Dave arrived in Geneva on August 29 to secure the sag vehicle — you didn’t think we were going to pack it around France, did you?!? Our base of operations was the home of Rob and Sandy Parker (FsOD). Dave and Rob were old schoolmates. Rob and his lovely wife and two kids live just outside of Geneva — how convenient…..
The logistics of such a trip are complicated. Think about it for a minute… Start in Geneva, end up in Nice. What do we do with the bike boxes that were used for the flight? What about the sag van? How do we cram five bikes on top of the van?
Dave didn’t acquire his Directeur Sportif moniker for peanuts. Everything was organized perfectly. Dave had three bike rails he brought from his home, I brought one (but ended up purchasing another one, bummer), and Dick brought one as well. We just needed the mounting towers and two bars to hold the rails. We (hope we) can sell the extra parts after the trip. Parts anyone? Cheap?
We had a small snafu with the sag van concerning insurance (needed to cover 5 drivers and French rental agencies would only cover 2), so in the end we needed to rent from the Swiss, and someone had to return the van to Geneva — Terry was able to change his return flight (from Nice), drive the van back to Geneva, and fly home from Geneva to California.
I was the first to arrive on August 30. Dave and Rob met me at the airport. Terry, Robin, and Dick flew in later in the day. Dave, Rob, and I drove to the sport shop to pick up the bike rack parts we needed, then continued on and picked up the remainder of the cyclists from the airport.
At Rob’s home, a few of us decided to unpack our bicycles to see if there was any catastrophic damage. We found no fatal problems, however the cage on my rear derailleur tickled the spokes of the rear wheel when in low gear. This had happened before and was something I could fix by bending the cage. Yes, I ride a finely tuned rig……
Time for dinner, beer, and bed……