Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Bike Paths and Battlestar Gallicta

Just some random stuff today. Nothing too exciting going on, other than lab work. With all the emails flying recently about the Rose Bowl ride and cyclists in Pasadena, I thought I would share my own experience yesterday of getting yelled at by a French motorist. Most drivers here are incredibly courteous to cyclists, and most cyclists here almost completely ignore any sort of traffic sign or signal. If there aren't any cars, you're clear to go. But, I was riding down a wide road which leads to and from where the lab is, and a truck pulls up beside me, and the guy inside is furiously yelling and waving his hand at me. Now, his window was up so I couldn't hear what he was saying, and it's not like I would have understood it anyway, but the message was something like "You idiot! Get off the road! There is a bike lane right there! Use it!" Now, he may have had a valid point. There was a bike lane right up the curb, but I hate most bike paths for two reasons, and these apply to California, Minnesota, and France. First, I'm going faster than most people commuting, so riding on the bike bath is annoying. But secondly, and most importantly, is it impossible to make a smooth bike path? Is it really different thatn paving a road? Seriously, nearly every designated bike bath I have ridden on a road bike kills my butt and shoulders with the bumpiness and waviness. I'm suprised I haven't gotten sea sick.

On a final note, I downloaded the Battlestar Gallactica Miniseries from iTunes yesterday and watched them last night. Fantastic! I'm hooked, and will now need to buy the other seasons. I'm just contenplating whether I should buy them from iTunes or on DVD when I get home.

Later!

My Day in Paris


I now had sunday to kill before catching a 7:30pm train back to Grenoble. So, I got up at 6:15, and headed into Paris. I got off the train at Notre Dame and walked around there for a few minutes before getting on a different subway to go to the Eiffel Tower. I checked that out, walked to the Arc de Triumph, and then to the Champs Elysses, where I stopped and had breakfast. It was only 9:30am. Croissants and coffee....mmmm. A met a couple from Missouri who was nice enough to take my pic. I actually heard more English on sunday than French, plus lots of other languages, some of which I recognised and some I didn't. I proceeded to walk down the Champs Elysses and the Seine river to the Louvre, which, after seeing that entry was only 8.50 euros, I had to go in. I spent a couple hours in the Louvre, although it would be more deserving of a couple days, and say the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Mile, as well as many other artifacts, sculptures, and paintings. This is a great time for me to point out that I'm a crappy museum goer. I'm surrounded by all these famous works of art, and understand that great talent is required, but don't understand why the Mona Lisa is really that different from any of the other 35,000 works of art in the Louvre. After "finishing" the Louvre, I continued walking down the Seine river to Pont-Marie, which is a small island in the middle of the river where it widens. My French host, Alain, suggested I find a specific ice cream parlor here and have a scoop; so I did, and it was delicious! Praline Pecan, and it was the creamiest, butteriest and best Praline Pecan ice cream I have ever had. For those of you who find yourselves in Paris and want to experience some truly wonderful ice cream, it was called Bertillon. There are actually three locations on the island, but only one is a dedicated ice cream parlor. It's sort of in the middle of the island, and not one of the two places you see when you first walk onto the west side. (Just FYI). From here I walked to where the Bastille had been, then down to Place de La Nation, and trough some open air furniture market. It wasn't really my intent to shop for furniture, as I was looking for the Promenade Plantee, which is apparently a covered shopping area where Pariseans go. But, I never found it and was getting tired of walking. So, I started walking to the train station. Once I arrived, I found a crepe vendor, bought a Nutella and banana crepe (delicious!) and sat down after 8 hours of continuous walking. I hung out at the train statino for a few hours and then caught my train back to Grenoble. This also highlites why I am a crappy site seeer (Is that a word?). Now, I won't claim to have seen all of a Paris, but I hit many of the major tourist locations before lunch! I guess that just reinforces what I already knew...I like vacations where I go to do something. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time walking around and see all these things, but not something I would want to do for two weeks. Drinking coffee at any of the thousands of cafes or bars, that I could do for two weeks....if I only spoke French.





Paris Air Show 2007

Well, I finally have a few minutes in between measurements and actually feel like writing. This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Paris and attend the Paris Air Show. Let me start by saying, I'm an aviation nut. I've grown up with it, started taking lessons in high school, and got my pilots license as a freshman in college. Let me also preface the following by saying I'm a little bit of an air show snob, as I have seen literally close to 100 shows over the years. This was my first time attending an air show out of the country, and I have always heard how great the Paris Air Show and the Farnborough Air Shows were. The Farnborough and Paris shows occur on alternating years, and are the industry trade shows for the commercial and defense aviation industries. Basically, that means that there are lots of military jets and commercial airplanes on display and in the airshow, which was the reason I have always wanted to attend. Most air shows in the US are composed of many civilian acts (Extra 300, Waco, P-51, Wingwalkers, etc) which are cool in their own right, but often don't include many military demos that burn more than the required amount of kerosene. So, I got up at 4:00am on friday and caught the first tram (which was of course 6 minutes late, causing me to get a little worried as I had a tight connection at the station) to the Grenoble train station. The 3 hour train ride to paris was uneventful, and I slept a little more. Once there, I bought a delicious croissant (still warm) and an espresso (American coffee doesn't really exist) and caught the RER (regional train) to Le Bourget and the Le Bourget Airport, which is a northern suburb of Paris where the show is held. I had figured out ahead of time what trains I need to take to get there (and to my hotel) but didn't quite understand the ticketing system. As I later learned, tickets within paris are 1.40 euros, and more if you go further out. But, I bought a 1.40 euro ticket and got on the train to Le Bourget (the ticket should have cost more, but I did't know at the time. Fortunatly, I have never seen anyone check for tickets on any tram or metro rail system, although I hear it happens from time to time). I arrived at the Le Bourget stop, and took the Air Show shuttle the couple kilometers to the show. I walked this leg the three remaining times, as they were running the shuttles in series, and should have been running them in a parallel fasion to eliminate the 30 minute wait (not to mention when I tried to take the shuttle back on the first day, traffic was so bad that it took us an hour to move 6 blocks at which point I got off the bus and walked). I arrived at the show about 9:30am, presented my student ID and got in free. The weather wasn't great on friday, but held until lunch time. So, I spent the first couple hours walking around the static displays. Unfortunately, they had all the airplanes fenced off and I couldn't get very close them, something I'm used to being able to do from my many visits to the EAA Fly in in Oshkosh, WS (still the best aviation event in my opinion), but there were some cool planes such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 777, Dassault Rafael, Eurofighter Typhoon, Eurocopter, Piaggio Avantio P180 (one of my all time favorite airplanes), and a bunch of other stuff. After checking out the static displays, I bought a sandwich and headed into the exhibit buildings. Again, I'm used to the exhibit buildings at Oshkosh, where the booths are somewhat small and "no frills". Not so much here, and this is how you could definitely tell it was a trade show (read "about money"). The boothes were giant and extravagent, and many had privite rooms for business. In fact, most of the static displays had their own meeting rooms (that looked more like box seats at a sporting event) as well. As I happened to be walking around during lunch time, it was funny to see exhibitors drinking wine and champagne with their crackers, cheese, etc. Not a bad lunch, if you ask me. I didn't talk to any of the exhibitors, as there wasn't much for the general aviation finatic, but I did enjoy standing in the MiG and Sukoi booths, and seeing all the vendors who manufacture stuff for the defense and airline industries. Unfortunaly, it was now pouring, and I had to wait around for a while before going back outside. The rain let up just before 2pm when the flying program started. The ceilings were low, and it rained on and off (I spend much of the show under an overhang) so they had to modify the program, but it was still fun to see the military demos, which included A Mirage, Rafael, Eurocopter, Eurofighter, F-16, Su-35, the A380, and some other things. One of the best demos was of an Italian transport, the C-27J (of which the US military has purchased 70). This thing was really impressive; 8000 HP, it climbed and performed like a fighter. They even flewy a pass on knife edge! The SU-35 was also cool to see with its thrust vectoring capability. The show lasted until 4:30, and then I headed to the train station and caught the RER to my hotel, which was only 100 yards off the RER line, a few stops down. I lucked out with the hotel. Good location and a very nice room at a good price. I had dinner int he hotel restaurant and then went to bed. Saturday, I got up, caught the train back to Le Bourget, bought a couple croissants at one of the bakeries on the way to the show, and headed in. As I had already seen the static displays and the exhibit buildings, I decided to bay the 4 euros for a museum ticket. The museum was alright, but not spectacular. They have quite a nice display of pre WWI and WWI aircraft, and many of the plackards are written in English as well as French and German. One of my favorites read "During the war, a new type of combatant appeared: the aviator. For a lot of military chiefs, he inspired only limited confidence because, at least apparently, his induvidualism made him abhor discipline." After the museum, I bought a "hot dog" (which was really a foot long dog on baguette covered with some sort of real cheese, in comparison to the crappy liquid cheese we have in the states) and found a place on the two square meters of grass that existed for all 10,000 spectators (it was a terrible venue for an airshow) to sit, eat, and wait for the show. The weather was a little better on saturday, and the ceilings allowed for the normal show. It was basically the same program as friday, with the addition of an F-18 E and a few other things. I really appreicated the way the fighter pilots demoed the aircraft. Mostly, if the airplane was equipped with an after burner, it was used for the entire program. Shut it off? No way! We have extra fuel to burn. I love the smell of jet fuel! And seeing flame shoot out of anything is always cool. The Airbus A380 was also impressive, and upon takeoff, the pilot pulled back like he was in a fighter. It actually reminded me of watching a C-130 with JATO's. Very impressive. After the show (or most of the show, as I didn't care to see the Extra 300 performance, something I have seen dozens of times) I bought some groceries for dinner and headed back to my hotel where I proceed to eat, and and watch BBC world news until I went to sleep. I would have gone out and walked around, but I my hip was pretty sore from a little spill I had taken on my bike while riding to work in the rain on wednesday, and I opted to stay in. Thus ended my adventure at the Paris Air Show.
Overall Impressions:
Nice military demos, with lots of kerosene and afterburner
Definitely a trade show
Not a great venue for the public
Worth going once, but
Oshkosh is still FAR better.
I've posted picks on fotki and some videos on Facebook and YouTube.
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnAdhasftKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx4reVp-Zjk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgQoizmgzaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EG6PcLw7WM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tzP-qX1ZMQ











Thursday, June 21, 2007

Pics of Grenoble

Check out http://www.grenoblecycling.com/PhotoPage.htm for som great pics of the area.

Sunday's Ride

As I didn't get enought cycling or climbing on Saturday's ride, I decided I was going to gou out and ride again on Sunday. Actually, when I woke up, I wasn't really in a cycling mood, but what else was I going to do? I didn't have a gate access card so I couldn't go to work, I don't have a car so I can't really go anywhere, and I don't have internet access in my room so I wasn't going to browse the web. Hence, more croissant's and nutella for breakfast and then out the door. I had done a little searching online for where to ride in the area around Grenoble and came across on pretty decent site with a few nice routes. There is this nice "reginal park" called Parc Naturel Regional de Chartreuse bordering the north side of Grenoble, and there are a number of nice Col's encompassed by this area. So, on the recommendation of this website, that's where I headed. I wasn't sure how my legs were going to feel after saturday's epic ride and they were a little sluggish at first, but then came around and felt pretty good after I warmed up. I rode into the center of Grenoble and then North through La Tronche. This is where the climbing started. I knew it was going to be a tough day, as I had been up the first climb on a shorter ride and the website (http://www.grenoblecycling.com/the-Chartreuse-Route2.htm) I took the route from mentioned that the final ascent had sustained sections of 16%. So, I started up the 16 K stretch to the Col du Porte. This is a beautiful stretch of road that climbs at 8-10% right out of the center of Grenoble, through a number of towns, and finally summits in a beautiful are surrounded by a couple cafe's and lots of nice looking hiking trails. There were, again, lots of cyclist going up and coming down, not to mention quite a few hikers at the top. The descent down the backside was fast and fun, not to mention very pretty. There is one pic below of an old building that I believe was an ore processing facility. The picture doesn't do it justice, as it was probably 5 times as large as the part you can see, with buildings on both sides of the road. Clearly, not still used, but cool to see. After arriving in St. Laurent du-Pont, I made a wrong turn and accidently rode south instead of north. I figured this out about 25 minutes later (all climbing) and turned around. The return trip to St. laurent du Pont only took 15 minutes, and I was soon back on track heading north towards Entre-deux-Guiers and then east alont the Gorges du Guiers Vif river. After a little flat riding, I climbed into St Pierre d'Entremont, where I really wanted to stop for a crepe...but I didn't. I then turned south and the roads pitched up again as I approached the Col du Cucheron, maybe another 8 k of climbing. This, too, was very pretty, and there is a pic or two below looking up to the tunnel the road goes through. The descent down the backside of the Col du Cucheron was again, fast and fun, and at this point I was unsure whether or not I wanted to tackle my proposed final ascent up the steeps of the Col du Coq. But once I arrived at the appropriate turn and had only been riding for 4:10, I had to do it. The climb was 16 k long with the first two at 8-10%. The next two k were a little flatter, but then I turned onto what could have been considered 1 lane, out of repair, road and the grades kicked up. With the exception of a k or so near the top, the grades were pretty tough, but the scenery was awesome. In fact, near the top there was a ski area with some open pastures...a picture perfect scene. I didn't stop to take pictures, but I should have. I finally reached the top, and was quite happy to stop pushing a 39-25 at 45 rpm and 260 watts. I felt much better than I did when climbing Alpe d'Huez (as that was the my first long ride in a while), but a low cadence sure does a number on the ole legs. There is one pic below from the top of the Col du Coq. There were tons of hickers at the top, and as I started down the backside, it started to sprinkle. I was a little worried that it was going to be a cold and slippery trip down, but it quickly quit raining and cruised most of the way. The descent really was great, particularily after I got off the top sections and onto a little wider roads. As I was descending, all I could think think about was how fast Salvodelli would take all the tight switchbacks. I really did feel like a Euro pro...it was great. Finally, I arrived in the town of St. Nazaire les Eymes, crossed the freeway and headed southwest back home. 6:15 ride time (not including stops), 4000 calories, average cadence of 70! Ouch. ~7500 ft of elevation (not too bad there). Enjoy the pics.

The end of the mining building I mentiones
Yep, that's where I'm headed. Right through the rock.
Like I said. Very cool.
Ahhh, snow on the peaks looking south from the Col du Coq.
I was a little tired at the top, but you can see that there was lots of luch foliage going up and down the mountain. I, in fact, haven't been above the tree line yet. Ventoux????

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Check out all the Pics at Fotki

http://public.fotki.com/jcmckeen/

Saturday's Ride

With the successful conclusion of my first week at CNRS, I decided to do a little cycling. I planned out a route for Saturday that I thought would take around six hours and give me a chance to see some of the beautiful area south of Grenoble. Come to think of it, there isn't really any area around Grenoble that isn't beautiful, and I think the pictures will reflect that. I rolled out of bed around 8am and had a delicious breakfast composed of a rasin filled croissant and a plain croissant covered in Nutella. In any case, after eating and taking my sweat time to get ready, I headed out in full PAA Pro kit. It took me about 25 minutes to get out of town, which was longer than it should have as I made some wrong turns in trying to find a better route than I took last weekend, but eventually made it. After getting to the south-east side of town, I started climbing (that's where I saw the high end bike shop that I'm going to hit up at some point) towards St. Martin d'Uriage. I really like this climb; the grade is a little less than going up the 2 and the road has a bike lane and climbs for a few miles. I then descended through Visille and rode northwest for a few k's before starting my southward trek. Upon turning south I began to climb again and did so for quite a while. I rode south along the river/lakes, which were beautiful, as the pics below reflect, and through numerous small towns eventually arriving in La Mure. At that point, I contiuned north on the otherside of the mountains I had just ridden through, riding through Aveillans and Laffrey. After descending through Laffrey, I came across a sign that said Alpe du Grande Serre 12k, and it was going up hill. At this point, I had been in the saddle for 4:10, and thought, do I really want to climb for 12k? Then the thought process was, "food..check, water...check, legs...check" (and they really were still feeling good), so like any good cyclist, I decided to start climbing with the intent of turning around when I got tired. Well, like any good cyclist, I climbed to the top at the Commune de la Morte. The last few pics looking over the city are from this ascent, and the last pic is from the top. Then, I decended back down the same way I had came, and rode the 12 or so K back to my apt. 93 miles, 4000 calories, 6:30 minutes, probably 10,000 ft of elevation. Not a bad day in the saddle. Then I took a nap, read some papers, bought groceries, had dinner, and went to bed. Enjoy the pics!



This was on the way out. The water was very pretty.
Lovin' it.

Looking into the vally on the way up.
At the top of my last summit of the day.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Bicycles in France and Nutella

Before I post about my two weekend rides (which I will get to soon) I though I should describe some things I have learned in my first week here.

1. The streets in town are not laid out in a grid. This has caused me to take a different route to and from work every day. It usually starts the same in either direction, and of course ends nearly the same, but I couldn't repeat the lines in between if I had to! The nice part is, I've found my way every time without having to stop to look at the map. It strangely works.

2. People here know how to ride bikes. Not just the cyclists in full kit, but everyone. No Huffy's or Murry's, just lots of townie bikes and 80's vintage Peugeot's. There are two wonderful parts to this. First and foremost, everyone rides with the proper seat height and in an appropriate gear. No knees above the handlebars, no cross chaining a gear that's too tall. Secondly, people can and do actually ride enough to be able to ride a bike up a hill greater than the incline of the ramp to get on the sidewalk. I can't tell you how many people I have seen riding up hills on non-expensive bikes, maybe because they enjoy it and maybe because they have to, but it's great to see

3. Nutella is god's gift to mankind. Oh, my gosh! I love peanut butter, but this stuff is even better! It's probably not as good for you as it has to contain more chocolate than all of Switzerland, but it is awesome. Yeah, yeah, I sound like a little kid, but I really didn't expect to like it when I broke down and bought some. I now eat it with nearly everything.

4. While I haven't stopped in any of the three bike shops I have seen nearby, the one I am most looking forward to (and will post pictures of) has perhaps the greatest storefront possible. The window is FILLED with carbon bikes from various manufacturers such as Time, etc. And, just looking in the window, the entire store is that way! All super high end, including clothing and accessories.

Ok, back to work, but I'll post about my rides when I get a chance.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Criterium du Dauphine Libre

I never would have know had it not been for Alec’s email yesterday, but the Prologue for the Dauphine Libre was in downtown Grenoble today. Quite fortuitous, I must say. So, After setting my alarm for 7am with the intent to go on a nice 2 hour recover ride in the French countryside, I got up a 10:36am (I just can’t seem to kick the jet lag, fall asleep when I go to bed, and get up at a decent hour), had another breakfast of bread and jam and caught the tram into Grenoble. Now, I looked up where the course was, but even after translating the online flyer with a French to English dictionary, couldn’t decide what time the race actually started. I guessed 1pm, which seemed to make sense for a short prologue. Yeah, I was only about 3 hours off. So, I arrived downtown around noon, walked most of the course just to check it out. While doing so, the Astana team rolled past a couple times. I’ve included some pics below.

After walking the course, I still had like 2.5 hours to kill, although I didn’t really know it. I walked around a little more, and then started to get hungry. I must now admit that I broke my cardinal rule of international travel. I went to McDonalds. But, I picked it because I thought that they would have a public bathroom, which they didn’t. I attempted to order in French, which I thought I had effectively done when the kid taking my order said something I didn’t understand. I though he asked if I wanted anything else and I shook my head. Then he said something else and I again shook my head. Then he looked at me with a little bit of a surprised look and said, “No?” I was then forced to respond, in French, that I didn’t understand. Then he asked me in English to repeat my order, and things made sense. Apparently, even my best attempts at French, suck. But I got my chicken sandwich and diet coke and hustled back to my frontline fence spot. IN about another 45 minutes the racing started. The race was actually preceeded by a mini convoy which consisted mostly of Credit Agricole Cars giving out free hats. Yep, I got one. And wore it, along with about a thousand other people. The racing was cool. This is my first pro tour even, and these guys are really fit and look so comfortable on their bikes. Not to mention, I wish I was as skinny as any of them in a skin suit. Well, something to work for I guess. I’ll let a few pics do the rest of the talking. I took about 125 and will post the rest on fotki once I start an account. I’ll post the address later. I start in lab tomorrow, and am excited for that. More to come…


George Hincapie in the Stars and Stripes Jersey
A view for the 50 m mark.

Tommy D suffering to a not to impressive time.


"The man" Tom Boonen. He got a big cheer.
And one of my favorites, Dave Z out of the start.

Alpe d’Huez


With maps in hand and feeling a little more confident and not so tired, I decided I would go find Alpe d’Huez. After getting out of bed at around 10am, having bread and jam for breakfast (strawberry-rhubarb - They actually have lots of rhubarb flavored things, which I think is great as I love rhubarb) I kitted up, filled my water bottles, stuffed my jersey pockets full of food, arm warmers, vest, ipod, money, etc (the necessities) I set out to fine Alpe d’Huez. I rode south, but a different route than I went yesterday as I can’t seem to follow the streets very well, and after about 30 minutes of riding found the route to get out of town, D5. This took my through Vizille, Brie (where the cheese originated???) and out to le Bourg-d’Ojsans. That was about 30 miles and 2:10 ride time, so a little further than I thought. I’ve posted some pictures enroute. As I was riding out, I came across two legit looking riders in full Milram kits (not wearing helmets) and though, hmmm…. Could be, but I’m not sure. Once in le Bourg-d’Ojsans, I made a left hand turn at a sign that said Alpe d’Huez, rode for a few hundred meters and then started climbing a stretch of road that I thought was ridiculously steep. I vaguely recall hearing that Alpe d’Huez was ~6% and figured it would level out a little soon. Yeah, no such luck. The whole thing was really steep and I was really wishing for a compact crank. The next few pictures are going up the climb. They have these nice signs at the switch backs to let you know how much suffering you have left. (There were 21 signs and I wanted to die by the 10th).

I stopped to take a few pictures and these two older guys passed me. They were really hammering along and I though, shit, am I that out of shape? After snapping a couple shots, I started riding again and caught them a little ways up the road. Unfortunately, the slow cadence took a toll on my legs and I had to stop again and took a few more pics, ate a bar, and drank the rest of my water. Those two guys again passed me, and I never saw them again, so maybe I am that out of shape. The last few k’s were pretty mentally challenging, but I had a few rabbits in front of me. Actually, they were no extra motivation, I just couldn’t pedal any slower than I already was. But, I came across some Belgians (who I only learned were Belgian once I was at the top) and had a brief exchange (in French) with them. That was about 500 m from the summit. I hit the summit and was happy to stop pedaling. You can see some pics of me at the top.

In case any of you are considering doing this climb, there is actually a public watering trough with potable water. When I read the sign, I couldn’t tell if it read “Yes, Potable” or “Not Potable”, but once a French speaking person used the fountain, I hit that up. It was surprisingly cold and refreshing. I also bought a coke and a snickers bar at the café. I wanted a coffee, but also didn’t want a coffee. The Belgians were nice enough to take my picture (I only asked once I had established that they spoke English, as a French kid asked them in English to take his picture). Definitely cool for nostalgia purposes, but not something I would want to ride daily. I would much rather ride GMR, which isn’t nearly as pretty, but definitely more doable with a standard crank. The descent was fast and fun, and by the bottom I bet I had seen 100-150 cyclists climbing, descending, at the top, or riding to Alpe d’Huez. That was very cool. There were also many leftover writings on the rode from previous tours in a bunch of different languages. The only one I fully understood said “Go Cadel, C’mon Aussies” Pretty cool none the less. I don’t know how those guys can go so hard all day and then go even harder up something so steep with standard gearing. My numbers (which weren’t that impressive) were avg. power – 250 watts, avg. cadence 55, avg heart rate 175 (ridiculously high), total time – 1:10. It was hot and humid out (85 or 90 F near the bottom) but I’m clearly not in race shape. Sorry, Michael. There was a photographer on one of the switch backs near the top and he took a few shots. I haven’t looked at the pics online yet, but web address is http://www.photobreton.com/, and my web code is FG7B3385 if anyone cares to see them. I may buy one if they look good. After the descent, I had 30 miles back to Grenoble, most of which weren’t too bad. There was one climb that was steep and probably 1.5 miles long (more 55 cadence) but it fortunately didn’t take that long. After getting back into tow, the route I took back to my dorm was far different than the one I had taken on the way out. Not that I did this on purpose, it’s just hard to pick out the road names. But, I did see five legit looking riders in full CSC kit upon Zipp clad Cervelo’s. I gave them the nod, and got nods in return I thought, “wow, this is interesting. What the heck is going on? Are they all doing recon for the tour already?”. Nope, and that leads my into my next post.







France – Day 2

After getting up around 10 am (jet lag sucks, by the way) I took the insurance form I got yesterday and went to the secretary. This actually took a lot of motivation as I’m apprehensive to try to communicate with people, as I can’t even break sentences in French into words. The liaison (combining the end of one word with the beginning of the next), along with the fact that I just know nothing, makes it really hard for me to pick out words. But, I went and say the secretary (three students, actually) who knew what I wanted based on the forms I handed them, and I paid for my months rent (thank god for reimbursement). That over with, I decided it was time to check out the French countryside on my bike. I thought I would try to find Alpe d’Huez, which looked like it was about 20 miles from on google maps, which I had checked before I left. So, throw on my kit, fill up my bottles, and off I go, not really knowing where I’m going, other than south and west. I ride along for a while and start seeing some signs I don’t understand. First, I see a circular one with a red outline and while interior with a bike in it. No line through it. I guessed that this sign meant “bikes are ok” but turned around anyway, as the road looked like the equivalent of a freeway. Good thing I did. There was a police officer right behind me, and that sign actually meant “bikes prohibited” So, I ended up on another road and started seeing blue triangular signs with bikes on them and a line through them, which I took to mean “bikes not allowed”. But after riding a little more and seeing a few more like this, I guessed that they actually meant “bike lane ends”. Turns out I was correct. In any case, I ended up riding back north past my residence and up some ridiculously steep road into one of the provincial parks. It was a beautiful ride up with a few cafés along the way. I really wanted to stop, but am still apprehensive about not speaking much French. Truthfully, I could order a coffee, but still. I rode for almost 3 hours, and then took a nap when I got home. After my nap, I went back to the grocery store, found maps, silverware, and some more great French food. The bread is awesome! The cheese is good, too. I really wish I had a full kitchen, because the selection of fresh meat and seafood is really great. They are expensive, as are the fruits and vegetables, but look so good. I’ve also been reading the ingredients on things, and it seems to me that they use fewer or no preservatives. Haven’t had the milk yet, but I’m going to try that next. I did buy one bottle of inexpensive Beaujolais (2.5 euros) and it was very good. In fact, most of the wine is only 3-8 euros. So, that was day 2.

France – Day 1

After traveling for over 24 hours on two airplanes and two trains, and lugging two bags and my bike box some odd thousand miles, I finally arrived in Grenoble, France. My host, Alain, picked me up at the train station and took me to my room. I am staying in student housing in Grenoble, which has a number of universities. I feel like I am an undergraduate again, except I have a private bathroom and no internet in my room (which I really miss). After registering, Alain took me to the grocery store and I bought some food, etc. Frankly, I was so tired, I didn’t know why I was there and didn’t end up getting much but water, soda, and some cookies, which ended up being my dinner. Then I crashed. My second day, I had been instructed that I need to get on Tram B and take it one stop. Then, go to a place called SMERRA, which was apparently at this stop, to buy a 21 euro student insurance policy. I have no idea what it covers or why I needed it, but it was a requirement for staying where I am. Strangely, it doesn’t cover theft, so I don’t know what good it is. Rather than taking the tram, I decided to walk, as Alain said it wasn’t far, and I really didn’t know which way to take the tram. I had a crappy map, which I figured out after walking around for a couple hours. I also had no idea what time it was, as I could remember what time zone I was in, or how many hours different I was than whatever time zone I had come from. Finally, I figured out basically where I needed to go and walked there, realizing that I had almost been there not 45 minutes earlier. Once I found the general location (the tram station where I was supposed to get off the tram) I walked around until I stumbled upon a map of the local vicinity and located exactly where I needed to be, which, as it turns out., is 10 feet from the tram station. So, I arrive 15 minutes before they take lunch, and the lady fortunately speaks some English, because I speak almost no French. That taken care of, I took Tram B to the other side of Grenoble to where I though Alain said I could get maps in English. (A stop called Cite International, which I thought sounded promising) So I get off the tram and walk into the building only to find a bunch of kids running around. Well, after walking around the building, then walking down the street outside, walking back to the building and asking at the front desk, the place I was at was a school. This made sense from all the kids running around, but the outside of the building said some stuff in multiple languages, including English, which I thought was promising. I actually think that the lady I spoke with was a little embarrassed. I asked her, in French, if she spoke English, and she said a little and something about having worked at “Cite International” for 20 years, which I took to mean that she thought she should have spoken better English. As far as I was concerned, she spoke great English, as she understood what I was asking, although she didn’t know anything about maps. She was very nice, and I was a little embarrassed that my French was so bad. Truthfully, every French person I have spoken with knows more English thank I know French (enough to get the message across) and all say that they only know a little. After that, I took the tram back to my room and slept for a couple hours. Then got up, went to the grocery store, bought some stuff for dinner and breakfast the next day and went to bed.

Fishing in Ontario




Well, I finally have consistent internet access, at least on the weekdays, as I have officially started working in lab. But, before I get to that, I should digress and make a few posts about fishing in Canada, and my first few days in France. So, on with Canadian fishing.
We normally fly our own floatplane up, but the weather outlook wasn’t encouraging and ceilings were low with poor visibility. So, we hopped in the car, and drove the 10 hours up to West Caribou Airways, which is about 15 miles away from the camp on Savant Lake where we stay. We left about 6:30am and arrived in time for West Caribou to dump us into Savant before dark. The weather sucked, and we never would have made it had we attempted to fly. Not that we would have crashed, we just would have had to turn around. In all honesty, the weather wasn’t really good enough for them to fly us the 15 miles in, but they did it anyway. I’m not usually apprehensive in any airplane (other than once in a POS twin engine Cessna in the Bahamas that I though was going to come apart midair) but I was a little nervous. We took off and the ceilings couldn’t have been more than 400-500 ft. But, I guess that’s why bush pilots earn their living. We skirted the clouds (and trees) and did some low flying down the lake and safely made it into camp. We even arrived in time for Mike and I to go out and catch one nice northern pike to eat for dinner. (Although, we only fished for 30 minutes) Our first day of fishing was exceptional and we nearly filled up on walleyes. We probably caught three times our limit, but caught so many big walleyes in the slot size (where you can only keep one) we threw most of them away. I really don’t remember another day when I have caught so many big fish. I also haven’t been quite so cold as that day in a long time. I had 5 or 6 layers on and was still cold. The next two days we focused more on catching northerns and lake trout and had less luck. We still caught walleye for dinner along with some nice northerns, but only got three lake trout. I had one follow my rapala up while I was casting for northerns in a spot we would never have decidedly fished lake trout, but once he saw the boat, that was it. I also hooked a big (10-12lbs) northern while fishing for lake trout (55ft deep in a lake trout spot) but we had a little trouble netting him and I lost him at the boat. Not a big deal, though. It was most likely in the slot size and would have gone back anyway. Still fun to fight. So, all in all, it was a great trip. Fun to spend some time with the family, great to be miles from nowhere in the Canadian bush, and I can’t complain about the fishing.





Me driving the boat.

My brother with one of many nice walleyes.

Monday, June 4, 2007

I Now Have a Blog

Welcome to my Blog! My intention is to post here while I am in France to entice some of you to visit during the tour. While I have no idea what my room looks like, I'm sure there is always floor space. So, if you want to follow the tour in person (while I am working in lab) I can at least provide a place to sleep. Anyway, I'll post some pics from my three days of fishing in Ontario later on, as I am currently having coffee at Caribou. (Screw Starbucks and their burnt grog). Until then....