Paris wrap-up and back in T.O.

It feels good to be back, home. My bird (Punch) was happy to see us back, the gardens are doing well (thanks Joan!) and the flight was uneventful. I'm under the weather, having picked up some bug in our last days in Paris. Fortunately my sinuses didn't close up until after the flight, otherwise it would have been a painful takeoff and landing. As it is, I'm relaxing inside today and unwinding. Getting caught up on email, sending off invoices for recent work, lining up what my next assignments will be. And making some time to get this blog up to date.

Our final trip (just Andrea and me in Paris) was nice. We slept in each morning, found a different place to have breakfast each day, and took advantage of the Velib bikes to get around. Last year it was 1 Euro to get access, this year it was 1.70 Euro (still 1 Euro for each 1/2 hour on top the first free one). We used the bikes for 3 days @ 1.70 E and only went over the 1/2 hour once so we spent a total of 6.10 euro each for 3 days of transportation. Perfect!

Over breakfast we'd decide what to do... one morning it was a visit to the art collection at Jacquemart Andre and another it was a ride out to the Moulin Rouge. Afternoons were lunch and parks, wherever we were. We were close to the Jardin du Luxembourg so that was a given... reading, lunching, napping, and then the pleasure of Paris in rain. The muted tones of the city are well suited to overcast and rainy days. And taking shelter in a cafe, sipping a coffee until the rain lets up is a relaxing time... enjoy.

Dinners and evenings were very low key. I think we were just too tired to try to make late nights happens, and the comfort of our hotel was enough to entice us back each night rather than looking for more. It only took a night in Paris to realize what a busy and demanding trip it had been. I'll expand on that thought as I add details to the trips between Belgium and Paris...

Paris... trip 5 of 5

I'll follow up my teaser of bus photos with a short report from Paris... this is the last night here, we'll be on a flight back to Toronto in the morning. I'll circle back to fill in the 3 trips between (Pyrenees, Provence and the Alpes) once I'm back home.

Riding in Paris

Paris; I have lost track of how many times I've been here in the past 15+ years... perhaps 10? Enough times that I can find my way around and still get totally lost. The last two trips have included using the Velib bike system to expand our territory quite a bit and I've enjoyed that aspect a lot. I've walked a lot of Paris streets, enjoying the sights, sounds and scents and have bought new shoes to be able to keep walking. Taking the metro hides the city, although there is a lot of Paris that happens in the metro and train systems. We've tried the Batobus (a boat system to get along the main spots on the river) and that was nice. Not as useful as the Velib though. About $2 (1 Euro 70) for access to the bikes for a day, and no extra charges as long as you keep each trip under 30 minutes. Ride a while, park and either walk a little or pick a new bike and keep going. Repeat as desired, when you get to a place you want to spend time at you leave the bike behind and enjoy whatever it is you're doing. The biggest challenge in the city centre is finding empty spots to park during the day since all the folks from the suburbs ride in and leave the bikes there for the day. The flip side is that places like Montmartre have no bikes at some Velib stations. A short walk will get you to some though.


We arrived in Paris on Sunday,  before the Tour arrived for the final stage. This is the 4th time I've been in Paris for this and it's still a huge thrill. I know how crowded it gets, how you have to work to find a good spot and you need to stake it out early and stay put. This year, Andrea and I opted to wander and sample a few different spots. The crowd up at the Arc de Triomphe. People milling about by the big screens, people watching and race watching. The VIP zone, hermetically sealed. The streets along the river, blocked off and hard to access. The ferris wheel, a fixture near the entrance to the Louvre for as long as I've been at the Tour. All great for the experience, not great for race photos. So many of my shots are of the experience of le Tour in Paris rather than the racers.

And of course the Aussies... at the best of times they're often boisterous and outspoken. The first Aussie Tour win took that up a notch or two! And rightly so... it was an amazing race and a great win for Cadel. He worked hard for it and I'm thrilled to have been here to see it.

After the race, Andrea and I got settled into our hotel near the Pantheon and began our final trip... Paris. We had a few ideas of what we might do, and intentionally didn't make any firm plans. Cafes, parks, exploring... that was the thinking and we did all of the above. 

One museum, lots of great coffee, pastries and time spent sitting and relaxing.

I'll end this part of the report with a few more photos, since it's getting late and I have to be up early... I'll finish the Paris tour when I'm back in T.O.

(And for those keeping track, no sign of any volcano so we should be good to fly tomorrow!)

Buses of le Tour

One of the many stories of this trip is based on the many campers and buses that form a part of the experience. I've gone through my photos and picked out a small gallery of bus photos... most are VWs, the ones that aren't are still part of the story and experience.

Here are a few I like, and you can find the full gallery on my picasa gallery of buses.

The publicity caravan included two of these...

Find the Vanagon... Col d'Aubisque

This beer bus has been featured in Tour coverage before

Ok, no VWs here, still kinda cool (and very much "bus")

Three Trips later...

How time flies... I had meant to write and post here the way I've always written in journals when I travel (daily) and find myself at this end of le Tour with lots of untold stories and only a few more days left in Paris.

I'm sitting, listening to the traffic on Rue St. Michel and looking out my window at the soft light that contrasts sharply with the sound of scooters and buses. Looking up to my left I can see the Pantheon, to my right is the Jardin de Luxembourg. It's been two weeks since I arrived here, landing in Paris and heading up to Belgium. Trip one was a couple of days up there, followed by a long drive down to the Pyrenees... these I've written about a little. That was trip 1.

Trip 2 was a handful of days with a handful of Belgians following the Tour, based out of St Girons. That was amazing and I will write up a separate trip report on it including a video of the trip up the Tourmalet that was surreal. It also includes a trip to Toulouse to pick up Andrea at the train station there on Bastille day (I don't recommend it!).

Trip 3 was a few days that Andrea and I got to share in Provence, cycling around Mt Ventoux and relaxing. It was beautiful, and a calm between storms... the actual organized parts of the trip were very busy and included numerous long days. All very rewarding, just very tiring too. Sitting in Malaucene sipping a beer and seeing all the cyclists as the finish the descent off Ventoux was a highlight. And the Museeuw bikes got some close inspection from people who know the name... we didn't see any other Museeuw bikes the entire trip.

Trip 4 was the most intense... a group of over 20 Belgians for the Alpes portion of the Tour. And as promised, we got to some amazing parts of the race... within 20KM of the finish on the Galibier, at the finish atop Alpe d'Huez, the start at Pinerolo, and within 500M of the start/finish of the time trial in Grenoble. And of course... Paris. Pick a spot, mingle with the huge crowd, enjoy! We did...

So here I am in trip 5. Paris, finished the bulk of the work with only a final gallery to complete. Finally have time to think, organize my thoughts, reflect. And time to finally get back to this blog. It's past 1:30 in the morning here, so I will only get a start... this short description and a few photos will have to do until I am able to write a complete report from each of the trips.

I have stories of rides to tell, stories of the camping culture, stories of the race, and personal insights... so stay tuned. Meanwhile, enjoy these photos.

Thor had a great Tour, his fans had a lot to cheer about

Watching the Tour finish in a bar, very much a part of the culture

St Girons

Les Dentelles, Provence

The famous beer bus...

Snow... July 19th at the top of Col d'Izoard

Croix de Fer

Grenoble ITT

Paris finish

The Pantheon at night

A "Then and Now" Moment

It was an early day alright... and a lot of cool and wet weather for driving. Wim and I had made plans to get close to Paris to meet so the three buses would head down together and the meeting point was a gas station near Assevillers. I got there in good time, and pulled into the parking lot next to this very well loved splitty. I couldn't resist pulling up next (not too close, I'm sure people were sleeping in there.

I only took a couple of quick shots before getting my coffee and then it was time to hit the road again. I only looked at the photos now, none are any good. I'll put this one up anyhow, hope it brings a smile to more faces than just mine.

A very early bus, and the newest version...

Well, I'm here. Here I am.

Day two of being in Europe, and there has been a lot packed into them. Today will be even busier, my alarm is set for 3:50AM so I'm not going to make this a long post. I do expect to have more time (and more stories to tell) once the actual trip has started and we're down in the Pyrenees.

Day 1: getting to the airport, finding out my flight was delayed a bit, relaxing in the Air Canada lounge while waiting. Once on board, it was very relaxed and comfortable (flying up front tends to be ever since they figured out how to turn a chair into a bed!). Good food, some good wine, and most importantly a good sleep. I landed in Paris a little after 9AM local time and had lots of time to catch my train to Lille. It was great to see Wim walk into the station, with his usual soft smile and sincere warmth. A drive back to his home in Markegem where I got to meet his family, getting a chance to drive the Renault Traffic Andrea and I will get to use during this trip. And checking out the bike Wim picked up for me that morning. I like... I like it a lot now that I've gotten a proper fit and ridden a few hours on it. More on that later.




The B&B (de Zoete Kers) is great, with friendly hosts and even friendlier pets. Even the goats and chickens perk up when they see someone, to say nothing of the two dogs. The first day was spent organizing, preparing some final details, arranging everything... something Wim excels at. I was a second driver, helping to shuttle vehicles around to get things like decals and bike race horns installed. I can't wait to hit that button when Andrea is in the Renault... plus having official technical vehicle status might make it a little easier to get to some interesting places. Day 1 ended late, with a good meal and some good Belgian beer of course!

Day 2: Getting a new bike with an integrated seat post as a loaner is definitely a new experience to me. And being in Wakken is not exactly the best place to find someone prepared to take a hacksaw to a nice new carbon/flax Museeuw frame. However...
about 2 KM away is this little place on a gravel dead-end street. It has a sign on it for "FietsAdvies"... go figure! Filip Adams has been doing custom bike fittings for a number of years and has an impressive list of people who rely on his services. Take a look at his website: www.fietsadviesadams.net). As part of day one, Wim told me how to find Filip... so I showed up unannounced and uninvited and not being able to speak Flemish (good thing he has British clients so his english is great!). Wim had wanted to get a fit before this trip and had stopped in there a week or so ago... only to be told the earliest date was mid August. And here I am, showing up with this great bike and a real problem because no-one was prepared to take a saw to it (to be fair, I wouldn't have either! I didn't know how much to take off and it's not something you can do twice). I'll leave the details of the fit for a separate post... I'll just say that he did squeeze me in ("7AM, be here on time") and I have all the details of the fit so I can see how my Cervelo at home compares. Meanwhile, I have a great bike that's exactly my size... I better ride it a lot!!!

The rest of the day was more prep and for me it included a trip through Gent and Antwerp on the way to a town near Diest to drop off the Traffic for Wim's other driver (Rudi). Then a train ride back to Gent, and a few more things along the way.

So I'll wrap up by saying that there's a lovely new VW Transporter parked outside my room, which is what I'll be driving down to the Pyrenees. I'll make a point of taking photos of it tomorrow, too late for now. (SLEEP, MUST SLEEP).

Tomorrow is a long day... lots of driving here, Andrea is flying. And then Thurs. I will have seen 2 stages in the mountains and will pick Andrea up in Toulouse. That's for the next entry though!

T = Today

I'm still packing, still wrapping my mind around leaving for Europe today, arriving Monday. Wim has already given me the "bad news" that my hours are filling without me having a say (of course I would say yes, Wim knows that).

Still a little left in the bottle from last year, until later today!

Today is wheels up a little after 7pm.
Tomorrow is wheels down around 8:30am.
The trip starts when I get off the train to Lille (Flandres) around 13h00 and we head off to Belgium.

Care to guess what I'll forget to pack and bring along? There is always something...

Thanks to a volcano... otherwise I wouldn't have been there

Almost time to fly...

I'm really glad this trip came together, it was a let-down when the April trip to Belgium fell through. Things seem to happen for reasons though, and this is certainly a great trip to offset that disappointment. Wim and I have been talking through the nitty-gritty over the past few days and I like how things are shaping up. I'm now less than two days to departure, still not packed.

The Museeuw I rode in 2010

Today's updates include confirmation that Andrea and I will be riding some Museeuw bikes fresh from Johan's warehouse. Those in the Toronto area can stop by the Gears  Bike Shop new location as they are the only local shop that sells Museeuw frames. Then Wim followed it up by letting us know that our Thomas Cook team kits will be waiting for us to wear when we get there.

As I had mentioned in my earlier post I have a nice B&B (De Zoete Kers, www.dezoetekers.be) arranged for my short stay in Belgium. I look forward to having some time to relax and hope to get a ride or two in while I'm there. I know that starting Wednesday things will get very busy for a week.

Stage 11

The agenda for Wed has about 1,000KM of driving as Wim and his second driver will be collecting the group in various locations and then we all head down to Lavaur to catch the finish of stage 11. I will be following in the Renault Traffic Wim has provided.

Andrea on the Tourmalet in 2006

After the stage, we will settle into the Hotel Eychenne in Saint-Girons until Saturday. This will be our base for the stages in the Pyrenees. I know Andrea will get a lot of riding in, she's looking forward to climbing the cols. We were there in 2006 and it's spectacular, very different from the Alpes. Hopefully I will get some good rides in too as we will be at the Col d'Aubisque, the Tourmalet and the Portet d'Aspet and surrounded by many other famous climbs.

Stay tuned for regular updates, I intend to provide good coverage of the Tour as Thomas Cook Sports serves it up!

Ready? No. Set? No. GO (regardless!)

Thursday is almost done, I have less than 3 days before I fly and I'm very much not ready...

That's not all bad, I do like to think things through and then act on the sum of the thoughts. This feels later than usual though... I'm still imagining and visualizing the packed bag, that's something I would normally have done a day or two ago. I can see it though, the list of what's in my mind and what's piled up is getting close to being equal.

France... mmmm. Lots of thoughts there, and I'm very much looking forward to going back again. Paris is my favourite city, I expect nothing less than "yes" from this visit as I have from previous visits.

For tonight though... I'm done. Spent. So I'll take these thoughts and let them shape dreams for my night. Tomorrow I will finish my packing! Tonight I'll "just" sleep.

Back, for a brief "visit" home

Home! I never expected this to be as busy a job as it's become. And I am totally enjoying it.
Note: The photos I've put up here are mostly from this Picasa gallery, you're welcome to look through all of them.

When I sat down to put an entry up on Friday I knew it would be a busy weekend. I didn't think it would as crazy as it turned out to be! Saturday was a great and hard and long day, I feel like surviving it was a victory. So, knowing that I got all my galleries out in a timely manner and then got something resembling sleep before repeating a slightly shorter version on Sunday was "good".

Welcome to MSA

Some highlights:
I've already said there were lots of VW campers, I'll say it again... oh so very cool!

The folks I camped next to were from Scotland and were great company (when I was actually at the camper). Speaking of Babe, I gather from Andrea that she was shown in the Freecaster feed a few times as they panned by the finish area where I was parked.

Babe alongside  Alisdair and Fergus with their rented camper

Alisdair runs Perth City Cycles while Fergus was racing the DH. It was funny to realize that Fergus had shown up in one of my pre-race shots from the Friday (at the bike wash), I hope he got to share that with friends and family back home. As a "snapper" at these events I know that the top racers get into lots of photos, that folks who have a contract for images are sure to get some, and that folks who are there because they want to be there and have no real ties to a major sponsor will seldom make it to a magazine or website page. And I found it ironic that he came down as I was changing locations! So the only shot I got of him was this... and I put it up here as a simple hello. I hope someone gets a better shot at Windham!

Seeing photos going up in new places is always nice so I was very happy to add Singletrack.com to the places you'll find galleries of my photos. You'll find the full DH gallery here and the two XC galleries are linked to this race summary article. I like that they highlighted this shot on la Beatrice with Canadian Derek Zandstra riding down through the traffic of people stumbling, running, falling.

 

la Beatrice, as seen on singletrack.com

The three XC events, running from 9:30 until around 4:30 were enough work that I opted out of the 4X coverage... even so it was 10:30 before I got back to my bed, only to spend the next few hours wide awake listening to the DJ rocking the party until 2am. Sunday didn't come with a smile... come it did though! And with threats of rain for the technical downhill race, the highlight of the day.

The rain did hold off for the most part, a little drizzle at the end of the Junior XC race and then nothing more (not far away, it rained a lot around Quebec City). I was glad to not have to worry about it. The DH race is always a challenge to shoot, people specialize in events like this and have elaborate flash configurations. I try to keep it simple and at the same time to mix it up. I don't want to only have a gallery of shots from one location, moving spots can be a challenge though (like missing a proper shot of Fergus...). As it is, I think the galleries I provided show a nice mix and of course they highlight the key racers.

"Resting", a Super 8 motel at Trois Riviere

Enough of MSA though... I'm now done with all of the image processing, photos are online and videos will be soon too. I drove a few hours on Sunday to shorten the trip on Monday, only made it to Trois Riviere before I said "enough!". The drive Monday was definitely better because of that.

Speaking of the drive back (this is me going west on Quebec 40/20 and Ontario 401, seeing vehicles going east), I saw 5 Eurovans (one tin-top, the rest were campers) and either 5 or 6 Vanagons. One Vanagon was a tin-top, it made me think of  Gord Potts' work-mobile, one was a white beefy looking beast that might have been a syncro, and one that I did a double take when I saw it. I've seen one VW Karmen Gypsy before, I got a good look at Paul's at the 2010 BusFusion and I think I either saw my second or the new owners driving this one! So... if it was a Gypsy, does it count as Vanagon #6? Either way, that's the most Vanagons I've seen in Ontario in one day other than at a bus event!

Now I've had a day to relax and I will go visit my mom on Wed. as she finally gets home from hospital, then start packing for the next trip. I made a point of rushing (if such a thing is actually possible in an old VW camper!) back to Toronto to be here in case I needed to pick my mom up from Sunnybrook hospital after her visit to the "cath lab". They did send her back to Midland so I will now use my time to visit her when they discharge her tomorrow. I can see what arrangements need to be taken care of, and get to see here resting at home where I know she wants to be.

And then...
I'm not ready, I do have almost all of the details arranged though!

July 10th is le Grand Depart, I fly to Paris and won't be back until the 28th
I have a B&B in Belgium for 2 nights that Wim has arranged
Wim has bikes ready for Andrea and me, I wonder how much riding time I will have!
Wed will be a very early day, driving down to southern France
Then part one of the trip starts... the Pyrenees TdF trip with Thomas Cook until the 16th
Andrea arrives on the 14th, I expect I will be picking her up in Toulouse in Wim's Renault

And for a few days between trips, we will explore (this is open, will see what happens!)
The 19th will find us in Susa, ready for the second trip... the Alps and up to the finish in Paris
And then a few days to explore Paris at our own pace... this is a city Andrea and I both love, and have been to many times. I look forward to seeing places I've been to and ones I've never been to.

Here's a shot of Wim with Eric from last year from Durbuy, I'm looking forward to having a good Belgian beer with him in less than a week!

No promises... however I will try to keep the blog up to date while I'm working in France... stay tuned!

From Camper Land to Wonder Land...

Surrounded by massive campers, listening to bingo by the beach... that was camper land. And for some reason the Quebecois love their camping, good on 'em! I was happy to be there for the night, my second visit to Lake Louise (thousands of miles and around 40 years between them). I woke up, had a pay-per-use shower and needed an extra dollar to finish. Then made a good cup of coffee for the road. About two hours later I was smiling at being surrounded by things I love.

I had only see a couple of Eurovans the entire 10+ hours of driving yesterday... by the time I got to MSA I'd seen 10 Vanagons, 4 Eurovans and one Bay westy. That's more than I see in months at home. And every one got and gave a beep or a wave. Love it. And there was one dark brown Vanagon westy that passed me in a blur, it took me all the way to Beaupre to catch up to him. And then he sped off at a light! I saw the bike on the back and figured I'd see the camper here... sure enough it's park not more than 100m away. He has a Bostig conversion... no wonder he's speeding down the road! Nice bus!

There was also a nice new pop-top conversion parked near by, I'll make a point of learning more about it before they leave.

Oh... having hundreds of avid cyclists around at the destination is pretty cool too, don't for a moment think I don't totally dig this. I wandered around and took a few casual shots (I decided to only use my Lumix TS1 to see what it's capable of), checked out the DH and 4X courses, hopped on my bike and rode some trails, had a good dinner, and I still have time to do an update... life is good. Tomorrow it will be busy so I'm enjoying this moment while I can. Here are a few pics, hope you like them...