Carte Postale de Nice: Chapitre #1 - Notre Arrivée

Our travels to Nice could not have been smoother.  Many thanks to long time friend and new neighbor Alan who drove us to Dulles despite 'snowmaggedon' blanketing the DC area with plenty of snow and ice.  EXTRA BIG THANKS ALAN!!!

The flight to CDG was on time.  A very thick layer of fog covered the north of France and made for an unsettling touchdown. There were few signs of civilization below until all of a sudden the wheels touched down.  Bravo à nos pilotes!   

There was ample time between connections and, in hindsight, it would have been possible to catch the earlier 10:30 am flight.  As boarding got underway, unfortunately an older passenger tripped in the aisle which resulted in an hour delay as the airport SAMU attended to him.  That provided extra time to chat with the woman seated next to us who happened to be a native Virginian originally from Fredericksburg.  She knew all about the Northern Neck -- what is the chance of that!  For the last 17 years she's been wintering in Villefranche and thus had plenty of good suggestions to share.

The Nice airport is small and easy to navigate similar to the Richmond airport.  The gangway takes you directly to baggage claim and then the tram is awaiting right outside the airport entrance.  The tram system is fantastic!  It was a breeze to navigate.  As the tram winds its way to town, the scenery is classic côte d'azur -- palm trees of all sorts, blue sky and snowtop mountains in the distance.   So civilized! 

Chiara, from the rental agency, met us at the Airbnb and gave us an hours long introduction to the apartment and to the parking space which, it turns out, was not in the building but 4 blocks away and three floors below ground.   My Bike Friday is securely (we hope!) installed in the parking space but feeling a bit lonely until Lance figures out what to do about securing a bicycle.  

The apartment is well located on the edge of La Buffa neighborhood between two tram stops.  It is a top floor corner unit facing east and south which means it gets plenty of sunlight making for a cheerful atmosphere.  It is one block from the beach.  From the bedroom terrace one catches a glimpse of the Med and from the living room a nice view of the historic observatory atop Mont Boron.  There is a small grocery store and a fancy pâtisserie located on the first floor, not to mention a boulangerie, pizza shop and Carrefour within blocks.  I'd say we lucked out with our Airbnb pick!  

TransVirginia Day 4: Basye to Harrisonburg

Ok true confessions .. we chickened out ... again.  After studying the route, it became evident there was an enormous challenge ahead -- even the map displayed a hazard warning indicating "Steep Wall Climb".  

After a hearty breakfast at The Burn Barrel in Basye, we hopped into the Sag Wagon, drove to the top of the Wall and started our ride.  Good decision -- this is supposed to be fun not torture, right?

The views left and right along the ridge drive were spectacular.  

There was still plenty of elevation gain and super steep hills to be conquered.  Some of the hills registered over 20% grade -- that's steep!  Stephanie was thrilled because her newly acquired Kona Sutra was designed specifically with climbing gears and it did not disappoint -- she made it (barely!!!) to the top of each hill and will forever wonder if she could have climbed the Steep Wall.  That shall remain one of life's deep mysteries.  

The mileage today was only 35 but given the rollers it was more than sufficient.  The route went through lovely agricultural farmland on the outskirts of Harrisonburg.  

As we switched Sag Drivers, our communications got mixed up and we did not find the Sag until the last few miles from the end of the ride.  That's ok because it meant no more chickening out!  We rode all the way into Harrisonburg.  

Betsy found a cute and centrally located Airbnb just of the edge of Old Town and the JMU campus.  We did the ceremonial unloading of the "bins" -- the last time for this particular adventure.  

Friends Sally and Bill dropped by our Airbnb for drinks -- it was fun to catch up with them in their hometown.  Later that evening the crew went out to celebrate Stephanie's birthday.  The next day we explored Harrisonburg ... doing our share of shopping along Main Street and then enjoyed a long walk across the JMU campus to the Arboretum.  A local breakfast favorite Magpie was so good we went back twice.  JMU graduation was the prior weekend which meant the campus was extra quiet and the grounds and landscaping were in pristine shape.  

A newly hatched robin egg along our walk through the Arboretum.  Leave it to nature to create such a lovely blue eggshell.

All in a very fun but challenging adventure.  It recast our "gravel" expectations.  Despite having sworn off gravel after riding Day 1, we came around to appreciate that it opens up an entirely new realm of cycling possibilities but the key is to make sure the elevation gain and the steepness of the rollers are not too crazy!  We are after all (even if we don't want to admin it) no longer "30-somethings".  

Kudos to David Landis for envisioning and executing a unique TransVirginia cycling adventure.  It was a great way to see beautiful parts of Virginia.  And to the folks at bikepacking.com who have compiled over 82,000 miles of gravel rides across 50 countries.  Stay tuned for the next adventure! 

TransVirginia Day 3: Front Royal to Basye

This day was a wash out -- the weather turned colder and was threatening to rain most of the day.  More importantly the elevation profile was daunting (the Trepidation Meter was off the chart).  Being fair weather gravel cyclists, we willingly piled into the Sag Wagon and drove to the nearest vineyard just outside of Woodstock, VA.  We made a good hearted effort to drive the actual route so we could know first hand how much elevation gain we gave up!  

Then we discovered the Pale Fire Brewery in Basye by Bryce Mountain Resort which offered a wide range of home brews that were tasty!  Lance was thrilled to discover the Red Headed Molly which reminded him of Richard Thompson one of his favorite musicians.

Lauran found a fabulous Airbnb that was recently constructed and we were among the first guests to enjoy it.  It was so nicely appointed and ideal for our crew. Lance and Lauran whipped up a Sausage Bean stew for our hungry cyclists (despite not having ridden this day).  

This proves that cycle touring is so much more than grinding those pedals -- it really is about spending time with good friends enjoying good food and good conversation.  Life is good!

TransVirginia Day 2: Purcellville to Front Royal

Yikes this day turned out to be harder than expected.  After having ridden 99% on paved rails-to-trails the day before, Day 2 was all about gravel and gosh did it make for slow going.  The route was 54 miles with 3,223 feet of elevation gain and that's after having shortened the route to avoid some nasty traffic along Route 7 which is a 4-lane highway with fast moving traffic (the only part of the entire trip that had fast moving traffic).  

While planning the trip, there was a debate about whether to take the Sag Wagon or ride self-contained.  As it turned out, the logistics of getting to/from the route meant the Sag Wagon was much easier.  The downside was that we'd have to take turns driving the sag wagon.  In the end we were so happy to have the sag wagon.  It came in helpful in so many ways.    

This part of the route was deceivingly bucolic lulling us into peace and calm until it was time to take on the numerous steep climbs (12+% grades).  It turns out that on gravel it can be particularly hard to maintain traction the steeper it gets so many of the hills turned into hiker-biker events thus slowing our progress to only ~7 miles/hour.

That gave us all the justification in the world to thoroughly enjoy our stop at the farmer's market where the best cider doughnuts were consumed.  We ended the ride at the Shenandoah Golf Course where we met the Sag Wagon to transit to Front Royal.

  

Betsy found a sweet Airbnb in Front Royal with a sufficiently equipped kitchen that enabled Chef Pete to whip up another gourmet dinner -- lamb tagine.  It was excellent!!!

We were all pretty worn out on our first real day of gravel.  This one day gave us pause and made us wonder if it would be the one and only gravel experience.  Fortunately, we learned how to make the most of our gravel experience.   

TransVirginia - Day 1: Old Town to Purcellville

Day 1 was the "warm up" day with a leisurely 49 miles from Old Town Alexandria to Purcellville, Virginia along the Washington & Old Dominion trail.  It was beautiful weather well suited for riding despite the strong headwind that challenged us most of the way.

The highlight was a surprise "Trail Angel" experience thanks to Ann, Charlie and Alan Balch who greeted us in Vienna.  They were trail angels extraordinaire.  Alan set up a rest stop table complete with water, spare inner tubes and a first aid kit.  Ann treated us to individually prepared bags of the world famous Balch Chex Mix.  You can't image how often we scooped into our chex mix stashes to power us along the way.  Thank you Balch Family for taking such good care of us!!!

One of the first of many chex mix power stops!

Our night's accommodation was the 1758-era Ballenger Farm Airbnb which was an ideal setting for our crew.  The farm was complete with a flock of friendly ducks.  

Today happened to be Pete's birthday so we celebrated him over dinner at Magnolia's Mill in Purcellville.  A great start to our new gravel adventure!

A New Gravel Bike Adventure!

 

After having ridden numerous rail-to-trails, it was time to expand our horizons to gravel biking.  The idea was that this could open up an entirely new realm of bicycling adventures.  It proved to be a humbling experience and one well suited for the "30 somethings" and perhaps not the 60+ somethings!" 

Our route was the TransVirginia bike route created by David Landis.  This route runs all the way from Washington, DC to Damascus, VA but our portion of the ride would lead us halfway to Harrisonburg via the easier "Valley" route.  It was still an ambitious 4-day endeavor over 200 miles long and over 12,000 feet of elevation gain.  Thus the "Trepidation Meter" was spiking to the right.   

BTW thanks to ChatGPT for creating these two graphics -- pretty amazing!  

 

 

 

Posts Long Overdue!

 Just realized that the last post on our blog was way back in 2017 yet there have been so many adventures to blog about.  

2023:  Our Velodyssée Adventure (aka SEBA):

https://ourvelodysseeadventure.blogspot.com/

2022:  Betsy's Epic Bike Adventure (aka BEBA or the TransAmerica):

https://ourepicbikeadventure.blogspot.com/