France is a magically country and so much more than just Paris! I hope you will be inspired by our journey to explore past Paris on your next trip!
Section 2 takes us to The Alps! My favorite part of France!
Wednesday, July 17th – Day 5
- Last morning in Paris for a week, left Airbnb, took two metro trains (we’re metro pros) to the Gare Lyon train station
- Took SNCF train 4hrs to Annecy, France
- Met fellow Trek Travelers for the first time: mostly solo males and females, at this point there is only other couple and about 12 of us from Minneapolis-Mike (ironically), Florida-Lee, Vancouver-Wendy and Liz, Nebraska Dan, Tony from Australia, Mike from NC, Steven and Jess from NYC, Scott from NC, Bill from ATL and one of our guides-Oriol
- Took windy climb via bus about 1.5hrs to Megeve, France
- Checked in, threw on cycling gear, met our bikes and other guides (Jessie, Walter, and Andrea the ghost) along with more Trek Travelers: Hank and Margaret from London via the US, Seamus from London via Ireland, Janus from Latvia, Mel from CA, Andy from who knows where, Darren from Maryland
- Went out for a tuneup ride on our bikes from the hotel to the Airport which was 10 miles of climbing/descending, a huge wake up call for things to come
- Alex’s back hurt and Walter lowered my handlebars and it was smooth sailing the rest of the trip
- Came back, cleaned up, and social hour/dinner at hotel – got to start to know people
- Dinner does not start until 7:30 pm in French Alps apparently
Thursday, July 18th – Day 6
- Woke up for 7:30 breakfast having no idea for what was about to happen
- Rolled with 20 riders, 3 guides and the Trek van at 9am
- Ended riding 50 miles and climbing 6500 ft: wow! Slow climbs and dangerous descents yet absolutely beautiful at the same time…Alex, Mel and Jess rode the whole afternoon together and Jess’s husband got lost and took a wrong turn. Today was challenging yet we proved that we’re gonna be able to do this on Sunday! Snacked all day and Alex had his first Coke in 20 years.
- Saw Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe!
- Arrived at hotel around 4pm, a long day, took a dip in the pool, hot tub and steam room and watched stage 12 of the TDF
- Dinner at 7:30 again at La Muse, outside on the patio
Friday, July 19th – Day 7
- Woke up for breakfast at 7:30am
- Rolled with 20 riders, 3 guides and the Trek van at 9am
- Ended riding 40miles and climbing 4500 ft: Steven got lost again, Forest and tunnels with a low temp for the morning climb on the edge of an amazing valley, no guard rails, hanging over the edge, climbed two passes that have been used in the TDF, saw really bad accident were a person was being airlifted out, had never ending at Les Rhodes on the patio and it was fun, last descent has been the scariest so far, had a solid train of 6 back into town around 4pm
- Took a dip in the outdoor pool and watched stage 13 of the TDF and it was the individual time trial
- Dinner on our own, walked through the village of Megeve and had pizza at Spaggiari, chatted with Scott from NC who bought a 1932 movie theater in Tyron NC, a great guy!
- Back to the hotel to write this journal because we were three days behind
Saturday, July 20th – Day 8
- Had breakfast at our hotel
- Took a shuttle with MPLS Mike, Lee, Mel, Scott, Steven, JZ to Albertville and visited the L’Etape du Tour village
- At the village we walked around a viewed all the cycling vendors. Alex bought the official Rapha L’Etape du Tour Jersey. We also walked through the history of the Tour de France exhibit which was a lot of fun. Also watched the recon of stage 20 which we would be racing on the following day
- Shuttle back to hotel for some down time, went to the pool for a quick dip, watched the Tour and napped
- At 6pm, joined by other Trek Travelers including the CEO, John, and his wife, Tonia, who is the CEO of Trek Travel. This was a meeting to go through all the logistics for race day
- Happy hour where we finally got our binto bags. Afterwards everyone went to the hotel restaurant for a buffet dinner. We couldn’t stay for dessert because we were stuffed and had to get up at 4am, it was already 10pm
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