velotel
01-02-2018, 03:42 AM
Good one too, especially in the riding department. Which for awhile I didn’t think was going to be the case. Kicked off spectacularly with some big rides, celebrated turning 72 on the Col de l'Arpettaz, one of my favorites, then three days of fat-tire road bike riding with my son and his gang of bike bros from Colorado followed by a week of driving support for them on the spectacular mountain bike tour our good friend from Chamonix, Blaise, had put together. From Chamonix to Menton on the Med, hell of a trip with Mat and the lads ripping crazy high alpine trails while I was driving sag and bagging road rides whenever the opportunity arose.
Followed by the doldrums, or at least that’s what it felt like at times. In truth I managed to keep rolling, just didn’t bag any big cols and didn’t get to explore some high dirt roads over in italy I’d been planning on hitting. Autumn snuck in and all of a sudden I’m seeing the season disappearing under my feet like sand when the waves wash back out to sea.
Then bam! Major recovery. Gorgeous fall days and I’m out there riding stuff I’d been dreaming of plus a couple I didn’t even know existed. Just saw some possibilities on maps and decided to check them out. What I found pretty much knocked my socks off, or would have if I’d been wearing any, some of the best sorties I’d ever done.
And with that the weather shifted, winter stalking in with a bit of an attitude. Kept thinking I’d be able to get down for my sort of traditional late autumn/early winter ride up Ventoux. Didn’t happen. I’d watch the weather forecasts, see potential windows for ripping down and doing the ride, then see them slam shut with winds, rain, and snow. Oh well, another year.
Still a bit of a disappointment. Same with not getting over into Italy to ride the dirt roads above Bardonecchia. Can’t complain though. Not if I’m honest. I mean I rode half a dozen high cols I’d never done before, did some crazy high mountain single-tracks with my fat-tire road bike that I probably wouldn’t have ever imagined doing years ago, did almost 4500 kilometers with over 100,000 vertical meters, that according to the Garmin computer I’m riding with now. The vertical makes my eyes go all wobbly. No idea if the data is accurate or not. Then again if it isn’t, could just as easily be more as less. Friggin lot of going up. And for those still using a dead king’s appendages to measure with, that’s 2,800 miles and 330,000 vertical feet. I think I better stick with the metric numbers; that vertical in feet totally blows the circuit breakers in my head. Makes me tired just typing it.
Anyway, some pics from the year, memory hits, every one generating a whole slew of feelings and memories from the day.
Happy new year to all
Followed by the doldrums, or at least that’s what it felt like at times. In truth I managed to keep rolling, just didn’t bag any big cols and didn’t get to explore some high dirt roads over in italy I’d been planning on hitting. Autumn snuck in and all of a sudden I’m seeing the season disappearing under my feet like sand when the waves wash back out to sea.
Then bam! Major recovery. Gorgeous fall days and I’m out there riding stuff I’d been dreaming of plus a couple I didn’t even know existed. Just saw some possibilities on maps and decided to check them out. What I found pretty much knocked my socks off, or would have if I’d been wearing any, some of the best sorties I’d ever done.
And with that the weather shifted, winter stalking in with a bit of an attitude. Kept thinking I’d be able to get down for my sort of traditional late autumn/early winter ride up Ventoux. Didn’t happen. I’d watch the weather forecasts, see potential windows for ripping down and doing the ride, then see them slam shut with winds, rain, and snow. Oh well, another year.
Still a bit of a disappointment. Same with not getting over into Italy to ride the dirt roads above Bardonecchia. Can’t complain though. Not if I’m honest. I mean I rode half a dozen high cols I’d never done before, did some crazy high mountain single-tracks with my fat-tire road bike that I probably wouldn’t have ever imagined doing years ago, did almost 4500 kilometers with over 100,000 vertical meters, that according to the Garmin computer I’m riding with now. The vertical makes my eyes go all wobbly. No idea if the data is accurate or not. Then again if it isn’t, could just as easily be more as less. Friggin lot of going up. And for those still using a dead king’s appendages to measure with, that’s 2,800 miles and 330,000 vertical feet. I think I better stick with the metric numbers; that vertical in feet totally blows the circuit breakers in my head. Makes me tired just typing it.
Anyway, some pics from the year, memory hits, every one generating a whole slew of feelings and memories from the day.
Happy new year to all