Day 1 and 2 - To the Start

Friday, September 4

Sandy In Her Chair-Bed for the Atlantic Crossing

(Not like our Grandfathers and Mothers)

Sandy actually got 4 hrs sleep on the flight.

The flight on Air Canada was great. Flew to Montreal and then Paris Charles De Gaul.

At the airport, the problems begin. Moving through it feels like stepping into an ant pile. There were crowds of people everywhere and very poor signs. In terminal 2A, baggage is easy, but there is no ATM and I have trouble getting a phone. I finally got one phone working, but I still don’t know my own phone number. Nobody can understand the operator (electronic of course), even after telling multiple people the number.

At our hotel, a standard room for about ($125) is like the Econolodge in Santa Fe, but the hotel staffers were nice. Car rental was no problem, just expensive ($110 day).

Saturday, September 5

The next day I found a phone store and got my phone set up. Stephanie, the phone store employee refused to accept a tip, even though she did a lot of work that should have been done by the people at the airport. Another lesson; take the time to find a phone store.

My Air Caddy for the bike worked great and folded up so small that we took it in the van, so there were no storage problems.

We had a great dinner at very simple restaurant in rural area outside CDG. I had eggs mayonnaise to begin, then beef bourgongne, and mousse ou chocolat. Really fine food in a humble setting.

We took an easy but expensive trip to Boulogne-sur-mer on a toll road. There we had an expensive and looooong dinner at famous fish restaurant. Boulogne now has the largest fishing fleet in the European Atlantic.

First Impressions:

Everything seems close, crowded and expensive. France also seems to be well organized, have excellent food and NICE service people.

We are slow, disorganized for the day-to-day functions but improving rapidly.

The Ride Across France

I think I got the idea last summer from the word ACROSS. I had ridden across the United States from LA to Boston and from LA across to Kansas City, and was going from Maine to Florida so I was used to long rides. I have ridden about 46,000 miles in the past 5 years. Sandy, my wife speaks French and it looked like a great chance to do some of the famous TDF climbs.

Follow The Black Line Across France

(no this is not an ad for Reynolds)

By November I was immersed in maps. The route was chosen by a series of steps, 1) it had to go across from the Atlantic to the Med, 2) it had to include some of the great climbs of the TDF (hence the Alps), 3) it had to pass through some of the well known regions of France (hence champagne and burgundy regions) and 4) finally it had to pass by some friends house in Provence. There were technical problems. I wanted to avoid large cities, but had to go through towns with a variety of hotels to ensure internet hookup. The daily distances had to be around 70-80 miles to get across in a reasonable time with some time for sight seeing in the afternoons.

Training was part of an ongoing effort to get stronger and longer endurance. The culmination of this years training was a 101 mile ride with a 24 mile climb up to Estes Park through Devils Gulch,. The next to last km is 6-8% grade and the last km is 10-15% grade. I am lucky to be able to take the trip. The highest we will go in the Alps is 9,400 ft high and the steepest grade on 1-2km of Mont Ventoux will be about 10-12% for a couple of km.

Training at 10,200 feet near Leadville Colorado

(this was actually in 2007, but I did it again this summer)

Over the last two weeks I have been hammered with the myriad of detailed actions needed to actually run a tour. It seems never ending, particularly when you are going to foreign country and have never been over those roads personally. I have ridden twice in France and it was very nice, but always with a commercial company.

I am now in the "what have I forgotten." mode.

We leave for France tomorrow.