.
It was clear they weren't there to cheer us on, mostly because they were looking at us with a sort of quizzical look. We soon figured out that the look was one of, "they don't know what they're headed for, do they?"
As we rounded a corner we could hear cowbells. Since they were placed on donkeys and sheep, are they still cowbells?
Anyway, apparently the sheep have to be moved to various grazing sites. We just happened to be on the route of one of those, uh, cattle drives. Taking the wise course, we pulled off to the side of the road to let everything pass. It didn't matter, they swarmed around us anyway. They didn't knock us over and they certainly weren't going to trample us. But they sure made a racket. The herd must have been a half mile long, and one side of the street to the other.
It was weird feeling how much heat the mass of sheep generated--you could feel the warmth rising up as they passed, and smell it (ugh).
After they passed, we continued on the way to the hotel. We were able to backtrack the route the sheep took by their tell-tale. . . um. . . signs. Fortunately it wasn't raining. In 2006 I rode in the rain on the top of the Col d'Aubisque in the Pyrenees. It's big-time sheep country and they wander freely, including all over the roads. That day the sheep doo, mixed with the rain, made a nice green spray that flew onto, into, and all over everything.
Questo e' un tempo anormale per giugno
"This is unusual weather for June."
We've been hearing that a lot lately. Italian most recently, but French, too. "It's not supposed to be like this in June". Well, it is. We'll have to live with it. We awoke today to what sounded like a freight train passing. Turned out it was the wind. It's been raining all day long. There's snow on the tops of the peaks surrounding Lake Como.
We resigned ourselves to the fact very early in the day that we wouldn't be riding our bikes. That's okay. We drove out to the Cycling Museum at the top of the Madonna del Ghisallo climb. It's interesting, though entirely in Italian.
We drove out to Lecco to have a look around. We forgot how many businesses close on Sunday's. We poked around a little bit then drove back to Bellagio to do our little bit of laundry.
By the way, we rode yesterday. About 65 miles. Started in nice hazy sunshine, nice temps. By the time we reached Como we could see trouble ahead. Rain.
We had to head to Menaggio to catch the ferry to Bellaggio, we had no choice. But that's where the rain was. It was a thunderstorm at first, so we sat in a tunnel for an hour thinking it would blow by. After an hour it was readily apparent it wasn't going anywhere. So we hoofed it to Mennagio. In the rain. Again.
It wasn't as bad as last week, but wet's wet.
Oh, but on the plus side, I got my strength back. I felt good on the bike again. Yay!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The first day. . . Ventoux
. . . I woke up.
I brushed my teeth.
We ate breakfast.
We rode our bikes.
On the second day, I woke up. . . .
Here's the start of that chronology thing I promised.
There was one big aim of going to Provence this trip around, that was to do Mt Ventoux from each of the three paved approaches in one day. We arrived late Friday night, the 11th. The 12th was spent putting the bikes back together and getting resituated from Capentras to Bédoin, the starting point for our Ventoux assault. We did a short ride on Saturday afternoon and geared up for the Sunday ride.
That there ride's a good bit of work. Linda made it to the top from Bédoin, but her legs were cramping sufficiently enough to where she had to back off on her attempt to do all three. I headed down to Malaucene for the 2nd approach while Linda waited at the top trying to decide whether to drop down to the first chalet on the Malaucene side. While she was deciding what to do and letting her legs recover, she got caught in a hellacious rain and hail storm and she decided to head down to the Chalet Reynard on the Bédoin approach. She waited under the only awning she could find at Reynard with about 30 other shivering, wet, beat-up cyclists.
On the first approach from Bedoin.
Meanwhile, I refueled in Malaucene and headed back up oblivious to the goings on on the other side of the hill. Only after cresting the top did the road turn wet giving an indication of what had been going on. I caught up with Linda at Chalet Reynard where she was drying out and refueling with frites (french fries). Even though I didn't get rained on, the road was so wet that I looked and felt like I'd been swimming. I dried out a bit at Reynard and we both headed out to Sault, the beginning of the last summit.
We made it back to the top with the weather threatening, but no rain drops fell. It was cold and windy and quite a long day. Just under 15k feet of climbing in three summits. Now I get my name added to that goofy little website. We have an excuse to return--Linda feels she has some unfinished business. As for me, I don't need to see Mt Ventoux again for a while.
I didn't feel too bad, not great. I think I could have done a better job of eating--a typical weakness of mine on shorter rides (this was 88 miles).
Friday, June 18, 2010
Second Week
I still have some back-up reporting to do, I'll get to that later. For now, we've arrived in Bellagio, Italy. The view to the left is the view from our room at Il Perlo Panorama. It doesn't do the view justice. It's truly superb.
To the far left is the view from our dinner table this evening. It was strange, we were the only people in the entire restaurant. The owner's said it's been this way for about 10 days.
We pretty much got rained out of the Alps. . . today dawned beautiful, of course we had to head out. Today in on Lake Como was warm and beautiful. We're being told it is supposed to rain Saturday and Sunday. What's up with that?!
Carlo and his mother, Piera, are the proprietors. Here's a link to the hotel website:
http://www.ilperlo.com/
Carlo and Piera are such friendly people. In fact, the Italians in general are vastly more pleasant to deal with than the French were (and moreso that what's found at home). Yesterday on the top of the Madonna del Ghisallo climb we asked a gentleman to take our photo. Not only did he take our photo, he introduced himself to us, asked our names, introduced us to his son that had just ridden up on his bike. He told us where he was from, what he did for a living, took a photo of us with him on his cell phone, took my e-mail address. Truly very friendly. Same thing when we were lost in Como. I approached a fellow, a cyclist, and asked directions. Although we couldn't communicate all that well he was all smiles, asking others for questions to assist, etc. It's cool.
I wonder if that guy was the same one tailgating me this morning?
Back to Il Perlo, I don't know much about the star ratings, Il Perlo's a 2-star (for what that's worth), but the place is clean comfortable, affordable, great views and superb people. Carlo said 70% of the internet traffic on their website is from California. Thought that was interesting. It's everything we need.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Whew!
We got here. We're in. We made it.
It was actually a trouble-free trip as far as the flight is concerned. We arrived to rain in Lyon on Friday evening. None too excited about the rain.
All our bags arrived, except one: Linda's prized Pinarello (bicycle). Can't have much of a bike trip if you don't have a bike.
Fortunately, it wasn't lost, the airline simply couldn't fit the box onto our flight from Zurich to Lyon. They put it on the next flight and it arrived in Lyon around 9:30 p.m. A minor inconvenience, but cause for some consternation early on. We were behind schedule a little bit, we ended up arriving in Carpentras at about 12:30 a.m.
There's much more to talk about--Garmin GPS (what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive from Carpentras to Bourg d'Oisans turned into 8), Mt. Ventoux, rain in Bourg d'Oisans just in time for our arrival :( , pics to post, etc. I'll get to that next time.
Oh, and the Renault Kangoo worked out perfectly.
It was actually a trouble-free trip as far as the flight is concerned. We arrived to rain in Lyon on Friday evening. None too excited about the rain.
All our bags arrived, except one: Linda's prized Pinarello (bicycle). Can't have much of a bike trip if you don't have a bike.
Fortunately, it wasn't lost, the airline simply couldn't fit the box onto our flight from Zurich to Lyon. They put it on the next flight and it arrived in Lyon around 9:30 p.m. A minor inconvenience, but cause for some consternation early on. We were behind schedule a little bit, we ended up arriving in Carpentras at about 12:30 a.m.
There's much more to talk about--Garmin GPS (what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive from Carpentras to Bourg d'Oisans turned into 8), Mt. Ventoux, rain in Bourg d'Oisans just in time for our arrival :( , pics to post, etc. I'll get to that next time.
Oh, and the Renault Kangoo worked out perfectly.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Next Stop: Italia!
After 4 days and nights in Les Clapiers, we leave for Italy on Friday, June 18th. It's supposed to be a little over a 3 hour drive. I'm interested to see how well our Garmin 275 performs--it came pre-loaded with European maps. We'll have maps, too, but I'm counting on the Garmin to be a healthy contributor to the venture.
Back to Italy: our first stop in Italy will be in Bellagio on Lake Como. We'll be staying at Il Perlo Panorama after having read about it on pezcyclingnews.com (http://pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=7375 ). For cycling fans, the hotel is on the climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo, part of the Tour of Lombardy race course in the fall. There's a chapel at the top of the climb that's dedicated to cyclists, she's the patron saint of cyclists. A large, new cycling museum was also opened there (http://www.museodelghisallo.it/home.html). Yeah, we'll go check it out.
There is a lot of riding to be done in the region, but this is the one stop where the beauty of the area has sort of taken precedence. We'll do some great rides. But we'll be interested in seeing the lakes (Lago Maggiore, Lago di Lugano, and Lago di Como, and at least a half dozen other smaller lakes nearby) and the towns that dot their shores. We originally planned on staying just two days, but after seeing pictures of the place, we added two days. It is our honeymoon, after all.
We'll do the climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo (frequently, probably, since we'll be staying ON the climb). We'll do the Muro di Sormano, Civiglio, and others.
Next stop is Bormio and some tough rides: Stelvio, Gavia, Mortirolo, Tonale. Hope the snow's gone!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Phase 2
On Monday, June 14th, we'll drive to Bourg d'Oisans, at the foot of l'Alpe d'Huez, shown here.
We'll actually be staying about 5 km outside of town at the B&B of Alan and Lynne Coldray. They're British ex-pats who gave up their careers back home to run a B&B in the French Alps. Here's another link:
http://www.bourgdoisansbandb.com/index.html
I happened across them while searching for places to stay around the area. I was excited because they speak English!
We'll be with the Coldray's for 4 days/nights, 14-18 June. Our two main objectives while here are: 1) ride the route of La Marmotte cyclosportive and 2) climb the Col d'Izoard from the more difficult southern approach (we did the northern approach from Briancon in 2006).
La Marmotte is a 106 mile ride taking in the Col du Glandon, Col de Telegraphe, Col du Galibier and l'Alpe d'Huez as a finale. The actual cyclosportive is going to be on July 3rd this year. They will have upwards of 10,000 participants. There will be far fewer people when we ride the week of June 14th. We did all of these climbs in 2006, but we did the Telegraphe and the Galibier from their easier sides. There's only one way up l'Alpe d'Huez.
http://www.sportcommunication.info/web2010/epreuve2.php?langue=2&trophee=128
I couldn't figure out how to add more photos of the various mountains, lucky you. I'll figure it out.
Mountains rule.
More Ventoux
We're going back to France this year to cover some things that we would have done had we thought about checking things out ahead of time when we went in 2006. The Ventoux thing I coulda done, several of the other rides we'll be doing out of Bourg d'Oisans in the 1st full week we could have done. That's okay, though. Gave us an excuse to go back. Thankfully, my ultra hip boss, Kurt Schmal, gave me the extra week.
Originally we'd thought about 2.5-3 weeks and just doing Italy. We figured that, since we'd be in the area, we ought to see France again. So we asked and our superiors said "okay". Well, then. Off we go.
Here's some history of Mt. Ventoux. It used to be forested until it was, well, de-forested by a bunch o' shipbuilders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Ventoux It's legend grew when Englishman Tom Simpson died on its slopes in the 1967 Tour de France.
Because I can't think of what else to include here, this is a link to our Bedoin digs for Saturday and Sunday nights: http://www.hotel-des-pins.fr/eng/accueil.htm
Leaving in two days.
Originally we'd thought about 2.5-3 weeks and just doing Italy. We figured that, since we'd be in the area, we ought to see France again. So we asked and our superiors said "okay". Well, then. Off we go.
Here's some history of Mt. Ventoux. It used to be forested until it was, well, de-forested by a bunch o' shipbuilders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Ventoux It's legend grew when Englishman Tom Simpson died on its slopes in the 1967 Tour de France.
Because I can't think of what else to include here, this is a link to our Bedoin digs for Saturday and Sunday nights: http://www.hotel-des-pins.fr/eng/accueil.htm
Leaving in two days.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Three days to go. . . .
We'll be taking off from SFO on Thursday, June 10, 2010, at (hopefully) 7:25 pm via Swiss Air. Arrival in Zurich at 3:40 pm the next day. Catch a fight to Lyon, arriving there at 6:15 pm. We'll have to hoof it to make it to Carpentras before it gets too late. I'm a little worried about the car we've rented. I checked spec's on it and it should be fine. Plenty of room in the rear area with both seats folded down. It's a Renault Kangoo:
http://www.renault.com/en/Vehicules/renault/Pages/kangoo.aspx
The boxes used to carry the bicycles fold flat when not used. The plan is to load the car with the bikes still in the boxes, then drive to Carpentras. I couldn't get a room the first night in Bedoin, where we really wanted to stay. We did manage to get a room at Hotel des Pins In Bedoin on Saturday and Sunday nights, however.
We'll spend Saturday morning building the bikes back up, going for a short ride, and loosening up. We'll transfer our accommodations from Carpentras to Bedoin as well. Our first big ride is Sunday, June 13th. We plan on tackling all three approaches to the summit of Mt. Ventoux (the Giant of Provence) in one day. About 86 miles and 15k feet of climbing. We'll start in Bedoin, go to the summit, down to Malaucene, back to the summit, down to Sault, up to the summit, and finally the last sweet downhill to our hotel in Bedoin. That last downhill will make the ride closer to 100 miles but, hey, it's all downhill!
If we make it (or WHEN we make it) we'll be "members" of this club:
http://www.clubcinglesventoux.org/index.php?lan=en&PHPSESSID=787cdaf21a6561211beaaa17cd095964
Loosely translated, it means "nuts (or crazies) of the Ventoux".
The 10 day forecast on weather.com I looked at today calls for "isolated thunder showers", whatever that means, in the Carpentras area on June 13th.
If everything goes according to plan, we'll leave Bedoin on Monday morning and head to the French Alps, about a three hour drive to the northeast. I'll try to preview that tomorrow.
I am not sure how things are going to go with later posts--I don't know what kind of access I'll have to the Internet, and I don't have a laptop to drag along. Hopefully the Internet cafes will be plentiful (and that I'll feel like writing).
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