Bike ride

Got to ride (with the new bike!) some of Ian's previously local roads around Stanford, including Old La Honda. ~43 miles round trip. There is some pretty nice riding out there.

The bike

The plan was simple: buy an old crappy bike so that I could enjoy some riding in CA, and then leave it there. While I was shopping for one, however I found a used steel travel frame (Ritchey BreakAway) on the 'Bay for a great price, so I bid on it and got it. From there I bought every component, one by one used off the'Bay as well and had them delivered to Berkeley (sorry, mom!) and arranged for it to be built up at Mike's bikes. The build went fine, and here is my new to me travel bike!

The guy building it said that it built up as light as a low full carbon rig he had just done at 18.2 pounds (8.25kg). Not too shabby for a steel travel bike.

The long trip to CA

It was an early wakeup for us (there aren't a lot of connections through Lyon, so you usually end up on an early flight) at four in the morning, then drove to the airport, dropped everyone+luggage off at the terminal, parked, took a picture of the parking space, met up with everyone at the terminal and found the check in. A dog was being checked in in a carrier, and the very worried looking owner was contemplating a large puddle of dog pee on the terminal floor. I'm guessing it was doggie-sedative related. The check in people seemed to be completely at a loss for what to do however and it was at least twenty minutes before we could get our luggage through. The security check in was a nightmare with complete jerk attendants -- it reminded me of the TSA! The trip was fairly uneventful, but looooong. It is unspeakably daunting to look at the "flight progress" monitor, see that you are halfway there (YAY!) and then realize that that is another six hours (BOOOO!). We were met at SFO by a very excited nana. I love to see her reunited with the kids






it's a long trip. Happily, we were prepared with lots of gifts, the iPad loaded up with movies and games and a lot of snacks.

YES!

Neuro fuzzy rice cooker house warming gift!!! Thank you mom and dad!

Wine bar

I went to the excellent Doisneau exhibit at the le Musée de l’Ancien Évêché with Franck and Chantal after work. Snow and sleet along the way, but preferable to being mired in traffic in a car. I felt a little like a garbage man walking into the museum though -- pulling off layers of waterproofs clothes, including shoe covers and helmet. The museum closed at 6 pm, so we did not have a lot of time to peruse the show, but it was a very nice collection. We all agreed that we wanted to come back. Anyway, there are some real gems in the collection. From there, I followed Franck en velo past our old place on Place Jean Achard, and on to a restaurant called La Verre a Soi, which I LOVED. You pay for a card with a certain amount of money on it, and then can serve yourself from a bank of three wine preserver/dispensers. For someone like me, who appreciates wine, but is not a wine expert, it was a wonderful way to experience the contrast between different wines. Being scientists, Franck and I had some doubts about the precision of the dispensation -- the actual volume dispensed from a 20 mL pour seemed to vary inversely with the value of the bottle. More likely, our expectations were elevated when we switched to something that we knew that we liked like the Meursault. I looked up the company that makes the wine dispensers, which is called Enomatic, and they appear to be all over the place. I encourage you to try one out, as it's pretty fun experience. In my search for more information about them, I was really surprised to find a lot of posts from people that hate them. This quote: "Do you really want to put an Enomatic machine in your restaurant? You know, that romance-killing stainless steel wine cage that spits out three-ounce pours with grace of a soap dispenser?" made me laugh, because I noticed it as well, and that's a fair point! It's worth pointing out that the criticisms she makes are from the perspective of a restaurant manager/owner rather than a customer, but I feel that some of her points seem a bit elitist. We can't all afford to have a pro sommelier expertly pouring perfect glasses of whatever wine we want. And furthermore, the enomatic allows people like me to sample a far greater range of wines at a reasonable price at one time than would otherwise be possible. I have never been to a restaurant that made more than a handful of wines available by the glass, and certainly not at the minimum volume that the enomatic allows (with associated low cost). I'll keep in mind that there is the possibility that the machine is not preserving wines as well as advertised, but this is France! I bet even those 300 euro bottles of Petrus (at 10 euro or so per "soap" squirt) don't take very long to drain.

Anyway, I loved it, and will certainly be going back. The big discovery for me was the Croix de Beaucaillou, 2009. I've never really "grokked" Bordeauxs -- my favorites have always been the Bourgogne, but this one was something really special. I'd love to find a bottle somewhere to bring back to the states. We ended with an award winning Crozes, which was like getting smacked in the face with a board after all the subtlety of the previous wines.

Au revoir, les antipodes

Went to Simon and Vanessa + kids going away party just down the street. So sad to see them go, and here's hoping they miss France hugely and move back (and that we will manage to get more permanent jobs and will still be here)!!

Toy Store

Zoe had a birthday party to go to today, so I took Alex and Zoe to the toy store to find a gift. With foresight, I can say that going to a toy store less than a month before Xmas is not a good idea. Most kids were barely keeping it together, while others had fully succumbed to Santa Claus fever and were literally being carried out kicking and screaming. It was a bad scene man, and I suspect that Chloe was throwing me under the bus when she casually suggested that I take the kids there, but I can't prove it. Our kids, however were in a rare good mood and were actually pointed out by one particularly unlucky set of parents as an example of well behaved kids.

internet back again (finally)

The internet has been a running joke for us: many weeks to get a connection, and we have twice been without it for a week now. Nice job, Bouygues.

Leroy Merlin

Chloe was dropped off Zoe at a birthday party today (which we were both worried about because she is so shy) and taking Alex to go hang out with a former work friend. In the mean time I decided that i would take care of a few house things that had just not been getting done. This involved a bike ride to Leroy Merlin, the French equivalent of Home Depot (or Loews, I guess). The big difference is that Leroy Merlin has people that actually know what they are talking about. unfortunately, the "huge endless maze of products" is the same. First stop: lighting. I was hoping to get a light fixture or two, but as I was staring at the wall full of pictures, I noticed the light getting brighter and brighter. Soon, people were shielding their eyes and turning away. I guess some enterprising Leroy Manager had decided that it was important for us to see what the fixtures looked like at various light levels. However, the wall of light looked like a rock concert and furthermore, the levels were changing far faster than human eyes could adjust. Anyway, I found a nice stainless steel fixture, but then realised.. I was on my bike! There really is no way to get something like that into a backpack. Next stop: fasteners. I got lost in here for a while, and it took me forever to find the padlocks. It turns out that padlocks are kept several aisles away from the padlock clasps. Who knows why. There was an almost constant whine from a high speed circular saw while I was wandering around. I had assumed that they were doing work somewhere, but it turned out to be a Leroy staff member with a vacant look on his face absent mindedly sawing small bits off of a 2x4 (or whatever the metric equivalent is) at a demo station. I guess he was showing off a saw that was on sale. It seemed like a lot of noise and dust for nothing though! I made it out of Leroy Merlon eventually, and with several new masonry bits for my drill. The thing about buildings in Grenoble is that every wall tends to be made out of rick or cement. Therefore, even simple things like putting in a toilet paper holder require a hammer drill, masonry bit and expansion sleeves! I like the solidity of the walls, but the whole "drilling holes in cement" thing gets old pretty fast.

A ride in the Trieves

The Trieves is a beautiful region south of Grenoble that we have not explored very much. It contains the Mont Aiguille and a string of picturesque small towns, all on rolling hills ringed by mountains. My first ride with Hank more than a year ago was in the Trieves, and I wanted to go back. There was one col in particular which I had seen recently called the Col du Noyer. After a few terse emails between us it was on. We parked at Pellafol, suited up, discussed the impressively cold temperatures (at least for a Bay Area wuss like myself) and we were off. We headed down the D217b into a sharp sided ravine. A few turns still had frost on them and the grass was still white in the shadows. Over the bridge, up the steepish road and the legs were finally beginning to warm up. Then it was descent time again. After a left handed turn in the road I noticed my front wheel move a bit, and then I heard the sickening clatter of road bike against pavement. It's such a distinctive sound, and one that always makes me queasy. I glance backwards and I don't see Hank anymore, but there was a sliding sound. I remember actually saying "uh oh" and then my front wheel
was out and my bike was on the ground too. We had come across a huge sheet of totally black ice. Usually there is some kind of clue: tire marks, frost at the edge of the road.. something! This time there was nothing, even off the bike and standing still it looked no different from tarmac. I've only seen that a few times in my life actually. Anyway, We dust ourselves off: shifter and RD missing some varnish, half of my cleat broken off. Hank makes his way down the road on foot: an impressive bloody gash on his palm but somehow he's still smiling. He tells me that it was lucky there was so much ice to cushion his fall. I think I'll start calling him "Jens". Somehow, with half a cleat I was still able to clip in, albeit with a lot more float than usual.

Onwards on small roads. We end up at an intersection and opt for the smaller road, which after a pretty decent climb confronts us with a "Road Closed" sign. We press on. There is a foot path over an impressive drop to the valley floor. Velotel shoulders his bike and charges down the rocky footpath. I follow, branches pinging off my wheels. Next it's rolling hills, past broken castles and farms, and then to the base of the Col du Noyer. It kicked up immediately into a respectable grade, then through some hamlets and then into the business of the climb. It's stunning scenery and the top looks a bit like Izoard to me. Neither of us could believe how beautiful and wild it was up there, and how unexpected. It looked so out of place somehow. Then over the col, and a ginger descent over potentially icy roads, but happily no more close encounters of the road kind. Down a hill and I can see a huge white dog amidst a flock of sheep notice Hank and take off towards him. I actually thought it was a sheep at first because it was the same size as one, but whiter. Another mishap about to happen? No, the dog hits a small section of orange fencing and gives up. From here, it's all downhill and back to the car. 64km, 1400m gain and a stunning loop. a must do, and in the direction we did it IMO. Video and photos below:

Ciao a te

Ciao a the the Aussies… probably the last time we will hang out with them sans infants. Chloe and I are both really sad to see them go.

Rollers

The issue of staying fit in the Winter is a bit difficult for me. Cycling gets difficult with the occasional snow storm, soaking or slushy roads, and yeah, the cold. I have accumulated a decent amount of cold weather gear, so I can safely ride without dying or freezing to death, but it's not always fun.

This season though, I finally broke down and bought a set of rollers, which are a primitive indoor torture device for cyclists. My last encounter with them was in college on the cycling team, and it did not go well at all and since then I have always assumed that they are impossible. After talking to a guy at work that has them, however, I decided to give it another go, and I think the new versions are a lot easier than the ca 1990s rollers. It still feels like riding a bike on a skating rink though.



After a few workouts I can stand while riding and ride one legged. I've also been setting up a connection to the computer for targeted training programs. It should keep it a little less bleak than staring at the wall.

Kid drop off this morning: too cold to wait outside

Mont st. Martin

Kitties!

We're going to adopt a cat! After the new years, that is

Our new place

A view out the window

Zoe: "and the other presi-nent? Il set mechant?"

arrrgh

Still no internet, and pretty busy at work, so sorry if I haven't been responding promptly to emails!

Bike path

Storm aftermath. Not easy to bike over that mess!