Thrills and Spills (but more thrills) Continued
We will start by expanding on what was a sensational day yesterday and again, apologies for the lack of a reasonable update yesterday. We even had a complaint that the blog was not updated by 8.00 am Brisbane time.
Yesterday was an incredible day.
We left St Grindolph headed for Gruyers however we actually stayed a little beyond Gruyers in the outskirts of Evian.
The first section of our journey was fabulous at the time as we had little knowledge of what was was to come. We rode through sensational undulating roads dropping in and out of small villages. It was as if we were at one with the road and the surrounds.
We maintained a steady but sensible pace and were hardly aware that we were actually gaining altitude with every kilometre.
And then it happened.
We came around a corner and over our left shoulder was Lake Geneva and the township of Vevey.
We then proceeded down largely traffic free roads for kilometre after kilometre with the most amazing scenes opening up in front of us. On one side we had the mountains in our sight while on the other was the expanding panama of the Lake.
It was switchback after switchback for 30 or more minutes as we progressed down the hill in a ride that none of us wanted to end. On and on we went as expanses of vineyard, grazing and pasture opened up below us. It was truly amazing and again, beyond the word smith abilities of the writer to describe in the confines of this article.
Phil H withdrew his Sunday comment and described the day as including his best ever decent. (one shot of the decent is in the gallery - taken while on the bike, on the move by Craig.
Craig has taken some amazing video footage and we look forward to sharing it all with you. His still shots are also amazing and it will only be through these that an understanding of the decent will be had.
We all were experiencing a combination of awe and excitement and then disappointment as we became aware the town was near.
Colin was in the lead position going into the decent and had the honour of leading us on this incredible ride. Less than 500 metres from the bottom, a call was made to slow it up and bunch up before the round about and unable to hear, Colin called back to seek clarification. In doing so, he caught a ridge then the curb and hit the ground - bad shoulder first. Shaken but not stirred, it was determined the only thing broken was his pride and rear derailleur plus some grazes and a torn jersey. (the torn precious tour jersey being the most painful of all - so far anyway).
Mick located a bike shop, "Pants off" collected the rider and bike and to the bike shop we all went.
The shop owner said it can be fixed but would take an hour or 3 so off we went to lunch.
Lunch was pizza (for 7) and a few beers in a little place on the shore of the lake. It was an amazing venue in an amazing place and the beers were justified by us only having 15 k's to go.
(see photo of pizza in the gallery)
Leaving Colin behind, the plan was for the rest to ride to our accommodation and then Ern was returning at 3pm in the van to ride back with Colin.
The main group rolled out of Vevey along a scenic bike path on the lake heading for Montreaux where they stopped at the venue of the famous jazz festival for photos with the statues of the musicians, checked out the re-built gambling house (refer Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water) and generally soaked up the atmosphere of the place.
Meanwhile, the part needed for Colin's bike was proving to be made out of 'unobtainiam' and a problem was emerging - the part could be here in 3 weeks, maybe. The full story is an entire separate article of its own and may well be recorded at another time. The bottom line is, taking old American bikes (his is circa 2003) with 9 speed Japanese gears is not a good idea if you have any expectation that a bike shop within 300 kilometers will have spare parts.
To cut a long story short, Colin is now riding a Jordan frame (http://www.jordan.ch/).
There is a lot more to this story and perhaps expanding on it at a post river ride coffee is in order.
Dinner was preceded by many beers (while waiting for Colin, Ern and "Pants Off" and a fabulous meal was enjoyed hosted by the husband and wife hotel owners.
This was a brilliant day. Switzerland must be included in Euro cycling trips. Perhaps the next trip should start on the Italy/Swiss border, cross Switzerland and end in France.
The only downside to the day is the uncertainty surrounding train transport. We are due for a short Thursday ride, a train trip and a loop of Lake Annecy however there is a strike planned for France and we may have to ride.
Thursday 23 September
The most glorious day greeted us in Evian this morning and a local breakfast of breads and home made jams was provided by our hosts.
Bags packed, van loaded and we set off with the first target being Thonon les-Bains where it was intended we would stop at the train station to determine of trains were in fact running.
If there were to be no trains, 2 of us would go in the van to Annecy with "Pants Off" and locate accommodation while the rest of us would keep riding. When accommodation was located and the bags un-packed, the van would come back and pick up another 2 cyclists and this would continue until we were all in Annecy for the loop around the lake (TdF time trial course in 2008 and 2006 tour group's last ride).
We travelled good, scenic, but at times busy roads often along the lake as we made our way through to Thonon les-Bains. We passed through Evian proper and Phil H vowed and declared he will be back in Evian. Now this might sound impressive to you however Phil H makes this comment several times every day and we can only assume he is re-locating to Switzerland and France.
We found the train station and discovered that limited services were running in the afternoon.
Without time to blink, Phil H and Mick W were 'cleats off, bikes in the van, and ready to go' hunt accommodation in Annecy. We were held up by a protest march in Thonon les-Bains in support of the strike and to get properly into the local spirit, "Pants Off' Joined the procession for 100 or so metres.
The van left with Phil H and Mick W while the rest mounted and set out.
Immediately, the road turned skywards. And immediately - not after a kilometers, or 200 metres but immediately.
And up we went for 'ever'. We did not actually realise it at the time but we were climbing the 1027 metre Col Jambaz. We left Thonon les Bains at about 10 am and stopped about half way up for lunch at around midday. This thing just went forever. We were probably doing 15 - 18 kph deliberately not trying to blow up so it was not super steep but it was truly relentless.
The decent that followed was seriously fun. Those who follow Le Tour may recall the chase by Cancellara in 2008 to catch the peleton after a flat when the cameras could not keep up with him. We don't know if this was the road but it was certainly very similar.
The only problem (in hindsight) was that we damn near dropped to sea level again.
It was then a case of setting up our working groups, putting our heads down and riding the flat roads for the next 25 k's largely into a stiffening head wind; we were fighting to push 20 kph.
And then.................. some 40 k's from Annecy, the road turned skywards again and were set about the accent of Col d'Eviers and its 810 metres. Our computers at this time were showing 31 degrees, water was running short and we were all very much aware of the huge day ahead tomorrow.
In the meantime, "Pants off" and his accommodation location team of Phil and Mick were desperately seeking out places to stay. There is a convention on in Annecy and virtually 2 rooms only left which they managed to secure at the Hotel De Alps. It is a cosy night indeed.
Back to the road. We crossed the Col in increasingly heavy traffic and all but completed the decent when the van arrived to pick us up. It was 5 bikes, Craig, Ern and Damian in the back and we were off.
We were hot, tired and relieved. It had been an incredibly hard but satisfying day and as we rolled to stop at the van, Peter announced his computer had just clicked over to 100 kph. (it was another 24 to the hotel)
The notable effort on the bike today was Craig. He suffered greatly on the first climb and then turned himself inside out to hold a wheel on the second climb. A fabulous effort on a day unlike any other he has had on the bike.
As we approached our accommodation, we were again delayed by another protest march.
We showered, changed and headed out to see the amazing old section of Annecy and to have a look at the lake. We then managed a quick beer or two followed by a much needed dinner at "le Beau Soleil" which is also the restaurant visited by the 2006 Tour Group after their final ride.
Tomorrow we take on our first Col of the Swiss Alps - the very long Col de la Madelaine. We are looking forward to this with varying degrees of trepidation - but we all have some trepidation.
Again, please forgive the spelling etc. When using the blogger site in France, you deal with French, so it is not straight forward. There are also some new photos in the gallery.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback and we are pleased to know we are a topic of Brisbane post ride conversation.
