Ride, Cowboy, Ride

Now I’ve got a goal to train for and can’t wait another day to start.  I’ll be meeting up with my old coworkers at a nice organized ride in SoCal in two weeks and I don’t want to be the weak link in our chain (like on our Ventura ride in January…).  So Yesterday my roommate and I rode to South Mountain Park and climbed the summit road to the top.  First to the lookout and then to the TV Towers.  (I actually went all the way back to the guard towers at the bottom in between because I was really seeking climbing miles for my training and oh the second climb hurt way more!).  There was an awesome view south of the mountain so we took a picture and then watched in amazement as some adventurous parasailers climbed through the thermals after launching just in front of us.  I felt great on the ride back, but was absolutely wiped out after lunch.  Apparently it takes some energy to ride 49 miles whilst climbing South Mountain twice (3,500 calories of energy according to my Polar Heart rate monitor).  That’s 49 miles through absolutely perfect weather and great scenery!  If only all training could be this fun.

Great Weekend!

Friday night:  Suns vs. Nuggets preseason game with my brother (and Suns got whipped with Billups and Anthony sitting the whole game but we won’t talk about that).

Saturday morning:  Courtside seats for Suns scrimmage at US Airways with my brother.

Saturday afternoon:  Nap!

Saturday evening:  Dinner with old family friends (serving up some filet mignon!).

Sunday afternoon:  Hike South Mountain with friends and go out for Sushi afterwards (6.2mi and 1300 calories burned; not sure how many of those were replaced by sushi).

Sunday evening:  Drop by my sister’s and play with my niece.  She can nearly say “Uncle Adam” now and is recognizing me again after my long absence in Europe.

I say you can’t go wrong with family and friends and enough sleep.  Speaking of sleep…

I’m HOME!!!

OK, sorry for such a delay/lag in posting.  I didn’t finish my Switzerland blog posts before I made it to Munich for Oktoberfest.  Then Brussels was a whirlwind of packing my scattered stuff into two bags and figuring out what to leave behind since I was not about to pay 200 Euro to take a 3rd bag.  Then I wrote a couple entries while waiting in the airport in Brussels to go home, but still haven’t caught up.  I got home over two weeks ago now, it’s hard to believe.  But the luxury at home is I can pretty much do whatever I want whenever I want, and initially that was meeting up with people (especially since my girlfriend was back here on vacation for a week) and getting my poor neglected house back in order (actually my roommates took pretty good care of it, but there’s always something you know). 

Also I bought a laptop (literally walked in to Fry’s Electronics the first day I was back in Tempe and left within 45 minutes with a new laptop).  I’d been nursing mine along with minor upgrades since I bought it in 2005 and could no longer convince myself that it was worth the frustration.  Oh, and I suppose I’m a PC (a Dell Inspiron 15R had the right combination of features and value for me to save a week of online research and just do it-though I spent an hour at home afterwards searching to convince myself it was a good deal before opening the box).  I quit my job a year ago so I can’t afford to be a Mac.  If you were going to buy a bunch of extra software anyhow then the Mac would be a good deal because they come with a lot of nice programs out of the box; but I pretty much already had the software I’d be using and couldn’t justify spending double for it.

So the new laptop is my biggest excuse for not updating the blog sooner.  Anytime I sat down at the computer I was either setting up new programs/preferences or just enjoying the bliss of being able to go online pretty much whenever I wanted and on my own computer.  Plus switching computers did complicate being able to post good pictures (trying to remember if they were on the other computer or still on a memory card or on my external hard drive) with my blog entries and I really feel like blogging about a bike trip through Switzerland or being at Oktoberfest in München necessitates pictures.  Blogging about procrastinating my blog does not require pictures.  So I have just blogged while simultaneously procrastinating blogging.  Or something like that.

Interlaken Mountain Biking

September 22, 2010

 

No more messing around with finding internet or a decent breakfast place.  I had a cheese sandwich from some groceries I was carrying and packed some clif bars for my ride.  I had planned to take the train to Lucerne rather than bike in order to try some Mountain biking in the Alps.  I had a little trouble finding a place that rented decent bikes (a place I had previously contacted didn't respond with their address nor availability).  I did ended getting a good deal once I rode to the North end of the Valley Interlaken is in.  I found out most of the accessible trails were actually double-track with some pavement so I opted for a hard tail to save 20 Franks and make the ride more efficient.  The ride was quite scenic, and roughly 20Km each way.  I pushed to get all the way to Grindelwald (I'll have to double-check maps later to confirm this was the place) and return in time to catch my train to Lucerne.   About halfway there I saw a sign with 10km, 346m (or something like that), and Grindelwald all together.  Without understanding the rest of the words I realized I was going to have to climb over 900 feet in elevation to make it to my turnaround point.  Let me just say I was glad to have the MTB granny gear and glad to not have my extra 50lbs of Adam gear.

 

I made it in 2hrs, and raced back in 1hr.  As you'll see from the picture, it was worth pushing to Grindelwald.  I grabbed a sandwich and Fanta at a train station café and ate fast.  I flew down the valley, returned the rental, biked back to the hostel, installed my panniers, and rode to the train station with 30min to spare.  Then found out on the train I had to buy a bike ticket that ended up costing about the same as I had paid for my own ticket two weeks earlier.  Definitely going to need to hit an ATM for a second time before getting out of the country...

 

And made it to Lucerne by 6pm!  That's two days in a row with daylight to spare.

Finally Fondue!

So I walked around trying a little to find a computer I could do some transferring, but still nothing simple.  I made it to a small restaurant and decided to try the Fondue.  It was 21 Franks, but it's a specialty, right?  There was a suggestion to add Jacket Potatoes (In the UK this would be a big baked potato with various fillings, sometimes served as a meal) for 4.50, and I was hungry so why not?  Well, a big bowl of small chunks of bread showed up, then the fondue, then the potatoes.  These were NOT jacket potatoes.  There were a handful of new potatoes, it seriously seemed like the kitchen had to hold back and gave me literally a half bowl of tiny potatoes, each one basically bite-size.  So after eating half the potatoes and several pieces of bread with the cheese I simply had to ask for the menu because there was no way I'd get enough to eat.  Add on a plain omelet for 12 Franks and I finally had a good size meal with one large beer for only 45 Francs.  Let's see Rachel Ray try and do $40 a day in Switzerland with enough balanced calories to bike 40 miles on consecutive days.

 

After dinner I found a bar/café with a few computers that I was able to do some file transfer.  Apparently I'd just gotten lucky though and the computer ended up closing out the applications and logging off sometime after I started the file transfer.  I then asked about using the computers without using the internet (prices shown implied being for internet not computer use) after already having purchased a 9 Frank Sangria but they couldn't figure out how to let me use the computer without paying and it would've cost 9 Franks per 30min of use, and I like I said, it takes 42min to free up just one of my 16GB SD cards and I had four full cards by that time.  Nevermind.

Berne to Interlaken

September 21, 2010

 

What does it take to find a decent breakfast in this country?  So now I've confirmed McDonald's is not an option.  It doesn't open until 10am most days and skips breakfast entirely.  I had met backpacking sisters the night before and eaten with them at the Spaghetti Factory, the only restaurant still serving food (other than kebabs) by the time I'd checked into the hostel and showered.  Randomly I had stopped to check my GPS upon nearing the hostel when they asked if I knew just the street I was routing to.  I directed them and of course they were looking for the same hostel as I.  Then, after they had also checked in and gone searching for food they also ended up not finding Swiss/regional food and had to settle for the Spaghetti factory.  During our breakfast/coffee search we somehow ended up crossing paths again.  Ironically enough, my girlfriend and one of the girls' boyfriend happened to be in Manchester, UK that week.

 

After a few days of recording video footage from my helmet cam I was nearly out of SD card space and trying to find a computer with two free USB ports.  I should've been a bit more forward and asked somebody at the hostel with a laptop, because the other available computers seemed to either only have one (thus doubling the 42min to copy from card to computer, and then computer to my HD) or else some security software prevent the USB from working properly with my adapters.  I was running out of time early and wanted to get on the road to avoid such a late arrival again (hoping there weren't too many hills that day but knowing I was headed straight for the base of the Swiss Alps).  I did finally find a great breakfast restaurant with a reasonably priced omelet, and got on the road about 10:30am.

 

I'm a lucky dog!  The route to Interlaken took me down a valley (I decided to nix the bike route detours I'd planned thinking it would be too short of a day going straight) and along a lake just past Thun with the only serious climbing being when the mountains next to the lake rose sheer and the road had some winding and tunnels about 5-10mi before Interlaken.  My arrival time:  6:30pm, perfect.  It was late enough however to end up with the room at the absolute top of the hostel (climbing stairs with my luggage after biking for hours was becoming quite the trend).  I should finally have my choice of dinner...

Morlon to Berne

September 20, 2010

 

Gorgeous!  Surprised again.  I opened my shutters to such an amazing view it was almost better because I got in too late to realize what view I had from my balcony.  I slept in and got a slow start riding because I had free wifi again and figured 35-40 miles would be half as difficult as the 75 from the day before.

 

The day was a mixture of pristine farmland, lake views, with snow-capped peaks just at the edge of view.  I intersected paths with a German bike tourist that would regularly ride nearly across Europe during the summer.  He was planning for coffee in Bulle, then camp in the forest a little beyond (about the top of the hill).  He was excited becaues the next day he'd reach Lake Geneva and head around to the French side where he'd be using Euros again.  This was important because he was stressing how expensive he felt it was in Switzerland.  He ballparked that it would take me about five hours to get to Berne that night; and about two to Freiberg.  This was hard to believe, but he turned out to be quite accurate in his estimate.  I arrived to my destination in the dark again, and turned off of the planned bike routes in favor of a more direct road routed by my GPS to try and save miles as it got late.  Despite riding about 30 miles less than the day before, the number of hills meant that I only climbed about 400 less feet (2,500 instead of 2,900). 

 

So, in short, it was long but beautiful.  Need to start earlier than 1:30pm tomorrow...

Morlon to Berne

September 20, 2010

 

Gorgeous!  Surprised again.  I opened my shutters to such an amazing view it was almost better because I got in too late to realize what view I had from my balcony.  I slept in and got a slow start riding because I had free wifi again and figured 35-40 miles would be half as difficult as the 75 from the day before.

 

The day was a mixture of pristine farmland, lake views, with snow-capped peaks just at the edge of view.  I intersected paths with a German bike tourist that would regularly ride nearly across Europe during the summer.  He was planning for coffee in Bulle, then camp in the forest a little beyond (about the top of the hill).  He was excited becaues the next day he'd reach Lake Geneva and head around to the French side where he'd be using Euros again.  This was important because he was stressing how expensive he felt it was in Switzerland.  He ballparked that it would take me about five hours to get to Berne that night; and about two to Freiberg.  This was hard to believe, but he turned out to be quite accurate in his estimate.  I arrived to my destination in the dark again, and turned off of the planned bike routes in favor of a more direct road routed by my GPS to try and save miles as it got late.  Despite riding about 30 miles less than the day before, the number of hills meant that I only climbed about 400 less feet (2,500 instead of 2,900). 

 

So, in short, it was long but beautiful.  Need to start earlier than 1:30pm tomorrow...

Getting the Full Belgian Experience

So I've heard plenty about the regular strikes and industrial action events in France and Belgium particularly.  Today at 2pm the air traffic controllers started a strike at Brussels airport that I think is supposed to last at least 24 hours.  That would definitely include my flight out tomorrow morning, so THANK YOU - BRUSSELS!  And to top it off there seems to be some major European summit or something so that EVERY HOTEL IS SOLD OUT!!!  We were thankful for our average 325 Euro rooms rather than the 799, 1200, and 2000 Euro/night rooms we saw online.  I hope the airlines pay for hotel rooms for flights delayed by industrial action... 

Geneva to Morlon

September 19, 2010

Wow. I'm biking in Switzerland. Childhood imagination after reading The Apple and the Arrow aside--wow. Lac Leman is beautiful. The manmade geyser was quite impressive at dusk the night before, but somehow as I returned in the morning for better pictures it was even more beautiful. And the weather was superb, nary a cloud in the sky. It was brisk, no joke, but for biking that's generally preferred since you warm up quickly while riding. Unfortunately, due to a late night stitching the patch and organizing panniers it was difficult to rise very early and the breakfast options were disappointing as you may have noticed the overpriced McCafe meal I settle for. I then walked to the train station searching for the characteristic shot glass to collect for cities I've been to (hey, it's nearly a universal souvenir and small to boot). So all packed up and checked out I showed up back at the boardwalk watching the geyser round about 10am. Skirting around the north side of the lake was gorgeous. Switzerland has an extensive national and regional bike route system, and once I fouund the route number that went through the cities II needed I could relax and follow the signs until I needed to switch routes. The wind was against me some, but never too strong. I stopped for lunch in Rolle, making a huge sandwich and only taking a few bites before rolling on (but keeping the sandwich handy in a bag in my bike jersey pocket). I had stopped just in time as the huge baguette I'd purchased the night beforere (for who knows how many Franks!) was about to drop 1/3 of its length out the back of it's bag that was strapped to the top of my baggage. My lunch stop afforded me a view of the lake, with a medieval barracks behind me and a farmers market in the square adjacent--not too shabby.

As if on cue, just when I was looking forward to turning away from the lake and seeing what climb I had to do, I reached the most beautiful scenery of the day. As I grunted and complained inside because the bike path left the lake and climbed a wicked steep path, it did so right in the heart of several miles worth of vineyards overlooking the lake. The view from above was more than worth the climb, and I got to descend some of it anyways. Also, as the air cleared up during the day I really got to see the outline of the Alps across the lake in France.

Underestimated. That seems to be the trend when I plan bike rides--underestimating the difficulty. Or perhaps I'm simply always overestimating my own fitness. When I rode the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to San Diego in 2008 it seems like 6:30pm was the earliest arrival, with 7-7:30pm much more common (and me rolling in last). So I cannot blame www.toporoute.com as it gave me a pretty good prediction. I wasn't sure if it would work outside the US but figured it probably just pulled the data from Google so why not. I very coarsely mapped out the first days route (with 75, 35, 35, 35mi days, if the 80mi day is OK then the others you don't worry about). I figured with most of the route along the lake it would be relatively flat, but ended up estimating 2,800 feet of elevation gain. Turns out it was 2900. Not too bad for 75miles, but 2900 ft with an extra 50lbs of luggage was what I underestimated. I kept hoping I"d reach the top and get the reward coasting down at 30mph but it was always not so steep of a descent and a slight headwind keeping me from capitalizing on my gains.
To keep a long story from going too long, I didn't ge to my hotel until 8:30pm. I checked in and unloaded and made sure to order dinner from the restaurant before the shut down the kitchen and then went up to shower before returning to enjoy dinner.

Dinner was good--I was beat tired afterwards. 7,150 calories was the number on my Polar heart rate monitor so there was no guilt eating dinner, drinking beer, and having a scoop of ice cream for dessert (other than the continuing sticker shock of course). The Minotel in Morlon had a very courteous staff and they even provided me with a bag of ice for my knee since I knew I'd be paying for the days exertion in more ways than one. Sleep came very easily...

Geneva

September 18, 2010

The fast train. So I've heard of like 300mph trains, and I've heard that France has high-speed trains, but what really is high speed? When travelling to Amsterdam from Brussels my the train would often reach 80mph, but I heard that for twice the price there was a train that would take 1.5hrs instead of 3hrs... So 80mph is not high speed apparently.

I took the train from Brussels to Paris, got off in Paris Nord Station, had to take a local train (RER for those familiar with Paris transit) and transfer to Gare de Lyon to catch a high speed train to Geneva. This was a bit more complicated because my bike was bagged up and thus I had to grunt with both a duffel full of panniers and a bike that had none of the advantages of bikes but all of the weight and bulk. Having been to Paris a month earlier the transit system was easy enough to figure out and my 70 minute transfer allotment was reduced due to a late arriving train to Paris but I still made it before the platform had been assigned to my Geneva train.

My GPS clocked about 184mph a couple times while I tracked it on the way to Geneva, so apparently that qualifies as high-speed; in case you were wondering.

I had been under the impression that every hostel I booked for this trip had "Free Wifi" on their website but was either mistaken or the website outdated, so I didn't make any updates realtime in Geneva. That was about the end of my "free time" for a few days, but more on that later.

I am willing to bet that I got the best value dinner in Geneva (except for a cheapo Kebap of course), it was even declared "traditional food." It really filled me up; in fact I polished off every last bit of it except maybe 2 pcs of the bread (see picture for 'before'--nevermind, apparently the sd card in my phone farted between pics 562 and 580 so I'm not sure I ever even ate that chicken). I ordered the 2.50 Franks special sauce so that's not as good of value, but the meal of chicken, salad and fries for 14.90 is a great deal--for Geneva. I think the Frank is around the value of the dollar right now, but even still it's more expensive overall than in Euro territory. But then I haven't been in Ireland for awhile and I distinctly remember feeling that Belgium was cheap, Germany cheaper, and Spain even cheaper still compared to Ireland.

OK, so I had a nice chicken dinner, walked around the old city and went bock to my hostel to finally pack my panniers as they would ride and to claim my American heritage (it's a bike tourist thing, see the picture with the new patch on--bought in Amsterdam).

And to close out, since I didn't find the picture of the best value food in Geneva, I shall include nearly the worst value found at McCafe in Geneva. Two blueberry muffins and a two-shot Americano for 12 Franks!!!! I'd ridden by the McDonald's the night before and scoped out the hours of service but unfortunately the 6:30am opening was only for McCafe, the McDonald's proper didn't open until 10am on Sunday. I knew Sunday could potentially hold problems but I was counting on Mickey-D's after confirming the open hours. I need some serious protein and calories before biking 70-80mi with a bike loaded with an extra 50lbs of gear. McDonald's in Berne failed me also, they didn't open till 9:30 or 10am even on Tuesday. So much for worldwide continuity. The circle of trust has been broken...

Stuttgart, Germany

September 17, 2010

Due to a late start from Budapest, and enjoying the sights of Vienna, we arrived late at our destination once again. I was not the best navigator, as I passed out in the car with about 45min left. Anyways, we toured the Mercedes-Benz Museum, which I highly recommend. These pics are from a kiosk there that will BT them to your phone for use as a desktop wallpaper.

Good times and Schnitzel...

Austria

September 16, 2010

I forgot to take any pictures with my phone, and getting pics off my camera is too complicated when I'm working off my Palm, so you'll have to Google them.

Vienna was a gorgeous city, impeccably clean streets in the downtown area, big monumental buildings and lots of pedestrian walking areas.

Austria was a lot lower elevation than I had expected, it must just be how far north it is that gives it the feeling of being higher. The mountains in the Eastern side weren't so steep, but beautifully covered in dark green trees, with Austrian villages speckled throughout. Turns out, Phoenix, AZ is higher elevation than a lot of the portion we drove through.

On to Stuttgart, Germany to stay for the night...

Hungary

September 16, 2010

(once again written a few days later in an attempt to catch up in roughly the order of appearance)

We arrived in Budapest just after midnight, definitely appreciating when we finally landed on a decent motorway. The hostel was quite spectacular, or at least had been in it's heyday (the building that is). We had breakfast and took a quick walk around and across the bridge (I hear originally there were twin cities, Buda and Pest, but are now combined as the capital). It was quite a beautiful city, noticably cleaner than Bucharest from what I saw despite it being one of the poorer nations in Europe (Romania sounds like it's really in dire straits now though, and is attempting to tax it's way out of the problem).

We drove on through here headed towards Vienna (Wien), Austria as the next stopover. Hungary was pretty and relatively flat with lots of trees and farmland and good highways...

Romania

September 10, 2010

(I'm writing this much later, but that's the date I arrived in Romania)

Just some quick highlights, other than eating, socializing, and eating again with some very friendly Romanians...

I got to see another one of Dracula's castles, this one being a perfect outpost to guard a kingdom, overlooking the most accessible mountain pass around. It was a little over an hours drive north of Pitesti, I think. I definitely earned the picture from the top, as there were like 1,400 steps to get there!

Also, just to tick off one of the main attractions to Bucharest, I took a tour of the People's Palace, or rather the Parliament building. It was called the People's Palace because it began construction under communism. Apparently, had it not been built, the main "old town" for tourists would probably have been on the same site, but it was plowed under in the early 80's to make way for this building. It is the second largest in the world, second only to the Pentagon (in square footage I believe).

Then there was about 10 hours driving from Pitesti before reaching the Hungary border when the drive began at noon Wednesday...

7 countries in 4 days

Saturday, September 18, 2010

I'm writing at 185mph. At least that's how fast my train is going right now. Seven countries in four days is not usually my style; I prefer to be able to blink at least twice in each country. But if the opportunity arises I also figure I shouldn't let it pass by.

So I've been a little busy with not quite enough down-time / internet access to keep up with the blog. I actually probably slacked off on writing the blog just because I didn't know when I would find internet next. Hmmm... where to begin? I think I will try to backdate a few entries to a little better filling in the gaps, but this will serve as a high-level update.

Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland. In that order. So I flew to Romania and spent about 5 days there. Then I rode with a buddy back to Brussels in his car. I talked him into a slighly less intense drive with about 2-hour layovers in Budapest, Vienna, and Stuttgart. We actually spent the night in Budapest and Stuttgart. I had been to Romania and Germany before but got to see Austria and Hungary for the first time (not a bad combination considering the capitals were once major cities of the same empire).

I got into Brussels late, stayed up late packing and doing laundry, then caught a 8:30am train to Geneva, Switzerland via Paris. I'm bringing the bike on this one, but the high speed trains require them to be packed, so it was great to have a ride to the train station instead of having to bike and then disassemble my bike at the station in a rush before the train. I have never been to Switzerland either, so I am really looking forward to this. Switzerland was my choice when doing a report on a country back in elementary school; the outdoor junkie in me thought the Alps sounded awesome. Rough Itinerary: Spend tonight in Geneva, bike like crazy tomorrow to Morlon (70-80 miles I think, depending on how windy the bike paths are), then it's about 35-40mi to Bern, then 35-40mi to Interlaken, I'll rent a mountain bike and ride there then catch a train to Lucerne, then bike about 35-40mi the next day to Zurich. At least that's the plan. If I survive the first day of biking, then the rest should be pretty relaxed. It's an intense schedule but it takes me through the heart of Switzerland and I'll get to MTB in the Alps (I think there's lifts to take the bike up!). To finish it all off I'll hop on the train in Zurich for a weekend rendezvous with my wonderful girlfriend in Munich for the Oktoberfest! Life is short... Carpe Diem.

Croque Madame

Correction: Madame is a fried egg on top of a grilled ham & cheese sandwich. A Croque Monsier is w/o the egg. Go figure. Tasty...

Good (rainy) day to catch up on Internet

Today I camped out at a nearby restaurant that I found out has a nearby Wifi link.  I got here around 1pm, ordered lunch and a Stella and have been slowly ordering things to keep from being kicked out.  I found a great table next to an outlet so I'm not limited by battery life.  Having guaranteed high-speed internet at home is something that I had definitely taken for granted (although I probably get to sleep much earlier without having it at home).  It was rainy most of the morning and overcast for the rest of the day today so it's just as well that I go online and research some of my upcoming travels and what the heck I'm gonna do when I get back to the US (not to mention how to get back to Europe but that's a long story).

 

Yesterday I did about a 35 mile bike ride on the east side of Brussels.  I stopped at a bike shop and picked up a nice regional bike route map of Wallonia (that the employee kindly translated the dutch to English on the map legend).  I was glad I wasn't on my expensive road bike after all as I ended up on several dirt tracks (generally smooth) and it added to the experience to be able to just go for it without wondering if I'd end up walking in the tricky bike shoes.  But this is my touring/beater bike and I'm rolling with some comfy MTB/commuter bike shoes.  It's got slicks but they are a little wider than true road tires and have sturdy 36 or so spoke wheels.  The weather cooperated even though the bike shop employee advised me of rain after 1pm, although it did start getting much colder toward the end of my ride.  Afterwards I was starving and it was tough to find a restaurant open on Mondays (plenty of "cafes" open for drinks/coffee but not for food).  I decided to try out the street just past where I usually take the Metro and sure enough there's a restaurant right there that served up a nice plate of spaghetti.  I had my Palm TX with me and decided to go ahead and check for wireless since that's always a desirable thing and sure enough, there were two "open" networks and one let me connect and sync email.  The laptop usually has a stronger connection than the TX so I was pretty sure I could use the laptop inside some other time (I opted to eat outside since I was still in my bike clothes even though it was a bit chilly).

 

Tonight: a croque madame from the same restaurant.  It's a fried egg and cheese on toast I think.  Plus salad and I asked for some frites as well.  They already brought a Heinz ketchup bottle out so I'm excited.  There's some big deal about how to eat Pommes Frites in Belgium.  I guess the real way to do it is with Mayo, but I don't take that on anything but tuna salad if I can help it.  The true Frites stands will charge like 2 or 2.50 Euro for small frites then 0.50 Euro for each sauce, with a surprising variety available.  Curry Ketchup is my personal favorite of the usual options.  McDonald's charges 0.60 Euro for each ketchup, and 0.30 for the bathroom (WC).  An interesting aside, you can buy canned beer at McDonald's in Belgium.  OK, on to ticking (Irishism) my checklist.

Belgian beer galore!

Not a bad weekend to be in Brussels...

http://www.weekenddelabiere.be/en/pages/home.htm

 

I think I'll head over to the Grand Place in a few hours.  It'll be some good practice for the Oktoberfest, actually.  I just booked accommodations in Munich for my last hoorah before heading back to the States for awhile.  It was more expensive than I'd like, but then I didn't have to fly from AZ just for the weekend either.

Chilling in Exki, a nice chain of on the go/healthy cafés with free internet in Brussels for the meantime.

Strasbourg Whirlwind

It sounded too boring to just take the train straight back to Brussels after Nurembourg, so to make things interesting we took a train to Strasbourg Saturday afternoon and an evening train Sunday to reset our schedule and location back in Brussels for Monday morning.  Strasbourg is just across the Rhine river from Germany but the region has a history tied to both countries.  The street signs were in German and French, our menu for the wonderful French dinner Saturday night was in French, German, and English.  Sunday morning we packed up and left the bags at the hotel to go exploring.  There was a tasty brunch in Kebler square where we tried Flammeküche (see picture of one with cheese and bacon), an Alsace regional dish that was closer to a cheese crisp than I could find in California Mexican restaurants.  The nice picture of one of the canals doesn't do the weather justice though, there were all gray clouds above and behind us with it raining on and off all day.  Today is actually much like that but I'm in Leuven, Belgium; apparently somebody told the clouds which train we were on. 

 

Strasbourg was wonderful.  It was a short trip, but then it's a small town and I'd much rather claim to have seen a small town in 24 hours than to have seen a country in a weekend.  We'd heard nice things about the city and it lived up to its reputation.  The train ride back from Strasbourg was nice; although it was 5 hours we didn't have to deal with any transfers and we had reserved seats.  The path took us through three countries (France, Luxembourg, and Belgium) and got to watch a lot of scenic farmland and small towns going by us (but without experience the intermittent rain firsthand).  There was a delay in Luxembourg so I ran into the station and grabbed some grub and now can say I ate dinner in Luxembourg.  So Leuven is part of Flanders region, and I'm told it's better to just speak English than to speak French, even though that is most typically used in Brussels (and Leuven is only 18mi away).  There's a long-running controversy and a lot of pride at stake between the regions in Belgium and it seems even Leuven University had a split over the Language thing, it had been bilingual (Dutch/French) but that didn't work once people had few enough other problems and needed something else to worry about.  There is a Stella Artois brewery here, although Stella is from 1926, the brewery started running in 1366!  I think I might go chill with Stella tonight...

Nürnberg

I love the smell of free wifi in the morning! It's raining here today (which makes the hotel's delivery of a forecast of 81 degrees & sunny seem all the more ridiculous), so I'm presently chillin' in Black Bean: The Coffee Company in the Old Town. I took a walking tour yesterday--the weather was perfect for it. I think that makes today a museum day.
Most of the important historical sites have been restored since the war, but I think the most unique thing is that the city never tore down its Medieval defense wall. Most old cities have one site of remaining wall and a map of where it used to run.

Last Day in Munster

Tonite I'm on to Nuremberg. Geez, I think I'm starting to use British English or something. So today was more of a chill internet/planning day. I've got tickets booked now for Romania and also back to Arizona. I'm also seeing if I can work in a bike trip thru Switzerland before or after Romania. And of course proximity warrants a trip to Oktoberfest before returning stateside.

Nuremberg for two days then maybe a stop on our way back to Brussels. I'm afraid to add up all that I've spent on trains recently, but considering that the purchases were all last minute it's still worth it. Oh, and for the record the German train ticket machines will take US credit cards (my theory is that that is why the lines to get tickets in Germany are so much shorter than in France).

I finished reading the 'Prince of Tides' yesterday. Not that its nonfiction, but anybody that thinks their family is messed up could probably be comforted by reading that book. I don't know that I would have picked the book at a store, but it came preloaded with the ereader App on my palm TX. It really makes you think, and reaffirms my belief that if we could just provide sufficient therapy and/or a safe place to reside, perhaps we could stop the cycles of abuse and violent crime.

But on to a lighter subject: ROAD TRIP! 4 hrs by Audi to Nuremberg. Autobahn here we come!!!

The Cost of Internet and some catching up...

Since the last blog, well, except for the Heidelberg announcement, I've been around a bit.  I had an awesome time in Paris with friends, then helped some other friends moving apartments and spent about a week exploring Brussels.  I took a day trip to Brugge, and was a little disappointed.  I had heard so many recommendations about going there that it was perhaps overhyped.  I would have to say that everybody that puts that much emphasis on visiting Brugge, didn't have the right person showing them around Brussels (or Bruxelles).  Brugges is a quaint little town, and has its charm, but you could compete with it by spending an extra day in Brussels other than the canal experience (in which case Amsterdam or Venice have much more to offer on that front).  I have truly had a first-class experience in Brussels.  The city has history (its been stuck between the major European superpowers and yet somehow came out independent), it has unique architecture, it has modern buildings, it has a very diverse population, it has a great variety of food, and one might say it has an obsession with Beer.  After a week in Brussels I feel like I need to go back and study the different types of beer so that I might gain an even better appreciation.  I was introduced to a few friends of friends, who consequently showed me even more places around Brussels, and I talked to even more people living there who weren't originally from there but had ended up settling there for quite some time.

 

And it's location for additional travel...I'm now taking advantage of that.  I visited Cologne for the weekend, and wish I had known more about it beforehand (another personal assignment to visit wikipedia and such).  It was actually quite a nice city and one of the key cities in Europe during the middle ages (and less than 2hrs by train from Brussels!).  This was my first venture into Germany, thus ticking another country off my list.  I also got to visit Munster, which I yet again didn't do enough research beforehand and had earned the most livable city award for the world in 2006 (amongst cities with populations 200K-750K I think).  It's got equal bike vs. car trip percentages and an average of 2 bikes per capita, hence considered the biking capital of Germany.  Unfortunately it was pouring rain for 2 straight days so I may have to try biking there next week to really get a feel for the city.  I biked around Heidelberg today, and it's got quite a nice set of bike paths around the river that you could see a lot of residents enjoy.  I may have to try renting a mountain bike tomorrow if I've got enough time by myself to go explore the countryside.  

Willkommen to Heidelberg!

Many things to catch up on. Maybe tomorrow. Guten tag!

In Paris

Hey, I'm here alright. Camped 2 nights out in Maisons-Laffite or something like that. Then biked in to stay near the Eiffel tour in a real hotel. So now I'm back to being an "ordinary" tourist, nothing fancy to set me apart like biking everywhere with all my stuff. I probably won't update much for a few days, since that would be antisocial when I actually have people I know around.

Funny story, so I was following my GPS into the hotel, (while biking and taking pictures, yes don't try this at home), and it said "enter roundabout, take 7th exit"! Yep, that must be at the Arc du Triumph! And 7 was barely over halfway round I think. I think I got it on video with the helmet cam, that craziness, but then the battery died. Oh well, Carpe Diem!

Chillaxing

Yep, I'm still in Bordeaux. I was supposed to get up and pack up and ride on this morning, but that was really an arbitrary decision anyhow. Moving everyday when I know I really haven't seen all a place has to offer can get tiring. That's where touring a place like the PCH, or Pacific Coast Highway makes more sense. I rode that always wondering if a better viewpoint were just up the road, and it really was more about the scenery than the cities we passed. Sure, one could spend a busy weekend seeing any of them, but the route and destination was already picked. Since I haven't picked my destination (other than Paris in three days or so) I saw no pressing reason to rush out. I ended up chatting with and then eating breakfast with some new Australian friends, three people touring that were just intercepting the tour here, not necessarily following it. They are from Kaiwa, about 2 hrs drive from Melbourne, as I recall. We exchanged information, and they tried to sell me a Dahon folding bicycle for touring. Not theirs, but just sell me on the idea of it. I could see some pluses, as I already mentioned some frustrations with train travel with my loaded bike. I also saw a few other neat pieces of gear. I had known if I buy panniers again I'd like to get Ortleib (sp?) and they were very happy with theirs. They showed me a backpack strap attachment that they could convert a pannier into a backpack quickly for leaving the bike behind. Also they showed me some quick release pedals, basically pull a plastic C-clip, push a spring lock back and pull the pedal out. I think I'll be fine using my multi-tool to insert and remove mine for the time being, but if you do a lot of touring I could definitely see the advantages of such a system. Perhaps the neatest idea, was that a bike pump was integrated into the seat/seatpost. You take it out with the quicik release, pull out the inflation tube and a lever to stand on, and lift up and down on the seat itself to pump.

Goals for today: find computer & empty CF cards, buy some produce and bread, reserve campsite in Versailles & train ride there, get cycleways map from tourist office. Basically bike around Bordeaux liesurely, then go for a swim, fix dinner, and go to bed. No prob.

Bordeaux (continued)

Time trials are the best spectator stage for watching a stage race. There is still no parellel to the excitement of watching a mountain stage high up near the top of the last climb, but for the average spectator the time trial offers the most bang for the buck. I stayed in a campsite on the north end of Bordeaux after watching Fridays sprint finish, and picked up two bottles of wine while waiting for my dinner (I was afraid the wine store across the square would close before I was finished, and indeed it did). One bottle of wine to enjoy during the time trial and 1 to bring to Paris to share. I dressed for serious biking the next day, tour de France T-shirt, bathing suit, and flip-flops. I packed up my thermarest chair and rode all bike paths for about 20 minutes at a leisurely pace until I started seeing people standing beside the road and policemen. I found a nice billboard that seemed to offer a flat surface and shade and setup for the day. Bikers were already coming through, as the first rider starts about 10:15 and I only got out of camp at 10:45. But no worries, they ride in reverse order of overall time; save the best for last so to speak. I've got like 5 hours left. It was actually quite a relaxing day, with bikers rolling through about every minute. I had my bottle of wine, some snacks, a couple of cameras, my thermarest chair basically functioned as a recliner, and decent shade. I probably spent an hour applying sunblock, so that only leaves like 4hrs I guess. After I was down to about the last hour, I switched to the other side of the road to get better pictures and video as the riders favored that side due to the upcoming turn. There was 52km of course, and so that left plenty of real estate to stake out if you weren't too particular about where you watched it from. The police must've been watching me as I inflated the thermarest and installed it in the chair, because one made some grand hand gesture indicating relaxed or ready after I sat down in it, obviously appreciating how well prepared I was despite arriving via bike. I also noticed there was a sign tied to the light pole in front of me with a Tour de France course arrow; I'd noticed those in the windows of some of the RVs following the tour and thought it would make a good souvenir. I then decided I needed to protect this one, as this would be mine as soon as the last rider had gone through.

I texted friends to inform me of the riders in front of Lance so that I could be ready, and decided to switch sides of the road for the last of the stage to get better pictures and video. One of the direction assistance red tour de france cars pulled in behind me after leaving a rider, and then as the guy got out I realized he just needed to make a quick pit stop. I yelled out "yeah, that's the spot" seeing that it was the same place about 4 other people had chosen throughout the day, including French police officers. He came back to the car and got out a couple sodas from an ice chest and tossed me a coke--what a perfect complement to the warm day with only about 10 riders remaining, though now spaced as much as three minutes apart.
Rob Lilley, I think was his name, came by early talking a mile a minute. He was an australian that was also following the tour by bike, and had a GoPro camera mounted to his bike but was out of SD cards and filming stuff on his Iphone. Apparently he had stayed at the Regent hotel the night before and told me what room number and alias Tom Cruise had used there the night before, as he and Diaz were there with a film release and supposedly some scientology event also for Tom.

Anyhow, I got my arrow and strapped it to the top tube of my bike, getting plenty of smiles from the pedestrians I passed as I pedaled through Bordeaux that night. Finally, I was a man without a pressing mission again. It was relaxing to know that I was not following the mayhem to Paris, and had batted 100% at the stages I had intended to watch. I've filled a bunch of memory cards with photos and video that will probably take me 6 months to go through.

So this campsite. It's like a resort. It is camping for people that don't camp but want to tell their friends that they went camping. It's got showers, bathrooms, laundry, a restaurant, a wifi lounge, and a pool. Unfortunately the poolman decided to run the gas powered blower at 7am Sunday morning to clean off the pool deck. As I checked in to request one more night there, I mentioned that and apparently I was not the first. So I guess the guests had complained the day before that the pool was not opened on time, it opened after the posted 10am. So today the poolguy started early I guess and no surprise other people complained. I seem to be spending whatever I save on cheap lodging on food thus far, but without the schedule of the tour to keep, I can start whittling down the food I packed for cooking on my campstove. Which reminds me, last night I was looking to get some fuel for it. I'd kept my eye open in Lourdes for Coleman fuel but hadn't seen any, just the Camping Gaz containers that I was worried might be tough to find. I bought a stove in Ireland that takes either Coleman fuel OR unleaded gasoline. I knew I couldn't take the Gaz containers on my flight and didn't want to have to source them at the destination. Gasoline, I knew I would be able to find wherever. But then at 9pm I seemed to be limited to stations that were all automated and didn't want to take any of my credit cards. But alas a French guy about 25 stopped by with a flat bike tire and I let him borrow my pump. Then proceed to approach the next guy getting gas (the first had not a single credit card) and explain with mostly hand signals my predicament and that I needed gas for my stove and had money to pay him. He was actually getting diesel so it was even more of an inconvenience for him. It took about 40 cents worth of gas, and he wouldn't take any money for it, so hopefully the Karma from the bike pump was getting passed around. I was a little unsure about cooking with gasoline, but it doesn't really smell when it's burning. And regardless of the irony of finding the camping Gaz, unleaded gasoline is still easier to find with more expanded business hours.

Stage 19

Lance

Stage 18

The blur is Mark Cavendish winning the stage.

Bordeaux

Train travel is interesting. I imagine it would be pretty easy to see France by train--if you didn't travel with a bike. Traveling with a bike always brings its own set of challenges. It's almost like I decided to take all of the possible cab fares for my trip and instead grunt through hauling a bike around. Granted, it becomes its own form of entertainment. I would probably have wanted to rent a bike if I hadn't brought one with me. So I get to the train station in Lourdes, and had previously been told there's no reservations for bikes, but there is on the next train. So I show up and see about 10 bikes that are waiting for the same train, maybe 5 in boxes or cases. Luckily this time works out ok, though my bike ended up traveling 1st class. The next train is where things get interesting though. Turns out they don't fool around with trains that end up in Paris. This thing was like 20 cars long, and I was assigned car 1. There's a neat little map on the platform that shows you approximately where the cars will stop so you can be in position; because this is a really long passenger train and you don't want to have to walk the length of it after it arrives. Except that the numbers of the cars changed twice after I first checked the board. But I could tell people were flustered and moving around in response to the announcement in French and decided to go check again for myself. I found a station employee, and it just got changed back to where I was originally. So turns out I positioned myself nearly perfectly, but then thought it might be easier if I let people board first so I had room to manuever without people trying to stow luggage. Unfortunately this lady apparently thanked me, then said a few things about my bike, and proceeded to be the worst bottleneck I've ever seen I don't know what she was doing, but her friend went in and out, and grabbed her bags, and she said something else about my bike, and finally I was worred about making the train at all and decided to enter the next door, thinking maybe the bike stowage would be in the other end of that car anyhow. Well, the train left shortly thereafter, so it probably was a good decision to at least make sure I was on the train. But then I saw no bike storage on either side of the doors, and left my bike in the way in between to go check out the other side. Sure enough, there was a nice bike location on the other side as well as a small 2nd class (most of that car was for 1st class, perhaps she though that bikes didn't belong in 1st class) area for me to sit in. Then I looked back at my bike and the room between the aisles and decided it was not going to happen. So I pulled the rear panniers off, and wheeled the bike through on the rear wheel so as to lift the handlebars above the seats and passengers heads. I strapped in my bike and went back for the other bags. It's just never easy to travel with a bike. It was so close to being very easy to travel that train but etting that lady in front compromised the whole experience. Oh well, I was able to transfer platforms on my transfer without hauling my loaded bike upstairs and at my destination rode out the parking garage to avoid it. I made it to camp, setup the tent, and rode back with 20 minutes to spare to get my spot and watch the finish in Bordeaux. I've already got my bottle of wine to enjoy from the sidelines of the time trial tomorrow, about 1 mile from my campground. It only gets easier from here. I've enjoyed the experiences I've gotten, but at the same time I can appreciate a respite from the constant rush, rush, rush I've gone through to make sure I see a stage where I want to. The train recieved a pounding of rain right before entering the station at Bordeaux-St. Jean, but luckily no more than a sprinkle remained after that. The skies are clear here now, and I may just have to visit the pool at the campground tomorrow. Life is good. How many readers know that's what LG electronics stands for, life is good? I thinks that's a grand brand.

The Epitome of tour watching

(added pics of contador and lance that I took this day)

To watch a stage streetside as the peloton flies by is fun, but that will not get you infected with a virus that keeps you coming back. I had a short conversation with an Irishman on the morning of the rest day. He talked about how many people are addicted to it yet are not even cyclsts themselves. They'll camp out around mountaintops for days to secure themselves a spot only to watch a single stage. For a lucky few this year it actually traversed the same climb twice but from different sides and only one was a finish; so they were more justified in the wait this year. Nevertheless, they do this because it is in the mountains that you see how human these cyclists are. As the Irishman said, they're going slow and you can see the suffering in their faces. Yesterday I watched the tour from the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet, an HC category climb that the stage finished at the top of the climb. I felt like I worked hard to get there, but they racers had done like three climbs on their way to this climb. I was about 7km from the top, and it was probably about 8% grade where I was. I stopped there because I had a nice view of the switchback down far below and could get advance warning of the approach. About 40 minutes before the racers started arriving the whole mountain was covered in clouds and we couldn't see more than about 100 feet. Sure enough, when the racers did come through (Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador first) they were suffering (actually, they looked better than a lot of the others that came through). Suddenly you felt as though you should do everything you could to not get in their way. Oh, and don't ever try and take a picture where you're looking towards the camera and away from the oncoming traffic. Even if you're back away from the path the people have created, the motorcade comes by to widen it (literally driving with one side of the car on the line that people are standing in), and you had best be paying attention or they could take you out. Lance had a relatively good day it seems, I saw him clearly in one of the early groups. He still does a pretty good job of not displaying such suffering, one of his known mental tactics. Running behind the riders is also not so easy. I couldn't believe how close the cars or motorcycles road to the back of the riders. I wouldn't dare run in front of the cyclists, but then jumping in front of a car didn't make much sense either.

Getting to that point in the stage was not so easy. I thought that having a bike would mean I could do whatever I wanted on the course up until about an hour before the riders came through. I figured with enough grunting I could haul myself and my bike most of the way up the Tourmalet by that time. I got a late start, hoping that the rain would quit or lessen, and still went to buy my train ticket so I wouldn't have to risk missing the train because of ticket lines (knowing that the machine wouldn't work for me of course). I chatted with a few cyclists that got me worried, mentioning that the Gendarmare (sp?) stopped them from riding up at 7:30am. Nevertheless, this route would at least place me on the course, and though I'd prefer to be on the climb I didn't want to miss it completely. I found the course, parelleled it on the bike path for another 4-5 miles, then turned through a town and ended up riding through the most beautiful gorge (Still pouring rain by the way, hence no pictures). There was a river (that had probably risen 10 feet since I saw it 2 days earlier) gushing through at the bottom, and steep mountains rose on both sides. They had occasionaly covers for the road to prevent falling rocks from causing accidents it was so steep. This was a gradual climb, just 3-4%, and didn't even count for the climb I later found out. I was able to easily pace the cars on the descent that night with the curves, so I know it was uphill going out. I passed a few Col de Tourmalet signs that update the current elevation and current grade, showing 5%, then 8%, then even saw a 9%. I went up some switchbacks that were still pretty early in the climb so I didn't want to give up yet. I was still harboring aspirations of making it to the top, and I knew I needed to get farther in order to have time after the race passed to finish. I caught the attention of some hikers with my helmet cam, and they went out of their way wanting to be on Youtube. It's amazing how muich attention riding with a camera on your helmet gets you. I could tell the people who were talking about me in french, and heard "camera" and "photography", or at least the french versions many times. These hikers passed me while I stopped to down the first half o my sandwich and we decided on a keyword that they might find their video later, as "tour de france" is bound to have a few hits. Riding a little further, passing the youtube stars again, and then the Gendarmare made us walk our bikes. How ridiculouos, we were not going to see the "hike de France", and we take up no more room than walkers, and on that climb happen to not travel much faster than walkers even. At least I had my mountain bike shoes and not my road bike shoes, so walking wasn't too bad, just annoying. I walked another 20-30 minutes or so and then I was told that my bike could not go any further. Well, it would make walking uphill easier, but my knees are not so great and they don't particularly like walking downhill. And the sole of the bike shoes doesn't do a whole lot of cushioning. But I can't stop yet, I don't see the type of terrain I'm imagining for the climb and I still have a lot of time left. So I lock up the bike, transfer some water back tot he water bottles to lighten my load, and press on. I walk past the 10km marker. It's starting to look better, and I'm scoping out for any more switchbacks. I see some good ones, lined with trailers, in the distance, but ultimately I find these are just campers off the route filling any available parking spots around. Then I reach the big she-bang! A full-on grandstand, and 15 foot TV out in the middle of nowhere. This is the most information I've gotten on the status of the tour while trying to watch a stage in person. I can tell I have some time, as they are 56km out still (but I don't remember when the second to last climb ends, and descents can go by fast). I decide this is too crowded and I press on. I find a decent outside curve and decide I must finish the sandwich I bought on the way up, "jambon", pronounced "shambone", and the can of Coke. It proves a good time to stop, as the "caravan" of promoters makes its way by chucking free "schwag" (sp?) out of the vehicles, and I let the singles go to the french kid nearby but gladly grab a "king of the mountains" cycling hat as there are plenty. I finish lunch and decide to go a bit further. I ended up maybe 300 meters past the setup and decide this will do, knowing everything I walk up I'll have to walk back down. I end up meeting some english speaking friends there, they had met just earlier watching the "tellie" down below. A colorful "Brit" proudly raising the Union Jack on a tent pole, a woman and another couple, all here in search of 'le Tour'. We wait it out patiently, and vent our frustrations as the clouds roll in, compromising our advance notice of the riders arrival and the "autofocus" on our cameras. And the rest, well, you already know. I'm just glad I didn't have to write this lengthy entry on a French keyboard!

Frustrations in France

1. Flies: last nights meal I had to lay claim to my food whilst 5 flies attempted the same. I could scarcely cut the meat without having to shoo them-and this after a shower! Time to patent the all-new 'housefly diet'. You burn calories during the meal and give up on it earlier-guaranteed to lose weight (when accompanied by lots of exercise, results not typical).

2. No Castle: So I understood enough that the sign said visiting hours in French (thru 18:30), but didn't try to read the next note when I passed by at 4:30. I was unfortunately met by a ticket office manned by a French guy closing out the register at 5:34PM upon returning. It was closed. I took another look at the sign and realized the second note said the last entry at 5:30! I returned and pleaded to no avail. Ultimately this was my fault, but a sign in English or a lenient clerk would have made it work out fine anyways.

3. French keyboard: I am so glad that I have my palm (with folding keyboard, but even graffiti is faster) to update the blog. I stopped in my first french i-net cafe to use a computer and left frustrated after 20min. The letters are in different places (not QWERTY), a period requires hitting the shift key, the @ requires hitting the 'Alt Gr' key, and the numbers across the top are accessed only via 'Shift'(this is particularly frustrating when the first numbers entered are for a password and displayed only as *), to name a few changes.

4. Train ticket machines: These machines have a lousy touch screen that then takes so long to process that you've already hit the screen 4 times before you realize it is doing something. Then after you walk through the extended process of finding a ticket to buy, you try both US credit cards and another 2 US debit cards, all branded VISA and after each it says card not taken (actually it responds in French even though you've selected English as the language) and proceeds to show you a screen with the cards that it does take, VISA is very prominently shown. And if you were smart, and booked online in advance you only have to print out the ticket. But, it still says card not taken so you have to go to a teller, meanwhile who knows how many people got in line while you were getting to know this machine better than you know some friends. But anyhow, I had the problem of not being able to print it before, and will be leaving early Friday so I thought I'd give it a go tonight. I got there after the ticket office was closed and confirmed that I couldn't get the machine to work for me (after waiting patently for the bloke in front of me to arrive at the same conclusion). I checked the hours (I'm getting better at this, I swear) and they open at 7:05 tomorrow. The latest train I could find Friday that meets my itinerary leaves at 7:46am, so buying a ticket and boarding the train with my bike loaded to the gills could be iffy. I'm gonna shoot for an early trip to the station tomorrow and slightly delay my mountain ascent to make sure Friday's trip goes smoothly.

If you watch the Tour Thursday (or the highlights), watch for me high up on the Col du Tourmalet. It's the last climb of the day, and a summit finish, so that should be the majority of the highlights footage that they show. And this is about the last real stage to make a move for anybody that isn't great at time trials. Friday's stage is flat, Saturday is the time trial, and Sunday is just for show (Paris).

Oh, and the picture is the castle they wouldn't let me into. That could be tomorrow's biking weather in the background.

Rest Day

7/21/10
Today I took it easy. Late last night a rain rolled in and it has been overcast and intermittent sprinkling all day long. It's pretty eerie seeing the mountain tops in the clouds. I had just a crepe and cappuccino for breakfast, looking forward to trying lunch in France. There's got to be a good reason after all for shutting down the country from 12-3pm every day. I walked down the hill and found the church that everyone had been returning from with containers of water. All the tourist shops along that route sold containers in every size with "Lourdes" and a picture of the church on it. I stopped by and saw that the castle is open until 6:30pm, so I'll drop by there after this. I just stocked up on supplies while stores were open so I can leave early in the morning without worrying about stopping for water. I'll probably get a cappuccino in Argeles-Gazost, a little extra caffeine couldn't hurt. Then I'll turn left this time and attempt to climb the 'Col du Tourmalet'. Assuming success, I'll be climbing from about 1350ft to 6940ft elevation over a total distance of about 30 miles. I've ridden Mt. Wilson out of Los Angeles several times, riding from about 800ft to 5600ft in 25 miles; so it seems feasible, but I need an early start because if I'm not a good ways up before they make me stop riding (usually about 1hr before riders arrive) it will make for a late ride. At least the way down will be easy! I'm definitely stashing my stuff in the hotel and riding only with food, water, cameras, and wet/cold weather gear. If I'm feeling alright, I think I'll give running behind the riders a quick go. They already go by so fast that I'd love to extend the thrill, and maybe get a little airtime for my efforts. My shimano SPD shoes have actually been pretty comfortable as my only shoes (along with some sandals to let my feet breathe a little after a ride). OK, time to ascend the castle!

Argeles-Gazost

Well, by the looks of that sign I must be in the right place. Turns out today I got to ride on an even better bike path than yesterday. And it was a substantially shorter bike ride. Unfortunately they were already making bicyclists walk even though there was over an hour yet to the racers coming through. But, I rode up a steep part until I was told to walk and then found a good spot with a nice scenic view behind and a church steeple. Lance was in the breakaway today (easier than usual since he's not in the running anymore) but this shot is from the peloton behind. I biked another 3 miles up the hill and got some good photos of countryside afterward but I'm saving myself for Thursday. I want to try and climb the Col de Tourmalet on that day. Hopefully I'll be well over halfway up when I'm forced to get off my bike. On the bike path back I got to draft with a group of 3 americans on road bikes and then we passed a French guy on a mountain bike with knobbies (and deactivated rear brake I noticed) that picked up his pace and drafted with us. It was pretty fun, and I chatted a little with the French guy in Spanish.
Tomorrow is an official rest day and I'll be just a tourist. Might bike to Tarbes or else really check out Lourdes here if I'm lazy.

Stage 16

Finally I had a little time during business hours (while in a big enough town) to get a French SIM card for my phone, and then stopped by the tourist office to pick up a better area map. I've got about 15km to bike from Lourdes to meet the Tour route at Argeles-Gazost. I'll hopefully get there early enough to begin the ascent toward the Col d'Aubisque which is the last of 4 major climbs on the day. Luckily I've got a cheapo hotel room (basically a hostel but I get my own room) to leave the bulk of my stuff during the day.

HUNGRY

Eating Veritable Cassoulet de Castelnaudary @ Maison du Cassoulet in Lourdes, France. I saw a great farmers market in Montrejeau, a 1hr train ride from Toulouse. Since Toulouse was basically shut down Sunday night I had to find a French English dictionary and a good map today. I locked the panniers in the bike lockers at the train station and rode light to intercept the stage. I caught stage 15 at the base of the last climb. Funny how the people watching in person probably are the least informed about what's actually going on in the race. French radio is in French, which is, well, 'Greek to me'.