Day 5 - Today, I'm Driving the Van

 No biking for me today. The rest of the team is heading to Colmar from Baccarat today and I've taken the van back to our hotel in Baccarat. I left my toiletry bag in Neufchateau and only discovered it after cycling to Baccarat. We had considered having the bag shipped to one of our future locations and discussed the difficulties of where to ship it to and such, when Mike suggested that I should just drive back today and meet the group in Colmar. It made sense. The group would get to Colmar, I would retrieve the bag and we would move the van forward to Colmar. As an added bonus, I would get a chance to drive for several hours in France.

Below is the weather forecast of the ride from Epic Ride Weather. As I had mentioned in a previous blog, The Epic Ride Weather app attempts to predict the ride conditions based on the ride route, as drawn from the RideWithGPS cycle routes plus weather forecast information in order to predict what you will experience during the ride.

The important part of the graphic today is in the upper right hand quadrant titled Precipitation and Cloud Cover. It has 3 trends shown: Cloud Cover %, Level of Intensity and finally Probability %. It shows that with the assumption that the group starts at 8 AM, there will be 90% cloud cover, a small probability of Precipitation and Intensity of Precipitation to be very light. So far, so good. But you move to 9:49 AM and you can see that the probability of Precipitation has increased to about 20% of light Precipitation. Finally moving to 11:39 AM the probability of Precipitation has increased to close to 40 with an intensity of moderate.

As the group left the hotel at 8 AM the sky was blue with some clouds, however as I was driving west to Neufchateau the rain was starting to hit the van by 8:45 AM and as I continued to drive the rain was increasing. I could imagine the effect the rain was on the riders.

The weather conditions did not dampen the spirits of the riders however. When they arrived at the hotel in Colmar at about 3PM they all commented how much they enjoyed the ride including the lunch stops at the peak of the climb and how exciting the long descent in to Colmar was.

Tomorrow we may have similar conditions so I'll be able to report first-hand this time tomorrow. 

Today's Photos (Courtesy of Eduard)

Brian

Day 4 - Gloomy Morning, Sunny Afternoon

 Woke up this morning to gloomy skies. The Epic Ride Weather app below had predicted that though there would be clouds, the chance of rain was zero and it was going be cool in the morning (low 50's) and warming up to the low 70's in the afternoon. With hopes that the app was correct, we headed out. Just in case, I brought my rain jacket along.

As you can see in the ride profile below, the ride started with a steep climb that quickly warm us up and off came the jackets. As we neared the top of the climb we could start to make out a bit of blue sky starting to appear. Maybe today was not going to be so bad. 

The down hill dropped us into a beautiful green valley with winding roads and small arched bridges that crossed streams that crisscrossed the valley. The valley was lightly populated with small family farms and seemed to be raising cows and sheep and occasionally some farming. 

It was on the valley floor that we could start to feel the wind. Heading directly East, the wind was giving us a very nice push and on occasion when a bend in the road would head us South, you could notice the difficulty of going against the wind.

We typically like to stop for a coffee about a quarter through the ride, but it was so lightly populated that we couldn't find a place to stop.

Jan was driving today and found a nice place in the small town of Charmes. It was likely the big city in the middle of the valley and we navigated to the center of town by following the reverse direction of the buses.

Following lunch we continued East and though there was still some climbing, the prevailing winds continued to sweep us along as the temperatures continued to rise as predicted by the weather app this morning.

We rolled into our destination, Baccarat, about 4PM and found the hotel. It's not much to look at, but the rooms are nice and as we found out later, the restaurant was way above average. We ate and lounged talking until 9:30 ish. A wonderful end to a great day on the bike.

Today's Photo

Brian

Day 3 - What a nice day to ride

A rain storm rolled through late last night leaving the air cool and crisp this morning. Cool enough, upper 50's, that many of the riders opted for jackets at the start. The sun felt good as we started to roll out. We quickly got on a canal bike path and followed it for miles and miles. The bike path was wide enough for riding 2 abreast and the surface was smooth asphalt and was a pleasure to ride as we went in and out of alternating sun and shadows under the overhanging trees.

Earlier this year we rode the Erie Canal in New York State and the ride was reminiscent of that tour. The width of the canal and construction of the locks was very similar to the earlier ride. If you look at the elevation profile you can see that the first 50 km (31 mile) followed the canal as it slowly gained elevation as we headed west.

As about 41 km (25 miles) it we came across a town that looked perfect for a coffee stop and we asked a local for a recommendation. We then head off to find the shop. The town, Saint Dizer, was the ticket. Excellent coffee and danish. Just what we were looking for. After the short break we continue on the bike path until our route left the canal and we started a long pleasant climb to a plateau where Chuck had scouted a restaurant with the van for lunch.

After lunch, the remaining ride along the plateau added to the elevation gain for the ride and occasionally the strong cross wind challenged us a bit, but the long downhill into town was an enjoyable way to end the day. 

Today's Photos

Brian 

Day 2 - Short Day For Me

 For this tour, our cycling group is pretty small, only 6 people. We have a six person van to move our equipment from location to location, so one of us needs to drive each day. Sometimes, one person will drive from the start of the ride to the end and some days we'll split the driving, one person in the morning and one person after lunch in the afternoon. We want everyone to get equal riding time, so depending on day we'll decide who will take the wheel. Today Mike volunteered to drive in the morning to lunch and I drove from lunch to the hotel.

The morning section of the ride was pretty fun. As we started out, we descended into a valley with vineyards stretching to the horizon. I just hope that my photos have captured the beauty of the views. As we were descending into the valley the laborers were just starting their day. Was pasted on group that were playing recorded music as they worked. So strange to be in this beautiful French countryside while hearing Jamaican reggae music in the fields. It just brightened my day.

The ride to the halfway point of 25 miles was fairly nice. Mostly on country roads and some other roads with a bit of traffic. The weather, unlike yesterday showed no indication of rain and the temperatures we in the low 70's for the most part.

After lunch, I took my turn at the wheel and drove the van to our hotel in Vitry-Le-Francois. 

The following chart is generated by a program called Epic Ride Weather. The phone app uses the route information generated by the routing program, RideWithGPS, and combines it with other information to predict the ride conditions of the day. As you can see, it shows the ride conditions (temperature, precipitation, wind direction and wind speed) for the ride. The information is pretty accurate.

Today's Photos

Brian

Day 1 - Biking Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

 You just never know what you are going to get on these bike trips. This morning we woke up to gray skies and while having breakfast a we noticed a drizzle outside. When the drizzle turned into a light shower, we decided to push off our start from 9 AM to 10ish hoping the precipitation would pass. Fortunately about 10 the showers did slow down and finally stopped.

We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and by 10:30 we were out the door and on the road. Eduard had routed the ride along some very quiet roads and excellent bike paths. Our hotel was west of Paris by 10 to 20 miles and out in the country. The temperatures were great for cycling about 65 degrees (18 degrees celsius), some riders with jackets and others without. Even the wind was going the right direction.

On these cycling tours, each night we'll have reservations in a new location, so good weather or bad, we're going to ride or figure out some alternate way to get to the new location. Each breakfast is a discussion of the weather with each rider pulling out their cell phone all scanning the many weather apps to try to divine the conditions.

About 30 minutes into the ride the drizzle caught up with us. The drizzle was surprising pleasant. It was warmish and dried almost as quickly as it landed on you. You might even call it refreshing. The drizzle passed fairly quickly but the heavy cloud cover remained with at the edge of the horizon, it brightened a bit to with a promise of sunny skies that taunted us all day but never materializing.

As I said earlier, Eduard had routed the ride and sent the files to us to load into our GPS devices but we still got off course. Still, we were roughly heading in the correct direction but not actually following the planned course.

We rolled into our planned lunch stop in Montmirail. During lunch, after consulting the weather app, it announced that an incoming storm was arriving soon and bringing heavy rains with it. We had a decision to make, either to bolt out of lunch, pick up our pace and race the 27 miles to Gionges where our hotel was waiting or for the 6 of us to pile into the van, load 4 bikes into the van and 2 more bikes on the bike rack.

Four of us, decided to go for it and race to the motel. The route was fairly fast and we stayed on course. Along the way, we started to see signs indicating "champagne". A couple of more signs and we started to realize that we were heading directly into the Champagne region of France. First a couple of buildings with Champagne on the signs and then with out realizing it, we were in the middle of massive vineyard, as far as the eye could see. As an added bonus, it was picking season. You could see a large number of laborers in the fields and small white vans scurrying about. Take a look at the photo album link at the end of the blog entry.

Though we had slowed down to view the activity, we could sense the rain was on its way and we picked up our pace, it was only a couple of miles to the hotel and the race was on. As we turned into the hotel driveway, the raindrops were already hitting our faces. We stored our bikes away and the rain started to pour.

At the start of the day, we had anticipated a long cold wet slog. Instead, we enjoy a beautiful day on the bikes. Great roads, views galore and  to find ourselves in the middle of massive vineyards at the peak of picking season was not what we had expected of the ride while we were eating breakfast this morning. We were almost dreading a long cold day of dreary rain. How wrong we were. I guess biking is like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you are going to get.

Today's Photos

Brian

Almost Ready

This has been a great summer for cycling. This will be the third tour of 2025. 

In May / June I had taken a tour from Buffalo NY to Manhattan (tour blog), following the Erie Canal to Albany NY then South following the Hudson River on the Empire State Trail to Manhattan. A total of 10 days and covering 619 miles.

July, I joined the Lafayette Cavaliers to tour the Pacific Northwest (tour blog), starting and ending in Seattle. The tour was 13 riding days touring Bainbridge Island,  Olympic Peninsula and the San Juan Islands

Both of the above tours were leading up to this more ambitious tour. 

By the numbers

• 5 Countries
• 16 Cities
• 15 cycling days
• 876 miles total miles
• 58 miles daily average
• 75 miles longest day
• 46 miles shortest day

We'll be touring through France, Germany, Austria, Swaziland and Italy.   Friday (8/29/25) I will be flying from Los Angeles to Paris on Air Tahiti Nui direct to Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) in Paris, arriving Saturday morning (8/30/25).

We'll be departing from our hotel in Sancy. The 4 star Château de Sancy hotel looks very inviting. 

Sunday will be our first day of riding. Below is the tour route. The tour itinerary is located in the this spreadsheet.

		Distance	El Gain
Day	Place of arrival	Mi	ft
A	Sancy (F)	-	-
B	Gionges (F)	58	2,597
C	Vitry-le-Francois (F)	46	1,066
D	Neufchateau (F)	68	2,911
E	Baccarat (F)	60	3,355
F	Colmar (F)	55	3,368
G	Rheinfelden(G)	60	1,293
H	Frauenfeld (Sw)	75	3,847
I	Feldkirch(A)	67	2,478
J	Strengen am Arlberg (A)	50	5,089
K	Glurns(I)	51	4,202
L	Bozen (I)	53	1,187
M	Rovereto (I)	54	2,200
N	Caselle di Sommacampagna	57	2,995
O	Montichiari (I)	54	2,524
P	Milano (I)	69	1,342
		876 Mi	40,454 Ft