A family walk

VTT with Chloe and then dinner

I took my MTB out on the same route as CZ today.  She was a monster on the climb to Quaix, as expected.  Vertical climbing rate of 1000m/hr, which just about killed me on the mountain bike.

Later on, mom watched the kids again, and we went to an excellent restaurant in Correncoin called "le provence" with Lolo and Vero.  We shared an enormous and beautiful Bar (sea bass) with an amazing Puligny-Montrachet.

Oh, and there were desserts, too.  We ordered the "café gourmand", a concept that I was not familiar with until recently.  I had seen it on many menus, but had always taken it literally and just assumed that the "gourmand" referred to the café itself -- so like ... special beans?   However, what it actually is, is a café accompanied with a selection of small desserts.  I love the concept, and the Provence put together an all star team, shown below.

Thanks again mom!

Hank's

We had a lovely lunch with Hank and Eliane at their place up in St. Pancrasse with the kids.

And then a quick ride up to Proveysieux

Hey, it's still cold!

Especially in the morning.  Sorry, mom!

A cold ride up to Planfay

But not too slow!

Moon over the Néron

Still cold

National pastime!

VTT with Bertrand

Bertrand is my neighbor, and an extremely skilled mountain biker.  Every time I ride with him I end up crashed out in a bush or on the ground, and today was no exception.  We rode up to MSM (~1400 vert feet of climbing), during which I was barely able to keep up with him, and then descended via trails,  The catch was that the upper half was all under a layer of snow, which led to several spectacular crashes.  I am making progress, but slowly.

New grips!

After hearing rave reviews online about these grips, I bought a pair of these silicone beauties


And then I rode up to Proveusyieux and into the hills above

Wild boar sausage!

from mom.  Delicious!

COLD

And mom is here!!

cleaning

Mom and I were cleaning out Kenji's closet, which was pretty sad.  I did find this amazing cycling hat from the 90's though

Sunglasses at night

New knife

So fantastic.  I love every aspect of it from the octagonal  rosewood handle to the hand-forged Aogami Super Steel blade.

Alex has a girlfriend?!

Going home

I had a really good seat on the plane -- right at the transition between where they can't cram three seats into the row anymore, so I had plenty of legroom and even managed to sleep a little.  Amazingly, United still has planes without individual screens in seatbacks.  What a joke of an airline.  I was, however entertained by these glove bluetooth telephone headsets:

In Frankfurt we taxied out to the runway but then had to wait for the de-icing trucks to drive out there because it had started snowing

Wedding

went to the shooting range with Terry and Ben (shh!) then to the crystallography wedding in Stockton

Headland ride

which was really nice, and then caught up with Steve and Chip which was excellent… even if I went to the wrong cafe!

Tacos and Cycling

maybe not the best combo

also, Four Barrel/Flowerland coffee

Bartavelle

With mom

Then on to the Hockney show at the deYoung.  I loved the charcoals and watercolors, but was not very excited about the rest (iPad, video etc).

KIRALA

Amazing, as usual.  Mom had to tell the owner that Kenji passed away, but otherwise it was wonderful.  I tried to order some Denshu sake  but they were out.

Shopping

Went Xmas shopping with mom at REI, the North Face and Target.  Mom tried on almost every down jacket in the place and we found a cool one, but it was not on sale, unfortunately.  Later, we saw a Lambo with huge plumes of smoke emanating from it

New bridge

I assembled the Breakaway and rode along the waterfront and up onto the fabulous new bike path along the bridge.  Very cool

Farmer's market

with mom.  We picked up this excellent granola

Ian pointed out that it kinda looks like he pooped the granola out, but that's okay

Last day in Red Rocks

And we went to the Black Corridor and then the steep crag next door.  Fun, but crowded!  From there it was a slightly mad dash to the airport and onto planes.