Fulfilling a Dream: Alpine Tour 2007

As most of you know, each of the last two summers, Rene and I have taken a bike tour into the Alps. Carrying clothes, supplies, and water, we head into the Alps with the goal of trying to cover as many alpine passes as possible in a week's time.

This year's tour was for me a special one. Ever since I started riding, I have seen and heard a lot about the Tour de France and the mountain stages that tend to define the Tour. This year, we headed to France to cover many of the climbs that have defined the Tour over the past decades: Madeleine, Glandon, Alpe d'Huez, Lautaret, Galibier, Telegraphe, Iseran, and Aravis.

Through the course of the 6+ days of riding, we covered over 600km and over 15,000 vertical meters of climbing. We had almost every sort of weather possible: sun, rain, fog, sleet, and snow.

We have been looking forward to this tour for over a year, and the time was finally here to begin the challenge and for me to full a life's dream.

Day 1: Marais

We started our tour by taking a night train to Geneva - a 14+ hour train adventure. There's not much to do on such a train...except kill time. Activities include the normal things - like reading. But you tend to also go through your pack to make sure you haven't forgotten something.

During this doublechecking on the train, Rene found out that his young son had helped him pack - by packing Rene's alarm clock! Definitely the extra weight that you want to have with you for a week. After the long ride, we arrived in Geneva around 9am to some wonderful weather. Rene was coming off of a cold, and I had arrived in Germany from China just the day before (with some 'Montezuma's Revenge - like issues) - so we were both hoping for good weather to get started.
Almost immediately, we found ourselves in the foothills. This year, we wouldn't have a few days to warm up before the climbs.
A rare occurrence: I'm ahead of Rene on a short climb. I slept much better on the train and wasn't coming off a bad cold like Rene, so it was an unfair comparison, but I had to take a pic of the event nonetheless ;-) The beauty of these sorts of trips is that it is a great way to see a country. You are so close and so 'intimate' with the surroundings.
We always joke that sights like these help make the climbs easier...

Our first climb: Marais. This one was a small one, but it was a nice start after a long train ride.
After Marais, we had a great downhill into Albertville. Downhills are always a bittersweet thing: you really like the break, and it is a great way to see the valleys, but you know that you have to go back up.
Albertville is a cute little ski town that hosted the winter Olympics a few years ago. You still saw signs of the Games, but the quaintness of the town was still there.
After dinner, we took a short (walking) tour of the city and then headed to bed.
Madeleine was on deck for Day 2...
Day 2: Madeleine

Day 2 started out with some great weather and beautiful blue skies. Then we saw the sign: 33km to the peak (Madeleine). Ouch! Even though it was an average of 5-6%, long climbs are tough.

We also saw some encouraging road signs along the way (not too sure if the German speaking audience knows this part of english slang).

After a long and beautiful climb, we reached the top.
The peak in the background is Mont Blanc - the highest peak in the Alps.
After a really long descent, we began the long climb to Glandon. We knew we didn't want to do both passes in one day (would have been over 3300 vertical meters), so we found a cute village half way up the climb to spend the night.
The hotel room was simple, yet large. We had some fun trying to order dinner at the restaurant next door. No English and only broken German. They tried to tell us that we couldn't eat until 8pm (it was 6pm and we were really hungry...and we forgot that the French tend to eat later). Thankfully, we were able to eat at 7...a small crisis was avoided ;-)
Day 3: Glandon, Alpe d'Huez, and Saran
Day 3 was looking to be a tough day. Thankfully, we only had to do half of Glandon (about 800 vertical meters left). I was really looking forward to Alpe d'Huez.

Along the way there were some interesting 'words of encouragement' on the roads for the Tour riders.
Glandon was a very cool climb, and thankfully, we split it up into two days. Covering both Madeleine and Glandon in one day would have made for a very tough day.
Rene and I split up at this lake. I absolutely wanted to do Alpe d'Huez - one of the most well known and famous climbs of the Tour. While the top of the pass isn't necessarily beautiful (it is a ski town at the top with lots of similar looking hotels), it is, in my opinion, the Mecca of riding.

Rene cut across the mountain; I went down in the valley to do Alpe d'Huez from the bottom. We met at the top.

Before starting the climb, I stopped at the village at the base. I filled up with some water and had a few chocolate croissants at a bakery (my view from the bakery is below).
I wasn't the only rider on the climb. There were easily 20-30 riders that I saw along the way. In total, there are 22 turns in the climb, with one of these signs being at each turn. It isn't that long of a climb (maybe 12km) and not too steep (maybe 7-8%), but it is full of energy. It is hard to explain, but when you make a turn, and you see these signs with the names of previous Tour riders that one the Alpe d'Huez time trial, I just got goosebumps (Gänsehaut).

The climb was just full of energy. Below, Lance's turn 19.

A view of the climb, the valley, and the backdrop of mountains.
After Alpe d'Huez, we went in the direction of Saron - a lesser known pass on the other side of Alpe d'Huez. The roads weren't that good, but there was almost no traffic or bikes. We had the wilderness to ourselves.
The downhill from Saron was particularly interesting. The roads were really tight with turns and had interesting sites (like the house below) to look at.
As an added bonus, Rene turned 34 today. Happy Birthday!!!
More on the huge downhill (I think it took us an hour to get downhill).

After we got downhill, we had an approx 30km ride to the village we wanted to stay at for the night. It was a very cute ski village with a great view of some big peaks and a few glaciers.
At the top of the village, there was a very old church and cemetery. With the backdrop of the mountains and glacier, I though this was a particularly interesting picture...
Day 4: Lauteret, Galibier, Telegraphe
The next two days would include our two highest mountain passes: Galibier and Iseran. Our weather was very overcast and slightly rainy, but it was mostly dry until Lauteret - an anticlimatic pass on the way to Galibier.

After Lautaret, we were basically riding in the clouds. We had a few patches where we could see the clouds below us.
With about 150 vertical meters to go, our visability went to almost zero with some slight drizzle. Below, a rare sight of me taking a picture of Rene on a climb (he is normally always faster than me on the climbs).
Cold and rain on the uphills are normally OK, because you are creating enough heat by getting the bike uphill on the climb. Downhills are just downright cold.

Below, and some words of encouragement for Lance on one of the past Tours.

One of the great advantages of the high passes is that you are virtually on the top of Europe and can see some great scenery, and Galibier and Iseran provide some of the best views available...unless you have weather like we had.

We climbed all of this distance, and all we got to see was fog and rain.

But, it is cool to get off of your bike after such a climb, walk to the sign to take a picture, and look at all of the faces of those that drove with cars or motorcycles...faces that say 'crazy'.

The downhill of Galibier.

In the valley, we had a bite to eat, and I got to warm up a bit. Then, we had the small climb to Telegraphe, then a relatively long ride along the valley with a slight incline.
One of the huge fortifications along the way. The picture does not do this fortification justice. It was just HUGE!
A rainbow in the valley of the ski village where we spent the night after the long day's ride.
Another pic of the village and the rain...we were hoping that it would be dry for Iseran.
Day 5: Iseran
The last big day of climbing started out well enough. It was mostly sunny and dry - with some great scenery along the way.

The village below was the beginning of the climb to Iseran.
There's not many pictures along the was. At about 2000 vertical meters, it started to drizzle. At about 2500 meters, it started snowing. There wasn't much to see along the way.

Rene was decked out in his heavy rain gear...
...and I'm still in shorts...

Thankfully, there was a small hut at the pass so that we could grab a bite to eat and warm up a bit before the downhill. There is also a small church at the top.
One of the villages on our downhill. I was very grateful when the sun finally came out, but it took me quite a while to finally warm up. Despite all of my cold weather gear and some really warm gloves, I froze on the downhill. I don't know how the Tour riders to these downhills without freezing...
Out bad luck with the weather continued. Instead of having a short day, we decided to start climbing Roselland. It was about a 15 km climb, and I thought we had a few options to spend the night if we got tired or got into trouble.

After about 5 km, it started to rain really hard. On with the rain gear. Even though you are technically waterproof with all of this gear, all of my clothes underneath are soaking wet from all of sweat...which can lead to an uncomfortable ride the next day if you can't get them dried out.

Fortunately, we found a small hiking refuge at about 10km. We were tired and wet, and this was a great place to call it a night. It was in the middle of nowhere, it had a 'dry' room to help the clothes dry out relatively fast, and they offered a very filling, hearty dinner.

We got lucky with this place. In hindsight, it would have been difficult to finish the climb that day.

Day 6: Roselland and Aravis
Since we had already climbed most of the way already, we had a relatively short climb to Roselland. Thankfully, the skies were clear. No rain, but it was cold. About 6 degrees C (about 45 F) for most of the morning...making for another really cold downhill.

Below was our view as we got started.

Another great view with mountains and blue skies. A very nice change of pace compared to the last two days of rain and snow.


A church and a reservior along the downhill.
On the way to Aravis, we took a really small, windy road instead of the larger road. It turned out to be a great decision - we were all alone on a beautiful climb. The only downside was that we climbed about 150 vertical meters more on this sidetrip as was necessary.

While it doesn't sound like much, after 5 days in the saddle, your butt just hurts...and 150 meters is a lot!!

Finally...Aravis. Our last pass of the trip. Now we have a long, mostly flat ride back to Geneva.

During these rides, you get some odd cravings for food. While on the rides, we basically stick to high carb foods and drinks for breakfast and lunch. Lunches are basically simple items that you can get in a grocery store or gas station (juice, fruit, joguhrt drinks).

Somewhere along the way, we got the craving for McDonalds. It got worse along the way. In Geneva, we pigged out. Really expensive. I think my supersized #1 cost almost 15 bucks.

Geneva at night. We had to get up really early the next day to catch a 530am train back home.

Another great tour was at its end...and we're already looking forward to next year's tour in the Alps...

Shanghai'd

About two weeks ago, I 'found' myself on business in Shanghai. It was to be a short trip...only a few days. Despite the time away from home, I was excited to be going to China. Before this trip, the furthest 'East' I'd been was Prague.
After a ~ 12 hour flight, I was in Shanghai. While I've been in my share of large cities, Shanghai was definitely larger than life. It was still a huge construction area...with more skyscrapers on one parcel of land that I've ever seen.

One of the things that I really liked were the roads: they had the normal highways, and beside those were bike lanes, and beside that were the pedestrian walkways. As with any large city, there are areas of poverty, but I never felt 'in danger' in Shanghai. After I arrived, I did go running...I think that I was the only one out running in the city. The smog is really bad, and it didn't bother me at first, but I could notice it after my run was done.
There really was no time for doing many touristy stuff, but one night after dinner with a customer, we did go for a walk downtown and scheduled a 60 min massage ( just a massage ). That massage was the best 13 EUR that I think ever spent. Above the Jin Mao...one of the more famous buildings (that I hope I spelled right).
I has a few hours before my flight in the morning. I tried to take a cab to one of the shopping districts, but with all of the traffic, I spent most of the time in a cab (hence my pic above)...my tourist time in Shanghai was generally confined to the backseat of a cab.

All in all, it was a good trip. Quick and dirty, but I saw enough to know that I'd like to go back with a bit more time to see the city and surroundings. Thankfully, on this trip, we had a local take us around, and we had some great dinners. Nothing too exotic, but I did learn that all chicken included bones.

About a day after landing in Germany, I took off to France for my annual bike tour in the Alps...more on that on the next post.

A Day in the Life...A New Milestone

These pics are from a few weeks ago - the 4th of August. To be honest, I had another title for this blog post, but it didn't pass the censors (Eva) ;-) Enough of that...on to the milestone.

Quinn had food for the first time on the 4th. Carrots. He was pretty confused at first, and it took a while before he got the hang of what he had to do with the spoon.
He did a pretty good job getting most of the carrots in his mouth, but we did switch from a cloth bib to a plastic one after a while (easier to clean).
Our neighbors came down and visited one evening. They brought their daughter by as well, and Kaya shared one of her 'Bobby Cars' with Quinn (That is the real name of these things...not very German, but beloved by all German children, similar to the Big Wheels in the US). Before long, he'll be riding one of his own. He seemed to enjoy the new experience...and really liked it when I pushed the car through the apartment. (He can't yet reach the ground to push himself.)
Beep! Beep!
Rene and I making our last preparations for our annual tour of the Alps. This year: the French Alps and many of the most beloved and famous passes from the Tour de France: Alpe d'Huez, Galibier, Iseran, Madeleine, Aravis, Glandon...Pics from that trip...and more...on the next post.