Today was the day of suffering. We got up early and transferred to Albetrville. Five of us set of for a 130 k day with the highest climb that is used in the tour on a regular basis. The col de telegraphe and the MONSTER col de galibier. The day stareted out cool but warmed up quickly. We had about 70 k riden before we hit this tough one two punch. The telegraphe climb was a blast. It climbed for 12 k and had stunning views. I saw my first snow capped mountain. I took a few pictures at the summitt [View Full Entry]

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Another gorgeous day and spectacular riding. Nearly every place we climbed you could look back to see Lake Annecy. We did a climb before lunch (great climb). We explored Annecy for lunch and then took off for the Forclaz. The climb is 11k (6-7 miles) long. It was pretty good until 3 k from the summit. It was pretty steep there. The bad part we went up the easier side. The tour uses the other side which we went down. The steepest parts were 13-14%. It is 1157 meters at the summit. Tomorrow is the Col de Galibier. It is over [View Full Entry]

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A pretty good way to sum up today. Met my group this morning. Sunday is the big market day and all of the local vendors were set up selling all kinds of things. We took a boat ride across the lake and WOW. The mountains the clear lake the whole thing was unbelievable. We rode today about 35 miles. The riding is awesome. There are 8 people in our group with two guides. Tomorrow we will do our first Tour climb [View Full Entry]

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I got up early for the 4 hour train trip to Annecy today. It was amazing to see the very crowded train station. The trip took almost 5 hours. I crashed pretty hard when I arrived here. Oddly enough, I did not sleep much that night. Must be the nerves. First day of riding is tomorrow. The town is pretty crowded had to get a room about ten minutes away. I found out later they were having a big festival this weekend. They had a huge fireworks display down on the lake. I found this out the next day. That must [View Full Entry]

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I decided to do the tourist thing today. I popped in my ipod and walked to the Eiffel Tower. It was quite the hike, but well worth it. The amount of people around it was staggering. I hopped on a tourist bus and rode around to the major tourist sites in Paris. It was pretty cool to see all the stuff you only see in magazines or the movies. I have got to give it up for the cyclists of Paris. These people were riding some old school bikes and riding in traffic that would scare me if I were driving. [View Full Entry]

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Paris was a blast. Had a few problem getting there. My flight from Charlotte was delayed for 2 hours. Once there I had 15 minutes to get to a different gate. I busted into the plane only to find out that the flight would be delayed for another hour. When I left Charlotte it was 95 degrees. Paris might have been 65. When I went to get my luggage I found out my bike stuff was not in Paris. It was delivered later that night. That would have been awful fly all that way and not have bike stuff. I took [View Full Entry]

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