With the Freemans now gone, and Steve Barson arriving in 3 weeks, I needed to get back on my bike. I hadn’t turned a single pedal stroke in 3 weeks and Steve might just kill me if I don’t regain some cycling form before he gets here.
But first of all, I had to see Julien, the Hotel Manager and my friend. He was away on holiday in Greece when I was here before. I should briefly mention that the Freemans and I had been staying in Chambéry the last couple days. The Freemans had made their reservations there before I found out that Julien did not manage the Budget Ibis Hotel there anymore and that he was now in Grésy-sur-Aix, about 10-15 miles away. The Freemans dropped me off at the B&B Hotel in Grésy-sur-Aix before they left for Paris. Anyway, Julien and I had a big reunion when we got there. It was great to see him again.
I had previously assembled my bike before the freemans had arrived in the 5 days that I preceded them. So I was all set. My first ride was just to ride up to this village named Cusy and then drop down into the Parc Naturel du Massif des Bauges, the equivalent of a State Park in the US. Not quite a National Park, but very scenic. I had previously ridden there in past visits to France so I knew the way. Since I hadn’t ridden in a few weeks, I thought that would be enough for the first ride. Especially since here was only a short, not very steep climb out of the bottom up to Cusy, then a nice downhill all the way back to the Hotel. It was a nice part to my training.
My next ride, I would try something a little more challenging. I would try to ride to Annecy, a very scenic touristy town that I had been to a few times before. Riding to Annecy from Chambéry was about a 90 mile ride and it was difficult the time I did that (once), but starting from Grésy-sur-Aix, it would be shorter, and easier, right?
I was pretty sure I knew all of the tricky parts of the ride getting to Annecy. Finding the right road from Saint Félix to Rumilly, finding my way through Rumilly to get on the correct road to Annecy, etc. Well, I did not get on the right road to Rumilly. I found my way onto a busier roadway that I had not remembered, so I had to deal with some traffic getting Rumilly which I did NOT enjoy, Then, it took me a while to get my bearing and get through Rumilly to the Rue des Annecy (the road to Annecy). All this took time, and it was starting to get hot, well I mean HOT (remember the heatwave?)
The road from Rumilly starts with a moderate uphill climb for about 30 minutes up to Marcellaz-Albanais, some rolling hills to Chavanod, then flat to Seynod, and finally a downhill to Annecy. I made it to Seynod! That was it. Too hot, not enough fluids, not enough calories. I stopped at a Boulangerie and had a coke and an eclair to get some fluids and calories, but there wasn’t much I could do about the heat.
The return ride was tough. And I still couldn’t find the right road from Rumilly to Saint Félix! I got on this road that was going in the approximate direction I wanted to go, but after a while, I didn’t have the slightest idea where I was or where I was going. About the time I was going to panic, I saw a road sign for Aix-les-Bains (which is next too Grésy-sur-Aix) so I started to feel better. I still wasn’t quite sure about where I was or how far I needed to go, but all of a sudden, I popped out in Grésy-sur-Aix. I made it. Whew! I spent the next 5 hours fighting off leg cramps and was generally miserable. I re-learned a valuable lessen today. More fluids, more calories.
The next day, I went to the sporting goods store and bought a lot of Cliff Bars and other nutritional bike food! I would not make that mistake again I hope. And I also figured out that part of my recovery for any longer ride was going to involve Beer! Ooh la la