Les Alpes!

While Alsace was beautiful, it was a little too much like a rainy northwest summer for us and it was time to move on to the Alps anyway. Once again we packed the cars and Sophie's trailer and hit the Autoroute back south through Grenoble and UP to the tiny village of Combalberte. On the way we passed beautiful aquamarine lakes and other tiny villages including Fugieres where we met the manager of our next gite and followed her up the road to our next temporary home.

View from just up the road from our gite.

This gite had originally been a school complete with dorm rooms. There were three bedrooms and a bath upstairs and another bedroom and bath downstairs. The kitchen was roomy and light with large windows that brought in the morning light. There was a carport where we could park the trailer and a little cave room off the stairwell that was great for housing the bikes. We couldn't resist naming it the "Bike Cave."

Cathi waving from their bedroom window.

The Bike Cave

The Vercours range from just above our gite.

Our main reason for coming to the Grenoble area this time was for everyone except Lisa and I to ride the organized Brevet Randonnee Alpine or "BRA." The boys and Sophie rode the full meal deal including Col du Galibier, while Cathi rode an abreviated version which still had WAY more climbing than I could dream of. All had a great ride and finished well within their time limits.

Lisa and I spent the day taking a train from Grenoble to the beautiful town of Annecy which was the location of the individual time trial on the Tour the other day. We saw the town on a postcard lovely afternoon, with pre-ride decorations, but not all the hoopla. It was great. Swans floated in the canals that meandered through the cafe-lined streets of the town which sits on a gorgeous lake. Photo below.

After BRA, which Sophie rode on her old bike which Lisa had been borrowing, Sophie headed home to Carces to deliver her broken frame to the bike shop and to trade out her old bike for a newer "old bike" which fits her better. This bike, which she calls "Little Thunder" is much heavier than her Litespeed ("Spirit") but fits her much better so was a better choice for the 1400 Killometer LEL. She tried my Moots but it just wasn't a good fit for her.

While Sophie was making her trip back to Carces, the rest of us did a little exploring around the area. Cathi and Dave headed over to Bourg d'Oisans, the great little town at the foot of Alpe d'Huez. Lisa, Bob, Rick and I went for a little lunch hike. The boys rode their bikes the first 6 kilometers up the hill while Lisa and I hiked that, then they stashed the bikes in the bushes and joined us for the next several kilometers up to the ridge. Along the way we met some other hikers and were struggling with our French when they finally asked if we spoke English! Turned out they were Danish and their French wasn't as good as their English (one of them being an English teacher!)

Earlier that day, Bob had run into another English teacher at the supermarket and she had invited us all over that evening for apperitifs! We had to call and ask her what time as we didn't really know the protocol for apperitifs. We stopped at the supermarket again for a bouquet of flowers to take and I still had a set of coasters that I had made to give as gifts so we gave her that as well. They had an awesome place but it was one of those old French homes that are built in a row with three or four neighbors and all the buildings in the village are packed pretty tightly together, leaving only tiny alley-ways between. It was an experience just getting in and getting parked!

Their home was set on a hillside with a great view over the hills, though not really of the higher peaks. They had a great teak table set out under a tree at the edge of the lawn and we had fruit juice, pastis, whiskey or homemade green walnut wine to choose from for our drinks. Bowls of celery, mayonaise, greek olives and nuts were passed around. Their daughter was there with her two kids, ages about 3 and 8 I think. Cathi kept them entertained as she's great with kids and her French is pretty good. Beatrice and her husband Jacque were great hosts and we chatted in French and English about biking, skiing, politics, and school systems. Jacque told us we really needed to ride the col de Parcatout. (OK, I know that's not the right spelling but I can't find the right one...) He did have a book that we want to get that showed this pass and how steep it is, but none of us had heard of it. Rick promised to come back and ride it with him, though!

Part of the fun of this trip for me has been sharing some of the experiences we have had before with our friends who are experiencing them for the first time. Watching the Tour de France was one of those, and riding through the Alpes was another. This was our fourth trip to France and we have spent some time in the Alpes each trip. We still haven't had enough. A trip through any part of the Alpes is just one breath-taking view after another around every bend in the road. It was fun to hear others find it just as awesome. I think it was Dave who said, "just when you think it can't get any better, it does!" So, when Sophie got back with Little Thunder, we chose Alpe d'Huez as her shake-down ride.

Sophie had never ridden Alpe d'Huez before. It's really not much of a hill by her standards and way too touristy, but it was on our list of things we all wanted to do so she agreed to join us. I had faith that I could do it as I had ridden half-way up it before when we watched the time trial there one year. Also, I knew it was no where near as hard as Mont Ventoux! It's a climb, though. Short, steep and relentless is it's claim to fame. (13.8 killometers with an average of 8.1% grade.) The others were there to cheer me when I finally made it and a Dutch woman took Rick's and my picture standing on the little touristy podium.

View of Bourg d'Oisan from less than halfway up Alpe d'Huez.

Then things got tough... You'd think Alpe d'Huez was enough and that it should be all down hill from there, but NO-OOO... You CAN just turn around and ride back down, but the scenery on the backside is actually not to be missed so away we went down the back....and unfortunately, UP the Col de Sarenne. This did me in, I'm afraid and I had to walk a bunch toward the top. Rick walked and rolled slowly with me and eventually came and walked me bike a bit, too.

THEN, we got to really descend, which was great fun. Nearly donw to the main road Sophie wanted to make one more climb so Dave and Bob went with her while Rick, Cathi and I headed down to the main road back to Bourg d'Oisans. This is a busier road but the slope allowed us to descend faster than most vehicles could go so we pretty much owned the road. It went great until we flew into a long dark tunnel. Going from bright sun to the darkness of the tunnel with shades on made visibility pretty tough, but I could hear a truck somewhere behind me and I knew I was just about invisible with no lights or reflectors. Speed was my only defense. Straining to watch for potholes and keeping as close to the edge of the tunnel as I could I made myself as aerodynamic as I could and flew. Cathi was somewere behind me too and we both pulled over the first chance we had after bursting back out into the sunlight with a great "wahoo!" It was one of those rides that are great fun because none of the bad things that could have happened did.

Lisa had been hanging out all day in Bourg d'Oisan and was all relaxed. She'd done a little shopping, read a bit, toured the local museum and taken a nap in the park. She went into her "mother hen/personal trainer" mode when we got back and talked me into eating some real food and drinking something. She was right, I needed it!

All of us really wished we had more time in the Alps but the LEL was calling Sophie and Rick, Bob & Lisa had to get home, and Cathi & Dave had plans for hiking in Switzerland so we packed up one last time and headed north to Bernard's apartment in Paris.