Spring Time and Riding Bikes

We have been enjoying the great Spring weather.  Rose love's the Kangaroo Wee Ride.  It's a great way to get around town and visit with friends:

Video Shot with GoPro Hero2 mounted on the handlebars.

Finding Balance

We love the new addition to our evolving family. I can't put into words the new level of love and joy Rose has brought to our home. It could go without saying that our new addition has also changed the pace and pattern of our lives. Like all new parents, we are experiencing the hectic routine of feeding, burping, swaddling, cleaning and diaper changing. Add two dogs plus a high maintenance parrot and its no surprise there are days when we sit down for dinner over two bowls of cereal. To be quite frank, Amy is doing most of the heavy lifting in this world of parenting. I get a break from 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday while at work. Amy is on 24/7, feeding every 2-3 hours.

That being said, we are very fortunate and grateful to have Amy's mom, Linda, less than two hours away in New York. She comes down each week and stays for two days. It helps to break up the week for Amy and gives her a chance to get out with the boys or go for a jog. In addition, it allows Amy and me to spend some time together, just the two of us. I feel like taking this time together is a critical part to the success of raising Rose. It helps Amy and me stay connected and maintain a sense of balance in our lives. This week's time with Amy was particularly special as we took the opportunity to get out for a bike ride. It was our first ride together since September of last year. In our nine years together we have spent a great number of hours pedaling along side each other, negotiating obstacles and experiencing the exhilarating wild ride of a fast down hill. Becoming parents to Rose offers a new opportunity to share in an exhilarating wild ride.

The Tour de France 2009

The Tour de France practically came through our back yard this year. The stage 15 route covered many of the roads and two of the climbs we do on a regular basis here in Switzerland. The route took the riders over the Col de Mosse, which is one of our favorite climbs and then finished atop Verbier, my favorite place to snowboard. David and Hazel, our friends from Los Angeles just happened to be staying with us and were excited to see the race too.

The Right Shoulder

A ride along with the voice inside my head as I make the 50 km commute from Savigny to Gland by bike on March 30th 2009. 

Another cold morning.  I hope I put on enough layers.   I should be fine if I can keep my hands and feet warm.  Good thing for these gloves and shoe covers.  The clouds are really low this morning.  No lake or views of the Alps.  Cresting the small hill to the village center. Better shift.  No traffic this morning on the Route de Oron...nice.  Huh, they took down the snow fences along the route into town.  That means it will probably end up snowing again this weekend.  Oh small hill...shift and peddle, pedal, pedal.  I am warm now.   I should have put my lights on,  the sun is coming up later now due to the time change.  Oh well, the reflector strip on my yellow jacket should be visible enough. These big looping "S" curves on the down hill are so fun, that guy in the Saab doesn't know what he is missing.  Stop light.  Can I balance here without putting my foot down before the light changes.  Come on, come on turn green already. Nope. Foot down.  I love that the lights turn yellow to warn you they are about to turn green.  Is this only in Switzerland?  

Pass the hospital.  Why do thy call it the CHUV.   I should know this after being here a year now.  Through the center of Lausanne.  Traffic is light this morning.  I love the bicycle lanes.  I shouldn't have had that second cup of coffee.  Gotta pee.  Shit, did that motorcycle cop see me just blow through the stop sign?   Another round about, look left.  Eye contact, eye contact, there it is.  She sees me.  Accelerate and pass these cars on the right to the front of the line at the stop light.  Ok balance, balance. Don't put your foot down. Light is yellow, now green. Go!   Finally, onto the lake road.  Thirty minutes to get to the lake road, not bad, and just in time for the sun rise.

A little tail wind this morning, makes for an enjoyable ride.  Uh Oh, road construction, bike lane ends.  I better hug the right shoulder of the road.  Lets see how long I can ride on this yellow line.    Do I have any meetings this morning?  Why the hell did I bring my lap top home last night, carrying this thing sucks!  Ok, does that dump truck see me?  Eye contact, eye contact, eye contact.  What the fuck...how can you not see me in my canary yellow jacket, sparkly yellow and orange bike and reflective booties.  I look like something out of a freakin circus, you idiot. Do you think I dress like this for the fun of it.  No, its so A-holes like you can see me. Wake up, take the cigarette out of your mouth and pay attention before you kill someone.  Nothing like a dumb ass to get your heart rate roaring in the morning.  

No, I don't think I have any meetings until 10 this morning.  I hope there is more than 30 seconds of hot water in the shower at work.  I haven't seen any other bikes this morning.  Why don't more people ride their bikes to work?  I loved riding my bike to school as a kid.  Through the center of Morge, this is such a pretty lake side town. Its Tuesday, that means street market today.  Wow that bread smells good.  Look at all the fresh fruit.  I need to tell Amy about this market.  

Another round about.  How come we don't have round abouts back in the states?  They are so practical, and far more efficient than four way stops.  Very rarely do you have to come to a complete stop.  The U.S. should also import lights that turn yellow, to warn you they are turning green.  I bet some Swiss transportation analysis did a study on the warning yellow light.  He probably found that it allowed those who drive manual cars a half a second to get into gear prior to the light turning green, which allowed for 2 additional cars to make it through the light each cycle.  Now with X number of lights around Switzerland they were able to move X thousand more cars through the intersection each traffic light cycle.  

E'toy, what an ugly place. Box stores and box apartments.  What were the developers thinking?Ok, my butt hurts and I still have to pee.  I like this area between Allaman and Rolle.  Nice rolling sections hardly any traffic.  Rolle is nice too, I should take Amy to that French restaurant on the hill she would like the views.  The road through the center of Rolle is narrow.  Move to the left, take the center of the lane, watch for car doors.  Cross walk ahead.  Slow down for the guy with the baguette leaving the bakery.  Hey, look another cyclist coming my way.  Lets see will he wave.  I gave him the handle bar wave, he gave me the head nod, we're cool.  Thank god for my iPod and DJ Steve Boy.  This mix is awesome, pretty funky, 120 or so beats per minute. The music help keeps a nice tempo. Last 10 km of slightly down hill through the vineyards.  Lets push it a little bit so I can get to the office before 8:15.  Heart rate check 154.  Shift into the big ring and lets go. 

Why Europeans don’t take long weekends.

As has become very evident since arriving in Europe, Americans need to take more long vacations (aka Holidays). As typical Americans, Amy and I usually take a few long weekends during the year and then maybe a week or two around Christmas. Most Europeans don’t take long weekends they take “holidays”. Its typical for most to take at least 3 to 4 weeks off at a time.

Our long weekend to Italy was to begin early Friday morning at 4am to catch a 7:15am flight out of Geneva. Arrive in Nice at 8:00am with our bikes and enjoy the forecasted sunny skies, riding 50 kilometers along the French Riviera (about 30 miles) to Ventimiglia, Italy. Along the way we thought we would enjoy a leisurely ride with a couple of casual stops along the way, including lunch in some beautiful seas side café in Monte Carlo. The plan was to arrive in Vetimiglia by early afternoon, in time to explore the old medieval city, check into our B&B shower and head back into town for a well deserved dinner at a traditional Italian restaurant.

From Milan-San Remo Mar-09

Our day did not exactly work out as planned. We flew “EasyJet”, now know as “Not So EasyJet” or “I am a Hard Ass Jet”, who some how lost our bikes frames between Geneva and Nice. Now this is absolutely absurd, the flight was a non-connecting 45 minute flight. Evidently, the baggage guys forgot to put them on the plane. Well at least we got our wheels, although they arrived completely flat. Lesson #1: When traveling with your bikes, deflate your tires before loading them as the air pressure change will cause them to explode.

Since we had until 2pm before our bikes arrived on the next flight, we had plenty of time to take the bus into Nice and find a bike shop to fix our flats. Upon getting off the bus in Nice, there was rain and wind and plummeting temperatures. So much for the forecasted sunny skies. The locals were friendly and helpful. We were able to get our flats fixed at Culture Velo bike shop.

From Milan-San Remo Mar-09

We arrived back at the airport around 1pm a little wet and a little chilled. Lesson #2: ?When traveling with your bike, yes pack light but at least bring something just in case it rains. Oh yeah, we arrived back at the airport just in time to see that our bikes were running late as their flight out of Geneva was delayed. After having a rather terse conversation with the Baggage Services from EasyJet that went something like this; “I should be compensated for my time. I have wasted one day of my very short 3 day holiday f…ing around with you people” Sorry President Obama, so much for change, I was the stereotypical ugly American.  I realized at that moment that had this been a 3 to 4 week holiday, I would not have given a shit, I would not have been stressed about getting to Ventimiglia before sundown. I would have booked a room in Nice and spent another day exploring.

Well the bikes finally arrived by 3:00pm. By the time we put them together and changed over to our riding clothes we set off almost 8 hours late. The sun was shining and things were looking up for our nice leisurely 50k ride. We had planned about 2 to 2 and half hours of riding along the nice flat coastline. Lesson #3: Check the elevation along the route, oh yeah, don’t forget to figure time battling a 25 mph head winds and compensate for the 20 pounds of gear your are carrying.

From Milan-San Remo Mar-09

Three and half hours after leaving the airport and in the dark, we bumbled our way through Ventimiglia to find our Bed and Breakfast perched 150 km overlooking the old city. Our hosts Jessica and her husband were patiently waiting for us and were quite surprised to see us show up on our bicycles, as they had thought we were coming by motor bike. Neither of them spoke English and they had been translating our e-mails with Google Translator. Fortunately, they spoke French. So once again we relied on Amy’s 2nd grade level language skills to get us by. Our hosts were amazing, they had our room ready and prepared a home cooked Italian meal for us. It was the beginning of what was to become one of the best “Long Weekends” ever.

My Personal Tour de France: The Freedom to Ride

As a kid I remember watching the Tour de France on the television show ABC's Wide World of Sports, before any of us new the name Lance Armstrong. It was an event that captured the imagination of a 10 year old, and was the impetus for the incessant pleading for a 10 speed bicycle. I received that bicycle the following Christmas. It was a tan Centurion, a small racing seat and black handlebar tape. I remember barely reaching the toe clip pedals. For those of you who know my Dad, realize it was bought for me to "grow into". I couldn't wait for the Christmas holiday to end, so I could ride my new bike to school and show it off. For the next 6 months I rode my bike to school everyday. On 86th Avenue, between the stop light at Oakhurst road and the Circle 'K' was my own personal "L'alpe d'huez" to conquer. Looking back it was only a small hill, maybe a couple hundred yards long and rising maybe 30 to 40 feet, but for a 10 year old with an imagination it was the King of all mountains. I struggled up it every day, testing my gear shifting abilities. That tan bike was more than just transportation to and from school, it was freedom on two wheels. That bike opened up the world beyond 86th and 125th, it took me to Dino's Pizza, the arcade and across the Park Boulevard bridge to Redington Beach. That summer, the one between elementry and middle school, my friends and I planned our own tour. Myself, Doug S., Rick B., Jason S. and Chris B. set out to leave the neighborhood behind. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, put Kool-Aid in our water bottles and packed some Snicker candy bars for our epic ride across town. We had to climb that hill on 86th Avenue then pass the High School where we flew down "Cemetery" hill. We then ventured where none of us had gone before without our parents in a car...Tyrone Boulevards pass the Mall. We sat on the curb and ate our sandwiches and Snicker's bars. From there we headed to old Saint Petersburg and across the Central Avenue Bridge into Treasure Island. Ahh the beach, we pulled our weary bodies off the bikes for a quick dip in the Gulf of Mexico, then it was back on our bikes down Gulf Boulevard. It was there with a strong head wind, the group began to struggle. Rick, Doug and myself had 10 speed bikes with drop bars and gears, Jason and Chris were on small one speed BMX bikes. Chris was really struggling, as he was the "big" kid of the group, you know the stocky kid who plays catcher. It was here that we employed our learnings from watching the Tour de France. Rick was always the strongest of all of us, he took the lead breaking the wind for the rest of us. We put Chris in the middle to make sure we didn't leave him behind. So with Rick pulling, Chris safely tucked away in the middle and me and Doug following up the rear we made our way back to the neighborhood. It was with that trip our small world had expanded, and with that ten speed bike I had found a new freedom.

Le Tour de France: L'alpe d'Huez

One of the first thing we did upon arriving in Switzerland was plan a week long trip in France to follow the Tour and ride our bikes through the Alps, however at the last minute our trip was cancelled by the organizers with whom we had planned our travel. After failed attempts to rebook with other bike touring companies we decided we would go it alone. The Tour de France is the most famous bicycle race in the world, spanning 2,200 miles over 23 days. The TDF was started in 1903, like with so many great ideas, as a publicity stunt...to sell news papers. For both Amy and I to watch this epic bicycle race live was an opportunity of a life time. Being only a 3 hour drive from the most epic stage, of the most epic race in the world, we would be crazy not to go. So with all of the hotels fully booked and not really sure where L'alpe d'huez was (thank goodness for GPS) we set out for France with our tent and sleeping bags.