Family camping!

After the success of last weeks camping, Chloe and I decided that we should make it a family thing. We bought some more camping meals at Au Vieux Campeur, a really inexpensive (30 euro!) tent for the kids, called the Arpenaz 2 in the afternoon, picked the kids up, managed to get both of them to go to the bathroom in an actual bathroom, then drove up to Charmant Som. We had tried to get a reservation at the Auberge for dinner, but it was fully booked, which made Chloe very sad. We actually asked again to see if a space had opened up when we got there, but no luck. We set off for Zoe and my super camping pitch and then set up the tents. I was somewhat amazed to find that the Decathlon craptent was actually decent! For one thing, it had almost exactly the same design as our multi hundred dollar Sierra Designs tent. The poles look pretty cheap, and the stakes appear to be made of solid steel, but the material looks decent, and the whole package is a similar weight to the SD tent. At literally 10X less money, it will be interesting to see how it holds up, but even if it doesn't... Anyway, this was supposed to be the "Kids only" tent. Chloe and I of course realised that at some point during the night, the situation would probably evolve to one parent in one tent and one in the other, but we can dream, can't we? The kids loved their tent:



and there was enough space to set them up next to each other

and what can you say about the place? magnificent
Next, dinner time, which was riz cantonnais again, a chicken curry, and gratin dauphinois.

I've decided that potato meals are the way to go: you get the greatest volume of food per weight, and it tastes pretty good. The other stuff is nice, but patates are where it's at.

The sun eventually set, and the cows migrated again, this time with a horse. This caused much chagrin to the kids: was it a mean horse? Would it trample us in our sleep? Would it poo on our tents? Would the *cows* follow the horse and then trample or poo on us? It was a long conversation

The previous camping trip, I had seen a huge number of satellites and rocket bodies in the sky, identifiable by the excellent Skyview app. This time we were hoping to see some of the Perseid meteor shower, since it was almost the peak. And we were lucky and saw some big ones. Unfortunately, the kids have little patience for staring up at the night sky and did not see any.

After another somewhat painful night, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise

And two very tired kids who amazingly had stayed in their tent and not woken up the entire night! I was amazed.

Luckily, I had brought coffee

And chloe had brought croissants and pain au choc

Camping, for real!

After so many abortive camping attempts, I was starting to get worried that I had become the-dad-that-promises-a-lot-but-never-delivers. So today was the day (again). I had shifted plans towards a bit longer drive, but shorter walk and decided to go to Charmant Som, in the Chartreuse. After picking Zoe up and a short drive, we arrived at the dead end road at Charmant Som, and found the place pretty mobbed. I guess it is a popular warm day activity since it is so much cooler at 1600 meters! After a little difficulty finding a parking spot, Zoe and I set off onto one of the hills below the Charmant Som itself and found a fantastic and flat place to pitch the tent. It had sweeping views of the Belledonne, Vercors and of course the Chamchaude. We set up the tent



inflated mattresses, and then brewed water for our dessicated food dinner: Riz au Cantonnais and Risotto au Boeuf -- not bad! Banana-pear crumble for dessert, which was less good. Zoe admitted that cooking dinner was the thing that most excited her about camping.

Then we watched the sun set, and watched nervously as the herd of cattle that we had seen earlier began to walk towards us

A couple of hikers had set their tent up 100 meters from us, and the cows eventually surrounded their tent, despite their trying to shoo them away. Darkness fell, and Zoe and I watched them collapse their tent and find another cow-free pitch by headlamp.

Sleeping was a bit difficult. I'm starting to get a little old to sleep well in a tent, even after buying the most expensive and lightest thermarest that Vieux Campeur offers (One of their NeoAirs), so I spent a restless night tossing and turning. Zoe also kept on sliding to the bottom of the tent, so I would have to periodically pull her up again. Happily, the cows did not disturb us.

The next morning

We packed up, drove home, had a quick breakfast and then I dropped Zoe off at camp. A successful first camping trip. Zoe asked if we could sleep there the next night too. On the way down, Zoe made me drive through le Sappey to see if there were any boulangeries open (there were not).

An Amazing ride

I had been hearing about the Cormet de Roselend for years, and particular about how beautiful it was, but never made it up there. Hank had been telling me about the area for a few years -- and not just Roselend, but also col du Pre and Cormet d'Areches. He had formulated a cunning route that would involve all of those cols, and assured me that it would be fantastic. The only catch was that it would also be 100km and roughly 3000 meters of climbing, i.e. a hell of a ride. So after one abort due to weather, it was on today, and what a ride it was. Some of the most stunning scenery I have seen, and well worth visiting even if you don't ride a bike. The ride started in Beaufort, where the climbing started immediately, up through a wooded valley


past a dam

and then into a beautiful open valley surrounded by tall peaks


and eventually turned into a steep dirt track that seems designed to thwart the less adventurous road bike riders. It really isn't that big a deal as long as you pay attention to your lines though. This can be difficult when you are surrounded by the scenery though. Then it was down the dirt upper section




which turned into an insanely fast switchbacked downhill.
At this point, one of our ride partners (Seb) discovered that his tires had been shredded by the rocks, and his rear tire exploded with an impressive report as we entered the small town of Granier.

After doing a field repair of the tire, Sylvain and Seb descended to look for another tire (Not easy, considering it was Sunday), and Hank and I continued on the glorious shelf road that takes you through small towns with baroque churches. All the while, with sweeping views of mountains. Eventually we descended to Bourg Saint Maurice and waited for the others to find the tire. I gorged myself on a gigantic ice cream, in the mean time. From there, it was up the beautiful valley yo the Cormet de Roselend. Spectacular, but so damn hard -- especially with the wind. At the col

I bought a sandwich and coke, inhaled them, then bought some cool minerals and crystals for the kids at a temporary stand. After ten or fifteen minutes Seb arrived, and then Sylvain after another fifteen or twenty, and then Hank, looking a bit shaken. We had made it up the hardest part. Next, more glorious scenery


and a small climb up to a cafe where we had beers, then a spirited descent back to the car. An amazing ride indeed.

CAMPING

I had been planning on camping with Zoe for a year now, but have been rained out several times. Today was the day though. Despite the big ride around Beaufort, I was determined to make it happen. I called Chloe on my wy back from Crolles, and asked her to get Zoe ready, cruised into St. Egreve, took a five minute shower, got all the stuff together, packed the car, and drove up to la Charmette. It was getting late, so we started walking at a brisk pace through the woods, with me periodically asking if she was ok, and her always responding: "FINE, daddy". After a while though, the responses became less and less convincing and eventually I turned around to find a slightly teary eyed Zoe, asking if we could go home because she was tired and scared. So, it was back to the car and down to St. Egreve. I guess she was really tired out from going to the pool.

move out day

Move out day from the Chalet. Chloe left with all the others and Zoe and I did the final check with the Chalet people. I'm not sure what the relation is between the crazy owner and these guys, but two mostly toothless dudes showed up in a rental car at 18:00, just in time for me to see the end of stage 19 of the tdf (the one I rode!). They spent a large amount of time shuffling around upstairs and eventually came down, proudly carrying a destroyed lamp from Jon's room and announced that one of the kids had done a lot of the drawing on the walls in there. They also told me that even though we paid for cleaning, we had to take our own trash, glass and recycling. nice.

Zoe and I went up to Chez Finette for one last crepe sucree

Camping?

I've been meaning to camping with Zoe for ages (Alex is still a little reluctant to do the required hiking, but hopefully he will be ready soon!), and planned on taking Zoe today. Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative, with thunderstorms forecasted for the middle of the night, and rain before that. There isn't a lot of shelter from lightning, and I didn't want a helicopter ride down, so instead we went for a short and rainy hike into the mountains near Valloire, where we set up our new camp stove and had dinner. French camping food is pretty fantastic: Gratin Dauphinois and Riz au lait!

Granon

Did Granon, full gas. Made it in just under an hour, whee! I'm happy with that considering how hard it is to get air in at this altitude.

Paroi de Grotte, Bardoneccia

A little climbing at le Paroi de Grotte (flashed a 7a, so not in too bad shape) and then to Bardonecchia for lunch at Bardonosteria. Pretty good , but not as good as Etable. So, yellow slow food guide:1, tripadivsor: 0. The bakery down the road was fantastic though.

Jardin Alpine!

I've passed the jardin alpine at the col du Lautaret many times, and finally had a chance to go. It's pretty excellent, with an entire section on medicinal plants and another devoted to edible plants. And all that with a view of the Meije, Pic Gaspard and associated glaciers.

Etape du Tour

It's been a while, I know. I've had a busy and difficult Spring, and somehow have not been feeling up to updating the blog. I'm still hoping to post some photos from our trips this past Spring, but no promises! Anyway, I wanted to at least describe my experience doing the hardest ride of my life before I forget all of it.

THE RACE
Every year, the ASO, who own and run the Tour de France, organise a race/ride in which they let amateurs ride a whole stage of the Tour de France. It is almost always the hardest stage of the tour, and typically alternates between the Pyrenees and the Alps. There are a lot of difficult organised rides in the alps, but what makes this one special is the fact that it is a real stage of the tour, and they close the road to cars. It's extremely popular, and this year around 15,000 people signed up. It typically sells out in a few days, and in a fit of insanity, I signed up for it this past fall, along with some friends. This year promised to be a hard one: Stage 19 of the tour with 138 km and 4300 meters of climbing (14,000 feet), which is a good bit more climbing than I have ever done in a day.

THE BUILDUP
Ever since that moment I've been worried about finishing the thing, and have trained more this year than in previous years. Despite what I thought was a pretty decent commitment to training, I only managed around 3000 km before the race, but with a lot of climbing (65 or so thousand meter --213,000 feet). Many people target 5-6000 km before this thing. I had even ridden my home trainer (rollers) in the kitchen religiously, much to the amusement of Chloe and the kids. Anyway, the Etape fell in the middle of our Monetier-les-Bains vacation, which was good because I could get some rest, acclimate to the altitude and put in some last minute training. I've increased my threshold power dramatically, and am at my lowest weight since junior year in college. A few years ago I weighed 170 lbs, and now I weight 152, and even saw the other side of 150 a couple of times when I was really dehydrated. I don't expect it to last, but it feels good. Most of my clothes are baggy now, and I don't have enough holes in my belts.

THE DAY BEFORE
For some reason, you could not pick up your bib the day of the race, and the only place to get them was in the ugly mountain top resort town of la Toussuire. So after a long drive over Galibier and some traffic, I grabbed my bib, picked up the pretty cool free backpack and wandered around the vendor village, scoring swag and waiting for my buddy Micah and his friend Roland. I tried on helmets, ogled the Italian Ti frames, and tried to find the Rapha tent but was quickly overwhelmed by the sea of people. I also noticed that Mavic, who are about the best mechanics you can get, were offering free bike tune ups, so I had them look at my derailleurs. In a series of expert motions, my bike was soon shifting beautifully. No more excuses. I had ridden Izoard a couple of days earlier, so declined Micah and Rolland's offer to do some last minute cycling, and headed to the Chalet that they rented in Valfrejus, up the valley. Unfortunately, through some miscommunication there wasn't really room for me, and the guy organising it was acting like a bit of a putz, so I decided to drive back over Galiber and sleep in Monetier -- whew!

RACE DAY
The next morning, I got up at 4:30, fueled up -- oatmeal, bananas, coffee etc and drove over Galibier AGAIN! It was beautiful watching the sun rise over the Cerces though. After Valloire, I pulled into the lot with the public toilet, and disaster: Toilet hors service! Oh well, on to St. Jean, where traffic had backed up onto the motorway. I wanted to get a little closer to the starting line, but zoomed around the first roundabout I saw and parked. After some desperate moments in which I though I had forgotten some key gear, I hopped on the bike and sped off to my staging area. The race is started in waves of ~1000, and it was kind of a zoo. Happily, it was pretty warm already, so waiting around was not a big deal. We eventually started rolling out, and much to my surprise, the guy next to me crashed immediately! Not a great sign. After a flat rollout, the first big climb began immediately. 1000 meters of climbing on roads entirely filled with people. I'm talking shoulder to shoulder the entire way up. As far as you could see up the road it was more of the same. I've never seen so many cyclists in my life. The sea was only parted by the frequent passing of support motos and fast guys. There were also spectators shouting encouragement and ringing bells, which was wonderful. This would continue for the entire race, and really lifted my spirits.

I was committed to going slowly, so after a long time I got to the col which happened to be the first feed station, which was mobbed. I decided to skip that one, and coasted over the col. Almost immediately I hit a huge cyclist jam. We were all at a standstill for 10-20 minutes because of some unknown problem down the road. I know this descent and was planning on making up for my slow ascending by blitzing the descent here, but no dice. Even when we started moving it was at a snails pace. Wheels and brakes were overheating and you could actually smell burning. I read later on that there were a lot of exploded wheels because of all the braking. Last year I rode this descent with Hank and Mat. We stopped for multiple beers halfway down, and yet this descent was only 2 and a half minutes faster. Crazy. Anyway, on to la Chambre, where I stopped at a feed station, crammed bananas down, drank two cokes, finished my water and refilled. Next, through the "flat" section which was not flat at all, and actually had some decent climbs on the Eastbound leg. I saw my first american there -- a lady that had done 6 previous Etapes -- pretty amazing. Next, the biggest climb of the day -- the dreaded Glandon+Telegraphe. This is a Really Big Climb and it was my third time on it. It kicks my butt every time. 20km and 1400 meters, with a vicious end. I skipped the feed at the bottom because it was mobbed again, but stopped halfway up to eat and refill bottles. The end was mayhem -- people walking bikes and almost falling over. I made it to the col and then my hamstring locked up in a brutal cramp. I literally couldn't move, but ate a pickle (my secret weapon against cramps!) and eventually the muscle unlocked. This allowed me to gorge on bananas and coke again. A guy was throwing up next to the feed zone. Shangri-la! Next, a quick descent and up to Telegraphe. I had to take it easy here or my legs would cramp. A guy next to me muttered "C'est l'enfer!" ("It's hell!"). Nothing to say about Telegraphe, and then down the crappy road to the Mollard climb. Fast and dangerous again, and more burning brakes. I did Mollard at a snails pace, again fighting cramps and rationing pickles. Then, Mollard, where I stopped for a while to eat more rice cakes and refill with water. Incidentally, the water fountains seem like a much better bet than the feed zones. Then, a reasonably fast descent for once, into one last feed zone at the base of la Toussuire and onto the climb. My cramps were finally gone, and my legs felt pretty good on this climb, heart rate was low, and except for the intense heat and relentlessness of the climb, it wasn't too bad. Kind locals were shouting "Allez" and spraying riders with water to cool them down, which was fantastic. Finally I rolled through the line, and they gave me the last of the admirable list of freebies -- a very nice medal and a finishers T-=shirt.

Then a torturous ride back down the hill, which had MORE CLIMBING! I couldn't believe it! I met Micah and Rolland who had very unfairly been swept up by the time limits because they started later than I did. We had some beers and pizza (thanks Micah!) and I rode back to my gar and drove back over Galiber for the fourth time in two days. What a crazy day.

So yeah, that's done. It was really hard and I wasn't fast, but I finished.











Here's an article about it: http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2015/07/20/15000-participants-flock-letape-du-tour-france