Arrivée à Mazan

We're settling in to Le Chateau de Mazan, our base for the next week. It's a beautiful little hotel in the heart of Mazan. After checking in, we attended to our bikes. Lance and Rob had them 99% reassembled. Just the pedals, which we packed in our carry-on, needed to be installed.

Final reassembly

Tomorrow morning we'll take them for a spin in the valley around Mazan to make sure everything is working properly before heading onto the high mountain.

After attending to the bikes, and ourselves (showers were in order after 20-some hours of travel!), we relaxed with a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape and dinner on the patio.

Al fresco dining at Le Chateau de Mazan

We're leavin' on a jet plane!

Next stop, France!

Well, actually, Amsterdam. Then Geneva. And then France!

Packing Panic

50 Hours from now John, Barb, and I should be pulling back from a Dulles gate en route to France.   So far, most of my cycling gear has been placed perfectly in plastic pouches but I still think I’m missing something.  Maybe it’s LUGGAGE !!!

I think France already has an Eiffel Tower

Secret Weapon

Since our good bikes are already on their way to France, I had to use the commuter bike (aka the back-up bike) to get in a few easy miles at Hains Point. To break up the monotony of HP, I was doing a little math in my head and determined that my back-up bike is about 25% heavier than my good bike. That's when it dawned on me that the back-up bike is going to be my secret weapon!

Just like a batter swinging a heavy bat before going up against a fastball pitcher, I'm using a heavier bike before facing the Alps! A couple of more rides on the ol' commuter are going to (hopefully) allow me to float as I pedal effortlessly up Mont Ventoux!

Yeah, right, who am I kidding!

Road Test

We put Lance to the test this weekend to see what kind of Tour Guide he'll be. And I'm happy to report he passed with flying colors! 

Lance organized one last stateside ride for all the DC area riders headed to Europe with Idle Fast in July. Me, Barb and Paul are headed to the French Alps while Nigel is going to Italy to climb the Dolomites. Steve, a veteran of last year's trip to Italy, rounded out our peloton.

The pace down to Mason Neck Park was faster than our trio typically goes, mostly because Nigel seemed happy to pull, setting a blistering pace. It was exhilarating!

Matching kits make you faster!

The return trip was exciting, too, but in a completely different way. As we were heading back out of the park, the binder bolt on my seat post snapped! That's right, the bolt that holds the seat at the right height snapped in half. That's when Lance's experience at emergency roadside repairs came to the rescue. Within seconds, he had removed a bottle cage bolt (conveniently the same size) to replace the broken binder bolt. We were back on the road in less that 10 minutes, good as new. 

The final test of the day came when we got home. We had the box up our bikes. Lance came over to give us a hand and in less that 30 minutes had our three bikes disassembled, wrapped up and into their respective boxes. I'd probably still be working on the first bike!

Five bagged "kits" added padding to the box

SInce a broken seat post bolt is about as unusual  a mishap as you could have on the road, I'm confident we'll be in good hands in France.

The next time we see our bikes will be in France!

July’s Journey Began in January

I remember back in January getting an e-mail from Barb asking if I’d be interested in taking her spot for CompUTrainer sessions offered by Spokes (Quaker Lane) since she would not be able to take them.   Usually during the winter months I end up taking spin classes; however, I jumped at the chance to do something different.  Not only did I do the January block of classes I also signed up for February’s block as well (Barb & John did so too).   It was during these sessions that we started the discussion about going with Lance to France.  I think Barb & John already knew that they would be going it but I remained noncommittal.  

February came.   Lance & Carley (his wife) met the three of us one evening at dinner to discuss details of the trip more in-depth.   I was intrigued but was still hesitant (although I was almost 70% certain of going).   As it happened, our cycling bud Shawn lent me his DVD of Bicycle Dreams, a documentary about the Race Across America.   The film left such an impact on me that I knew at that moment that I would go with John & Barb to France.   Once the CompUTrainer sessions ended, Barb & I began work to develop our training schedule.   March began with 30 mile Sat/Sun rides, April had longer rides (40-50 miles), and May focused on even longer rides (50-70+ miles).  To add to our already established training for France, somewhere along the way we all decided to join John Edwards’ team for June’s MS150 “Ride the Riverside.” 

That ride is now history which brings us to the past weekend, which focused on our last bit of training before packing the bikes.  Both Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days and I think I spent most of those miles reminiscing about winter’s CompUTrainer classes, our miles and miles of training, the mega bucks spent getting our equipment in order, our first Mountain Stage at Skyline, Shawn & John Edwards crash at the MS150, and watching the Tour of Switzerland knowing that I’d soon be climbing the Alps alongside two of my best friends & cyclists, John & Barb.   SCRATCH “alongside”… John will be way ahead and Barb will be pulling me up Ventoux !!

John & Lance Disassembling Paul's Bike

Paul's Giant OCR -- Packed and Ready !!

Bikes packed

This past weekend, we had our last training rides.

http://app.strava.com/rides/11535432

http://app.strava.com/rides/11628421

Wow, were they mad ones! Routes we normally do, but this weekend we did them with guys who went on the Italian trip last year. (No, not the one with Charlize Theron and cute little cars.) Clearly, these guys are happy with pushing the speed and climbing. For me, just hanging on in the back, for as long as I can.

John and Paul are very strong right now. I'd say we're ready.

We packed up the bikes last night. This week's rides are on the commuter bikes.

If one can "taper" for vacation, I look forward to a week of tapering.

Heat and hills

A quick look at the weather forecast for Mazan, France shows they have been having similar weather to Washington, DC: sunny and hot! So it seemed appropriate to head out in heat of the day (already 85 degrees at 10am) for one last hill workout before we pack up the bikes this weekend.

The early heat had already cleared most of the traffic off the usually crowded Mt Vernon Trail so it was a quick spin along the Potomac River to Rosslyn. That's where the hills begin. If DC area cyclists want to find hills quickly inside the Beltway, they head to North Arlington. I decided to head UP Lee Highway to Military Road. The wide, tree-covered Military Road has two of the most popular hills in the area. (On Tuesday nights you'll find literally hundreds of cyclists along the route!). I decided to ride Military "out-and-back" to maximize the shade.

Next up, after a bit of recovery riding through a flat part of Arlington, was "Mt" McKinley, one of my new favorites. It's right off the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, so I've ridden past it thousands of times. But I only just discovered it (thanks, Matt H. and Strava!). And since I was there, I tackled Quantico St, too, for the first time. It's s-t-e-e-p! Thankfully, it's short and takes you to one of the highest points in Arlington. It was a nice, fast downhill ride back to the house.

In addition to the training for the actual rides in France, I thought it would be a good idea to practice a time-honored apres-cycling tradition, too: sucking down a teeny can of ice-cold Coke!

8am; 80 Degrees; 80% Humidity

As of this morning John, Barb, & I have four days until we disassemble our bikes, pack them, and entrust them to Lance.  Lance will fly ahead of us to France and have them reassembled when we arrive.  Thank You Lance !!

Considering we now have little training time left, I decided to go for a ride first thing this morning since the weatherman indicated that our first day of summer would be exactly what those of us living in DC would expect in a summer day (hot and humid).   Despite the temp & humidity, the ride wasn't all that bad.  I think the breeze created while cycling actually cools you down.  Nevertheless I wondered to myself if southern France has the same climate, would it be hotter/cooler, would it be more/less humid, or would we be biking in rainy conditions for two weeks.  Will we fry in Provence and freeze in the Alps?   I also thought of those climbers who scale Mt Everest and have to ascend at some insane hour like 1am.  Will Lance be clanging a cow bell before O-Dark-30 waking us up so we can start our climb to Mon Ventoux before anyone else?  I guess we'll deal with that when we arrive.   Until then I plan to ride early, keep hydrated, and stay in the A/C.

A few more hills

Last night's ride felt pretty good. John and I did a familiar ride and threw in a couple hills.

We didn't hammer, just tested our legs. The first hill, Mt. McKinley (not that Mt. McKinley), is well traveled by cyclists, apparently. When we got there, there was a tri group doing hill repeats. But I'd never done it before. We did it only once, but it wasn't bad at all. Similar inclines to Mont Ventoux, but certainly not the length or intensity.

http://app.strava.com/rides/11243440#196142627

We finished up the ride with our own private Alexandria Ventoux, Mt. Ida. We usually go up it at the beginning of our rides, without any warm up. John wanted to see what it would be like warmed up (I would have just gone home!). It's a short one, but I took 30 seconds off my average time!

Ready or not...

The countdown continues

Only six more riding days until we pack up the bikes and send them off with Lance. Tomorrow it's supposed to be near 100 degrees -- that'll be a steamy ride.

Check Ride

A few days ago, our bikes spent the day at the shop getting some last minute attention. In anticipation of the climbs into the high mountains of the Alps, we had new derailleur cables installed to make sure there are no problems shifting into low gear. And since what goes up, must come down, new brake cables and pads seemed prudent, too! My bike also got some new pedal spindles (who knew there was such a thing!) to remedy the pedal problem that occurred at the Bike MS ride last weekend.

One thing years of racing (inline skates) taught me is never compete on new equipment. Don't show up to the start line with something you've never used before. So today was a Check Ride to make sure all the new equipment is working properly. Paul took that philosophy to heart and tested his new IdleFast kit.

We picked one of our favorite route, the Potomac Loop, because it has a nice mix of flats for speed and hills for climbing. It hits many of the "famous" DC climbs, like Anglers Inn Hill, Mass Avenue, Tilden Street. 

Paul heading toward Anglers Inn Hill

Paul setting a nice pace up Mass Ave
for Siew-Ching and Barbara

The return trip took us through Rock Creek Park where we tackled Sherrill Drive to test our skills climbing, and then descending, hairpin turns. Well, one hairpin turn, so it was pretty easy! We were going to tackle one last hill, the Walter Reed Hill, but, after 50 miles, decided to leave the "The Giant of South Arlington" for another day. Like tomorrow, on the Spokes Shop Ride.

A different kind of training tonight.

Off the bike today. Tonight's a different kind of training.

Testing the equipment

A few more days of Kevin's bootcamp under my belt, with my gym buddies. (Does Kevin realize what he's doing to our quads with all those crazy squats and lunges and frogger-thingies??) Tonight, intervals at Hains Point with John and Siew Ching to test out the new cables and brake pads -- got to make sure those brakes are good and ready for the Alp switchbacks.

The countdown begins

Seventeen days until John, Paul and I fly off to France to ride the rolling hills and not-so-rolling mountains of Mt. Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez with Lance (not that Lance) of IdleFast Events. Last night, we finished up our purchases of extra tubes, clothes and energy bars at The Pro Shop on Duke St., sponsor of IdleFast and who generously offered us discounts on our purchases. Lance doled out our kits in awesome colors of orange, light blue and gray (photo to come).

Our training began in the winter with indoor Computrainer sessions with VeloWorks at Spokes Etc./Quaker Lane, and now outdoors with group rides, shop rides and whatever we can squeeze in after our day jobs. Last weekend, we did our longest ride at the Bike MS: Ride the Riverside: 99.3 miles (not the promised 100 miles). A couple weeks ago, our friend John Edwards (not that John Edwards) introduced us to Skyline Drive and its 6% grade: two hours up, 20 minutes down. Two more weekends of miles and hills and then we'll test our legs in the south of France.

Just thinking about it gives me butterflies.