Another transfer morning! We have really covered some ground(and hotels) on this trip. Fortunately our guides have made this incredibly easy. Not only do you need to be a great rider/mechanic, but also a master of logistics. Chapeau to Gav and Ivo once again!

After a few hour drive, we arrived at a campground near the base of the Telegraphe(our first climb of the day) This was a new disembark spot and it was perfect. Getting out of the bus and going straight uphill, not so much ;-).

Mike and I had a great time climbing most of the Col du Telegraphe together. Doing my normal start at the back so I can sit on my competitive nature….and thus stay out of zones 4 & 5 as long as possible, I caught up with him about 1/3 rd of the way up the climb. He was thinking he was on a bad day since he hadn’t seen much of me on the climbs so far 🙂

The quick descent didn’t last long enough and it also looked like we would be dealing with rain on the Galibier. As it started to drizzle we began our steady climb to the highest point of the trip. Stopping at the base of the steep last 6kms to refuel at the van it was super intimidating looking at the wall facing you. Probably stayed there a few mins longer than normal trying to figure out a good layering method….and to put off the pain that was coming.

Ok, not going to lie. With the weather turning sketchy and the unrelenting gradient all the way to the top, things started to get a little dark in the psyche ;-). Took every bit of willpower to make it, especially when looking up at those last few switchbacks way above you.

Was a huge relief making it to the top(especially without cramping up!). Just in time for a cold downpour making for a sketchy descent. Was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

We had a nice bus ride to Provence that morning. Passed through Avignon and got some good views of our goal the next day, the giant of Provence! Our hotel, Château de Mazan, was super cool.

Some of the group went out for a little spin, but I opted for a much needed massage from an ex tour masseuse. Turns out he was part of Greg Lemonds team back when he 1st won the tour. I needed all the help I could get to tackle Ventoux the next day.

We had a nice warm up through the town of Bedoin where we stopped at an awesome bike shop. I followed the lead of some of the others and bought some powdered carb fuel to mix in one of my water bottles. On some of these non relenting climbs, it is much easier to drink your fuel than eat it! Also added some recovery mix to try and make the week a little easier 🙂

Anyhow, after a quick stop and a group photo, it was go time!

After a few miles of false flat, the road takes a big left and you are staring at the meat of the climb. Pretty much 9ks straight through the forest at 8-10%until you reach Chateau Reynard. This was tough…thankfully it wasn’t hot. I felt good and was digging the liquid fuel. Just past Chateau Reynard, you enter the lunar landscape upper section. This was so cool! Back in Napoleon’s time, they deforested the top of Ventoux for shipbuilding. Something about the wood at altitude grows straighter. More importantly, the grade chills out a bit until the last few switchbacks before the summit.

The views are amazing and so were the number of cyclists ;-). It was like a carnival on top as everyone was so stoked to complete this classic climb! The descent down was long and super cool. We stopped at a great lunch spot most of the way down and had a much needed great meal!

There was one little climb through some arid hills that looked a lot like Colorado on the way back to the hotel. What a great day!!

A nice train ride took me to Lourdes in the Pyrenees. Forgot to read up on the city so was a little taken aback by the hordes of religious pilgrims there. The quick bike ride from the station to the hotel we would be staying in involved a few near misses w weaving pilgrims 🙂

The natural scenery surrounding the town is stunning, so makes sense to make it a pilgrimage destination. We were staying in a grand old hotel right in the middle of the historic district. Most of us, 15 gringos in total(counting the 2 Canadians :-), met up that afternoon for a bike fit. It was here I would surrender custody of the Lynskey to Gav and Ivo(our amazing guides for the trip) and take temporary possession of a sweet Trek Domane. Going uphill was about to become a lot easier!

The next day we climbed Col du Soulor, a climb featured in the Tour this year. Warming up with a cat 1 climb, it was hard but not exhaustingly so 🙂 (that would come tomorrow :-). We were greeted near the top by sheep and cattle in the road. Once at the top, we had lunch and watched the sheep struggle to find shade wherever they could. I know how they feel!

The descent off the Col was magical. Sweeping views and a nice stretch along a cycleway next to a beautiful emerald river.

The next day brought the mighty Tourmalet. This climb was a brute. 19km of non-relenting 7.5% average gradient. The last few kms were the steepest and soul crushing :-). Looking up at those last few steep switchbacks was both demoralizing and inspiring. Was an amazing feeling to top out on such a famous climb.

The descent was steep and a little technical at first. As always, I took it cautiously. It is famous climbs of the tour, not descents 🙂

I slight false flat climb up to the lunch spot at the base of the Col d’Aspin brought relief for my need to refill the gas tank. The profile of that climb showed in the morning talk looked very tame when compared to the Tourmalet. What I didn’t factor was how hard it would be with a big cheeseburger and fries along for the ride :-). The total climb is 12k long, but the after lunch portion was 6-7k at approx 8%. It really hurt! The summit was a relief and provided and amazing panorama. It was also probably the best descent of the trip. Perfectly cambered corners and sweeping views. The last few kms were a bit busy w traffic, but necessary as we were riding to a new hotel.

This hotel is also where someone on our trip(who will remain nameless) that didn’t train much in preparation was given an e-bike ;-). Treat all climbing times to come as subject 🙂

The next morning we had a long transfer to Provence to tackle the mystical Mt Ventoux.

Was definitely ready to get out to wine country. Inhad booked 2 nights at a small, family run, organic vineyard about 2/3rds of the way out to St Emilion. The ride out there was ok for the first 10 miles out of Bordeaux. Then the bike lanes and cycleways disappeared;-(. The next 10 miles were not enjoyable at all. Too much close traffic on busy roads. Finally hit the Eiffel bridge across the river and got back on some quiet country roads through vineyards. Much better!

Fredrick and his family are tremendous hosts! The rooms were spacious and very comfortable. Being right on the river doesnt hurt either. It was the perfect place to rest and refuel before the start of the Trek TDF trip.

The next day, I rode a 40 mile circuit through the vineyards surrounding St Emilion. Ended up racing a storm to St Emilion and got there just in time. Also managed to find a spectacular lunch spot to ride out the storm. Nothing like a full belly of food and a carafe of red wine to fuel up for the return trip 🙂

Rode by Petrus, which has taken down all their signage to keep the tourists away :-). Beautiful vineyard with flowers planted at the head of each row of grapes.

Nice ride back to Vieille Chapelle and had dinner outside w a couple of native Slovakians and a Dutch guy. Some very nice wine w a large Charcuterie board = zzz 🙂

Figured out a way to make a short ride to another train station which made it a lot easier to get to Bordeaux St Jean for the train to the Pyrenees. Classic Climbs of the Tour w Trek Travel here we come!

Had a relaxing few days on Ile de Re which lies across a cool bridge from La Rochelle. It was nice to eat, relax and not ride very much 🙂

The campground I was in was very nice and right behind the dunes from the beach. However, the second afternoon the breeze dropped out and was going to be way too hot to fall asleep. Airbnb to the rescue!

Had a great sleep and a pleasant ride across the bridge and to the La Rochelle train station for the ride to Bordeaux.

Easy trip on the train to Bordeaux. They really go out of their way to make it easy for cyclists. Ended up sharing a 4 top with some college kids who were headed to Bordeaux for a music festival. Turns out the Black Keys played it the night before!

Bordeaux was not what I was expecting. I was thinking quaint wine town with awesome restaurants. It turned out to be dirty with a bit of a homeless/beggar presence. It was fun to walk around the city…crossed the bridge to do a very informative wine tasting and then returned to a wonderful dinner at Au Bistro.

Enjoyed a nice sleep in the AC and headed out early the next morn(after a pastry fill up) for the short ride out to the Vieille Chapelle along the river outside of St Emilion. The middle third of the ride was not so relaxing, but the last 5 miles through the small towns and vineyards made up for it!

Stay tuned for the best part of the Bordeaux experience!

The ride into Nantes, which I think has almost 500k residents was pretty painless. The last 10 miles into the city center were mostly shaded bike paths 🙂 This masked how hot it was actually getting. Of course my hotel(because it was too hot to camp) did not have AC. I was dying for a massage, but being Sunday, the only place I could find offered it with an hour in an immersion tank. What the hell!

It was actually an awesome experience. Like supercharged meditation. The massage was not nearly deep enough to address my aches and pains 🙂

Checked out some of the sites in Nantes on the way out of town(after my preloaded stop at a boulangerie..gotta get my fix). Surprising amount of bike commuters during rush hour. I was happy to get back on to the quiet roads!

Even starting early in the am, it was a brutally hot ride. Amazing how that saps your energy…even orangina and some sweet pastries couldn’t help :-(. Fortunately, my hotel that night in Beauvoir-Sur-Mer had AC! I limped into town and set the AC to the walk in freezer setting. A great nights sleep and cooler temps in the forecast were all I needed!

Getting along the coast brought new scenery along with the cooler temps. The coastline looks a lot like California. And the houses adopt more of a Mediterranean feel.

Went through Les Sables de Olonne where the Vendee Global begins and ends. It was cool to see the first huge marina of the trip along with one of the maxi race boats.

Found a great spot to eat overlooking the ocean and went off in search of my campsite.

I changed my itin to build in some lay days before the trek trip. So here I am in Ile de Re enjoying some beach time…and seafood! Thanks for the recommendation Stephane! If you and your family come visit the states, we can resume our ping pong battle!

Oh, and here are some drone videos from the past 2 days. Enjoy!

By the way, the 2 mile bridge ride to get out here was a killer with the nasty crosswinds.

1. The little packets of chamois butter last longer than the big tubes
2. The Garmin radar tail light is awesome, especially for geezers that can’t turn their head past 10 o’clock
3. Every other day Komoot will route you through an impassable segment
4. The smoking is bad for you news has not reached France yet
5. If there is a rapidly approaching dot on the garmin radar and it passes you way too close, 90% chance it’s a Peugeot.
6. Worse if it has the A sticker
   
   The red ‘A’ sticker on French cars indicates that the driver has held their license for less than two years, similar to a learner’s permit. It serves to inform other drivers and police that the driver is relatively inexperienced.
7. Restaurants in the countryside tend to close at 2 or 2:30. Plan accordingly 🙂
8. Welcome to my Garden is an amazing community
9. Cow manure smells like roses compared to a commercial chicken operation
10. Traveling by bike is a spectacular way to see the sites and immerse in the culture
11. The stone French farmhouses are amazing…along with the lifestyle that comes with
12. Why don’t we have flower boxes on our small bridges??
13. Did not need to bring a headlight for my bike as it doesn’t get dark here until 10pm
14. Camping out when it’s hot as crap is not advised given the above
15. Going to take some convincing for my body to believe that we don’t need 2000 calories of French pastries every morning
16. Props to the folks that did trips like this before garmin navigation
17. Build in a layover day every 10 days or so. I rejiggered my itin in the tent the other night to address this
18. You will learn to drink espresso as your caffeine delivery system here
19. Do your best to speak the local language. The British tourists I’ve seen here don’t even try. Trying is appreciated!
20. The Shokz OpenRun bone conducting headphones are killer for a trip like this. Can listen to tunes or French lessons while still being very aware of your surroundings
21. I always thought that my occasional hand numbness was from a poor bike fit. Now I realize keeping your core engaged is super important. Along with keeping your elbows bent and tucked in.
22. The front wheel dyno hub only puts out enough juice to run lights or your bike computer. The solar panel I have on the back is much more powerful.
23. I’ve drunk more Orangina in the past few weeks than in the past 10yrs combined 🙂

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangina

In Nantes now and about to hit the coast via Eurovelo 1. It’s been a great couple of days!

Turning South from the beaches of Normandy, the next highlight was going to be Mont St Michel. Having seen the TDF ride by here numerous times, I knew I had to visit. But first I was in for a treat with my overnight stay in Nicole and Henri’s magical garden!

We had an amazing dinner, most of which was sourced from their impressive garden. The French are way ahead of us when it comes to cultivating at home ;-). We had steamed new potatoes, fresh scallops from the coast their son Leo picked up, haricots verts and a tasty french red. Yum! Also had some homemade hummus that Leo prepared. Fresh cherries off one of their many cherry trees topped it off. The food coma put me down early and i got my best night of sleep on the ground of the trip! Amazing how peaceful and quiet it was being just on the outskirts of St Lo.

After a few coffees and a long goodbye, I shoved off. The roads continued to offer stunning scenes of the French countryside. If you stopped to take a picture of every church you passed, it would make for a long day!

Here’s some shots of the next 2 days. Stayed in a nice campground the day before Mt St Michel.

Ok, the ride to MSM was spectacular…getting my first view after climbing a long ridge. It is so cool looking! I picked out a great lunch spot to fuel up before entering the tourist meca for the night.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/MsGGP73hjee7QNdU7?g_st=ic

Ok, someone should have warned me just how crowded it was going to be :-). My fam knows how much i dislike huge touristy crowds. Chalk it up to growing up in Charleston 🙂 I saw a raft of bikes rafted up against the city walls. This would not work for me as I was staying at a hotel inside the walls. So I waded into the maelstrom, carefully guiding my bike as not to knock over anyones double ice cream waffle cone ;-). It took about 15mins to walk the 200yds to the hotel.

Turns out my hotel was above its restaurant and they were slammed. There was no place to check in and obviously nowhere apparent to saddle the bike. I sent them a couple of messages to no avail, but honestly, all i wanted to do was retreat :-). Got on airbnb and booked a room just off the end of the causeway. Problem solved. Well worth eating the modest hotel cost.

I stopped at a nice bar with shade and a cool breeze to have a much needed refreshment! My airbnb host was great. She was in her mid 70s and was getting up early to run a 12k! Never let the old man/woman in!!

After a great nights sleep, i hit the obligatory boulangerie(bakery) for a fuel up. My body must be wondering about all this sugar and carbs, but it makes for great fuel! Had a pleasant ride that day and ended up at a cool bnb, near la quiou france. Deep in the countryside and hosted by the wonderful Florence. We practiced our broken French and English together and then it was off to another early bed!

Today’s ride was super easy. It was nice to ride on my first cloudy, cool day in some time. Bonus was finding the best lunch spot of the trip! The biggest problem is most of the small town restaurants close at 2, so i have missed out many times. Today was not one of those days 😉

The fabulous le pont du secret

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kNSrjzpehfScFGAz9?g_st=ic

Just made camp in this super cool campground. Checkout their website.

https://www.camping-aleth.fr/

Au revoir pour l’instant!

Stayed a phunky old hotel Friday night. Room was up a bunch of stairs and started off pretty hot up there. They really don’t like AC here :-). Met a great Dutch couple at breakfast the next morning. They are both avid cyclists and he definitely wanted to check out my bike. said his best time up alpe du Huez was 45mins. That’s crazy fast!

Had no place figured out to stay that night. Great ride towards the coast…more of the same, beautiful churches, gardens and farmland. Not sure where hydrangeas come from originally, but they grow amazing here!

So I found a room on booking.com and was able to negotiate a better deal. Was still spendy, but being a resort town and a Saturday night, I was out of options. That settled, I went to look for calories.

The room was right down the busy street. Turns out the guy was a scammer. Told me the room had already been booked :-). I noticed after lunch he had put the listing back out there for a higher price. Got filled and hosed me :-(. Long story short, had to ride another 15 miles w beer and a bunch of food in me. Blessing was I ended up in Caen, much closer to Omaha beach, and in a hotel w AC and a bar :-).

Bus load of gringos were there ordering such fine drinks as Jack and Coke 🙂 and drinking Heinekens…no interest in the local stuff.

Got a great nights sleep and arrived at Omaha beach around midday. It was an awesome weather day and much cooler.

Went to a cool pop up bar on the beach and had a few beers and some fresh seafood. Called Coco Beach and is a great spot!

My Airbnb was right on the beach and my host Renault was awesome. He and his wife fly the American flag year round 🙂

We had a Guinness together and he recommended his sisters restaurant across the street. It was awesome! They showed up to play bocce and he was nice to buy me a glass of vino!

He gave me some good tips on what to see in the area.

Standing on that beach, it is hard to fathom how impossible June 6 1944 must have been for allied troops. The beach is towered over by 100ft high cliffs with only 2 real exit gullys in view. The sighted in crossfire must have been horrifying. I always thought the beginning of saving private ryan was overdone. After listening to accounts and seeing the beach, it was probably understated. Walking around the cemetery the next day was extremely moving. Seeing all the names and the grave markers and the hometowns really drives home the sacrifices these young men made on our behalf. Our generation thankfully has not had to make such choices. I am incredibly grateful for theirs.

Renault suggest pointe du hoc and it didn’t disappoint. Added a few miles to the west…unfortunately into a brutal headwind. The relics there are impressive and the view from the point is as well.

Pointe du hoc view

Ok, that’s a wrap. My thumbs are sore 🙂

Thursday started out with more beautiful roads through lush fields to ride on. The agriculture trade in Normandy is impressive. The fields are super green, use only cow manure for fertilizer and no signs of mechanical irrigation. When you’ve been doing something for 1000s of years, you get pretty good at it 🙂

The temperature in the mornings is much more pleasant than after 2pm. I try to get rolling between 8-8:30. Fortunately, a lot of the routes are pleasantly shaded. My first obstacle happened on one of these shaded paths mid morning. A large tree had fallen blocking the way. Did some route clearing and was on my way pretty quickly. Tree must have been there a while as the path on the other side was seriously grown over :-(. Thankfully no PI or ticks over here! Fortunately pipped out into a nice village w a creek running through it for a little leg soak 🙂

And then happened upon another patisserie :-). Gotta get my daily quota of 2-3 croissants.

The rest of the ride was amazing. Rode through a shady forest that had relics from the V1 launch sites from WW2.

One nasty bit of route finding as the path vanished after crossing a busy road. 35 mins of bushwhacking ensued :-(. Was able to hike my way to a passable road finally!

Good time to bring up an unfortunate problem with my route planning on Komoot. Seems like everyday I arrive at the town nearest my destination only to find the restaurants close at 2 or 2:30. Today I was saved by a kind owner who took mercy on me and made me this beautiful pancake w ham and cheese 🙂

Easier day the next day through Rouen(no need to go here, fyi) and actually made it to a restaurant just before closing 🙂

Next stop, beaches of Normandy!