Plans Underway for France 2019

Summer 2019 is just around the corner.  Even though the route for next year's Tour de France will not be officially announced until October 25, we have a pretty good idea of the route that the Grand Boucle (French for the great loop) will follow (see http://velopeloton.com/2019-tour-de-france-route/).  It's time to thinking about next summer's cycling adventure in France.

On the Col de la Bonette

My plan is to depart Houston for Marseille on June 25 (plus or minus a few days).  I will do the usual and lease a car for the summer (http://www.renaultusa.com).  Every summer I that I go to France, I lease a Renault.  I have done this so often that I now get a best customer discount.

Géant du Tourmalet

I plan to spend my first week at Serre des Ormes (http://www.serredesormes.co.uk) in the La vallée de la Méouge in the Barronies, an area northwest of Mont Ventoux and on the southern edge of the Alps.  This area will be a first for me, although I have visited Buis-les-Baronnies, which is just to the west and found the cycling to be superb.

La lavande in the Barronies

The next stop will be Les Deux Vélos (http://www.lesdeuxvelos.com/en/) in the Ariège Pyrénées (July 6–28).  Les Deux Vélos is a small cycling lodge run by Mark and Elma.  My best tip is to lose weight before you go to France.  You will have to ride a lot of cols to avoid gaining weight from Elma's delicious cooking.  The riding is great and the roads are very quiet for the most part.  Often the only car that you will see will be that of the postman.

Dinner at Les Deux Vélos

I struggled with foreign languages in college.  I still have nightmares about trying to learn German.  It wasn't until a couple of decades later that I decided to attempt another language.  Not one to back away from a challenge, I decided on Japanese.  However, I took a different approach this time—total immersion in Japan.  Although I haven't been back to Japan since 2002, I did speak reasonably functional Japanese at one point in my life—a great improvement over my dozen word German vocabulary.

Studying French in Provence

In 2005, I decided on the same approach to learning French.  Even though I had three years of high school French under my belt, I knew in my heart that learning French should be done in France—Provence if at all possible.  I enrolled in a two-week total immersion course at Crea Langues (http://www.crealangues.com) on the recommendation of a friend of my sister.  It was nothing but French 24–7, and it worked!  I have been back many times and will return July 28–August 3, 2019.  By the way, the school has its own professional chef.  Christophe is an artist.

No explanation necessary

It's on to the Col du Tourmalet, the Hautacam, and the Col d'Aubisque in the Haut Pyrénées at the Pyrénées Cycling Lodge (https://pyreneescyclinglodge.com) (August 3–12).  I have stayed here every summer since the lodge opened in 2009.  There are an incredible number of climbs in this area—some beautiful, some difficult, and some both.  This valley is home to what is known as the "Circle of Death" (https://velopeloton.com/circle-death/)—a stage of the Tour de France, where the race is often won or lost.

Luz Ardiden

All good things must come to an end, and I must fly back to Houston on August 13 out of Toulouse.