Up-close and personal with some of this year’s superstars.
Archive for July, 2009
Tour de France 2009 – Rider Galleries
Thursday, July 30th, 2009¿ Donde está la playa ?
Sunday, July 26th, 2009Armstrong’s Tour Over ?
Monday, July 20th, 2009Unless Contador fails a doping test or bonks on the Mont Ventoux, Armstrong conceded his chances of winning the Tour on stage 15 up to Verbier.
Click image for stage highlights !!
Swiss Barbecue
Friday, July 17th, 2009Simon shows us how it’s done in Grandvaux 
Col de la Colombière
Friday, July 17th, 2009One of the nicer road rides accessible from the Chamonix area is climbing Col de la Colombière via Mégève and Col des Aravis. Leave Chamonix through les Houches to avoid the major roadway, then fork right towards Servoz staying left and heading down to Passy. From Passy, climb up to Megeve and turn right at Flumet, up through le Col des Aravis. Go through la Clusaz, Grand Bornand and up the Col de la Colombière. Halfway down to Scionzier, avoid the direct route and make your way up the Col de Romme; and don’t miss the wonderful view on the left as you head into the village! Make sure to start before noon or you’ll be climbing back up to Chamonix in the dark…
Total distance: 172km
Les Posettes
Monday, July 13th, 2009Dedicated XC trails in Chamonix are few, and most paths are reserved for hiking and too technical for cross-country riding. Except for the valley floor where some excellent riding can be found on the Petit Balcon, paradise is found at Le Tour. Like most places in the valley, you can chairlift it up but for the harcore cross country rider, what comes down must go up… and a 40km loop through Switzerland and back to France is one of the most challenging rides in the valley.
Start from the village of Argentiere and make your way to Le Tour via Le Planet; the gentle climb up is the perfect warm up for the grueling ascent that awaits you. From Le Tour, start climbing under the gondola and take the hiker’s trail up, and keep going to the top of Col de Balme. Be proud, you’ve just climbed 12 kilometers and gained over 1000 m of elevation!
Now the fun begins Head down to the village of Trient via Catogne and if this is your first time down, be prepared to stop often to enjoy the scenery – it’s breathtaking! Once you get back into the trees, make sure not to miss the 20 switchbacks down to Pleuty! Insane! The switchbacks begin some 50 meters to the right - not to be attempted with V-Brakes!! When you get to Trient, take the main road back towards Finhaut but turn left and go up through Les Jeurs, where the final 10 km climb back to Les Posettes begins. The climb back up is easier than the previous ascent up to Col de Balme, and once you reach le Col des Posettes, head towards l’Aiguille des Posettes but make a left back down towards Le Tour instead…
Email me if you survive
Don’t Forget to Smell the Roses :)
Monday, July 13th, 2009Blazing down knarly singletrack, some of the most beautiful flowers usually go un-noticed. Here are some of the more common flowers from the Chamonix valley.
Bianchi SUPER LEGGERA!
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009Finally got one! I’ve been searching for a Bianchi Superleggera on EBay for years, but most of them are in terrible shape: dinged, rusted, pitted so I kind of gave up hope… until I rebuilt my 1984 Bianchi Veloce and was bit by the Superleggera bug yet again (my dream bike as a kid – my dream bike 30 years later ) A quick search on Google listed one for sale in California; tiny picture, barely visible, I almost didn’t contact the seller. Am I glad I did! Karl from Costa Mesa, couldn’t have come across a nicer guy. He bought the bike new as a kid and had kept all the original parts – including the original Almarc leather handle bars; sounded too good to be true! He sent me some hi-res photos, the bike was gorgeous! Karl had kept it in his living room all these years and it showed; hardly a flaw in the original paint, glistening chrome, only the original Mavic OR10s were missing – but I found those too! Could it get any better? Karl, a picture of you with your bike ?
THANKS Karl (aka “The Real Santa”) !!
Bianchi Veloce
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009I’ve been obsessed with cycling, bikes and parts ever since my childhood friend Greg extolled the virtues of Super Record and his father’s gold chrome Medici Pro Strada. Cute bike; Campagnolo, Cinelli, 19 pounds, but it wasn’t truly Italian. Around the same time, I also discovered Celeste… At the time, Pinarello Gios and Mercks were all better bikes, but nothing looked as sexy and nothing was as cool as a Celeste Bianchi. I pleaded my father for a Superleggera for the following two years, and when summer of 1985 came around, fed up with all the Superleggera and Campagnolo dinner talk he bought me the next (next) best thing: a Bianchi Veloce with Campagnolo… Triomphe. Superleggera it was not, and not a Super Record part in sight, but it was decked out with a new generation of campy no one had ever seen and it was of course… Celeste. Even with all it’s shortcomings (no chrome anywhere and Gipiemme dropouts with (gasp) fender eyelets!), I rode that bike like I was Greg Lemond. Over the years, I upgraded everything I could to C-Record (because by 1986 you know, Super Record had become sooooo yesterday) and simi-chromed all dropouts to make them shine like chrome. I’m still changing parts on it to this day finally replacing that hideous Triomphe crank. I raced it for several years and even did my first century on it, but my dreams of a Superleggera never faded, not even 30 years later.
Alpes 2009
Monday, July 6th, 2009A few buddies of mine are riding some of the major stages from the Tour de France, you can follow their escapades at http://alpes-2009.blogspot.com/2009/07/litineraire.html
