France 2012---Observations and Lessons Learned

France 2012 will end on Thursday.  I will try to get another one or two rides in before heading to Geneva on Wednesday.  I fly to Houston via Amsterdam on Thursday.  

1. Learn a different language than English.  You won't regret it.  Crea-Langues is a great place to improve your French, meet new people, and enjoy life.  Absolutely the best language learning experience ever.  
2. Cycling in the Pyrénées is fantastic.  I prefer the overall experience to that of the Alpes.  Stay at the Lanterne Rouge if you are riding in the Haute Pyrénées.  If you are riding in the Ariège, stay at Les Deux Vélos.  For more information on cycling in the Pyrénées, go to http://www.velopeloton.com/.  Also, there are fewer motos in the Pyrénées.  Now, if I can only figure out what to do with those drivers who insist on staying 10 feet off you rear bumper, when you are going the speed limit.
3. Tomatos in France taste better than tomatoes in the U.S.  Actually, lots of things taste better.  In European heaven, the French are the chefs.
4. There are certain roads that I refuse to ride on or drive a car.  These are one lane roads with a stripe down the middle that are carved into the side of a cliff and there is no guardrail.  Often these roads come equipped with unlit tunnels.  For example, the climb up to Villard Notre Dame.
5. The north side of the Col du Galibier is much more difficult than the south side, but at least there are no tunnels.  When I woke up the day after I did this ride, I thought an 800 pound gorilla had used my back as a trampoline.
6. Provence!!!
7. Some days your legs feel better than other days.
8. The curse of the Col de la Madeleine.  It doesn't matter if you are on a bike or in a car.  This is the col where Lance Armstrong crashed in his last TDF.  It is also the scene of my two flat tires on a Sunday morning last summer.  Texans beware!  DO NOT GO THERE!  The climb up the south side from La Chambre is okay, I rode up it yesterday just to check.  However, stay away from the north side, which begins at La Léchère. 
9. The climbs in France are steeper and longer than most of what you will find in the U.S.  Make sure that your bike is geared properly, then go one or two gears lower.  Also, Alpe d'Huez is easier if you remember to use your lowest gear.
10. If it's warm in the valley, it might be cold on top.  Take a jacket.  Fortunately, this was not a lesson that I learned from experience.  Quite often there is a cafe at the top of the climb where you can get coffee.
11. Just because you haven't heard of it, doesn't mean it's not a great climb.  Most people only hear about the climbs used in the Tour de France; e.g., Alpe d'Huez, Col du Tourmalet, Hautacam, Col du Galibier, etc.  There are lots of climbs that aren't used in the Tour for one reason or another.  Explore!
12. Le Bourg d'Oisans (at the base of Alpe d'Huez) is tremendously over rated as a cycling destination.  Go there and get it out of your system. If you want to spend a week or ten days riding from one place, try Albertville.  Three flat valleys to ride up and lots of hard climbs.  Climbs such as Col du Galibier, Col du Glandon, and Col de la Croix de Fer are all within an hour's drive.
13. Lease a car from Renault, Peugeot, or Citroën.  Great rate and zero deductible insurance.  No hidden extra charges like the rental car companies usually stick you with.  Get a diesel with GPS.  The big catch is that you have to lease the car for at least 21 days.
14. Five weeks in France in June and July is preferable to five weeks in the East Texas heat.

Cycling, Learning French, and Eating in Provence

Provence is located in southeast France from Marseille in the west to the Italian border in the east and from the Mediterranean in the south to the southern Alps in the north.  Think vineyards, lavender, and olive groves with deep blue skies and brilliant colors.  Imagine paintings of Cézanne, Renoir, Matisse, van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso.  Imagine cuisine with olives and olive oil, garlic, sardines, fresh fish, fresh fruits, and fresh vegetables. I do not eat tomatoes in the U.S. because I simply do not like the taste.  But I love the tomatoes of Provence.  Think cities that date back to the times of Rome.  Think of people who are friendly and love life. This is Provence, and I love it.

After spending two and a half weeks cycling in the Alps and the Pyrenees, where I dragged my rear end up more than one or two HC climbs, I planned a week of downtime in Provence. I am staying at the Monastère de Ségriès near Moustiers-Ste-Marie, where I am taking an intensive language offered Crea-Langues.  The course is total immersion: twenty-four hours each day and seven days a week.  I am with 18 other students (the maximum number of students is 20) who are from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.  Everyone speaks at least functional French (even me).  We are divided into four different classes.  The professors are wonderful, and it's amazing how much you can improve your French in a week or two.  We have classes in the morning and outings in the afternoon: mountain biking, hiking, visiting a truffle farm, sailing, canoeing, wine tasting to name a few.  Although this is my fifth stay at Crea-Langues, I'm not in danger of setting any records.  This is the thirteenth time for one of the Belgian students.

I have managed to get a few rides in this week.  The lavender is in full bloom on the plateau surrounding Valensol.  No photograph can capture the true color of the lavender fields.  And of course, there are the requisite fields of tournesol or sunflowers.  Tournesol means turn to the sun.

Tomorrow, Serena (voice of my GPS) and I off to the Alps.

Stage 14 of the Tour de France

On July 15, the Tour will go from Limoux to Foix in the Ariège.  The first climb on the agenda will be the Port de Lers, which I did today with two Aussies.  The second climb will start up the Col de Port and then make a left turn onto the Mur de Péguère.  Mur is the French word for wall, a very appropriate choice in this case.  The sign at the bottom says 18%, and it's a VERY narrow road.  This means that the peloton will go ballistic on the first part of the Col de Port.  Everyone (all 198 riders) will want to be in the top 10 when they make the left hand turn onto the Mur.  It's not possible to win the Tour on this day, but it would be very easy to lose it.

The picture below is the beginning of the Mur de Péguère.  The sign in the background says 18%.  I took the road on the right to the Col de Port, which is only 6% but still uphill.

I think the boys fell asleep while waiting for me at the top of the Port de Lers.

This is me at the top of the Port de Lers.

After descending a couple of kilometers to Étang de Lers, a small lake where the road splits off to go over the Col d'Agnes, I stopped at the restaurant for a nice lunch.  From the restaurant it's a 15 kilometer descent to Les Deux Velos, where I am staying---no pedaling necessary.  Well, maybe you need to take 100 pedal strokes at some point.

A Three Col Day

I made it to the top of Col de la Core yesterday.  It's a long haul getting up there but worth the view.  Thirteen kilometers with most of the climb at 7 or 8 percent.  For those of you on the Nacogdoches Bicycle Club, think 13 Hayter Hills stacked one on top of another.

Below is the view from the top.  The climb starts at the bottom of the valley that you see in the background.

The top is 1395 meters.  That's 4577 feet for my metrically challenged friends.  The climb begins in the town of Seix (yes, that's pronounced sex) at an altitude of 510 meters.

After the Col de la Core, I rode up two more climbs: the Col de Portet and the Col de Catchaudégué.  It took me a few minutes to find the base of the first climb.  It was an unmarked one lane road and much narrower than those county roads in East Texas.  It was pretty rural, and I actually thought that I heard banjos playing at one point during the ride.  Oh yes, the horse flies were ferocious for about 2 or 3 kilometers on the Col de Catchaudégué.