Riding a Bicycle in France and Italy

France 2015 is winding down. I fly back to Texas on Friday. I am currently in Feltre, Italy staying at the Hotel Doriguzzi—a lovely hotel in a lovely valley at the southern edge of the Dolomites. The riding around here is great, but it helps to have a Garmin. It would be easy to get lost. If you are not careful, you might end up with the choice of climbing back up the 15 kilometer pass that you just descended or riding through a dark 2 kilometer tunnel with lots of cars and trucks.

For the most part, riding in France and Italy is a wonderful experience.

• The gendarmes wish you "Bon Courage" at the top of a climb. The country sheriff (Larimer County, Colorado) threatens to give you a ticket because you are taking the whole road on a high speed descent.

• Motorists respect cyclists. Cars must give cyclist 1.5 meters distance when passing in France. It's the law. If there is an accident involving a cyclist and an automobile, it is assumed that the driver of the car is at fault. Too often the opposite is true in the U.S.

You can watch the Tour de France on TV or from the roadside, but if you really want to get an up close and personal view of the riders, visit one of the post-Tour criteriums. I had the opportunity to watch one near Pau last Monday evening. Chris Froome, this year's winner of the Tour, is the rider in yellow. During the pre-race warm-up, the juniors were allowed to ride with the pros. Froome was riding with about 10 juniors, and they were asking him all sorts of questions. Nicholas Roche, one of Froome's teammates, stopped to buy some snacks in the mini-mart where I was buying an ice tea. He had to sign autographs on his way out. Both Froome and Roche speak fluent French.  It's impossible to get this close to the riders during the Tour. Who won?—Roman Bardet.  Froome finished second.

There are a few downsides. August is vacation month, and the traffic is horrible. It's best to avoid certain places in the Alps. I started to ride up the Galibier from Brançon but quickly gave up on the idea. Too many cars. Traffic can also be bad in the Pyrénées, but it is always possible to find a quiet road. The same cannot always be said for the Alps.

There are a certain number of French and Italian motorists who think that it is okay to tailgate at 130 km/hr. If you are in the left lane passing a car or a truck and doing the speed limit (130 km/hr = 80 mph), keep an eye on your rearview mirror. Some idiot will come up behind you doing 150+ km/hr and will want you to immediately get out of their way. They let their intentions be known by staying less than a car length off your rear bumper—both scary and extremely dangerous. In my opinion, all such drivers should be dragged from their cars and be beaten with lead pipes.

Accommodations have been great with one exception. I stayed at the Hotel de Paris in Briançon a few years ago and remembered the place as being budget but more than adequate. This time was different. Here is a pretty accurate quote from TripAdvisor written by some Australians the week before I arrived.

"Well what a place, the owner needs to sell and move on, he has no customer skills and can be very rude at times. He smokes everywhere, he has this big dog that barks in the bar, breakfast is a joke no cereal, dirty dishes and chipped and mouldy fruit, rooms are clean but very old and dated and the plumbing is just ok we didn't have a button on our toilet just the wire sticking up that you had to press. Unless you are broke don't bother."

The only thing that I can add was that there was a strange smell in the bathroom, and the bed was the worst I have ever seen in a hotel. It had a huge dip in the middle like a 500 lb sumo wrestler had sat there. I felt like I was sleeping in a hammock, but a hammock might have been more comfortable.

In Thann I stayed at the Hotel Rangen (very good). In the Pyrénées, I stayed at Les Deux Velos and the Pyrénées Cycling Lodge. It's pretty hard to improve on either of these. Consider them 5-star accommodations for a chambre d'hôte for cyclists. After my experience in Briançon, I drove to Feltre and am staying at the Hotel Doriguzzi (outstanding).

I drive though Switzerland to Muhlouse, France on Tuesday and then continue on to Paris on Wednesday. I will use Thursday to explore Paris and then fly back to Houston via Atlanta on Friday morning.  Hopefully, all off my luggage will arrive with me. I am already planning for France 2016.