France 2014—Getting Here and the First Ride

Getting to Paris from Houston was a bit more complicated than usual this summer, since I used frequent flier miles to buy my ticket.  It was Houston to Atlanta to Cincinnati to Paris.  Usually, I can get a direct flight from Houston to Paris, or make one connection in Paris or Amsterdam if I am flying to Geneva.  However, I guess the extra hassle was worth it, since my ticket only cost 60,000 miles and $168.90 (taxes and extra legroom in economy plus).

Since my first flight left Houston at 7 AM, I left the house at 3 AM on Thursday to make the two hour drive to the airport. After connections in Atlanta and Cincinnati, I landed in Paris early Friday morning. We arrived at the gate early, but the ground crew parked the plane in the wrong spot and the jetway couldn't reach the place.  We had to wait at least 20 minutes for the airport to find someone who could operate the tractor that pushed the plane back to its proper spot.  If something can go wrong at Charles de Gaulle Airport, it will.

The wasn't a line a passport control, and my bag was one of the first out on the luggage carousel.  And the bicycle made it to oversized luggage very quickly.  I picked up my leased car, filled it with diesel, and left the airport around 7:30 AM.  Instead of driving directly to Saint Amarin, which would take me through Nancy, and I decided to take the southern route to Mulhouse to avoid the Tour traffic.  This route was a bit longer, but the Tour de France was schedule to finish in Nancy on Friday.  My GPS decided to route me through the Paris morning rush hour. When I realized my mistake, it was too late.  Twenty-five miles and over 2 hours later, I finally left Paris. I took my time getting to the Vosges, making a few stops and at least one power nap along the way.  After 600 km, I finally checked into the hotel around 6 PM on Friday. Figuring in the 7 hour time difference between Texas and France, that's about 32 hours in planes, airports, and cars.  I had dinner in the hotel and slept for the next 10 hours.

After a good night's sleep, I felt much better this morning.  After a typical French breakfast at the hotel,  I went out to the garage to put the bike back together.  The job took about 45 minutes, but the bike survived the flight very well and everything now works.  After a trip to the store to pick up a few odds and ends, I headed out to bag my first climb—the Col d'Oderen.  This is one of the category 2 climbs that the TDF will pass over on Monday on their way to La Planche des Belles Filles.  The Col d'Oderen is 7 km long averaging 5.5%, although it kicks up to 10.3% in place.

I made it to the top just as it started to rain.  The plan was to ride 4 hours today, but there were a few drops at the top and a light rain by the time that I finished the descent, so I decided to head back to the hotel.  It started raining seriously for the last 3–4 km, and I heard the first thunder just as arrived at the hotel.  I saw plenty of other riders coming up the climb as I descended, so I imagine that they got really soaked.

Depending on the weather (big chance of rain), I will ride up to watch the TDF tomorrow and Sunday.  More on the TDF and Saint Amarin in the next post.