Zoe's first real haircut

Zoe had her first real haircut today (not just the bangs). She was very proud to be having it cut, and was incredibly well behaved. Our little girl!




Chloe had some pretty nasty food poisoning which has not completely left her system today. I brought the kids to a BBQ,

at a co-worker's place up at col de la Placette to give CZ a little time to recuperate. We were supposed to have friends over for dinner, but the gastro took hold again, and we had to cancel. Oof.

The road home, climbing

Chloe and Vanessa went for a morning session at Shadocks while Simon and I herded kids and packed up. After tractoring the stuff to the skip

it was time for goodbyes to Hauterives, and more importantly: Lunch! We all drove to Sainte Enimie, where we had a nice meal at La Tendelle.

The only issue with this place is to not go there if you are in a hurry, as it is rather slow. In fact, we all had to take the kids for little walks outside to keep them happy. Happily, Saint Enimie is a beautiful town!

Next came the drive home. When we were living in the states, a four and a half hour drive was no big thing, but I have gotten soft and spoiled and it now seems kind of painful. It's a bit more demanding to drive on winding roads with lots of intersections, rather than I-5 through the central valley, but still. We arrived home, fed the kids and collapsed.

Hauterives, climbing

We took turns climbing and taking care of children today. The crags were mobbed, but we found a nice sector that we had not been to before: Shadocks. There are many nice climbs, but literally every single route was taken or had draws and/or a rope left on it. I think I want to avoid climbing on big holiday weekends in the future, as the crowds really diminish the experience. I had a bit of a scare when I asked to take and looked down to see flakes of rope on the ground in between myself and my belayer, but it was sorted out without hitting the deck.

Later on, Chloe and Vanessa had a bit of an epic trying to find the same crag, and returned to hauterives looking like wet cats; the rain clouds had rolled in and soaked both of them during their bushwhacking. In the mean time, Simon and I had taken the kids down to the water again, which was fun. The kids also enjoyed terrorizing the local cats and dogs:





The only problem with bringing the kids to the water is the subsequent kid-cleanup!

Later, we used the Plancha to grill sausages and shish-kabobs for dinner, and it was eventually time to turn in. Right before putting Alex down, he projectile vomited and it took some time to comfort him (and to clean up the mess). If I hadn't mentioned it, Hauterives is fantastic, but a little like camping in the sense that you are supposed to keep consumption of things like water and paper products to a minimum while reducing waste. It's not terribly onerous, but adds to the work.

Hauterives

Our plan was to go to Annot for the Easter weekend, but after checking the forecast every six hours or so and seeing rain (and snow!) in the forecast, we decided that it would be better to find someplace else. Unfortunately, many of the climbing areas in France had the same forecast: the dreaded "Sunny Rain": An icon of a Sun with little rain drops falling out of it on the Meteo France website. We assumed that it meant that the forecasters had no idea what was coming, but it turned out to be on the money. You would be walking along under a bright South of France Sunny Day, when suddenly raindrops would come out of nowhere! In any case, after waiting a bit too long to make reservations, we agreed upon the Hauterives gite in the Gorges du Tarn. It is a little bit of paradise along the Tarn river that we had spent a few nights at last year with Jon, Sue, Ian and Susan (and loved it). We drove via a new route to the Tarn, avoiding the ugly sprawl leading from Lyon to le Puy, and went instead via Privas and Aubenas. The roads are all quite good, and you pass some impressive cols and towns along the way. Aubenas, in particular looks like it would be a fun place to explore. From Aubenas, we drove more or less the usual way and arrived at the motorized skip that is used to send your things to the village above the river. I called Emmanuelle, who sent the skip over, and we loaded it up and sent it over. Soon after, Chloe ,Vanessa and the other kids showed up looking a little harried after being Garmin Nüvi-ified into going over small passes on departmental roads. After fully unloading, Vanessa and I took the cars to Malene to begin the forty minute walk back along the river to the village. By the time we got to the village,



the kids had already been in and out of the water, and had the by now familiar look of sunscreen battered in sand. It would be great to have some kind of outdoor shower there! Next came an easter egg hunt, in which the chocolate eggs were quickly discovered and dispatched in situ

A day in town with the rugrats

Cycling in the cold

I went for a ride today that I had always wanted to do, but never managed to: the ride to the Chalet at the Charmant Som. After a carbo breakfast, I heat-remolded the soles of my new shoes, and managed to simultaneously burn one of the straps. Happily, replacements can be had! Anyway, things started out smoothly: after a spin along the departmental road, I rode up the Col de Clemenciere by the easiest way possible, which is via St. Martin le Vinoux, then up to the col de Vence, through Sappey and on to Porte. At Porte, I refilled my bottle, and attacked the final couple hundred meters of elevation gain, but boy was it painful. The clouds were by now rolling in and the temperature had dropped dramatically. There were also patches of snow on parts of the road which almost caused an unexpected encounter with the cliff. The problem was that although I could ride in the track of a car, my pedals were brushing snow, so I clipped out with one foot. Unfortunately, it was so steep and slippery that I had a hard time getting moving again. Eventually I made it to the top and was FREEZING cold. The rain had started, and was blowing in sideways and cutting through my short sleeved jersey like it wasn't even there. I decided to try to get down to the valley as quickly as possible, but got a little hypothermic along the way. My brakes also lost most of their effectiveness by the time I got back to Clemenciere. My lats were cramping up, and my hands were shivering enough to make it difficult to maintain the pressure required to keep the brakes clamped on the rims. So, after a few slightly shrill calls to Chloe (AKA the sag wagon), Chloe very kindly came and picked me up. Not the most successful of descents, but at least I did the hard part (riding up!)



(vert gain is way off -- more like 1450 meters or so)

Climbing

We went to the excellent new crag at St. Egreve today. I even got to get on a route in the previously unexplored upper sector, which has some nice routes to project.

new shoes

Alex has a new pair of shoes (selected by vehement pointing and grunting)

Zoe cooking

Zoe at the climbing gym

A party for Chloe!

(Don't worry, the child at grill level is actually separated by glass and some space from the coals!)

With authentic (well, kinda) American Hamburgers being grilled.

Parmenie

I rode the col de Parmenie and Chatain today. The route goes along the digue for a while, and then up the not-very-steep col de Parmenie, then up and down a few intermediate cols and then back down to Tullins. It's a very pretty route, through some charming small towns, and I think I'm going to go back with the family at some point. A little googling revealed that it was part of the 2008 TDF (as part of a 200 km stage!).

Grenoble

We went into town to walk up to the Bastille, but retreated because of the heat. Instead, we opted for ice cream for the kids, and cold beers for me in the Place Tribunale. Earlier, I had explained to Zoe that the new shoes she received from her Nana were super-special jumping shoes ("With jumping pads!"), which Zoe took to heart. The unintended and unwelcome result of this was that Chloe and I were obliged to hold Zoe's hands while she jumped down each of the hundred or so stairs that lead back down to the river. "Jumping" essentially meant a several centimeter hopped, followed by kicking her feet into the air to be fully supported by us!





Later on, while I was trying to feed Alex and Zoe dinner, I was faced with a child (Alex) who was steadfastly rejecting any kind of vegetable. In desperation, I finely diced some of the broccoli I was feeding to Zoe and mixed it into Alex's yogurt. This cunning plan did not work, unfortunately, and was met with a sour and horrible look.

I guess I can't really blame him

Ombleze!

We did a day trip to les Gorges d'Ombleze, in the Drome with Simon, Vanessa and the kids today. After parking at the pullout right after the gorge, we set up the picnic cloth and had lunch. We then switched off climbing and corralling kids. Simon and I were up first, and we quickly decamped to a field across the river. Somehow, the kids seemed immune to the extremely cold water, and amused themselves for hours in it.

Alex, meanwhile demanded that I take him to the river and dip his feet in the water. This resulted in much anguish and crying; he does not seem to have the same cold tolerance as the other kids! Instead, he was quite content to grab handfuls of sand and rocks and spray the river (or whoever was unfortunate enough to be within range of his impressive throwing arms). He would also scoot closer and closer to the river, so I had to repeatedly reset him, to try to limit the range of his projectiles and prevent him from tumbling into the river. We set up the little tent,


and came up with other desperate measures, such as hide and seek, and eventually it was our turn to climb. The first climb turned out to be more mud and ivy than rock, so I opted to go up the via ferrata to the ledge and traverse out to the warmup. The rock in this sector is spectacular: a very rough and blocky orange limestone which climbs very well. The only problem is the slightly exposed belay ledge! We also hopped on a nice 6b+ with a tough overhanging tufa start (and a few too many bees for comfort). After switching off one more time at the Jardiland sector (nice 5a's and 7a's) we went to the Moulin de la Pipe for dinner. The food was excellent as usual, and a nice end to a long day. At the parking for the last crag, I found a fancy Android phone, which I dropped at the restaurant. The woman working there acted like I was crazy to be dropping off there. I guess I should have left it in the dirt to get run over or stolen, but I thought that since the moulin is the only thing for many km, and is frequented by climbers, that it might be a better place for it.

Chevalon intervals

did intervals for an hour after work today on the micro climb (40 meters?) in Chevalon. must. build. power. Not sure it is the right power or duration, but I was going for just under 300 watts for 3 minutes, then rest 6 mins, repeat 5x. vomit.

Mont St Martin

Rode the dreaded Mt St Martin ride (average inline: 10%!) just to get the first time on it of the season out of the way. It has to be the longest 6km ever! I did it in record slow time: 36:22, and 40 watts less than my best. I would dearly love to be able to get back to 33:00… and my long term goal is to do it in less than 30 minutes. I don't think that is going to happen this year though! Maybe if I fast and the load up on just enough calories to get myself up there.

Climbing!

Chloe, Vanessa, Simon and the kids went to Rocheplaine to get some climbing in. Unfortunately, Alex has been sick since yesterday, so we took turns taking care of him in the apartment. Poor little guy! Simon, a guy from work and I checked out the new crag higher up the mountain, and it is fabulous. Excellent rock, and interesting moves! The route I got on was a little taller than I expected, so I had to run out a few bolts. Anyway, I really hope we can find a topo of the crag, because it is excellent.

photo credit: simon

Cycling, kids

Rode la Placette and down through Coublevie today: it still feels hard, but is getting better!

Also, Chloe went to a baby shower for most of the day, so the kids and I went to the park a couple of times