MT bike Riding in France.

I left my hotel this morning about 12 minutes before my train to Montrejeau was to depart. I walked outside to find that it was lightly drizzling, which gave me a second excuse to run to the station.

I was able to make it in time, and actually ended up on the correct train, and didn't get thrown off when the billet guy came around.

As we got closer to the mountains, I got so excited, I couldn't help but take pictures of them out of the train window although they were hardly distinquishable amonst the clouds. However, as the train progressed, it started raining heavier and heavier. Somehow, it wasn't raining when I arrived in Montrejeau. Chris of pyractif picked me up from the train station and took me to the beautiful house that they run as a hotel/ bike rental place. I was super stoked on the place...especially since Chris had been so helpful to set me up last minute.

Their house was awesome, and both Chris and his wife Helen were super nice and helpful-- I hope to someday go back and visit them for more than a day (and of course, do plenty of cycling while I'm there).

Chris described the local mountain bike routes and the local Col climbs as well. The call of being able to ride some of the climbs that are featured in the Tour de France as well as the spectacular views that accompany them were tempting, but I stuck my original plan to ride the trails, so Chris hooked me up with a steed for the day, a helmet, spare tubes, a pump, a couple energy bars, a detailed map of the area, a rain jacket and a back pack to carry everything in....and even some spare cash hidden inside the backpack.





I hadn't brough my shoes and pedals, so I rode in my tennis shoes and some toe clips. It was quite interesting: every time I stopped and got off the bike, I found myself "clipping out" (twisting my foot out of the pedal which you need to do to release from 'clipless' pedals...which are, strangely, the ones you actually clip into).

The ride was quite a bit of road riding, actually, or connecting dirt roads with paved roads, pretty much. After only about 5-10 minutes of riding, I was to climb to Mont de Galie, a 3 km climb at about a 9% grade.

I was super-stoked at the u switch backs that you see so often in European tours, and even more stoked to see some of thedown-hill looking single track that crossed the road frequently. I rode part way up the hill, and came down some of the single track to check it out. It burned having to go back up the climb again, though.






At Mont de Galie, I was greeted with nice views of the mountains and villages. The top of a col was peaking out of a cloud just enough to distinguish it from a shadow.

I made my way through several other towns to find the first trail head. After a bit of confusion (thank goodness for the map) I figured it out. It turns out the area has a nice off-road trail system, with well marked trails.



The first bit of off road stretch was quite nice, but quickly turned into the Paris Roubaix of mountain biking. I guess that's what mtn biking should be all about...but this was a seriously cobbled steep climb...and it had been raining. The rocks were quite slippery, and I only made it about 1/4 of the way up the cobbled section before I slipped out. It was next to impossible (for me anyway) to get back on the bike on the cobbles, so I had to hike up the hill. I grumbled to myself about choosing mtn biking over road biking. I was fearful the descents would be much the same-- which was terrifying to me to think of riding down such steep terrain on such slippery, wet rocks (the picture doesn't quite do justice to the grade)...but I pressed on, anyway


After a gradual climb on both fire road and tarmac, I got to the top of the hill and followed the mapped route. I had a nice long fire road descent to another town, where the trail finally turned to singletrack!! (the rocks behind the flowers are the single track on what part of the trail...actually the trails are quite rocky and rooty, and quite slippery when wet!)




After several more miles/ kilometers/ hours/ minutes? of stop and go action that involved: riding a bit, stopping to check the map and take a photo or two, and changing between single track, double track and paved road, I got to the town of Barry, where there was a short little climb that I could do to the top of a hill with a tower on top. Here's a picture of the beginning of the climb, and the sign for the climb

The bit at the top was quite rewarding, though, there was a church and a tower, and a picnic table where I got to stop and eat some more food and enjoy the view. And take a few fun action shots of myself. White girl can jump.......... a lot higher when she's got regular shoes instead of cycling shoes!



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One of the bike signs was seriously hidden right behind this tower, and there was a trail that went directly down the hillside into the next town that I wanted to go to. The trail was a bit hidden because you had to ride across the grass to get there. I felt like such a derelict riding across the grass--especially so close to a church. I couldn't believe that that was the trail!


It started raining a little bit more during the rest of the ride, and then started coming down quite hard during the last 15 minutes or so of the ride, which was on the road. I was quite wet by the time I returned to the house in Bertren. Chris kindly let me take a shower there, and as I was just finishing up, it started dumping buckets. Seriously, buckets! I think you could've stuck a pint glass outside and it would've filled up in less than 5 seconds. I was happy with my timing for finishing the ride.

I was super stoked on the rental place-- and Chris even cut me a deal since I returned his 20 Euro that were in his backpack to him. I now can't wait to come back to France, although I'm likely to spend all of it in Bertren riding the trails and the cols.

Here are a couple more photos that I took during the day.

Bark people falling off a wall. Apparently the didn't need any help since they didn't answer when I asked.


A poppy in a field.

A loaf of bread in a window.

Happy cows come from France.

Adventures in France...so far

I arrived in France on Sunday evening-- about 5:30 pm Toulouse time, which is about 8:30 am Reno time, after leaving at ~5:00 pm (but getting to the airport about 2:30 pm for my delayed flight) on Saturday. When I got on the plane for the long leg from Phoenix to airport, I was relieved to find out that the people I was sitting next to weren't fat, only to find out later that they wouldn't shut the hell up during the red eye flight, so I was quite exhausted when I got here.

Since the sun doesn't set until 9:30 pm, though, I decided to explore the city a little bit. Here are the first few pictures I took since arriving in France. Of course, the classic long narrow street...first photo since arriving. And a picture of the Ponte Neuf.

Monday I didn't have to conference, so I got up early in the morning to go for a run, and then wandered about the city for at least 5 hours. Nothing seemed to be open, and I learned later that Monday was an "optional" holiday. Why call it optional? Who would choose not to have a holiday? So, I saw pretty much the same sights as the night previous. The river, the capitole and a church.
Church tower...went inside, it was quite nice.
The salles les illustrales (something like that, anyway) at the Capitole.

After 5 hours of walking (plus the other running time), I was quite frustrated that I didn't have a bike to get around on. Even more frustrating (but actually rather cool if I had been able to use them) was that fact that these bike rental stations are about every 3-5 blocks, and you (maybe, but not me) can rent a bike for about 1/2 euro an hour.
Tuesday, the conferencing started. Since the city wasn't on holiday anymore, it was hustling and bustling. There was a large farmers market on my way to the conference center, and the massive piles of cherries and peaches were mouthwateringly tempting.
The conference schedule was quite relaxed compare to other conferences I've been to. It went something like this : Start 9 am for 1 hour of keynote sessions. Coffee break from 10-11 am. 11am- 12:30 pm, parallel breakout sessions, 3 speakers each for 20 minutes w/ 10 minutes of questions. No body ever ran over. 12:30-2:30-- lunch. Yes, a two hour lunch which consisted of a first course (generally some unrecognizable pate looking things with crab cake like items...not made out of crab) main course (usually risotto rice with some type of meat-- chicken or calamari, one day) and dessert (and each one was delicious). Of course, wine is served with lunch, so we must have coffee afterward, too, to stay away through the afternoon sessions). 2-3:30-- parallel sessions w/ 3 speakers. 3:30 to 4:30, another 1 hour coffee break. 4:30-6, parallel sessions. In total, thats 4 hours of break times and 5 hours of talks.) Tuesday night the group went to the Salle des illustres in the Capitole for a cocktail...same room I thought was perhaps a museum before. It was quite cool to sip champagne among the paintings and statues. Well, it would've been cool if it hadn't been so hot in the room. People bolted out of there quickly, which was unfortunate.

Wednesday, I had to chair a session and give a talk. Both of which went nicely, I think. Wednesday evening, the group headed to the Chauteux de Merville for a dinner.

The place even had a labyrinthe, complete with mosquites is you got lost wandering around for too long. The dinner was quite nice, but much of the same. First course was a crab-cake like thing made out of vegetables with some type of pate thing on top. Complete with a large cheese cracker that tasted like a cheese nip. The main course was duck with a small dish of purple potatoes. I suppose they could have been something other than potatoes, but the texture was the same so I didn't eat them,regardless. Dessert was....nothing short of spectacular. It was a rasperry whip cream type thing, a giant purple oreo that looked or tasted nothing like an oreo, and a creamy, fluffy chocalte frostingy type thing with a piece of rice delicious chocolate on top. Perhaps you don't get the idea, but its probably for the best because you would really want some if you could.

Of course, the journey description cannot be complete without a picture of the view out my window, and the view into the....ahem, bathroom. I still have yet to use a bidet. Perhaps one day I will fall in love, but a well used one in a hotel room will not be my first bidet-love.


Tomorrow, however, the real adventure begins. I was able to book a trip over to the mountains ( the Pyranees) for a mountain bike trip. Can't wait! I'm glad I get to enjoy the outdoors while I'm here. I guess I'm definitely not made to be a city person, because I would definitely be ready to leave already if I didn't have this lined up for tomorrow.

Got to get some sleep