2006 Trip to France

22 May - Chateauneuf du Pape

2006-05-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

That last post was the last one written on the trip...now I'm reconstructing.... The ride on May 22 was longer than expected. I planned to ride up to Chateauneuf du Pape (i.e. the new chateau of the Pope, a terroir that has been growing wine since the Popes were in Avignon).

I thought I could cut across this little island in the Rhone to the north of Avignon. The map showed bridges connecting it to another island and thence to the E side of the Rhone but the 1st of the bridges was inside a fenced off area--it turned out to be a hydroelectric dam. It's too bad b/c it would make for a great, traffic-free cycling route. The island itself is all agricultural & woodlands (probably the private gardens and hunting grounds of the Popes back in the day...).

Another corridor of sycamores.

Around the corner is where the PYTs of Avignon go to take their riding lessons.

And more of the ubiquitous poppies.

After spinning around the island for a while, and realizing that the only way off was the way I got on, I headed up the W side of the Rhone, past this vineyard.

I took a detour here, up a short climb to the town of Pujaut. There's a bit about the town here, with a map -- I was riding up the D980 and took the 2nd left into Pujaut from Sauveterre. What that link doesn't tell is the etymology of the name...it's not just a really bad misspelling of Peugeot -- it comes from the Latin "Podium Altum" meaning a high hill...the spelling changed sometime in the 14th century, according to this site.

After getting back on the D980 I passed a trio of cyclists whom I'd later discover were from North America, and made my way through a series of roundabouts/rotaries/traffice circles to the bridge across the Rhone. Then I headed back south towards Chateauneuf du Pape. The ride would wind up being the shape of the letter C, b/c the roads north of Avignon are all industrial and unsuitable for cycling.

Heading south towards CDP Mont Ventoux was visible again beyond the vineyards.

I didn't stop at any of the wineries in CDP but did stop off at this one, Domaine Tour St Michel, about 1/2 an hour's ride south of the town.

The wine was a typical Cote du Rhone...a Syrah/Grenache blend. After the tasting here and another at the wine store in the Palace of the Popes, I confirmed that Syrah/Grenache is just not a style of wine I'm crazy about, at least not in a tasting room. Leathery, musty, the kind of wine that really demands red meat, olives, tomato sauce etc. The ones I drank at meals were delicious but I think they're hard to evaluate without the context of a meal to work with the flavors of the wine.

After that I rode about 20 minutes more south and realized that the roads into Avignon were traffic-filled and industrial, and decided to go back the way I came. I stopped for lunch (back) in CDP, which was where I chatted with the trio of cyclists I had passed, & the guy confirmed for me that there was no other good route back to Avignon other than the way I had come. Ended the ride with 107 km on the odometer. That was the last ride I got in on the trip -- I averaged about 97 km (or just over 60 miles)/ day, which I can't complain about since my longest ride of 2006 prior to the trip was 95 km. I also wound up with a distinctive cyclist's tan line:

The next morning I took a photo of this storefront before getting the train to Paris:

May 21 - to Pont du Gard, west of Avignon

2006-05-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

I headed out today to the W of Avignon, but the start of the ride was the same since there seems to be only one bike-friendly way to get in or out of town. Once I got off the river, the ride seemed to leave the floodplain of the Rhone more quickly. Here and there are these small hills.

Just around the corner was this 12th century church -- this is approaching Theziers from Aramon on the D19.

Theziers was kind of interesting -- it is an old walled medieval town but it doesn't seem to have been restored / affected much by tourism. I spiraled up the road to the center of town next to an old church. Here's a view downhill.

And one looking up to the church tower.

Here's a shot looking back at the church over the town, with some newer houses outside the city walls in the foreground.

This is the famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard--there weren't a lot of tourists right now but I can imagine this must be a mess in the summer. There are visitors' centers with tons of bus parking on either side of the bridge. Add that to 100+ F temperatures etc.

In the old town of Castillon du Gard. There was a little flea market going on here out in the streets, & somewhere there is a bicycle museum but I couldn't find it & decided to head on.

A view from Castillon of the landscape, and the road I'd be riding on a few minutes later.

Pont du Gard, viewed from the same spot.

Another view of the landscape--mixtures of vineyards & olive trees.

Looking back up to the spot (on the far R of the hill) where the previous pictures were taken.

I headed south from Castillon du Gard towards Cabrieres. Just after Collias there was another bridge over the Gard, from which I took this picture of the cliffs--there was a canoe rental place right across, and a lot of people swimming further downstream. It was a really hot day--staying moving on the back, especially given how flat it was, kept me cool but I was a little worried about sunburn and dehydration.

A field of poppies south of Cabrieres.

There was a long stretch here where I didn't take pictures but which was actually one of the most interesting parts of the ride. The ride climbed up the gorge of a S-N flowing stream, for maybe half an hour, not climbing much (maybe 250m elevation altogether) but steadily, first through rocky scrub then a dry forest. All the way along the sides of the (deserted) road there were glimpses of trails and occasional trailheads with signs. It could be a really good place for a mt. bike (aka a VTT).

These two signs were from the Redessant Cave Cooperative i.e. winemaking cooperative. There were lots of wineries all along here but they all seemed to be closed--Sunday afternoon before the tourist high season. (blogger isn't formatting this quite right...)

Rather than going straight into Avignon, I went passed the bridge a bit into Villeneuve. There's a tower here that used to be the west side of the old Pont d'Avignon before it got taken out by floods in the 17th C.

A view down the stairs...these steep, winding stone stairs will look familiar to anyone who has travelled in Europe...but they are even less pleasant to negotiate with cleated cycling shoes. I sounded like a horse...click...click...click....

But there were great views at the top -- this is to the north, the Chartreuse fort / monestary, now a school / writing center for playwrights.

To the northeast...Mont Ventoux in the distance. You can see why recreational cyclists generally ride up the east side.

And to the east...the Palace of the Popes and Avignon. There were a couple of American ladies here who offered to take my picture after I took theirs for them.

To the south, the Rhone. The first bridge on the R. is the main cycling route out of Avignon.

Back across the Rhone. The Palace of the Popes is built on this huge chunk of rock, which was previously at the center of a Roman fortification and before that an Iron Age settlement.

The Pont d'Avignon.

The ride ended just after this, with 119km (74 miles) on the odometer. To give an idea of how much flatter the cycling is, my max HR for this ride was 166 BPM, which I was probably only at for a few short climbs, whereas I was probably around there most of the hour plus up Alpe d'Huez, with stretches well over 170 & up to around 182 or so.

May 20 - south of Avignon

2006-05-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

May 20

First thing--I e-mailed Union today and accepted the job there (2-year job in Schenectady, NY), which means I need to start thinking about another x-country move. A bit of a distraction.

I got into Avignon around 1:45 or so, after a routine train ride from Montpellier. I managed to get unpacked & riding by 3 or so. The first part of the ride was the unexciting D2--across the bridge to Villeneuve Les Avignon (i.e. the new city...built in the 15th C or so but new by comparison to Avignon itself) then S. along the Rhone. That could be really pretty but the river itself is hidden by the road by a huge levee. A lot of the riding here makes me wonder what it must be like to live in Iowa or someplace like that--it's dead flat, with only the prevailing winds making for any change in the resistance. I find hills much more interesting...

Eventually the ride crosses the Rhone and doubles back NE a bit through Barbentane where there's this small but attractive chateau:

In the parking lot was this sealed house with a sign in the lower L: "A Travers La Montagnette" -- i.e. the little mountain. It was really little.

This is coming down the back of the Montagnette. The scenery is very different from the Alps, both because it's flat & because of the Mediterranean climate. Before this was a short climb through a low, dry forest. Needless to say a lot of it reminded me of parts of southern Africa and California.

This shot is a little further along, going W from Maillane where I started closing the loop of the ride. The trees on the right are a wind break.

Here's one of these corridors of trees like I was describing on the ride back from l'Alpe d'Huez. They're not oaks--I asked someone at the conference about them--they're related to sycamores, but the French prune them into lots of various forms. Especially here, where the sun is intense in May, coming into one of these corridors as you enter a town is very cool and refreshing.

This is why they need windbreaks--these trees are apparently in a very windy spot.

You'd think the tourism dept. planted this old deux cheveux (2CV) on this backroad, but a second later a guy stepped out who was fishing in the stream here. Cycling on these tiny backroads was nice, but each stretch was only 1-3 km or so long, so it made for a lot of navigation stops.

Some haystacks. Van Gogh lived in Arles, about 20 km south of here, when he cut off his ear and was hospitalized.

At the end of this road I passed this old guy on a bike.

This is now in Tarascon. Colorful shutters are one of the trademarks of Provence.

This tower was also next to the bridge over the Rhone at Tarascon--it needs two pictures to convey the mass & size when you're up next to it.

La Tarasque -- presumably this is the creature for which Tarascon is named (?)

A view of a rowing club with some fortifications in the background, across the Rhone from Tarascon.

Looking back--this is the structure with the tower in the two pictures above.

And on the way back--on the bridge leading back into Avignon--some people bowling. I passed several of these bowling grounds, all packed with people of all ages.

After the ride (81 km total, or a little over 50 miles) I got back into Avignon and started wandering around in search of dinner. In the main square there is this interesting two-story carousel.

It was also "La Nuit des Musees" so a bunch of the museums were free & open until 11 PM, which would make for a very long day. First stop was the Palace of the Popes from back in the day when the papacy was based in Avignon rather than the Vatican.

Here's an interior shot. I didn't realize this, but Avignon was ruled from Rome until the 1790s, when it joined with some neighboring areas and became part of France. At this point the palace was used as a military barracks although the picture actually is of a 17th (I think) century ceiling, when the room where the Popes used to hear indulgences was converted into an armory.

Interesting gargoyle of a boy and his dog.

A replica of a papal indulgence. You, too, can be freed of sin if the price is right.

One of the courtyards. Unfortunately most of the spaces were too vast & dark to shoot much here.

This is a window on the courtyard where the popes used to make some of their public appearances--the rose and bars are early 20th century reconstructions.

May 19 - Montpellier

2006-05-23T02:42:00.000-07:00

May 19
Here are some pictures from the walk back from the conference center to my hotel.

A 19th century aqueduct.

Some monumental architecture...

with kids playing soccer in front of it.

Montpellier's answer to l'Arc de Triomphe.

With a giant crucifix off to the R.

The Opera de Comedie in Montpellier, with cafes and the ubiquitous African trader.

May 15 - l'Alpe d'Huez

2006-05-16T03:17:00.000-07:00

Today rode out to & up one of the most celebrated climbs in the Tour de France--l'Alpe d'Huez. I'll post a full report but in the meantime there are loads of pictures here and here

Ok--here's the long version.

May 15 - Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez is one of the most famous climbs in France, regularly featured in the Tour de France (in 2005, it was done as a time trial, i.e. cyclists on their own, racing against the clock) and I felt compelled to ride it. Unfortunately it's about 45-50km each way from Grenoble--some people posting on the Grenoble cycling site took the bus out there, others stayed in Bourg d'Oisans, right at the base. Late on the night of the 14th I decided to ride it straight from Grenoble, since acc. to the Lonely Planet there's enough of an uphill from Grenoble to BDO that it looked like it should be easy coming back. Unfortunately I got so busy thinking about the ride I didn't get to sleep until late.

The ride got off on a high note (haha) when the guy in front of me on the bike path going out of Grenoble, riding his pink girl's bike, lit up a joint & wafted pot smoke back at me for a k or 2.

Unfortunately after that it was all diesel and no dope. Unlike the Vercors and Chartreuse rides, the landscape here isn't agricultural or pastoral...there are beautiful mountainsides but the Romanche river valley itself--where the road went--has been heavily developed for hydro power. Further up it seems to be all winter tourism...which means lots of trucks in the summertime, fixing roads, building and repairing condos, etc., trucks with not only diesel but loads of gravel that sprinkle a fine dust behind them. I could see why people would take the bus out.

The road also climbed up the valley...barely perceptibly to the eye, but steep enough that it made me feel slow and tired...at one point I thought seriously about turning around and trying to salvage the day with an afternoon ride up to Vercors again. The sky was a bit overcast, too, and the only spot in the area where they had predicted showers was the Oisans massif...i.e. exactly where I was going.

But at the turnoff to Bourg d'Oisans, I picked up a tailwind, & the gradient might have changed as well--the riding certainly got easier and more pleasant. There was also just more to look at--I realize how much of cycling for me is tied up in the aesthetics--when there's a lot to see it's easy not to notice if the ride isn't so comfortable. Trees lining the roadway, fields & houses, etc. Still, I was feeling a bit tired & wasn't sure about doing the climb.

There is some summer bike tourism, it seems, but maybe it's a bit early in the season. There were signs here and there for the World Mt. Bike Championships being held in Les Deux Alpes -- also off this road -- later in the summer. But a couple of the big cols of the TDF are still closed -- Col de Croix de Fer off to the side of this ride, and Col du Galibier further along -- there are some pictures of the snow and snow removal here. I took some shots of the signs but they're not here...

Back in 1992, I went into the dentist's just hoping to get some antibiotics for a little infection around one of my wisdom teeth & instead got the tooth yanked out. That's kind of what happened with Alpe d'Huez. I followed the signs for ADH, thinking there would be some kind of marker for the start of the actual climb or something, then realized I was on it & decided to climb a few of the numbered hairpins to check out the view, see how I felt, etc. After #19 or 18 (of 21, numbered from 21 to 1 as you ascend) it was clear to me that there was no way I could turn back...so up I went. I knew from reading descriptions of the ride that the steepest sections were at the bottom.

I found the climb much easier than the Col du Granier two days before, even though I think it was longer and overall steeper--partly because it had some pretty flat sections where I could chill a bit (since I hadn't realized when I started, & I still had a long ride home ahead, I wasn't timing myself or going for speed--I think it took me around 1:15, or about twice the record) and partly because of the numbered switchbacks giving a clear sense of progress and breaking it up into manageable portions.

Most of the painted signs in the roadway were worn off from last year, but the "Go Lance" sign just after switchback #11 was still clear. I remember reading that he rode this climb over and over again in preparation for the time trial, and I can see that knowing the course really well, exactly what to expect when and where would be a great help.

The sun was bright but there were occasional cool breezes--on a hot day in July it would be less pleasant, I'd guess. There were also streams of water running off the mountain into draining ditches on the sides, so I figured I could douse myself if I got really hot.

There are signs coming into the town of ADH indicating the TDF route but then it got a bit confusing...I kept going up through a tunnel, thinking I might officially be "done," but then a TDF sign came up saying 1km to go...compared to the last few ks of the Col du Porte (in the rain, two days ago...), this was pretty easy going--by this point the road was lined with (closed) business and ski lodging (and occasionally the tops and bottoms of chairlifts) & the gradient was much easier than it had been lower down.

Eventually the road ended at an empty parking lot in back of a ski lift with lots of old, dirty snow and gravel. Somewhere in the final k I'd missed a turn but around the other side of the parking lot I found all the old TDF paint on the road & located the end.

I spun down the hill into the ski resort and had two Oranginas and a big plate of fries at one of the only open businesses in town. At one point--this is the one picture from the day that I really wish I had--a golden retriever who looked (and acted) exactly like Buttons came up and begged for my food.

From there on it was all downhill, literally, but the ride was fun...the descent of ADH couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes, even descending conservatively with all the switchbacks. And the ride from Bourg d'Oisans back to Grenoble was clearly steeper than I'd thought--I was going around double the speed I'd been going on the way up.

I took a little detour in Vizille, to see the chateau there, which is when I realized I'd lost the camera. I'm pretty sure I know where it is--at a little settlement called Gavet where I had to wait for a traffic light set up b/c of road construction work--I reached into my pocket and grabbed something to eat & probably knocked it out. Anyway travel insurance or homeowner's should cover it & thanks to digital cameras I only lost that day's photos.

The chateau itself was down a long road lined with beautiful old oak trees, but in a bit of urban planning I'd associate more with Waterville, Maine than France, there was a big paper mill on one side, dampening the effect of the view a bit. Actually a lot of this ride reminded me of the uglier parts of the mountains in western Maine, or the view of Mt. Washington (NH) when the steam train is spewing out black smoke--it's an intrinsically beautiful landscape, but in a lot of spots it has been developed without much regard to aesthetics.

If I were to do this again (and honestly I can't wait to), I'd probably stay in Bourg d'Oisans--given my limited time, it didn't make sense to devote a morning or afternoon to travelling out there, esp. given that several of the cols were still closed. Alternatively, from Vizille I saw a road to Grenoble via Uriage--the town where I was the day before with the car show. That route would replace about 18k of the trafficky road out of Grenoble but might add some climbing...I think it'd be worth it though.

In the end it came to 131 km or about 81 miles, which makes it my longest ride of 2006

Chartreuse - May 13

2006-05-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

I didn't take a lot of pictures today...though in retrospect this was a great ride, it definitely had some rough moments. This was the ride Chartreuse 3 from the grenoble cycling website, although it came in @ 103km for me. The first 45km or so were pretty mellow--some rolling hills, and a bit more traffic than I would have liked, but nice views of the side of the Chartreuse with some hang gliders above on the L, and the Alps on the R. It did remind me of two things that are absent from riding in California: humidity and bugs...somewhere near a freshly manured field I went through a stretch with lots of flies, one of which managed to nail me in the back of the throat.

The first climb (Col du Granier) felt like one of the hardest I've done on a road bike, comparable to some hard stretches in the East Bay but much, much longer. As soon as I started climbing, my legs felt more tired and achy than at any point yesterday. It was also hot and humid, and made me a bit nervous since it was the 1st of three big climbs on the day. At one point I thought how ridiculous it was that I was carrying fleece gloves & various other bits of cold-weather clothing.... It was also through a protected forest, so after the first few ks there were few cars and no settlements.

Before entering the forest, there was a steep stretch through a vineyard--this was the only spot on the rides from Grenoble where I saw a vineyard...view is E to the Alps:

Looking up, to the summit of Mt. Granier--the pass at the Col is about 1000m below the summit:

A view of the summit from further up, deep in the woods:

At the top there was a restaurant, with bathrooms, running water, & everything seemed ok again. There was a guy sitting there drinking a coffee next to a fancy Merlin titanium-frame bike & another group of mountain bikers having some lunch. I refilled my water bottles but didn't linger long.

It wasn't quite as steep as this...

A couple of the towns up here and lots of business have "Entremont" i.e. "between the mountains" in their names, & it is a pretty dramatic location. From the sides I've seen, the Chartreuse looks like a huge, inaccessible, stone-walled plateau, but up on top there is a deep, steep-walled valley scattered with farms and a few villages--like a hidden little world that you could completely miss driving by down below. I can imagine there was a time when people would live most of their lives without leaving the plateau--maybe some still do. Anyway the descent down was beautiful, dropping into this concealed valley.

West from St Pierre d'Entremont

N/NE

The next climb (Col du Cucheron) was also pleasantly easy, compared to the first. Again, Berkeley was great preparation--this was about the same height / distance as one of my regular rides to Grizzly Peak. Although I was inexplicably coughing right at the start, maybe an after-effect from that fly, I soon felt fine & things seemed ok except for a little hint of light rain at the top.

Looking back down...

Unfortunately it started raining harder on the way down, & even loaded up with clothes, by the time I got St-Pierre-de-Chartreuse it was a little chilly. I stopped for a few minutes under a bus shelter (public buses run up here!) to warm up & ate a bit more.

The next climb started pretty easy, & right at the start there was a sign saying Col du Porte 8km -- even at a slow climbing pace that shouldn't be much more than 40 minutes. Unfortunately at a sign indicating 4km from the summit it got a fair bit steeper, & started raining harder, & I found myself watching the odometer rather closely... A kilometer is NOT very far. Just over ten lengths of a football field. And at this point I knew I had maybe 20 minutes before I was done with the climbing for the day and could coast downhill for 20km into Grenoble. Even when it flattened out with 1.5 km or so to go it still was really trying. I didn't know then how good I had it at the time.

It's as cold and wet as it looks...

Fortunately there was an open restaurant at the top of the Col, where I stopped to see if the rain would let up and had two hot chocolates. Those were awfully good. My extremities were chilly but my core was definitely still warm. Even so when I went downstairs to the bathroom I spent a few minutes in front of the hot air dryer trying to warm up my socks, my shoes, blowing hot air down the back of my shorts (once the bike seat got rained on this became a matter of urgency...) etc. When I got back upstairs the rain was worse, but after a few minutes it seemed to be turning into more of a drizzly fog, so I got back on the bike.

On a warm, dry, sunny day a 20km downhill dropping 1100m would be really fun...in the rain, however, the extra 40kph windchill was absolutely miserable. I think this might be the only time I've had to stop on a downhill.

Twice. At one point I felt this strange shuddering in my bike & stopped at another bus shelter but everything seemed fine. I was really cold at this point, teeth chattering. When I stopped for the second time, I realized that the shuddering was because I was getting waves of uncontrollable shivering that were making the handlebars shake.

A view from the cozy bus stop.

I was really glad to see Grenoble but the first few little towns I passed through had nothing open. Finally I saw an open store & got a banana -- I think the credit card I had with me is on the floor of that store somewhere b/c a bunch of stuff fell out of my jersey pocket when I was trying with my gloved hand to get the money out to pay. I need to call and cancel that... In Grenoble itself the rain had stopped, & fortunately this road dropped me in only about 6 blocks from my hotel. Still, I managed to bump against a curb pulling out of an intersection & instead of bouncing off like a dry wheel would, my tire kind of slid up & the bike went over sideways & I harmlessly, slowly, but thoroughly without dignity hit the sidewalk next to the half dozen or so drivers behind me in the intersection.

I didn't really care at that point, and maybe ten minutes later I was soaking in a hot bathtub in my hotel room.

Vercors May 12

2006-05-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

May 12

First things on the agenda today were getting hold of a map and getting some breakfast. Both were easily done within a few blocks of the hotel -- the map is the Carte Departementale at 1:100,000 for Isere from the Institut Geographique National (www.ign.fr), which was available at a newstand in the train station. Breakfast was a "petit dejeuner traditionale" i.e. lots of bread & croissants, some mixed fruit and yogurt...normally I wouldn't go out for a continental breakfast but I think this was a perfect pre-ride meal since I could stuff myself and still had bread left over.

Then -- the ride. I decided to go for an "easy" ride the first day -- it would be my 3rd or 4th longest ride this year but it's easy compared to some others on the agenda, and the ratio of elevation gain to distance is actually less than most of the rides I've been doing in the East Bay. It's the first Vercors ride listed on the incredibly helpful anglophone site www.grenoblecycling.com. In brief it's the D106 from Grenoble to Lans-en-Vercors, the D531 to Villard-de-Lans and a bit further, back on the D106 north & the D106C to Autrans, back on the D106 to Lans-en-Vercors again, and down to Grenoble on the D531. Even though that's only two numbered roads, it actually makes a very nice 80+ km loop with no doubling-back.

Getting out of Grenoble wasn't too hard--I just followed the cycle lanes in the general direction I wanted to go and soon enough was on the climb up to St-Nizier. The climb was long -- an hour or so -- & unrelenting, (from 200m to 1100+ m elevation) but not too steep -- it was somewhere between Tunnel Road and Spruce/Grizzly Peak in Berkeley in gradient, both climbs I do pretty regularly, but longer (those gain about 520m, this was 900m +). I definitely felt fresher at the top than I had after climbing a comparable elevation to Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County a few weeks back. All along the road were trailheads leading off to hiking and mt. bike trails. Early on I passed a strong cyclist with a head of white hair, also a guy later on a mt. bike. More impressive was a guy I didn't pass -- he came out of the woods at a trailhead about 100m ahead of me, running, then turned off onto another trailhead as I was approaching him -- based on my speed, he was probably running a 6 minute mile, on a trail quite far from any obvious starting point.

Looking up from St-Nizier

Looking east towards the Alps

As you might guess from the elevation profile, the ride to Villard-de-Lans was pretty easy going. After the long climb, this stretch of the ride is an alpine valley, with lots of agricultural land & settlements. Right after I started descending at St-Nizier, I got passed by a red Corvette & thought that was an unusual vehicle to see in France. I looked up again and realized it had California plates.

All of the drivers I encountered were very polite -- not just the guys in the beat-up citroen with the mountain bikes on the back but truck drivers, motorcyclists, yuppies in town, etc. Once I got up onto the Vercors massif, I started seeing lots of cyclists, individuals and groups...maybe they knew something I didn't because all but two of them were going in the opposite direction from me.

In Lans-en-Vercors I stopped and made my 1st search for water--there were some public bathrooms but they didn't have a sink, so I ended up filling my bottle from the water in the toilet tank. Haha. Just to see if you were paying attention...actually I found a tap in Villard-de-Lans.

Looking S from Lans-en-Vercors with the east ridge of Vercors

Looking W from the same spot

In every one of the villages in Vercors there were signs for "Ski de Fond" (x-c skiing) and one for a "Domaine Skiable" which sounded interesting...I looked in the back window of a bike/ski rental place in Lans-en-Vercors and there was a big rack of several generations of Salomon x-c ski boots hanging on the wall. My favorite ski sign was the (sadly unlit) neon nordic skier suspended in the air as part of the welcome sign to Villard-de-Lans. (5/13: I later found out that Autrans, at the northern end of the loop on the Vercors in this ride, was the base for the x-c ski races in the 1968 Winter Olympics).

After leaving Villard-de-Lans I entered the first gorge--the road runs along a stream, with steep limestone walls on either side, before dropping into another alpine valley. I got a bit nervous here b/c it started to drizzle a bit--I had brought clothes for "partly cloudy" based on what I saw on weather underground earlier in the week--but it stopped soon enough. Overall the weather was perfect for riding--around 62-65 F I'd guess, without too much bright sunshine.

Up the gorge.

Down the gorge...

After Autrans began the second climb, which wasn't really much -- I had forgotten the elevation profile but this was only about 300m -- like the climb up Spruce to the intersection of Wildcat Canyon and Grizzly Peak in Berkeley that I often add on at the end of a ride for a little extra.

At the top...hardly worth a photo but I was stopped...

The descent on the D531 was great. The roads are wide and the curves are made for cars going 50 mph so there's plenty of room. Braking was hardly necessary & you could hold your speed through the turns. Even the few turns marked with warning signs were much wider than most of the turns on the climbs in the Bay Area. Great fun, & didn't feel dangerous at all. The descent started with another gorge then opened up with a panoramic view of the Chartreuse massif to the N and Grenoble to the E-SE with the Alps in the background.

At the bottom, I found my way through some residential and light industrial blocks on some bike trails to a trail that runs along the Isère River all the way back to Grenoble. A nice place for an easy spin for 20 minutes or so at the end of the ride.

Tomorrow...the Chartreuse.

May 10-11

2006-05-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

May 10-11

I forgot the one thing I had to do in the airport before leaving--get a plug converter. Right now I'm writing with my laptop cord snaking around the corner to the shaver outlet in the bathroom...they always say shavers only but it works just fine. To my surprise I managed to get a few hours sleep on the plane so I wasn't a total wreck when I arrived in Paris. I got stopped at customs for the 1st time in a long while but nothing came of it. And I wasted about an hour in the TGV station (that's the high-speed train) in Charles de Gaulle -- French banks have introduced new credit cards with an embedded chip, and if you don't have one, you can't get a train or subway ticket from the vending machines (no cash either). Once I realized I wasn't going to get through the long-distance ticket line in time to get the one TGV to the SE from CDG, I had to get in another line to get an RER (kind of an express subway) ticket to Gare de Lyon, where most of the trains to Grenoble leave from.

Getting there was fine -- the bike, in the bag, only weighs about 13 kg -- less than my backpack, to the surprise of the woman who weighed them at the Air France counter in SFO. So I could toss it on my shoulder for the stairs and escalators on the RER and in the train station -- I would imagine that these facilities are wheelchair accessible, but the elevators weren't in obvious locations... I got a 16:04 (sorry this is all going to be in metric and 24h time...) direct to Grenoble and sat back and relaxed. And got kind of bored pretty quickly. There wasn't an outlet for the laptop, and in my haste to pack I had completely forgotten the stack of 6-8 back issues of the New Yorker that was supposed to be my travel entertainment... The countryside was pretty, but not too varied -- green fields, little villages, patches of forest (very legible, highly-managed looking forest...) and here and there a bright yellow field of some oilseed -- safflower? rapeseed? I knew once but I've forgotten.

Approaching Grenoble things got a little more dramatic...I was trying to figure out what it reminded me of & realized eventually that it's like a (considerably) wider version of the Yosemite Valley -- dead flat in the town/on the floodplains of the rivers, with walls of forest and stone rising up all around, lots of snow on the summits to the E (the Alps proper). I began to think this could be a tough place for cycling.... (With Google Earth you can go to Grenoble with the terrain display turned on and get a reasonable idea of what this looks like. Pics below are a few from the city center.

Found my nice, clean hotel, with a small room and matching set of towels that say "Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza" on them. The hotel was right around the corner from the train station, chosen to avoid Slightly obsessed, I reassembled my bike -- takes about 5 minutes thanks to this great bag (from Scicon, about $300 but I rented it for $45 from a guy a few blocks away from me in Berkeley--thanks again for craigslist). Then got a prix fixe Vietnamese dinner around the corner and went straight to sleep -- slept at least 11 hours, through breakfast at the hotel, and woke up fresh and ready to ride.