Day trip to Stonehenge

On to London -Via the "Chunnel"

2 quick days in Paris

July 21, Montgenevre to La Grave, France

Stage 18 of the Tour de France, and our third day with Backroads began with an early wake-up call and onto the bikes by 8:30 am to allow us time to get up to Col de Galibier, today's destination and the second of the three big mountains on this year's Tour BEFORE the road would be closed for all vehicles except the racers.   All was well as the day and our ride began with a long and spectacular descent into the Briancon Valley with each turn on the mountainous route providing a view more beautiful than the last .  Like yesterday, traffic was heavy with cyclists, cars and RVs racing down the narrow, winding roads.  We stopped to find a bathroom in the village in the valley before our uphill ride, a quest that took 45 minutes off the bike!  The gendarmes were now turning back all motorized vehicles, earlier than expected so now it was really a race against time, but as soon as we got back on the road, Hank's bike got a flat tire!  At about this time, the Backroads team was getting worried about us and Jakov one of our 3 extraordinary guides, rode his bike down to find us and arrived just as Hank finished repairing his flat.  Jakov led us up to where he'd left the van, loaded us up and hustled us up the mountain before the road was closed up at that higher level.  Lynda was so disappointed not to be able to bicycle up the rest of the mountain!  LOL

Day 2 with Backroads-Sestriere

Today is stage 19 of the TDF.  After riding about 80 miles, the pros will climb the famous Col de  Sestriere. This year Sestriere is not the finish, rather they continue on to Gap. (Hank thought that was a clothing store).

One of many stops on the way

The peleton flies past.

Sestriere became famous in 1999 when Lance Armstrong devastated the pack for his first Mountain Stage win after his cancer.


Lance - not Hank


We headed out early, rode the pass before the race and staked out our observation point on the top of the pass. The Backroads support team had a place waiting for us with a fantastic lunch - a flat screen TV and satellite dish so we could watch TV coverage of the race until the racers were literally right beside us.

We both made the climb, slowly. Lots of stops, water, and caffeine as our only "drug".  To get a good viewing position you need to arrive early.  We sat on the mountain for several hours watching the other fans, and enjoying the "caravan" that drives though before the race each day - dozens of vehicles advertising sponsors and throwing candy and swag out the windows as they go.

Backroads picnic lunch

Our group

Hank (not Lance)

Looking down - where we bicycled up from.

 A few riders in a breakaway came past first, then suddenly,  the peleton - a pack of about 180 riders blew past. Wind, noise, yelling, and in an instant they were gone.

July 19th - more about our first day on the Backroads Bicycling tour.

After meeting our group at the train station in Oulx, Italy, we took a short drive across the border into France - to the town of Montgenevre. There we saw the obelisk erected by Napoleon to designate the border - which Italy has since moved several kilometers back.

Tomorrow the Tour De France will race through town.  Riders will climb up the hill  from Briancon, through Montgenevre past our hotel, then up and over several more climbs before their day is done. Since our ride today started in the afternoon, we "only" rode about 40 kilometers (24 miles - up and down hill - no flats!).

Doing well - having too much fun to blog

We are sitting in a very nice hote room in London.  Wednesday evening here enjoying AC, English TV and an OK internet connection.  Between long days and weak internet connections we have had little chance to update the blog.  Here's the short version:

After 2 great days in Milano, we met our tour group for 5 wonderful days of cycling in Italy and France. Killer hills, fantastic food, wonderful rural hotels.

Lynda bicycled a lot - Hank got to climb 3 of the famous big  passes in the Alps.

Then we took the TGV to Paris, and saw the end of the Tour de France live. Fantastic!

Two nights in Paris and then TGV to London.  Hank has never been here - Lynda has - so we are doing all the "usual" sights, and eating great international food.

Meeting our tour group.

Tuesday, July 19th we left Milan to join our tour group in Oulx, a small village in the Italian Alps. Fot the rest of the week we will travel with Backroads Travel who have arranged guides, hotel accommodations, bicycles, and supports to see stages of the Tour de France while bicycling ourselves.

After breakfast at our hotel, we took the Metro (with backpacks) to the train station to catch a train to Turin and then transferred to a train to Oulx. Our guides met us at the station and shuttled us to our hotel in the village of Mountgenevere. We met our tour group and set out on our bicycles for a 25 mile "spin" in the Alps.  

The big climb today was one of several big climbs the Tour de France will do tomorrow.  In the AM we will climb a much bigger peak ahead of the pros and then we will group near the peak and wait for the TDF to pass us

The group had dinner together in the hotel. A fantastic meal! A wonderful evening, then we retired early. Tomorrow the cycling is more demanding.

Bike Geek Alert:

Bike geeks will want to know (Hank insists) that the bikes are titanium frames with Shimano gears -triple crank with a 9-speed rear cluster. We eased into Alpine climbing with "only" 2400 feet of elevation gain. The bikes run well, even though Hank preferes Campagnolo gears (Its an Italian thing)

Photos from Milano

 

Timing is everything!

Our plans required that we arrive in Milano on Sunday and leave on Tuesday AM, so our only full day in town is Monday - the day that museums are closed! Oh well - still plenty of good foood to eat, and fashon to watch.
 Everyone here assumes Hank is from Milano since he is so well dressed  (not!!!)

Flying to Milano

Saturday, July 16 we drove to Portland airport (PDX) and flew to San Francisco (SFO). Then a flight to Frankfort Germany (FRA) and on to Milan (MXP) arriving at 1:30 PM on Sunday.

Basic stats:
14 hours in the air,
4 airports
3 flights
9 time zones
 24 hours of travel time door to door we arrived at our hotel in downtown Milan

 Heading out to find dinner.  Our driver made a few suggestions.

Heading out for 2 weeks of travel.

July 16th 2011 Hank and Lynda headed out for 2 weeks in Europe. We are off to join a bicycle tour for the final week of the Tour de France, and other touring as well.