First ride of the spring: Proveysieux

I took my road bike out for the first time this year. It is quite amazing how different of an experience it is from my commuter bike: it stops well, handles really well and generally does exactly what you ask it to, regardless of how misguided or stupid that may be. For that reason, I imagine making the switch is a little like driving all winter in a Yugo and then getting into an M3: if you're not very careful you're going to end up picking limestone pebbles out of your chin at the bottom of a ravine. However, the handling part of it didn't really come into it until later. My first concern was that my back was aching on the climb up. As expected, my easiest gear really did not feel adequately easy, either. I rode up past Proveysieux and thought about descending via Quaix, but remembered how pebbly and steep it is and nixed the idea. I think next time I'll ride up via Quaix, as the descent through Proveysieux is really a lot nicer. And speaking of descents: it was totally harrowing. 34 mph felt like I was at warp speed and VERY twitchy. My hands were cramping from riding the brakes and sweat was streaming into my eyes from the climb. I didn't have an altimeter, but according to mapmyride, it is something like 450 or so meters of climbing from my house. I had the power meter on to motivate me to get back in cycling shape:



A word about this ride: while hardly a blip by local standards, I find it quite hard: longish sections of >10% gradients, with some 13% sections and ~1500 feet of elevation gain.

bike trailer, espace montagne, local color

Our daycare situation is a little complicated: Alex and Zoe go to two different nannies in different towns, and on wednesday, Alex goes to the local state run day care here in town (which is totally awesome). The problem is that Chloe and I want to be able to bike to work; it's such a nice ride and an easy way to guarantee a little physical activity on those days when you are stuck in front of the computer all day. The problem is that it takes a lot of time to do the kid shuttling in a car, and by the time you have done the drop offs, it doesn't make a lot of sense to drive home and hop on your bike. Enter the bike trailer. Before I left, I had been trying to buy a Chariot Cougar 2, but never found one in the Bay area because EVERYONE wants one. Here in france, they cost upwards of $1000, which is just silly. It's not like we're going to be going on bike camping tours! So yesterday, we tried out a Croozer which we both liked a lot: very light, metal wheels and folds down. Oh yeah, and it converts to a double jogging stroller. So after a little deliberation and Zoe testing, we ordered the double trailer from our local shop, as well as the infant hammock for Alex. We shall see if this all works out as planned. I think I'm going to need to change the gearing of my single speed though!

We also stopped at the new Espace Montagne: pretty damn awesome. They even have a little mini climbing wall for kids to play on.

Remember when REI had those too? Before the lawyers? I bought a new pair of climbing shoes for the spring (YES!) and was looking around ro see if they had any Valandre jackets. If you haven't heard of Valandre, they make some of the best and lightest weight down sleeping bags in the world. They are a French company located in the Pyrenees and I think some of their stuff is less expensive here (but still ridiculous). Anyway, I'm in the market for a new down jacket after my trusty old North Face has lost a lot of it's loft. I have heard that Valandre gets its down from the foie gras industry, but not sure about that one.

Finally, on the way home, I had one of those "laugh-at-local-drivers-and-point-in-incredulity" moments when I saw a guy on a motor scooter with a toddler wedged between himself and the steering column. He was passing me in the bike lane, of course. Anyway, I thought it was going to be like every other absurd and dangerous traffic infraction that you see in these parts, and laughed even more when they passed a police car without any apparent response. However, it turned out that eyebrows WERE raised and a cop jumped out of the car and chased him down. So yes, there is apparently some limit to what you can do on the roads here! And that limit is using a toddler as an airbag.