So it has been a while... again

I'm back!  I find it hard to imagine that my last post was over a month ago, but time goes by so quickly while guiding.  It is too easy to be caught up in the daily activities of guiding, which are actually daily duties because it is my job.  The latest trip was the Pyrenees Sea-to-Sea, which is a 10 day trek (advertising plug) across the Pyrenees from the French Atlantic coast to the Spanish Mediterranean coast.  Specifically, there are eight days of riding, one rest day, and the last day (non-riding).  This was my first trip with another new guide, and we had a really great time.

Coming along with me as I retrace the trip, in brief, starts you off in St. Jean de Luz near Biarritz on the French coast.  Having the trip start there was very stressful because there were too many unknowns; where will we park the van AND trailer, what if it rains (high likelihood in that region), and where can the guests change.  Needless to say, we thought about those things all week and were always running scenarios through our heads to try and be prepared.  Long story short, we found parking right in front of the fit spot, the hotel next to us allowed us to use their changing rooms, and it was nice and sunny.  Although, neither of us enjoyed the amount of unknowns before day one.  Everyone was fit to their bikes with the Atlantic as our backdrop, and we began to ride toward St. Jean Pied de Port.  Half-way through the ride was a picnic lunch prepared by moi on the top of the Puerto de Otxondo (we crossed into Spain briefly).  You can access my snapfish account and I will post a photo of the spread.  We hit the road again after a hearty meal with a lot of leftovers, which are great for the guide lunches on our following guest choice lunch days!

St. Jean Pied de Port has a lot of history lessons to offer for those that are interested, and since Greg and I both enjoy the cultural aspects of this job, we were able to relay a lot of information to our guests.  The town is well known for being a starting point for the Camino del Santiago de Compostela, and was involved in many wars, political situations, religious events, and always caught in the Basque struggle for independence.  I really enjoy the Basque country because there is an abundance of character along with their cultural pride.  The landscape, architecture, food, and people are much different than the average French population; and I mean that in a good way, because those differences are waning in contemporary cultures as smaller populations become absorbed into the masses. 

Our non-Basque style accommodations, Hotel Les Pyrenees, in St. Jean Pied de Port had a 2-star Michelin rated restaurant where we ate for dinner.  I wish we had known what to expect, because I probably would have fasted for the day in preparation for our meal that I would describe as a gastronomic jamboree.  After the pre-starter starter, we had the entree, then the main plate, followed by the small dessert plate and finished with the large dessert plate.  I was about ready to explode, and now following a breakfast of pancakes and cinnamon toast... I don't really want to think about that night.  The next morning we wiggled our way out of St. Jean Pied de Port and went out toward St. Savin near the Tourmalet.  I rode day three, which went over the Col de Marie Blanc, Aubisque and Soulor.  For some reason I did not feel very well on the Marie Blanc, but slowly came to as the day progressed not knowing what would strike me down the next day.

The next hotel, Le Viscos, was slightly above the valley so it was a cold descent the next day.  Let's rewind for a second because we successfully followed up on the previous night's meal with another delectable meal.  We had an entree of crab salad layered on guacamole, a natural pairing, and moved on to the main plate; a very tender piece of lamb with a local preparation of beans and a side of pasta.  Everything was very fresh as a result of being locally sourced, and the chef is also well-known in the region for his cuisine.  Although, the next day, four, I was hit hard with a virus and barely made it up the Tourmalet.  On our way up the climb we found a full pack of Marlboro Reds, so there are a few funny photos with those; we think the owner of those decided midway up the climb that they really needed to quit, ha!  I made it to 8km from the top where I sat down, drank a coke, and proceeded to get a lift from Greg.  Although, I'm too stubborn to get off my bike, so he towed me with the van for a kilometer or two.  The last few kilometers were the worst as my whole body felt as though I was hit by a car and everything hurt, even my finger joints.  Cresting the Tourmalet was never so satisfying as that day, and I cruised right past the sign, people, and views toward the van.  This is where I called it quits and Greg switched out with me.  The rest of the day was spent driving van support and having everyone tell me how bad I looked... like I needed to be told, haha.  Finally, we made it to Bagneres de Luchon and somehow managed to find parking right outside of the hotel and squeezed the trailer down the narrow alley.  Simple foods were managable, but I settled down for the night early. 

The next day, five, was our rest day.  Greg and I used the time to do laundry, clean bikes, organize the van and trailer, and I even did some resistance training in the hotel's "gym".  I was not quite feeling up for the Luchon Thermes, but we still had a productive and restful day.

Thus concludes the first half of the trip, and stay tuned for part two of our "cross country" Pyrenean adventure!  I have a few days off here in Provence, so I will update later on.  We should try to get out and do something today, 2 of 3 woke up at 11:30 while I was up at 9.  I slept in the van out back, so the sun woke me up earlier; and I'm a morning person, so I am up "earlier" regardless.  We had about 4-5L of beer from around Europe, so we had a late night translating into a late morning.  Talk to you soon!

So I went away for a while...

The Tour de France trips were much harder than expected, but at the same time, not really (if that makes any sense).  I expected the trips to be hard and time consuming, but it does not hit you until you are in the thick of it.  This is why I have not had the time to post in a month!  Our FTP went really well, but it took some time to get everything nailed down.  We were still making updates until a few days before our week 2 trip!

Our week 2 trip was the Behind the Scenes trip and had a decent amount of encounters with all things Tour de France.  We started in Evian, so we had some great water, and then moved down to Les Gets.  That is where we were based out of for the Morzine climb/stage, and the Morzine stage start village passes.  Afterwards, we moved on to Megeve and finally ended on top of Alpe d'Huez.  This trip was difficult to support because we had a very wide spread of abilities, but we did our best and everyone seemed to have a great time.  That was in the Alps, so we had some great rides and hard climbs.  The highlight was probably our helicopter ride around Alpe d'Huez on day 6, and I have some great photos to upload on my snapfish account.  We had a great group of guests and I enjoyed my first time in the Alps.

Week 3 was a lot of fun because we had a very flexible group and everyone was able to keep up with one another.  This just meant that I had 2 very hard rides at the end of the trip (when they discovered their riding similarities), and they hammered for 70k both days!  I was the front man because of keeping up with the group but also making sure we took the right turns and did not get lost in the mass of people at the Bordeaux finish.  We started in Lourdes, which is best known for Bernadette's Virgin Mary apparition and the spring at the spot where she saw this.  It is bottled and sold as holy water, and there are a lot of people in the city.  Lourdes is 2nd to Paris for the most hotels per sq. km., and there are over 300 hotels.  Once again, we had great climbs and fantastic viewings for the TdF.  We climbed Tourmalet twice, once from each side, and explored the region.  The best viewing had to be for the ITT at Chateau Pichon, and there was a lot of great wine, food and fun.

Afterwards, we trained up to Paris for the last stage and our viewing at the Autoclub de France.  That was a great day, but the best was saved for last when we all had dinner and drinks on a Seine River boat cruise.  The guests departed for the hotels around 10 or 10:30, and that's when all of the guides gathered on one of the boats for our party, haha.  We danced until 3am and it was so much fun that we couldn't stop talking about it for days.  We're all very tired and my random 1hr+ nap today is a sign of that.

I'm currently FTP'ing for a Classic Climbs of the Alps trip with JV and Greg.  Today Greg and I rode up to Les 2 Alpes from La Grave, so we had a great afternoon while JV went for a run up the mountain and around the ridge.  The dinner at our hotel, Hotel Edelweiss, was phenomenal.  We started off with fresh gnocchi with pesto, and then had roasted pork with a prune sauce/roasted fingerling potatoes/broccoli.  That tasted great after our hard ride and JV's long run, so now it's time for bed.  Plus, they seemed interested in having me work for them over the winter in the kitchen, so I may not take that lightly :)  What a shame to have to live in the Alps during winter, must be a drag... just kidding.  Although, I just bought my new mountain bike, Gary Fisher Superfly 100, and that will be waiting for me at home along with my family; then I would probably take some time to decompress and travel with my bikes.  We'll see where things go from here, but I'll keep everyone updated on the trips that I am guiding!  Thanks for reading!

Please hold.

You won't have elevator music for much longer, a new post will come soon with new pictures on snapfish.  We are very busy with our FTP work and are currently working in the Pyrenees.  In the city of Lourdes... interesting place to say the least.  Thanks for checking in!

On the road again

We are back on the road and FTP’ing for Tour de France week 2.  I was lucky enough to be chosen for the Luxury Behind the Scenes trip featuring Team Radioshack access.  We prepped for the few days before our departure and this included working on unit inventories, prepping our bikes and repacking our suitcases.  About 15 guides showed up at the house between Tuesday and Thursday, so the place was jam-packed.  Luckily, Renee had scheduled a cleaning service to come and clean the entire house before the chaos, so it was nice and refreshing to have a clean place. 

For having 20 or so people in the house at times, I was surprised how clean it stayed and everyone did a great job pitching in.  I was on cooking duty for the first two nights, and everyone seemed to love the food.  One of the best feelings for me is when someone enjoys what I prepare in the kitchen.  I’ll have even better skills after spending so much time in France!  The one morning was pretty funny because the topic of dinner came up and everyone looked at me! Haha.  They all got a kick out of it, but I was pretty tired and needed to work on my own trip prep… we had to leave in a day and I had no idea where we were going!!

Week 2 sees us riding in the alps near Switzerland, so we drove up to Evian (yes, the water place) two days ago; and yes, the tap water is very good.  The hotel we stayed in during our first night there was the original source for Vittel!  We began charting our routes and finished Day 1 & 2, and got halfway through Day 4; that means we can probably do a nice ride tomorrow since we’ll have a little extra time!  The Day 1 loop from Evian goes into the mountains, and everything has some Swiss influence regardless of it being in France.  The Day 2 ride takes us from Evian to Morzine, up a major climb and back to Evian.  Then we drove the first half of Day 4, which starts in Les Gets and moves south. 

We stopped right outside of Chamonix, because Renee has an good friend that lives there.  Jeff, Renee and I are now in a beautiful home along the crystal clear river outside of Chamonix.  The temperature is fairly cold here and was in the single digits!  Glad I brought some chilly weather gear.  On our way back from our FTP work today, we stopped at a small restaurant in a more remote town.  We had a specialty of the Savoie region, Fondue.  This was comte cheese with some whisky, white wine and cepes mushrooms.  That was an amazing meal, and the fact that Renee's friend gave us the rest of the red wine (worth about a 100euro a bottle), we were having a great time.  I’m exhausted after little sleep, long van day, and a fantastic meal with a lot of wine.  

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for new pictures on snapfish!  

It's business time

Well, in the next few days we will have about 15 or so people at the guide house.  Who's got the wine??  I will likely be on chef duty for a night, but otherwise we will have a big meeting to discuss house duties.  Things can get pretty messy with that much traffic, so we have a cleaning service coming tomorrow to prep the house for us.  Warehouse work will keep me busy while we stay out of the way, and maybe I'll be lucky enough to go for a ride tomorrow afternoon!

It's a good thing that I have taken up running, because that is a fail-safe way to get a good workout in a short amount of time.  I have this problem that when I am alloted only an hour for exercising, I tend to go hard.  The last few days have been that scenario, so I've mixed things up a bit; running, riding, plyometrics & core work.  Today I went for an hour run, so my running endurance has significantly increased and my body is getting used to the activity.  Getting outside for some time is essential to clear the mind, so it's nice to be able to take an hour and well... clear my mind!

The guide house will be pretty crazy with so many people, but that is what makes the situation exciting.  Once again, those hour-long runs are pretty sweet!  Most people will get situated for a little bit and then head off for Tour de France FTP (final trip preparation).  I do not know my schedule yet, or with whom I'm working with.  The guide manager will let me know within a few days, but everything could change up until the last day!

I built a slew of Madone 6.9's for the TdF trips, and I will probably work on rack installation when the extra vans arrive.  Today I sharpened the mower blades, cut the grass and trimmed with the weed-whacker.  Hopefully the heat and lack of rain will prevent the grass from growing too fast, but I'm fine with cutting it ever since I took whole days to mow our lawn last year; I think my mom and dad can attest to the number of hours it took!

Tonight we made a great tart for dinner with all sorts of veggies, pesto and gorgonzola.  We savored it with a special bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape that Renee and I bought when on our trip at a wine tasting in Gigondas; we were kind enough to share with Ryan, haha.  It was 26 euros for the bottle, so we had to split the cost, but oh is it delicious!  Soooooo good!  Time to get some rest so I can be up bright and early tomorrow!  Thanks for reading!

Let's try this again!

Try this link to access my photos:

Stefan's new web-album

I hope this one works!!!  Let me know.

Long time no post!

Sorry for the delay, I see it has been 8 days since my last post... can't let that become a habit (maybe only on trips when I don't have time for the internet).  To be honest, the last week has been pretty relaxed compared to the trip days, but I'm still doing a lot.  We were able to get out on some rides after our trips, but I think my body is still tired and recovering!  The terrain around here makes riding speeds lower and more so when there is wind.  Most personal rides average between 24-27kmh (15-17mph) and to get any higher means you need to go significantly harder.  I did a 102km ride last Saturday that took me over the mountains in the south, along the backside through some small towns, back over and towards the house.  It was a very nice ride, but the heat made it difficult (along with the climbing).  I bonked about 20k from the house and that made for a long finish and big lunch.

One of our global logistics managers, Ryan, arrived on Saturday, and two guides left so there are only 3 at the house right now.  He and I have been doing warehouse work, but I'm only building bikes.  He's taking care of inventory and general cleaning up; the fact that we both enjoy listening to reggae in the warehouse makes for a good atmosphere!  Don't ask why we like it, we just do... try listening to reggae while working on bikes sometime and you'll see what I mean.

Having a little extra time meant that I could do small jobs like mowing the grass, shop for some house supplies, etc.  I became too hooked on full caffeinated coffee during the guide weeks, so I has a headached the first day after guiding.  I was drinking about 5 cups to wake up in the morning, so needless to say I was tired.  Buying a small french press for decaf coffee drinkers (just me) made things easier.  I can make my decaf in the morning separately and not have to transfer or drink it all before others wake up and want the high-octane stuff. 

Right now I'm about to leave for the Criterium du Dauphine time trial, and I'm riding since it's only approximately  20k away.  Although, there is a very strong wind blowing now and we will have a tough ride back.  I'll try to take some photos and post them for all to see.  Google Picasa is a nice place to post photos, but it's hard for me because I can only post 5 per upload.  I am thinking of switching to smugmug and then I can upload many more at one time... Being a Trek Travel guide is all about learning to be efficient with your time!  Stay tuned for those changes and I'll try to post some more photos from the last week or two.  Thanks for reading!

Funny story from last week: I have a fan club, kind-of sort-of but not really.

We had a day going through Vaison la Romaine last week and I was the van driver that day.  Coincidentally, many schools of the Drome region/department had a field trip day to see the Roman ruins.  As I was locking up bikes and going back and forth between the van, I was swarmed by a group of middle school girls.  Sorry Dana, this is the truth but it’s pretty funny.  They were all asking me what I was doing in France and if I was married or had a girlfriend and I just answered the questions while going along with my business.  I went up to Renee at the ruins to grab some more bikes and told her that she needed to help me out. 

We walked back down to the bikes and the group of up to 15 girls came running over screaming my name along with “my beautiful” (in French accents).  I felt like a movie star, which they actually proceeded to ask me.  Renee helped me out and told them (in French) that she was my girlfriend, so then they would stop bugging me.  Then they asked how long we were in France and Renee replied, “Until the end of the Tour de France.”  The girls asked in shocked voices, “You are in the Tour de France?!?!” and we said yes, haha.  One girl came sprinting back with a piece of paper and we signed some autographs, hahaha.  Luckily, the teacher came over and had to gather the students, so I was off the hook, but apparently I have a following in the Drome junior high school.  Renee told them she wasn’t my girlfriend just before they left, and they found that exciting, haha, but I told them that I do have a lovely girlfriend back home!

That is just a small example of all the interesting and/or funny things happening, and I thought I would share that story.

The second trip is going well so far and we are at a beautiful hotel named Val de Sault.  We had a beautiful ride through the foothills of the Alps amongst the true lavender fields.  There is lavande and lavandin, which the latter is only grown above a specific altitude and is the “true” lavender but used in soaps, fragrances, etc. because it is hardier.  The regular lavender is used in cuisine and some commercial uses.

We had a great meal at the hotel last night that started with some fresh wild mushrooms marinated in herbs de Provence.  Next, we had a fresh pasta followed by scrambled eggs with cream and herbs de Provence.  Then we had main plate of braised beef with a soufflé type of side, along with fresh bread throughout the meal.  We proceeded to move on to cheese, which I chose the degustation (choice of cheeses from here and there).  The meal finished off with a trio dessert plate of a strawberry shortcake-like dessert, fig ice cream, and a pear, almond and chocolate cake.  All of the desserts were about the size of a golfball, so it is definitely not gut busting amounts like in the US (no offense). 

I will try to upload more pictures when I can, but enjoy my story for now!

When one journey ends another begins… literally

I finished guiding my first trip of the season on Friday, and I am very pleased with how everything went.  We had 5 guests, so this was a great trip to kick off the season and a great way to get some experience before the trips get larger.  Apparently the Tour de France trips make these look like a cakewalk!

The trip we are running now is an “explorer” vacation, which features 3 star hotels, a few other guest choice meals (their option to explore a town), and a bit of extra riding.  I get some extra riding in by floating amongst the group during the ride, so I can zip up front for some hard riding and then relax to the back for a break.  This works out well on the climbs, since they’re all at least 2km long around here!  The “luxury” vacation last week saw some riders experience Ventoux’s fury, the ruins of Vaison la Romaine, a few cols, the ochre of Roussillon, Gorges de la Nesque, a few markets, and a great picnic lunch on Day 5 prepared by yours truly.

My picnic presentation has also netted me the nickname “Martha” and along with “stilts” and “Andre the Giant” (due to what I look like working on the tiny unit laptop) has been combined into a name only a mother could love; Andre Martha Stilts.  I prepared all sorts of foods for the picnic and also picked up a few items at the boulangerie; there was fresh bread, quiches, pizzas, pear & roquefort salad with tarragon mustard dressing, couscous taboulleh with celery greens and chickpeas, tapenades, olives, nutella, and an apple/custard tart for dessert.  Needless to say, we had quite a bit of leftovers that made for some tasty snacking.

The group on the luxury trip was very nice and it’s great to meet so many different people along the way.  The explorer group doubles the luxury’s number and gives a little more of a challenge at 10 people (5 couples).  Everyone is a lot of fun and we had a great time at dinner last night, but I was so tired I could have fallen over and slept on the spot.  Today is their option to ride Ventoux, so hopefully the cloud looming over top clears away and they have some spectacular riding.  We will experience the Bedoin market for those passing on the Ventoux leg searing ride.

It’s about that time for me, so I should be human for 15min. and eat breakfast (and drink lots of coffee).  Thanks for reading and hopefully I will be able to update again soon.  Stay tuned for more pictures and thanks for reading!

It's Show Time

The day has arrived and I'm running on excitement and coffee!  I had to finish packing last night and took some extra time to put clean sheets on (laundry day), so I didn't get to bed until very late.  I woke at 6am, someone has to make the coffee, and am getting ready to go.

Time to shower up and pack some last minute things!  The real show now begins... 

Prep Day Prep Day Prep Day

Bonjour, and that's right!  It's prep day today and I'm up early.  It's 6:30am my time, so 12:30am for you east coasters and 9:30pm for you west coasters still hanging in yesterday!  I was up until close to 12am inserting elevation profiles into the route guides, so I didn't get a lot of sleep but as Joe Dirt says, "You just gotta keep on keepin' on."

Today we have a whole slew of items to take care of that include but are not limited to:  Wash clothes (our washing machine broke), create guest packs (cinch sacs), write welcome cards, load the trailer and update inventory, wash the van/trailer, grocery shop, pack our bags, prep one last bike, talk logistics, print the route guides, highlight routes on a map and photocopy them, and more!  Think we can do it all in a day?  Watch us.  We're Trek Travel guides and all of that will be done by noon!  (lofty goals, eh?)

I'll update the blog with photos and blurbs about how my first trip is going.  It's a luxury trip and we are staying at http://www.crillonlebrave.com/main/en for 3 nights and the guests are staying at www.domainedesandeols.com for the last 2 nights.  Renee and I will stay at a beautiful little b&b next to Domaine des Andeols because that hotel is very expensive and we can save some euros by doing this.  Domaine des Andeols is very interesting, so check out their "maisons" or "houses".  Each has a different theme and artistic style.  Crillon le Brave is such a nice place that we stay there for 3 nights, because the trips used to stay there for 1-2 nights... but it's so nice!  Great views of the region and Mt. Ventoux, and a great staff to compliment your stay.  I'm looking forward to experiencing my first trip as a guide!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for updates over the coming days!  Thanks for reading!

To get me out of here, you'll have to drag me kicking and screaming

The title just about says it all, and I love living in Provence.  The last couple of days saw Renee and I hammering out the routes for our upcoming trips (1 luxury and 1 explorer).  Renee is a trip designer/expert so she changed up some of the routes/locations so that guests could return and get something new!  Working as a guide is going to be hard work, but the rewards are fantastic.  Great company, awesome experiences, delicious meals, and some high-quality hotels! haha.

Today we went out to the town of Sault and drove a route in the morning.  We followed by meeting with the hotel, Val de Sault, and it is featured on the explorer trip (www.valdesault.com).  What a beautiful place to stay!  The views are unforgettable, the grounds are relaxing and welcoming, and the overall atmosphere is one of total feng shui balance.  This is definitely a wonderful place to stay if exploring in the Provence region.

Tomorrow is going to be a full day of paperwork, and we'll sneak a ride in after getting a solid work block done.  We scouted the last routes today, so all that is left are final touches, which take much longer than one thinks.  This entails editing all route guides and trip documents, discussing logistics and overall trip, grocery buying, car/trailer washing and cleaning, and many other small pieces that come together to form the memorable vacations Trek Travel provides.  (You like that plug?)

You read my post about the olive oil and that experience just about made my day.  Most, if not all, of you know that I love to cook and experience food, so it should come as no surprise that I am in cuisine heaven. Everything is so flavorful here, but the dishes are simple.  When something always tastes really good here, we joke that it's because the secret ingredient is love.  In many circumstances that is true, but chefs use top quality ingredients here that are just exploding with flavor.  I purchased rosemary, basil and sweet sage plants at the market the other day and planted them on the back terrace.  Those will come in handy to garnish and enhance some dishes, but also to leave my "stamp" at the house.  A simple contribution like that will go a long way, and I'll be remembered when someone needs some fresh herbs (no, not THAT kind of herb... get your head out of the gutter!).

Since my trips start on Sunday, I will most likely just post small snippets of info and more pictures.  I have some nice photos to upload, so stay tuned for a few good ones.  Time to get some sleep and prep for tomorrow's work.  Merci et bonne nuit!  (Still trying hard to learn French... slowly).

P.S.  I got into grad school at KU, but you can all guess correctly that I am deferring until a later date;  this experience is very important and I believe most would agree with that decision!

What a Great Place

This is short but gets the point across.  Renee and I were driving to check more routes and stop at one of our overnight locations today and I said, "I think we need olive oil." (because I have random thoughts about food).  Renee says, "Ok, we can stop at a moulin when we see one."  What a surprise, we turn the corner and Voila! Moulin d'olive right there.  We stop in a pick up some awesome olive oil and a bottle of wine for the house (couldn't resist!).  That is just one example of why this area is so awesome; getting fresh olive oil just down the road... can't beat that.

Goodnight!

Some new pics

A few new pictures are up on my picasa web album.

Stefan's Picasa Web Album

It's like the first day of summer

To start off, last night's dinner was amazing!  We conducted research on a potential restaurant for a private trip Renee will guide in August.  Let's just say that I love research and my tummy does, too!

The day started out by building a sweet green and black Madone 6.9 w/ Bontrager carbon wheels.  I'll post some pictures demonstrating the awesomeness that is my job!  We then prepared our things to drive the Day 5 route of the explorer trip, and all of this is part of FTP (final trip prep).  I drove while Renee took care of the route cue sheet.  Driving a Renault Trafic van on these roads is like driving an RV in the US, so I should have lots of practice for when I get back and my parents let me use theirs, right? :)

We finished the day by stopping for dinner at a very nice little restaurant.  A "quick" synopsis of our meal goes like this:   I had small raviolis in a langoustine cream sauce, fresh fish in local olive oil and provencal vegetables & herbs, a fromage blanc-type cheese with lavender honey, and a small creamy chocolate cake (about the size of a very small cupcake).  Renee had a foies gras duo plate (one warm, one cold) and they were pretty melt-in-your-mouth delicious, breaded rack of lamb (best lamb I've ever had), and finished with the same two plates.  We had a great wine from an appellation of the cotes du luberon probably from just down the road!  What a great dinner to say the least, and everything was portioned well so I was very happy leaving the restaurant; not too full and definitely not hungry at all!

On the drive back I explained to Renee that the fact that I am in France and enjoying this opportunity had just hit me when the hostess (likely the chef's wife) was speaking to her in French.  The fact hit me like an "I'm out of school for summer" epiphany hit you as a child.  The language is slowly getting better and I am able to understand more but I want to try learning more about speech.  I have funny ways of explaining things, so the best I could do for Renee is, "The language is right there but I can't quite grab it.  It's like I'm in the driver's seat and something fell down on the passenger floor that I can't reach yet but I'm close!"  I hope you like that explanation!

Today we had some more FTP driving. We got a nice ride in towards Bedoin/Mt. Ventoux area, found an awesome climb with beautiful views, and tasted some wine at a winery we are going to on our first day of one trip.  On the way to the winery this morning we stopped at a boulangerie (bakery) that Renee said is one of the best.  Turns out she is right!  Choco amande is my new food-love, and it's basically a pain chocolat with a little vanilla cream and topped with almonds.  I also had a small pizza that had more of an olive oil puff pastry crust with roma tomatoes and chevre; exploding with flavor.  The simple pain chocolat is delectable, always a fail-safe, but this boulangerie adds the perfect amount of chocolate and has very good dough.  Renee had very tasty looking quiche and saved her pizza for lunch.


Tomorrow we are probably going to do more route riding, provided we have nice weather.  I'm past the 11:30 curfew (more sleep is needed), so I have to get ready for bed.  Soon I will upload more pictures on my picasa web album (see link in previous post).  Thanks for reading, au revoir! 

New Pictures!

Check out some fresh pics at my picasa web album!  I took a few on our drive back from Apt and on our ride.  Enjoy!

Stefan's Picasa Album

Looking for fromage blanc or fromage frais can take a day away.

The only problem I've run into thus far is the language, and it's going pretty well.  It's total sensory overload with everything in French!

Today held quite a few activities.  You would think grocery shopping in a place with fresh and good food would be easy, maybe in the markets, but the grocery store is a different story; especially when you don't know the language yet!

Renee and I woke this morning around 10am (4am in jet lag time), and I put on a pot of french press, how appropriate.  After a banana and coffee we changed out of our night-wear and headed out to Apt.  After finding a comfortable parking space for our "large" van (european standards) we immediately happened upon some nice strawberries.  That was a no brainer and right after that we found a vendor with fresh fish.  I believe we bought sea bass and that would be part of tonight's dinner.  We never had a proper breakfast so we stopped in a boulangerie for pain chocolat and they had some tasty looking pizza, so why not?  A restaurant/cafe had an open table outside and around the corner, so we settled and ordered some coffee.  A great compliment to pain chocolat and the pizza came afterwards, because you definitely don't want pizza before the pain chocolat!  The rain was periodic and we walked around town while the shops were closed for lunch from around 12-2 and also hit the grocery stores.

First, we went to Bio, an organic grocery store, and this is where I ran into my fromage blanc/yogurt issue. I know what fromage blanc/frais/natural are, but there were so many kinds and I didn't have many euros.  I accidently wound up getting the fromage blanc when I wanted fromage frais, but I will enjoy it nontheless. I'm a Grecu + fromage blanc tastes good = I will eat it in many contexts; be it fromage blanc on bread, fruit, with salmon, on its own, with dirty socks (just seeing if you're paying attention) or maybe even fromage blanc on fromage frais.  Anyway, we got through Bio (prounounced Bee-oh, like the stuff you get after exercising for a while) and we made our way to the big regular grocery store.  Here we cruised around the aisles while listening to Jack Johnson on the store speakers (kind of odd).  We gathered cheese, bread, more cheese, crackers, maybe even one more cheese, milk, wine (duh!), and other goodies.  All said and done, the guide house has lots of tasty num nums (technical term).

We drove back into Apt and stopped in the Orange mobile store to pick up a cell phone, and after a quick decision  I was outfitted with a nice little mobile (it even has a BMX wallpaper scene, sweet!).  By now we were getting hungry and realized it was after 4pm.  We went back to the guide house and had bread, cheese, tapenade, olives, strawberries and apples for lunch.  Then it was time to check out our bikes.  To my delight there is a 64cm madone 5.5 for me and it needed just a little love.  I quickly tuned it up (it, because I haven't named it yet), and we took our speedsters out for a spin.  The climbs are awesome, the views are beautiful, the flora is lush and the fauna wasn't really seen (maybe some dogs and birds).  We rode through Lacoste and another town for about a 60-70min. loop, which was perfect because we arrived home at 9:10 just as it was getting dark.  Next was dinner time!

Dinner tonight consisted of our fresh fish cooked with lemon, herbs, garlic and french butter; yum yum yum.  I prepped the salad and we complimented the meal with a fresh baguette and great wine.  The two of us finished the fish and most of the salad, so dinner worked out well.  Dessert was simply some Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt, which is delicious, and I am closing the night with this post.

I'm getting up for a run with Renee around 8, so it's time for me to get some sleep.  My posts will likely be much shorter because work amount is going to quickly increase.  I hope you all enjoy reading and I will try to keep my posts interesting, funny, and occasionally educational.  Stay tuned for some pics from today's ride and the general area!  Thanks!

I stopped in London, landed in France and no, I don't want to see your underpants.

Well folks, I made it safe and sound.  After dodging the treacherous Mordor-esque ash cloud things should have gotten a bit easier... but it just turned out to be a long day.  Sitting on the runway for a while in London and the 3hr train to Avignon, along with other things, led to arriving at the guide house close to 9pm.  My co-guide, Renee, and I took a taxi to the guide house in Bonnieux as our last leg of the journey.

The guide house is nestled in between the Luberon and Vaucluse mountains.  The short driveway leading up to the house extends a decent distance around the area and is supposedly great for a run.  From the back patio you can see Marquis de Sade's castle lit up at night and I will look for John Malkovich's place soon.  If you search Marquis de Sade I am giving you an adult content warning; he is the reason behind the word Sadistic, FYI.

The layout of the guide house is very nice and open.  There is a living room/kitchen (very open), as you will see, and multiple rooms.  There are 2 bedrooms on the bottom floor and four in the loft area.  I'm upstairs, but it's just Renee and me right now so it's quiet and relaxed.  The office out back has all of the necessary regional documents and trip info, and the warehouse is located at the bottom of the patio steps.  That's a quick run-through of the house!

Tomorrow Renee and I will make a grocery run, maybe to the market in Bedoin, and then we'll get some nice riding in to shake out those travel legs.  Time to get settled, clean up and get some rest.  Hopefully this link works, and you can check out a few photos I quickly snapped.

http://picasaweb.google.com/spgrecu