Milano

Eating and shopping: that's what you do in Milano. I feel that I have done well so far, and could even become quite good at these two activities if I were to stick around long enough. Highlights include a flaming wheel of Parmesan cheese as big as a pizza, set afire to provoke melting and then used as a bowl to mix the macaroni, and white linen pants so long that even stilletto heels can barely be seen poking out the bottom. Va bene....

Saint Tropez

From the quaint charm of Hyeres we went on to the modern glitz of St. Tropez, one of the most ridiculously ritzy little villages in all of France. Our taxi driver drove a Jaguar, and we spotted Keanu Reeves at a club on the water front, next to a line of boats that must cost more money to dock than most people make in a year. We only stayed for a day, which was all we could afford, and then we hopped on a boat to Antibes/Juan les Pins, a nice little place in between Cannes and Nice. A certain amount of confusion about whether our hotel was in Antibes or Juan les Pins, which are basically right next to each other and are often referred to interchangeably, resulted in us taking the extremely scenic route from the dock to our room, but we eventually made it, with some help from a friendly waitress. Now we can relax for our final day in France before heading over tomorrow to Milan, where Nadav flies out on Sunday to return to the States - Bon voyage!

Hyeres

The name of this town sounds like the word for "yesterday" in French, which I find romantically appropriate, as this place really does feel like it was forgotten in the past... one of the first seaside resorts in southern France, Hyeres has a sort of faded glory, a quiet sleepy feel that makes it easy to spend the whole day at the beach, napping, reading, and wondering what's for dinner. Yesterday we took a boat out to the island of Pourquerolles, which I am sure I have just spelled incorrectly. It was a very nice island, covered in old vineyards and ringed by sandy beaches and cliffs. We had mussels and white wine from the island for lunch, and then went back to the hotel and slept through dinner. Oh well! In just about half an hour we are going to St. Tropez, one of the more modern and popular places to play, so we will leave yesterday behind and move into tomorrow.

I know, this was cheesy, but the internet is about to run out, and I have no time to edit it to make it more palatable. We are in France, after all, so cheese is everywhere!

Je arrive!

I am really terrible at spelling things in French - always seem to be missing a vowel or three. Also, apparently, I am not too good at saying things in French anymore either, although I generally understand most of what is going on around me. I will just have to be charmingly silent for a few days - the jet lag makes my brain work too slowly to think of anything really worth saying anyway. As far as writing goes, the French keyboard is just different enough from the English one to make typing tedious. I cannot, for example, work out how to get the thing to do an apostrophe, so there will be no contractions or possessives in this post unless I figure it out somehow. I would ask the friends I am staying with, but they are busy making dinner and it seems like a silly question to bother them with right now. Instead, I will just finish up with the blog and then go sit outside and watch the sun set behind their house, an old stone manor just outside of Toulouse, surrounded by rolling hills and fields... picturesque French countryside that makes you feel like picking sunflowers. Or possibly it makes you feel like riding your bike for hundreds of miles, but not just now. Just now I feel like staying awake long enough to eat dinner will be quite a challenge, and tomorrow I have to get up early to catch the train to Hyeres. Oh, it can be a lot of work going on vacation! But, of course, it is worth it.

Take-Off

Bonjour! After a very early start, a shockingly easy check-in process at the airport seems like a good sign. They didn't even try to charge me for my bike bag and enormous backpack. Don't know what to say, other than merci - au revoir!

Day Before Departure

After taking my final Before-the-Tour ride up Flagstaff, I feel ready to leave Boulder behind for a month, trading in the Rockies for the Pyrenees and the Alps. Not only am I excited about the croissants and the chocolate and the cheese, but also, somehow, I have become just a little bit obsessed with analyzing all the data I will collect during this epic cycling trip. Working with a bunch of software junkies seems to be rubbing off on me, after all. My final ride up Flagstaff was recorded on a friend's Powertap so that I can officially document my Before and After power output, and my training rides for the last month have all been supervised, not by a coach, but by a Garmin device that faithfully reports exactly how slow I really am going. It's gotten to the point where if I do a workout without recording it, I almost feel like it didn't even count. Ridiculous, obviously.

They warned me that this might happen.

Before I begin the grueling process of riding from Toulouse to the Alp d'Huez, however, I get to spend a couple of weeks relaxing on the beaches of southern France and visiting friends in Italy. I'm worried that all this lounging around may ruin the competitive edge I've developed with so much training, but in the end I think my fitness concerns will probably be over-ridden by my talent for relaxing in the sun. I need to rest up anyway to save my strength for the Tour, right?