The start of evening cycling.. at last.

A couple of friends have been talking about cycling after work. Typically we spent months talking about it - and then two rides booked on consecutive nights!

First ride (July 30, 2009)

As soon as we covered the first 300 metres I sensed the pace might be faster than normal rides with Caroline. 52 km through Switzerland, the Haute Savoie and Ain (including some of the Jura) which was a significant part of the 469 metre total climb. Perhaps this will be a breeze in months to come - but as I toiled up the final hill back to Neydens the thought of another ride the next day started raising one or two alarm bells!


More route detail

Second after work ride (July 31, 2009)

Woke up and pleasantly surprised to note that I could still walk. Just over an hour - but still a fair number of hills as the route was restricted to France avoiding the gentle roads in the Geneva area. As the legs started to go to jelly on some of the hills I just had to think of what good this might be doing for skiing in the winter!

But do I learn? Another ride booked for Tuesday, this time VTT (mountain biking) .. and I've just come across an interesting VTT route on the Saleve from Cruseilles..



More route detail

The Plateau de Loex Tour is conquered!

From Les Gets 26 July 09

Les Gets does not shut down for the summer. Ski lifts are put to good use ferry mountain bikers to minimise some of the climb. There are two types of biking - cross country (XC) and downhill (DH). To date, under strong guidance from Caroline, I have limited myself to the cross-country. First couple of visits I limited myself to the blue and red XC runs, but in a moment of madness, and a new front brake disc installed on the Rockhopper together with newly purchased protective gear I challenged myself to the Black XC run, the "Plateau de Loex Tour" (marked no. 7 on the map). Easy I thought .. I had done the Black Mountain Bike Run at Thetford Forest several times - and the distance was about the same .. but the Alps do make a significant difference - up and down. East Anglia soon became very, very flat.

From Les Gets 26 July 09

"Plateau" has little to do with flat on this run. Whilst the total descent from the Chavanne lift may be 700 metres - there is also 400 metres of climbing on the 17 km route. Climbing was something of a challenge given current state of cardiovascular fitness, and I was happy to stop and admire the stunning views - but don't think the descent is easy. I was relieved to have the larger brake disc at the front - but it is not likely to be long before there is upgrade on the rear brake system as well! Any steeper and it felt as if one would be doing a forward roll. (Yes I thought you were meant to use the rear brake more - but the apparently technique is to lower the saddle and put as much weight to the rear as possible).

Spectacular views of Mont Blanc on the climb..













back in Les Gets ..

From Les Gets 26 July 09

Will I be doing it again? Yes.. phone crashed and so limited photos and no GPS record for the doubters. For the less adventurous this would be a great walk.



Explore more

Official web site for mountain biking at Les Gets

and if you are wondering what downhill (DH) is like

First experience of the Tour de France at Annecy

We have cycled around Lake Annecy a few times - and were naturally a little curious after learning that the Tour de France would be visiting for an individual time trial on July 23. Growing frustration with politics in Formula 1, and something resembling the erratic early stages of a cycling driven fitness campaign, made the Tour increasingly fascinating.

Annecy was prepared and made no secret of its bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

From Tour de France Lake Annecy 09

Looking at the equivalent of the Formula 1 paddock is easy - and remember this is a free spectator sport.

From Tour de France Lake Annecy 09

but perhaps Bernie's marketing techniques may have a role. The bottled water company "Vittel" was extremely visible with truck loads of bottled water being distributed to the teams - but having generated this awareness on a rather warm day one might assume there would be plenty of outlets to quench thirst... Alas not! :( Well may be the Marketing Director of Vittel uses Google BlogSearch for brand feedback and fixes this for next year.

From Tour de France Lake Annecy 09

From Tour de France Lake Annecy 09

We may have claimed to have cycled a stage of the Tour de France - but to be honest the time trial has two key differences. First of all - the road was chosen over the cycle track on the west side - but more significantly the riders took a higher climb on the Cote de Bluffy.

All in all a great day out, indeed a must do ... but in all honesty once you have taken in the atmosphere, the best place to watch a time trial is in a friendly bar with fellow enthusiasts and a decent television screen.

Indeed, the video will give you a better idea ...

more pictures..

Support Annecy's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics!

Regular readers of our blog may have noticed a link on the sidebar supporting Annecy's candidature for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Our loyalties are clear - Support Annecy's bid for 2018!

In March the French Olympic Committee selected Annecy as the French candidate city for 2018 - though as the map shows much of the region is proposed for events including Morzine just next to Les Gets as well as Mègeve and La Clusaz.

Annecy, in the French Alps not far from the Swiss border, was named ahead of rival bids from Grenoble, Nice and Pelvoux-les-Ecrins.

The host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be announced in July 2011 in Durban, but Annecy faces competition from other candidates like Munich, Germany and Pyeongchang, Korea.

And if have been really a really keen visitor to our blog you will have seen the "Live Traffic Feed" widget on the sidebar showing the location of visitors to our site. We have become used to visitors from around the world - but have seen our first from Korea. Sorry - Annecy wins over Pyeongchang!

Explore more

Annecy 2018 web site
2018 Winter Olympics on Wikpedia
Official Annecy 2018 video on You Tube



If viewing from an RSS feed (eg Plaxo, Facebook) you may need to visit our blog to see the video and something of our new home.