cars and cols
Monday
Where to start with today, well I ate the entire packet of biccies last night…so wasn’t really hungry!!…anyway, I knew a bolt was missing from the rear of the exhaust causing a terrible rattle (on top of the awful blowing noise its making – a hole in it somewhere…dam cars) so I took it into the local garage (which looked, sounded and staff acted exactly like every other corner street garage in the UK…New Zealand etc etc) and a bit of pointing and 20mins later (-15 euros though!) all done…..while there a fantastic red and chrome MG (classic car, not the latest crap) pulled up and I got chatting to the Brits as the had the top down….40 years old, he told me – his wife looked older than that!!! New bumpers….. yes well I’m sure her D cups are lovely but I don’t want to go into it…… great ride….what!!! well I never….. but she’s a bit temperamental …. Well age doesn’t matter on that score…. I think she needs a new starter motor……..OH the car!!! J
They were off the the South of France (I’ll be joining them too but in the quieter September months) and I was off to check out Le clusaz – as per the recommendation of the Mountain Bike Europe book – 300kms of trails aparantly.
Looks like I picked the wrong day for that – market day – streets closed, but free parking! How nice! So I skipping though the market, eyeing lovely meats and cheeses, but heading into the Tourist office…manned by particularly young female staff…. Putting on my best French accent, but failing immediately I got 2 maps, one looking like the aforementioned previous entry of a blind man with a pencil…. And the other looking better with actual numbers and directions….i headed into the nearest bar where a few locals were on some Vin rouge and some other clear liquid (yes it was 10.30am) and I sat at the bar and worked my way through 2 Café aux lait – while studying the map – and cross referencing it with a local hiking map I bought . These 300kms of trails were no where to be seen, the longest was 25kms – I guess if you did them all separately (most overlapped) maybe….the longest one was half a red route and half a black route – so I could decide half way round which one to do…. And it started back in the town I came from! So I headed back after paying my 5E to the surly old barman , probably wondering why I was sat at the bar while the tourists sat outside on the plastic chair – I didn’t think too much about it really.
Back in Grand Bormand (grand boursin! Mmmm) I headed up to the cable car, but it wasn’t running, not open from 12-2 – I looked at my watch, 11.59 – so I tuned my bike a bit, trying to fix the rear break and sort out the shocks, studied the map and then headed out for a small XC loop – I wish! I got lost… took the wrong main road – as I accidently followed 2 female mountainbikers thinking they were doing the same trail but then pulled into a hotel – anyway after an hour of road riding (in this country no riding is wasted riding with these views) I headed back into town and had some lunch and got the cable car, which started back up at 14.03 ……….. off the top of the car – fantastic views but…no signs – guessed the right way, and it was, 4wd track , steep and fast – nice….picked up a sign , well I say a sign, it was more like a Clipart arrow from Microsoft printed on a postage stamp – showing the way…I rounded the mountain to see it had slid at some point in the past and the track was poorly defined around it, and un-rideably steep!! I pushed for a while, then hit the track again and it was a nice run for about 30 mins, when the signs disappeared once again – I came across a local French biker, who was also lost, looking at the map and conversed in broken English/French we figured out his route – he said mine was long – very very long! I didn’t mind- Nutella butties in my pack, energy bars and 2l of water – sorted. We went our separate ways and I headed off again , passing an old couple taking a photo of 1 , then other, I stopped and took one of both J. They met me again 10mins later when the caught up to me as I had lost all signs once more, he directed me where to go, and off I went. They met me again 10 mins later!!! No I wasn’t lost – rear puncture, leaving me with just 1 tube for the rest of the ride . no worries. Except my pump failed on me – so with only half pressure in my back tyre and anger rising inside me I hit the road back into town – swooping through the corners and directly into the sun – French chalets whizzing by as they do, I relaxed and got warm again on this lovely quiet road back to town….. by the time I got back, ate the sandwiches and bought a new pump it was 6……a really nice cool evening – perfect for a road ride – itching inside , the sight of a very lovely and tanned female road rider passing me by convinced me to ride – after all she could be sitting in a bar at the top of a ‘Col’ wishing for some Black Rider to buy her a Vin Rouge…. I made up a quick road crib sheet as the map was too big and I had no printer, 2 cols to do, one a Tour climb – Col De Avaris (1486m) and the second a lesser known but equally steep Col De croix-fry (1470m) – both were tough, the first long and steady superb views of Mt Blanc, finishing with 2 churches and a bar at the top (no tanned rider!), swooping great road down, and the second short and steep with a church and bar at the top (I sense a pattern) …and no one there either (YES a definite pattern) and another great descent – too far though, I missed the turning and had to head up and then climb my way anyway back to the campsite – I was hurting, but felt good – although a few sores in sensitive areas from all this riding starting to get quite painful…… I was tempted to go out for pizza and beer, but almost fell asleep on the bed as soon as I got in, so made up some nutella sandwiches, 2 apples, 4 yogurts, and a pack of nuts for tea, and dozing off right now as I type – still MTB = 30K hilly. Road Bike – 47k – 2h 16mins –very hhhhIIllyyyy
2 days of rest – gotta be – perhaps Annecy town tomorrow and surrounding area – not sure about day after – bar + tour de france, maybe….
Hmmm not been for a run in a while.
Mmm tanned
Mm female
Mmmmmmmm riding
