6 jours de Grenoble

A friend at work had free tickets to "6 Jours de Grenoble" that he wasn't using, so I went to see it on the penultimate day with Simon. The 6 jours is a famous six day track event, and while I had heard a lot about it, had never managed to go. In the past, some famous riders like Merckx, Moser, Fignon, Lemond and Hinault have participated and it is pretty well known. I think it is part of high profile riders' "bread and butter" in the off season rather than actual competing, but I'm not sure. In any case, I had never seen a track event of any kind in real life, so I was very excited. We left St Egreve around 8 pm and after a lot of circling the area around the Palais des Sports, eventually found a space. We entered through the Eastern side, and walked up through the stairways. The Palais is a marvel of ... Concrete. Concrete slabs everywhere. I didn't see a single piece of wood. Anyway, we were quite high up in the stadium but could still see down into the huge wooden velodrome without a problem. There were quite a few different disciplines on display: Keirin, Pro serie de sprints, sprint SAMSE, Pro chasse, etc etc. I found most of it totally bewildering, but it was easy enough to see when strategy or the bell called for some effort, as the riders would hunker down and start pouring on the watts. Very cool. In the center of the ring, there was a stage and a huge buffet. I think those seats are more expensive, but they look like a fantastic place to be. Some tables put you as aclose as two meters from the riders. Simon and I were wondering how you get in and out of the center of a ring (for a pee, for example, since there did not appear to be any outhouses in the ring), and it looks like there is some kind of tunnel. As far as the stage goes, the racing is interspersed with performances! When we arrived, it was Cirque Dominic Lacasse, who did astoundingly smooth and impressive gymnastic moves. He looked like a climber, but with (much) larger muscles. Subsequently, there was Cirque Liazeed, which involved more gymnastic displays, "Mr. Wow" who did some very fancy Diabolo work, and finally the Paris Folies: Showgirls! They did a dance routine, and then in a blink of an eye their tops had disappeared. Could this be the best sports event ever? The dancers had impressive musculature on their backs too and actually also looked like climbers.















On the way back to the car, I saw some costumed kids see us coming, confer amongst themselves and then scatter and hide. This made me a little nervous, but we discovered soon enough what they were up to, and it was nothing devious. Basically one guy who was dressed as a women came running at us screaming for help while pursued by a devil, a zombie bride and something else. I'm not sure what we were supposed to do, but Simon and I very un-gamely started laughing and I took a picture. I feel a bit sad that I didn't think up some amusing way to play along, but I was tired.

Halloween

We carved scary pumpkins (ok one pumpkin and a mystery gourd that we got from the local CSA). We only got a few trick or treaters, however. In France, trick or treaters say "bonbons!" instead of "trick or treat".

a walk

we went to see the Deer and go for a walk around Mont Saint Martin today. It is ten minutes from where we live and a beautiful area. Right now the leaves are turning and it is just stunning.






Zoe was very concerned about all the felled trees, and asked us if the Once-ler had cut them down.

Zoe bday party

with dancing, some friends and cupcakes (and wine, port and Calvados for the parents). I can't believe how fast it's all passing! I took a bunch of pictures but something strange happened to them. Something strange as in they don't seem to be on my camera. Arrgh.

Cycling in France redux

Installment 99 of "Cycling in France is awesome". The past few weeks has been a little frustrating for me cycling wise; I've been a little swamped in work, and I have been fighting off two nasty colds. In between coughing fits, I managed a few nice rides but mostly I've been longingly watching the good weather disappear. Yesterday Chloe and I biked to one of our favorite lunchtime places: a restaurant on Berriat that a work colleague had introduced us to. Among other things, they have excellent tarte tatin and griotte cake (served warm of course). Anyway, we locked our bikes to a pole across the street, and after savoring our desserts and cafes, walked across the street to unlock the bikes. Now I should mention that some parts of Berriat are a little rough looking -- not on the same scale as the Olympic Village or East Oakland, but a place that I am always a little bit wary. A man was bringing plastic chairs out in front of the bar next to our bikes. I saw him looking at us and the bikes and was thinking to myself that he was probably going to give us some grief for blocking his sidewalk. As we got closer, I saw that he looked like a boxer, and had some not so old looking cuts on his face, so I was starting to get a bit worried. As we got the keys out to unlock the bikes, he started pointing to the bikes and talking to me. However, he immediately started smiling and pointed to the classic stainless bike bell I have on my bars, and told me that he had one too, and that he loved his! He then nodded approvingly at my Brooks saddle (A classic leather bike saddle ) and said that he had a Brooks as well, and indeed had had both for the last forty years! I replied that I loved mine too, and he offered a handshake, a smile and a pleasant comment about my accent. That's the thing about bikes in France: they are really esteemed here, as is actually using them. I was immediately reminded of a few other experiences in the last few weeks. On col de la Menee, a couple that had spread out a picnic on the side of the road and set up lawn chairs yelled "COURAGE" to us as we passed. On St. Nizier, a hiker walking down from the Tour sans Venin looked at me huffing and puffing, and said "Bravo", even though I was going pitifully slow. Except for the crazy driving, I can't think of a better place to be someone who enjoys cycling.

Vercors

I had to bring the car in for servicing in Echirolles this morning, and decided (as I did last year) to ride up St. Nizier while the car was being worked on. It was quite cold though, and a foggy cloud layer had settled into the valley and the plateau. As a result, I broke out all of the cold weather gear I own: windstopper N2S windshirt, thick Giordana jersey, new Ekoi bib tights, thick polypro socks, windstopper beanie, and my much loved Goretex paclite shell. I felt a little like a pack mule. Along the way to the climb I passed the always cool "fancy car service place", which had a GT3RS, a Gallardo and a 360 Modena out front.






I wonder what routine maintenance costs on one of those. I know, that's the wrong question. Anyway, after snapping a few pics, I rode over the beautiful new pedestrian/bike bridge that traverses the Drac, got a little lost in the maze of houses around Sessins, and eventually found the base of the climb. It is easy to find when you get close, because our car insurance place is right there, and it is located in the amusingly named "Zone Industrielle des Fleurs" (Industrial Zone of the Flowers). Anyway, under my many layers and tons of gear I did not feel very sprightly riding up the hill and indeed was downright slow. It took me ~1:02 to do the climb, which I'm sure I can better if I get a good day, the planets are aligned and I feel a little less sick. You know, the usual excuses. Anyway, the big problem was that even maxing myself out on the climb, it was so cold that I lost feeling in my feet by the top, and I considered turning around. I could see the clouds burning off though so I decided to press on. I continued through Lans, and the beautiful small towns that line the Route de Villard. At the top of one of the hills, I saw what looked like a herd of cattle in the road ahead. As I got closer, I saw that it was indeed a herd of cattle, being moved down the road by three people. Unfortunately, things started going poorly when one adventurous cow broke through an electric fence and started loping into an adjacent field. This induced some yelling by the closest Shepherd, but it was too late, and there was soon a peloton of cows escaping down the hill. They did not have a dog, unfortunately, so two of them ran down the hill and corralled them back, but not before the electric fence was completely trampled into the mud. Eventually the cows exited the road, and I continued onwards through Villard-de-lans and Les Jarrands. By now the skies were blue, and the sun was out. Around one of the curves I saw a Loomis truck pulled over on the side of the road, with a guard outside the truck on a cell phone, with the door open! I would think that even with an empty truck, you would not want to invite attack by doing something like that, but that's just me. In fact, the only time I have ever seen stopped armored cars is when they are loading or unloading. I'm sure it is a good policy to make as few stops as possible. Anyway, onwards to Meaudre, through les Gorges des Meaudret, which are lined with a stunning display of reds, oranges and yellows. From there, it was on to Autrans, over a little hill and them the Col de la Croix Perrin, the last major effort of the day (and not a big deal at only 200 m of elevation gain). Then came the descent into Lans, where I realised that I did not have house keys with me, so instead of the Gorges du Furon, I descended via St. Nizier. Before that however, I finally found a water fountain, after pulling up to several that had been turned off along the way. One bottle is not really enough for 50 km and 1500 m of elevation gain! The descent was beautiful, and not too fast. I arrived back at the dealership at the 89 km mark, but the car was not ready and the battery was disconnected for service. The problem was that my change of clothes was in the trunk of the car, and the trunk is not easy to open without power. I eventually was able to change out of my clammy cycling stuff and went off in search of food. Unfortunately, that part of town is unexpectedly seedy. There was a crowd of teenagers in the supermarket parking lot drinking beers, and a random guy was approaching strangers and trying to sell something. I decided to live with the chance that I might be missing the deal of a lifetime and continued to the Tabac. As I was queued for the register a drunk guy wandered in (it was 2:30 PM) and asked the Tabac lady about the different kinds of cigars they sold. I quickly left and went to the supermarket, where the only thing resembling a sandwich was a chicken-pickle mayo sandwich. I wandered through the supermarket to find something else to eat and noticed an unusually large number of middle aged guys in leather jackets and heavily gelled hair. Time to go. After paying and avoiding eye contact with the by now boisterous and probably drunk teenagers in front of the store, I found a park across from the Honda Dealer. Exhausted and famished, I sat down on a park bench in the sun and started inhaling the chicken pickle sandwiches which were, to be fair, not as bad as they looked. A group of women ambled into the park at this point, and were screaming to each other about couscous, which struck me as a strange thing to be yelling about. They had a toddler with them which they would take turns playing ball with. At one point one of the women shuffled off to a stand of trees WITHOUT much cover, I might add, and squatted down for a pee. I took this as a cue to again find a new place to wait, but the only place left was the dealership. Happily, the car was ready! I think they must have uploaded new engine management because the acceleration feels a lot quicker.

Video of the ride here:

Beautiful ride

Over the col de la Croix haute, col de Grimone, gorges des gats and col de Menee... fantastic!

Mushrooms?

We drove up near col de la Charmette to look for mushrooms today.

the Boss

Me: I'm the boss!
Zoe (walking away from me, looking back at me over her shoulder while rolling her eyes): I'm the boss aussi.