“Oh what a beautiful morning!” Well, not quite. Slightly overcast, a bit cool.
How many ways can we bastardize Sheryl Crow’s new song:
- Dave: “I have my 32 on (low gear of rear cassette has 32 teeth)”
- Russ: “I have my 145s on (PSI of tires)”
- Russ: “I have my chamois butter on”
First, pack up the ‘ol van and then give departing hugs and kisses. Yes, Dave, I know you’re proud of the shelf, but everything on the ground needs to be packed into the back of the van…..
Success!
The before picture. Dick, Russ, Dave, Sandy, Robin, Terry. Sandy, so sorry about your eyes in this picture; you can blame it on your husband. He must have snapped this pic at the wrong time……
Roll out to Lake Geneva. The traditional rear wheel dipping ceremony. Of course, no one would really get their bike wet…..
Bon voyage!
I bet Rob and Sandy were really glad to see our sorry asses ride off…..
Roll out of Geneva. Since we left on a Sunday morning, the traffic was light. Shhh! No one at the border in to France….. Dave doubled back after 20k or so and retrieved the van.
First challenge of the trip was Col de Aravis. Pretty easy, actually. We had lunch close to the top at La Clusaz. Quaint little ski village; one of about 20 that we cycled through during the trip.
Ah, the essence of a long-distance cyclist.
Terry was first to the top, with me close behind, followed by Robin and Dick.
Terry: “Did you see that marmot?”
Robin: “Hmmm. Think I need to clean my bike?”
Easy descent, no problems. I took over driving the sag vehicle in the afternoon for the second challenge of the trip — Col de Saises. On the way down we saw many sections of road scribbled with the names of Tour de France riders. This year’s TdF traveled counterclockwise around France. In the French Alps, that meant going from the south to the north. Since we were going south through the Alps, we saw messages to the riders on the descents of many of our climbs during the trip.
Here’s a message to JaJa (Laurent Jalabert), a French cyclist who announced his retirement this year.
Ahhhh, the first day done and in the bag (or in our case, the glass…).
End of day 1. Statistics:
- Start: Geneva
- End: Albertville
- Distance: 112 km
- Climbs: Col de Aravis and Col de Saises
- Total gain: 1841 meters