Mennonites in Tights

Cycle Europe Anyone?

HMH — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:47:53 +0000

I have a modest proposal to make to any MIT riders and spouses. Yesterday Ed Hildebrand asked me about putting together some cycling info for him as he and Millie want to do a couple of weeks cycling in Europe this summer. I told Ed the best way to do the tour thing was to have a base and to explore out from there, or do the Randonee Cycling approach where you go hotel to hotel and they carry the baggage for you. After checking prices from Randonee on behalf of Ed and Millie I figured I would put out a much better offer to anyone interested.

I propose two weeks in mid to late July or possibly early August with the weeks to be split between the Swiss Alps (Leysin) and the Alsace/Vosges Mountains of France and the Black Forest in Germany.

There would be two large Holiday Homes (accomodation for 10 to 12 with five bedrooms/double beds) which I would rent for accomodation. The Holiday home in France has a hot tub and sauna. Each has a large fully equipped kitchen so that we could choose to make our meals together or eat out if we desire. Eating out can be very costly (factor about $30.00 per person per day for dinner x 14 and you are looking at about $750.00 per day). I would rent a large 9 passenger van and another smaller car to transport all of our gear and bicycles.

The Swiss Alps week would consist of 3-4 days of riding and 3 days of hiking in the mountains. With the car rental we can work a shuttle for those who can’t/don’t want to ride up the high passes found on a couple of the rides. The hiking is also exceptional in the area with small mountain restaurants as destinations to hike out to. Lausanne and Montreux are close by and good destinations for those who choose not to cycle or hike on any given day. The train goes down the mountain to Montreux and there are excellent excursions by boat to Lausanne or by foot along the lake to the Chateau de Chillons. There would be a lot of flexibility and we would definitely want to make it a trip where spouses can bond.

The other week would be spent cycling and hiking in the Vosges mountains in France with excursions to the Black Forest. I found a great looking Gite near Thann on the Route du Vin. There are endless options for riding from cycling up into the mountains to riding the vineyard roads. There are also a lot of really nice walks in the area. Colmar and Freiburg are close by for urban exploration. The Gite also has a hot tub.

If I can put all of the pieces of the puzzle together I believe I can do it for $3000.00 per couple based on four couples going. This does not include Flights and food.

If anyone is interested let me know. (c50titan@gmail.com).

Actif Epica – Elapsed Times Checkpoint 2 & 3

RJ — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:31:24 +0000

Niverville Checkpoint – complete log

RJ — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:25:18 +0000

Actif Epica Niverville Checkpoint

RJ — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 03:37:10 +0000

Had a great day helping out at the Niverville checkpoint for Actif Epica. Met nice folks from other clubs like Olympia and Alter Ego. It was a very fast race. These were deadly serious athletes. For the leaders, the Niverville break was between 1 and 3 minutes. If I hadn’t come 4 hours early to the checkpoint, I’d have missed most of the cyclists. Even the runners were through the 61km checkpoint by 5 pm. Jim Nadler tore through at just after 11am and Pete was shortly behind him (in spite of being led off course for 30 minutes right out of St. Malo). Rob came through a bit later but was in good spirits and looking strong. Unfortunately, when I turned on my camera, I discovered it was missing the memory card. So, had to take pictures with my SuckBerry for the rest of the day. Below are elapsed times that we recorded at the checkpoint (approx 1/2 way through the race).

ride on boys (& girls)!

RJ — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:19:10 +0000

Best of luck to all the MIT Actif Epica racers tomorrow! I believe we have Jim, Rob L., and Pete in the race, as well as MIT associate Andrea (aka Cyclechick). If you guys don’t rip it up too quickly, I might see you at the Niverville checkpoint (I’m the “official” from 3PM till the 7:30PM cut-off time). Your awesomeness is awesome. Protect your fat bikes at the checkpoint, if I’m there, they could get “lost”.

I’m thinking I’ll bring my roller along for the hypothermia testing. You know, ride the roller handsfree while counting down from 100 in prime numbers…that sort of thing. Won’t this be fun?