Tour de Friggen France

Today was the big day: The "Queen" stage of the tour de france which passed through three mythical cols, for a whole lot of altitude gain. With a profile like today's, it was fairly certain that some kind of attack would happen, but I don't think anyone imagined how exciting a stage it would really be. I was thinking about recent tours, and it was definitely the most exciting stage I have watched for a long time. Perhaps more importantly, the tour was going right through the town that we are staying in!

For the past few days I had been trying to drum up excitement in my generally non cycling obsessed co-chaletards, with limited success. However, when you see Andy Schleck attack with 60 km of hard riding left to go, and in particular relatively exposed and headwindy terrain... I think most everyone was excited! Unfortunately, the day did not get off to a great start, when
Christine, Terry and Robyn went to the wool mill in Chantmerle in the morning and were unable to return because of the road closures. Instead, they had to walk back to the chalet, much to their chagrin. They managed to make it back well in advance of the tour, though.

Everyone went out an hour early or so to see all the hotdog cars go by, and get free stuff.


The race spectators were worse than grad students at the prospect of free stuff: one enormous imbecile walked right in front of Jon and me and began swinging his hands in two arcs trying to get packets of Nesquick thrown at him. A middle aged woman next to me was throwing elbows and muttering about free laundry detergent. When the first detergent mobile passed her by, she was visibly distraught, but perked up when she saw a second detergent mobile. I don't think she really need a free one-dose detergent packet, based on the fact that she lives in a GIANT chalet next to the chalet that we were renting. Eventually, I got fed up and braved the wrath of the young gendarme who was blowing his whistle and yelling at people for walking in the street (what would he have done on Galibier, I wonder?) and crossed the street. There were much fewer things being thrown onto the left side of the road, but less of a feeding frenzy, which was fine by me. All I really wanted was the coveted Carrefour polka dotted caps for the kids, and to get pictures of the chalet posse.



We went back to the Chalet to watch the tour live on TV, and were amazed to see the Andy-attack. I thought that there was no way he would maintain his gap on the ramp up to Galibier, since it isn't that steep, and there is ton of wind, but they had sent one of their teammates up in advance of the attack, and actually increased the gap. Here they are, several (4?) minutes ahead of the peloton

And then the peloton, which probably should have started reeling them in earlier!

Worth mentioning: Team Sky has the nicest team cars:

After the peloton whizzed by, we (okay, I) rushed back to the chalet to watch the run up to Galibier. When Schleck hit the base of Galibier with the same lead, even the French commentators assumed that Voeckler would not be in Yellow at the end of the day. Amazingly, he hung onto Evans' wheel for all of Galibier (dropping Contador) and made the gap small enough to retain the yellow jersey! During one of the most memorable sections of one of the most memorable stages in recent Tour history, I heard a "Daaaaaaady-o" coming from the bathroom, which was the song of the three-year-old-butt-that-needs-wiping. So while Voekler was killing himself trying to keep the jersey, I was frantically searching for diaper wipes and cleaning butt. Epic stuff.

After all the tour hullabaloo was over, we dropped Terry off back at her stranded car in Chantemerle. I guess her epic was just getting started, and it ended up taking quite a long time to get to Geneva that night. Along the way, I noticed that the HTC-Highroad team (one of three US teams in the tour) truck was in a lot across the street, so I crept up on it and took these photos.


Amazing things that I missed:
1)That is mark cavendish's bike!! (bib 171)
2)I think that is Tony Martin (one of the world's best time trialists) talking to the mechanic!
3)There is a rubber chicken hanging in the team truck

also, the mechanic was slamming the crankset into the frame with a hammer, having declared the previous crankset "caput". It wasn't even a sprint stage, and Cav still managed to nuke his crank.

Rocher Baron, Tour de France, Casset

Chloe and I were supposed to climb the Aiguillette du Lauzet today, but when we arrived at Pont de l'alpe, it was snowing a little bit! Not wanting to freeze to death, we opted instead for sunny single pitch climbing at a crag called Rocher Baron (just south of Briancon). When we arrived, I noticed that some barriers were being set up, and there were cycling fans everywhere. It turned out that a small French cycling race called the Tour de France was about to come through! I had no idea that the stage came so close to Briancon, but we managed to inadvertently stumble upon the hill preceding the Montgenevre climb! This is the third time I have managed such a feat (the first two were for the paris stages of the 1991 and 2003 TdFs). We did some nice climbs (Titeuf, Eau Secours, Pas de bile, J'en reve encore, Je n'ai qu'une seule vie, Derniere danse) on excellent rock before heading back down the road to watch the tour. A small escape had formed, and we got to see Voeckler in yellow, with Europcar doing work at the front of the peloton.





THOR!

We got down just in time for the riders, so we missed the usual "pre-game show" of cars shaped like pigs etc. I did notice that instead of the just the usual gendarmes, there were also italian police (in BMWs, not Fiats!) because the stage ended in Italy. The road was supposed to be closed until 4 PM, but they opened it at 2:30, so we went back to the chalet for a walk to le Casset with the crew

snow on izoard

Jon, Sue and I drove to Izoard today with the kids. I had been hearing about the beautiful landscape of the casse desert for a couple of years, and assumed that the best way to get there was from the Guillestre side of the famous col (Since I had not seen any of it when I rode Izoard from the North side), so we drove south of Briancon to approach the col from the South. It was raining very hard, but we stopped briefly to look at the Mont Dauphin Fort, built in 1693 by the famous French military engineer Vauban. It was quite impressive, but not worth dragging the kids out in the rain for! From there, after a few wrong turns, we were on the road to Izoard. There was supposed to be a cycling race today, but hopefully it was cancelled. We continued up, and I noticed a whiteness on the tops of the mountains that looked suspiciously like snow. In a matter of minutes, the temperature had dropped to zero, and we found ourselves in a snow storm in the middle of July. It was not light snow either, but huge swirling flakes. We saw quite a few foolhardy cyclists descending and climbing the col. I have a feeling that they were even colder than Ian and I were last year. We stopped a few times for pictures, and the Casse Désért is absolutely beautiful in the snow.


After a few slighlty scary switchbacks we reached the col.

My plan had been to stop at the Auberge Napoleon for lunch, but the snow was sticking, and I decided that it was not worth getting stuck up at the col, so we descended and headed back to the chalet. Zoe got sick from all the windy roads, and vomited on her shirt and Alex's stuffed animal. Poor ZZ!

Du miel et des abeilles

Chloe and I got on a very short "grande voie" today. We got stuck behind some very, very slow people. Otherwise, it was beautiful and the rock was good!




The walkoff was easy, and we were soon back at the car. After driving back to the Chalet, we all went to Briançon together for ice cream, fort touring, and browsing the whistling marmot stuffed animals.

Monetier

Cycling, Jim

I went for a morning ride up Charmette today (only a few seconds faster -- I dont know how I am going to find enough power or lose enough weight to get to my goal of 1 hour even). It felt pretty hard, which I guess is expected for a hors categorie climb, but I need to work on my endurance on climbs over 600 meters.

Anyway, I usually turn around and go home at the col, but I decided to be a little adventurous and try out the forestry road that descends to St. Laurent du Pont today. I had heard different things about the state of it, so I just took it slow and was careful. The road was in very good shape; the only problems were the unlit tunnels. The first two were short enough that I could see what I was riding over, but the last one (tunnel des agneaux) was very long and *very* dark. I made it through without crashing, happily. The views from the road are spectacular,

and you pass a convent along the way

It's a wonderful ride, with no chance of cars! You just have to be careful and take it slow on the descent, unless you are on a mountain bike, in which case it would be no problem at all. I'll probably bring a mini bike light for the Tunnel of Death next time.

Later on, an old colleague from south san came by (he is in Europe for four weeks), and we went into town for vietnamese food and a trip to the top of the Bastille. It was great to catch up and gossip about biotech days and people and show him our new stomping grounds.

pool with the kids

First stop was Decathlon, since there is a rule (I am not making this up!) that you must wear speedo style swimming trunks at public pools in France. I tried on various pairs, which varied widely in their levels of hideousness, and eventually landed on a pair that did not induce any muffin topping. From there, it was off to the public pool in St. Egreve, where we played with the kids in the water for a while

and then had lunch. The kids went for the the organic free-range sausages. All natural!


I was still recovering from a crazy virus that gives you headaches and pains in your sides (chloe also had it), so I was pretty exchausted by the end of the day. At least I have a banana hammock now!

bike trailer

Rode 25k with the children in tow in the croozer. Not very long into my planned itinerary, I heard the dreaded "Home" over the sound of the wind, so we had to go back. Also, a water bottle exploded, soaking the menagerie of stuffed animals in the child trailer, as well as babu and my phone. arggh


current year to date stats
weight lost: 9 pounds/4 kg
miles ridden: 1806 km/ 1122 miles
vertical distance climbed: ~25000m / 82000 feet
crashes: 1

woo!

personal record up Narbonne (~20 minutes from pinsello to the last steep spot)

Schoooooools out for summer

It was the last day of school today, and I noticed a sign indicating that the kids would be going to the park near our house for a treasure hunt and activities today. Not being able to resist watching Zoe running around with her classmates, I asked the teacher if I could join. It turned out that they were looking for help from parents, and I was soon recruited into the gymnastics section. The complete pool of ~60 kids were broken up into groups of ten or so, and several activities were set up. The only ones I could see from my side of the field were a sack race, a relay race, and gymnastics. The gymnastics involved somersaults, cartwheels, hanging from the bar with their knees ('Cochon pendu'), rolling all the way around the bar, and the coup de grace: walking along the bar. Walking along the bar was the clear favorite (for the kids), but also the most strenuous (for the parents). It basically involved hoisting the not-so-light kids onto the bar, walking along with them, and them hoisting them up into the air and then down to the ground. My back and shoulder were in a fair bit of pain by the end, but it was still great to see Zoe in her école environment. Of course, after escorting the better part of the ecole maternelle along the bar without incident, I managed to lose hold of Zoe and she fell onto the bar. This engendered much crying, but the teacher saved me and Zoe calmed down. I'm not sure how she did it! Zoe then got a very special teacher assisted beam walk:

Other pictures:

A school performance

Today was the day of the rescheduled school performance. It being Zoe's first, Chloe and I were VERY excited. We arrived at the school to find Zoe getting prepared for her grande entrance. All week we had been trying to determine what her actual role would be, but our queries were dismissed with a role of the eyes and a "je ne sais PAS!". It was another hot day, and it seemed like an eternity before the little kids were due to perform. There was also almost no seating, and it was a struggle to get even a peek at her. In the lead up to the little kid performance, alex was getting pretty antsy, so Chloe and I had to take turns taking care of him. Some time during this kid shuttling, one of the kids (probably Zoe) filled our water bottle with dirt. Chloe unfortunately did not notice, and took a deep pull of mud water: refreshing! Zoe's class perfomance consisted of holding up cards that I could not see (because of the difficult viewing conditions), but which chloe tels me had the names of painters, writers etc, and then picking up instruments and doing some dancing. It was very, very cute. At one point, the kids put their instruments in a little circle before a dance routine, and then returned to pick them up. Zoe's instrument was a mini guitar, and a little troublemaking boy (who had earlier been hitting another boy in the head with his card) tried to steal Zoe's guitar! Zoe, however has been training her iron grip because of toy competition with Alex, and the guitar was soon firmly in her hand. I think the boy might have started crying at this point, but I didn't have much sympathy. Here is Zoe, with a stalwart look on her face, guitar in hand, flushed with the sweet taste of victory.


And a few more of the performance