Euro Monday

The race doesn't matter, some would say it went south because I wasn't totally on board with what I was doing anyway. At least I made the front group then didn't quit when things went south. I surely wanted to quit a million times, but the way the course was set up, if you made it through the hellacious climb up the start/finish, there was no way you were going to quit after having done all that hard work and a ripping single track descent in front of you. If the bail out point had been at the bottom, that would have been a different story.

Afterwards, I put my friend Niel's advice to good use and did the Col de la Cayolle. It was more scenic that Saturday's ride, but the roads weren't as entertaining.



I learned you can't buy gas in France on Sunday afternoons. Everything was closed. EVERYTHING. At some places you can guy gas at a "closed" station, but you'll need a specil Euro credit card.

Another thing that I noticed is that in France its not a mountain bike race if you're not A)walking at some point and B)averaging 8mph for the duration of the race. Its torque based racing where you never really pedal circles, just vertical lines and the big ring is more of a chain holder than anything else. Rad fan support out there though...folks know your name, give you splits, and even helped me swap a rotor in a tech zone where I didn't have any tech support. That's rad.

The Ubaye Valley should be on your short places to visit if you like time with your family and bikes.



Amsteg, CH is another of my new favs. I shredded some serious sheep poop out there.





DIE DIE DIE. The Italians are awesome at cheering. I was cheering for them for hauling so much gear up the hill while they were cheering for me.



I wonder if Lake Lucerne freezes in winter?