Mitzi got cute balloon sculptures from a clown.

The fireworks were pretty neat watching them over the lake.

7-14-10 Wednesday
I went on an easier ride today on the bike path out of Annecy but ended up pushing it at times and rode for a little more than 2 hours. They have a great bike path that goes for about 20-30 miles. In the afternoon Kindra, Megan, and Brecken stayed at the house and just relaxed and went on the internet, while grandma, me, Brad, Ashley, Ian, and Mitzi went downtown. Grandma watched Mitzi play at the park while me, Brad, Ashley and Ian went on the pedal boats. After when we met back up with Grandma and Mitzi, they were standing in line with a clown. The clown was blowing up balloons and making them into things. Mitzi being as small as she was kept getting pushed further back in the line. Finally grandma had to help keep her place in line so she could get her balloon hat and flower/heart balloon that the clown made for her. After dinner we walked along the bike path down towards the swimming beach and watched the fireworks from there. July 14th is Bastille Day in France that’s similar to our 4th of July.

The publicity caravan goes through. Those vehicles throw out these little sausages that are pretty good. Especially after you've been climbing for a while and are hungry.

Finally the breakaway comes through.

Cadel Evans in the yellow jersey was quite a ways back.

Ashley and Ian having fun on the merry go round.

Kindra looks nice at dinner.

Grandmas was enjoying herself.

Self portrait.

Mitzi was having fun and being a good little girl at dinner.

Everyone had a good time going out for dinner.

Brecken even tried the sea snails that come with Brads fish dinner, although she was a little hesitant to do so.
7-13-10 Tuesday
Today was one of the days I was really looking forward to on the trip. The chance to see one of the stages of the Tour de France up close towards the top of a climb towards the end of a stage. I was a little later heading to the start of the Col de la Madeleine where I was going to climb up and watch the tour go by. They ride over 3-4 cols earlier in the stage, but this is the final big climb before plunging down into the valley and finishing at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. I was able to ride up about ½ way pretty easily, but then I started running into the French gendarmes ever so often who would stop me. You aren’t supposed to ride on the course as it get’s closer to race time. Pretty soon I could hear the publicity caravan coming up and had to stop as they all went by. I continued up a little more, but it was getting harder and harder to continue. I was about 5-6 km from the summit. I was hoping to ride to the summit, then ride back down and find a good place to view the stage as it went by, but as it was getting closer I decided to just find a good place to watch. I found a great spot where it was quite steep, the road passed right by a water fall/river, and you could see at least a ¼ mile down the road and a ¼ mile up the road. It still seemed like we had to wait forever. I was chatting with a guy from Australia who was bike touring through Europe and watching the Tour. Finally after a few of the gendarmes on motorcycles came by, you could see the helicopter flying at almost road level come around the corner down the road as it came around the bend and you knew the racers were there. Having watched a few minutes on a TV down the road, I knew there was a small break-away of maybe 7-10 riders and this was the break-away that had fractured. There were only 3 men left in the break, including Damiano Cunego. I knew he wanted to win a stage really bad. They were all riding really hard trying to both stay with each other, and stay away from the pack chasing them. After they went by, every 20-60 seconds someone who had got tailed off the breakaway would ride through, but not more than a couple before here comes another helicopter and Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador come flying up the road. Schleck was in the lead hammering, and it looked like Contador was doing everything he could just to hold his wheel. It was amazing how fast those guys were climbing, especially figuring they had already been over 3-4 cols already and were almost to the summit of this one. It surprised me to find out how much the rest of the field was strung out all over the mountain. It seemed like every few minutes a small group of riders would come by and it took forever it seemed for the whole race to pass by. After the auto-bus (the group of non-climbers) who get together at the back on climbing stages had gone by, then came David Miller on Garmin pulling the very back of the race. He really looked like he was struggling. I was talking with the guys in the Garmin car behind and they said he was really paying the price for a crash he was in a couple of days ago. After getting back, the whole family went out for a nice dinner in Annecy. On the way there we passed through the park, and Mitzi got to ride the Merry-go-round. Dinner was nice and then we walked around the old part of town.

Here's the cute ski town about 2/3 of the way up the Col de la Croix de Fer.

Great views from the Col de la Croix de Fer.

I was suprised to find that the Col du Glandon was only a couple miles downhill from the Col de la Croix de Fer.

The Col du Mollard isn't quite as high up as some of the Cols, but I know it's featured in previous Tour de France stages.

Cute little chalet/shop near the Col du Mollard.

Some of the views being high up in he Alps are amazing.

This was one of the first signs as you start climbing the Col de la Croix de Fer. Pretty intimidating seeing 28KM of climbing starting at 8% and knowing that it will probably be steeper when you get to the summit.
7-12-10 Monday
Today I went for another great ride in the French Alps. I drove to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and rode up the Col de la Croix de Fer, then down to the Col du Glandon, then back up to the Col de la Croix de Fer, then down part way, then up to the Col du Mollard. It was quite a ride. I could still see evidence on the road of when the Tour de France rode over the Col de la Croix de Fer a year or two ago. There’s a neat little ski town about 2/3 of the way up the climb. As usual, the steepest part of the climb is the last few miles up to the summit. Croix de Fer means “Cross of Iron”, and I remember seeing a great big Cross of Iron when the helicopters during the Tour de France would pan out and show the landscape or some of the surrounding areas, but I couldn’t see the one they show on TV. There is a small one there, but I think the great big one you have to hike up to and can’t see from the road. As I wanted to see where the Col du Glandon was, I rode down to it. It’s not far at all from the summit of the Croix de Fer, maybe only about 2 miles all down hill. Then I rode back up and over the Croix de Fer. As I still had a little energy left, as I rode down back towards my car, I passed a junction and a sign that said the Col du Mollard was only about 5 miles away, so I took the junction and rode up to the Col du Mollard. It was a great day of climbing in the Alps. When I got back to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne they were starting to set up the finish for the Tour de France as it finishes there tomorrow. As I’m catching up on the blog, pictures of my ride was all I had down. I’m sure we did something else later in the day, but I don’t have pictures of it and I can’t remember. We probably went swimming in Lake Annecy.

Mitzi made a little friend at the church in Annecy.

The whole family after church in Annecy.

Waiting for the Tour de France to come by.

Here comes the break-away.

Mitzi loves nutella, especially in crepes.

Everyone watching the world cup on TV outside a restaurant.
7-11-10 Sunday
We all made it to church today at the little branch in Annecy. Most of the places we’ve been to church, have missionaries and headsets and they translate the service for you. But they didn’t have that in Annecy, so we just had to sit through the service. The kids were very good though. After church we all went to see the Tour de France go by. The kids really liked the publicity caravan that goes in front of the Tour, but the tour its self goes by rather quickly and then it’s over. I think some of the people near us must have thought Brecken was nuts as she would scream when anyone would come by. With the whole family we didn’t go watch at a prime location on a climb, but just on a flat section. It was just after a feed zone though, so we got a couple of the mussette bags that a couple of the riders threw out. Later that night we all went to down town Annecy. The old town kind of comes alive at night with street performers, the river, the restaurants. It was especially lively in parts as the world cup was going on. In front of some of the restaurants they had large screen TV’s and lots of people were gathered around watching the match. They get pretty fanatical about their football (soccer) over here. I remember in Venice when Italy was playing, when Italy scored a goal you could hear shouting all over town. It’s all pretty neat.

Grandma in front of the Chateau in Menthon across from where we were staying near Lake Annecy.

A neat old picture of St. Bernard who was born at the chateau.

A neat view of the Chateau from the outside.

7-10-10 Saturday
Today everyone was pretty wiped out from out trip yesterday to Chamonix, but I don’t like to just sit around all day. My mom and I decided to go see the Chateau in Menthon. Come to find out, this is where St. Bernard was born and grew up before he went to what’s now known as the Grand St. Bernard pass and founded a hospice that searched for and cared for people making the journey over the alps that needed help. He used the dogs that also were named after him, the saint bernards. They take you on a tour, but the tour wasn’t in English. They did give you a brochure though that as you went around you could read about the history and some of the different rooms. The castle is still privately owned and has been for centuries. One of the more recent owners was extremely active in organizing the French resistance in the area during WW II. A very neat Chateau. We had a nice barbeque that night. Brad especially loves the white German sausages you can get in Europe.

Self picture with Mitzi.

The whole family on the Aiguille du Midi with Mont Blanc in the background.

The Aiguille du Midi has a needle looking tower that is on it's top with a viewing platform. You have to take an elevator ride up to the very top that goes right throught the middle of the mountain.

The tram and station that takes you to the Aiguille du Midi.

One of the cute restaurants in Chamonix.
7-9-10 Friday
Today we went on an excursion to Chamonix which is just barely over an hour’s drive away. I wanted to take the cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi which is extremely high up and has great views of Mont Blanc. A lot of mountain climbers take the cable car up before taking on the summit from there. You take one tram up about ½ way, then switch to the one that takes you up to the top. From a number of miles away from Chamonix you see what looks like needle sticking out of one of the high mountain peaks. That’s summit of the Aiguille du Midi that you see. It was interesting to see Alta stickers on the insides of both of the trams. Someone must have brought them from home and stuck them on the ceiling of the trams. The views from the top are incredible. You can take these smaller trams that only fit 4 people in them from the Aiguille du Midi down into Courmayer in Italy and then back, and I was planning on doing that, but we didn’t get there until later in the day and we didn’t have enough time. Grandma started not feeling good, and was having a very hard time walking up the steps. She said her heart was racing, and I was starting to get a little concerned, so we headed down the mountain quickly. We got a bite to eat in Chamonix, and then explored the town and the stores. There are some great views of the mountains and Mont Blanc from Chamonix, with a river running right through the middle of the town. Even in the middle of July the river was quite high and swift. I guess they get quite a bit off run off from the glaciers all year round.

They have a professional photographer that takes your picture as you climb Alpe d'Huez, then you can go online and order pictures if you want, but they are in smal sizes unless you buy the original, and you can't blow it up much without making it look a mess.

Another picture of me climbing Alpe d'Huez.

Nice picture with the mountains in the back ground.

The start line at Boug d'Osains with the Alpe d'Huez lead out truck with the stop clock on the back.

The finish line of the climb.

I think the average gradient up Alpe D'Huez is like 8.6%, but most of the climbing portion is like 10-12%. It flattens out in the corners, and then just as you build your speed up to about 14 mph, it kicks up again to 12%. It's a pretty tough climb.

A nice view of Lake Annecy.

Mitzi loves going to the playgrounds at the parks.

The kids having fun at the playground.
7-8-10 Thursday
Today was one of the days I was looking forward to quite a bit. Today I raced up Alpe d’Huez. For those non cyclists, Alpe d’Huez is probably the most famous climb in cycling and is included quite a bit in the Tour de France. A couple of years ago when Lance Armstrong won a time trial up Alpe d’Huez, they estimated probably a million people were lining the approximately 8 miles up from the valley to the ski resort at Alpe d’Huez to watch the race. They have a race up the road every Thursday morning in the summer put on by the tourist office and Alpe d’Huez. I didn’t get the best sleep the night before, but got up early and drove there to get registered in plenty of time and warm up a bit. There were probably about 50 riders doing the race, some of them looked very fit, lean and serious, and a few looked like they would be happy to just make it up the climb. They start you off as a neutral start with a truck from Alpe d’Huez leading you out and a large digital stop clock showing in the back of the truck. As they reach the turn onto the climb, they wave a flag, the stop clock starts, and it’s game on. The steepest part of the whole climb is the first mile or so, so I was kind of amazed when they started, about 5 guys just stood up and sprinted up the hill like they were in the last 200 meters of a race. They blew up the road. I settled into a strong pace trying not to go too far above my thresh-hold too early. I quickly settled into a pace I felt like I could maintain and just tried to focus on keeping the pace strong. Very soon the order of the stronger, medium, and weaker riders showed, and everyone strung out on the climb at their own best pace. I passed a couple riders who went too hard too early but mostly focused on a guy above me who looked strong and was going at a good pace. I gradually reeled him in and then focused on the next guy up the road. I caught him and we mostly climbed together most of the rest of the way. They have signs at each corner that number the corner and list a previous winner of a Tour de France stage at Alpe d’Huez, but they are placed quite high up, and some of them you don’t see as you are focused on climbing the road, unless you are really looking for them. I lost count of where I was on the road, and thought I still had about 1km to go, when I went over a little rise and could see up the road, and the finish line was only about 100 meters in front of me. I surged to the finish line and finished with a time of 55 minutes, 22 seconds. I would have been extremely disappointed if I hadn’t finished inside 1 hour. I was a little disappointed with my time, knowing I could have done a little better, but not too much. I could have done better if I had got a better night’s sleep, if I had the power working on my power meter, if I knew better where the finish line was, and of course if I was 10 pounds lighter where I should be if I hadn’t eaten so much gelato in Italy, but still a time of under 56 minutes isn’t bad. I think I finished about 6th. The winner’s time was like 44 minutes something, which isn’t too far off Tour de France winning pace. I think the record up the climb was set by Marco Pantani at just under 37 minutes. I had been riding in Europe now for over a month, without a flat or any major mechanical problems, and didn’t take my bike bag with air and spare tube for the first time riding in Europe as I didn’t want the extra weight, but of course Murphy’s Law crept up and bit me. I blew my tire about 1/3 of the way down the descent. Somehow the tire was chewed up a bit on the side, and even just a spare tube without a something inside the tire wouldn’t have fixed it. I ended up holding my thumb up at turn number 8 for probably a ½ hour until a guy with a trailer came by and picked me up and gave me a ride down to my car.
Later in the day we all went down-town and walked around. We bought Donner Kebaps and ate them at the park while the kids played. Most of the kids like playing at the parks over here, especially Mitzi and Ian.

Brad and dad up by the ski resort Semnoz we went to. Lake Annecy is to our left below us in the valley.

Kindra wasn't real thrilled with the flattering helmets we wore.

I'm sure I looked pretty dorky too.

We rode down the hill on these carts. It was great fun, but pretty bumpy if you got going fast.

The wild flowers were pretty impressive, although the picture was a little blurry as I took it riding up the hill on the bumpy cars.

Waiting for the alpine slide.

Ian liked the motorized car that went around a track.

The alpine slide was pretty fun.

7-7-10 Wednesday
This is Kindra writing and I am taking a turn writing for the “blog”. Today was fun although it seems to take us forever to get things going for the day. Adam went for a ride around lake Annecy in the morning, it is 40 km. long around and took him 1 ½ hours. It was a recovery ride for him. He is in his ELEMENT here! I see him planning his rides on the bike with great fervor and he RELISHES the opportunity to ride where “the pros” of past tours have ridden (tour de France for those of you normal non-cycling people out there!! Ha!!). Several of the climbs are very difficult and he is gearing up for tomorrows climb …Grandma is overcoming her jet lag nicely and seems to not get too tired by her grandchildren’s requests for game playing! I think Ian could play the numbers game all DAY! She has been a good sport and plays for hours with them. I try to get in a couple of games with them in-between laundry, hanging out the laundry (Europeans do not have clothes driers) sweeping, holding BOO-BOO and exercising. I love that Grandma is here. We love her to pieces and she is a big piece of “home” for us that I have been missing. We hear French spoken everywhere now and I can understand a little bit. Thank goodness for junior high French class! I love the French language it is beautiful to listen to! The area is breathtaking. The water of the lake is a deep turquoise and there is a path that goes around the lake that bikers, joggers and walkers can use. The lake is surrounded by huge mountains and there is a ski resort close to here. The house we are staying in is 200 years old and has 3 ft thick walls that keep it fairly pleasant inside as we wait and wait for Adam to come back from his ride- just kidding; we usually wait and wait AND wait. Ha! Well anyway, we went to a place today in the tops of the mountains west of the lake and went on their Alpine Slide. It was called Semnoz and we had a blast. There was a guy in charge of the ride that goes down the mountain in a go-cart and as he was explaining how to maneuver the thing: IN FRENCH no less, I could see Ashley thinking, now what am I supposed to do? Especially since there was a tow rope that pulled us up in the cart to the top of the mountain. We were supposed to release a lever that would let you go loose from the tow line which was hitched pretty high up in the sky. Adam was the first to go and then being the nice mother that I am I let Brad and Ashley go next! Ha! I think we explained it pretty good to them (we being the guy in charge and me the very unknowledgeable French translator) I think we both said “good luck” and then waved them off. Fortunately they released the lever at the right time and avoided certain death and then took off down the VERY BUMPY hill. I went after Ashley. It was fun. It was only us four because Ian was too small and Megan was sick from the winding mountain road that Adam loves to drive. Grandma wasn’t feeling very adventurous today but she said she would consider doing the parasailing. We didn’t get to that but maybe next time! Ha! Brecken, the stick in the mud stayed home saying she didn’t want to go to another alpine slide. We have been to 3 here. After the go-cart ride we went down the slide. It was a blast and Megan even was feeling a bit better and decided to go down as well- Mitzi rode with me. The French are nice but they definitely say what they think, OUT LOUD! After our adventurous time we winded our way down the mountain with Adam at the wheel and we decided to go out for dinner. Adam was wearing his France soccer team shirt. The man at the restaurant who was seating us yelled at Adam to “take off that shirt!!” Adam was like “what?” The man said it again only louder this time and people were starting to stare at us. Finally the man said something in French and waved us off like he is tired of people wearing the French soccer team shirt in his restaurant- ok, whatever. Maybe France isn’t doing too well in the world cup, we aren’t keeping track. After escargot that Ashley and Megan tried, we had fondue and salad. It was delicious. Well better go and hit the hay Brad says hi to all of the gorgeous babes that are reading this right now! Ha!
Bye
Kindra

✌ (ha-ha peace out. –brad.)
☣