Update

Here are some post trip pictures. The first is of our arrival at the Portland airport, long hair and tan arms. The next pictures are of our bike boxes when they showed up at my (Erin's) house Sunday morning. Not quite sure how the bikes were still intact with all that damage to the boxes. Luckily Amie and my bikes were undamaged, McKayla's had some derailleur issues. Because of the large, gaping, unexplainable holes, McKayla and I also lost many possesions that we packed into our boxes. I lost all my maps and memorabillia items, plus the homemade jersey I wore everyday on the trip. McKayla lost a lot more. Now I know, don't travel with a box that huge and don't put loose items in it. Although, to be honest, the airline security clearly gave our boxes a rediculous and halfhazard examination (making sure we didn't smuggle drugs across the border in our carbon fiber seat posts I guess). Along with my other missing items, my front wheel was turned 180 degrees, the waterbottles were taken out of the waterbottle holders, and one of my tire lugs was missing (I happen to know that the tire lug was clipped to another and zipped inside my pannier pocket inside the box, yet only one lug was missing...) Oh well, one thing the trip taught me is that I can be fully self-sufficient and happy with very few posessions. I still have many fond memories of the trip and have learned so many lessons that no material object can embody. I'm glad that we all made it home safely (and our bikes too)!

Home sweet home!

We made it. phew.

Our day of traveling was once again quite eventful.  We left the airport hotel at 8:15am, our flight departed at 12:40pm, and yet we only had 30 minutes to sit down before our flight borded...

We knew we needed to get one of the earlier vans from the hotel to the airport.  Everyone else on our flight was also at the hotel and would be leaving around the same time, and since our bikes take up the entire back of the van there would be no room for their luggage, so everyone was antsy about getting their luggage to the airport.  Luckily, we were able to get all three of our bikes onto a big van after waiting only a few minutes and quickly got to the airport.  We dragged/wheeled our bikes to the US Air check-in, got our boarding passes, and then had to go to another booth to pay for our bikes ($100).  This ended up taking about 45 minutes (crying woman in front of us in line).  Then, we had to haul our bikes back across the airport to the oversize baggage check.  McKayla had to literally climb onto the conveyor belt, underneath the black flaps, and shove our boxes through at an angle-- picture coming soon.  At that point I was so relieved to be free of that box!!  Only, then they told us we'd have to pick up the boxes in Philadelphia and recheck them after going through customs, awesome. 

We waited in line for security (surprising lax in Madrid) and then waited in line again to get to our terminal.  At this point one of the woman working for US Air tracked us down and said to us, "your bike boxes are so huge that they can't fit in our x-ray scanning machines, we have to take them to our industrial shipping center to get screened, so they won't be arriving on the flight today, we'll have to ship them to your homes."  Sweet.  Although it means more handling of our deteriorating bike boxes, we payed $100 to make those bikes their problem and it seemed more of a relief to not have to deal with them in Philadelphia and get them delievered to our doorstep.  We'll see how the boxes look when they turn up tonight...

Throughout this whole process we would continually bump into our fellow flight  friends that we made at the hotel the day before.  It was nice to have caring people looking after us and making sure we were getting ourselves and our bikes safely to the States.  We spent our last Euros at the duty free shop, and when we finally got to our departure gate we sat down with a sigh of relief.  Two minutes later we hear, "Passajera Amie Corso, por favor viene a puerta A4! Passajera Amie Corso a A4."  UH OH.  Bravely, Amie marched up to the check-in desk while McKayla and I (Erin) couldn't help but think of all the terrible destruction that must have already happened to her bike.  Turns out they just needed to give Amie her baggage claim receipt because in the midst of all the bike mayhem they forgot to give it to her, phew.

Because of the change in flight, Amie's mom got us seats all together which was nice because 1) we smelled bad and 2) we avoided having to make small talk with people sitting next to us.  The 9 hour flight went by quickly because we all had personal tvs, which meant we could occupy our minds with endless English movies and tv shows, what a treat!  We made our connection in Philly and arrived in Portland early, after 17 hours of traveling.  It felt so good to take a shower, put on clean, comfy pjs, and sleep in my own bed (sorry Amie -- she still has two more weeks of adventures before she gets back to her home in Bend).

Chicas Cajas.

　
Thursday, November 18th.
The Day.

Travel Weary...
So our ferry ride went quite smoothly. We landed on time, the bus driver let us take our bikes on the bus into town, we biked the streets like old pros, and we were settled into our hostel in time to catch free dinner at 8:30! Everything went EXACTLY according to our plan for the first time in about 10 weeks..... Turns out it was the only time.

Tuesday morning we awoke, had hostel breakfast, and kicked on our A-game. Tuesday promised to be our most taxing, logistical challenge in our long voyage home, and we were ready to take the bull by the horns.

Step 1: Acquire cardboard bike boxes for bike transport.

Lucky for us, there were several bike shops just blocks from our hostel. They opened at 9:30, which in Spain apparently means 10. Our search was initially fruitless; however we made an Irish bike-rental-shop-friend who called his friend to bring us boxes later in the day. Resigning ourselves to waiting until 3pm to start our travels, we headed for a cafe. Erin, however, on the way, spotted another bike rental sign, and though they initially told us they had nothing, the manager stopped us on the way out, and before we knew it, we were lugging 3 MASSIVE cardboard contraptions through Barcelona's alleyways. The boxes we got are about a foot longer and a foot taller than the boxes we used traveling to Europe, meaning we were quite the spectacle. I (amie) actually felt pretty cool though, because hauling a giant box around at least meant I was doing something more unique than the average tourist.

Step 2: Get bikes to train station.

Kabul (our hostel in Barcelona) has been quite good for us, and were willing to store our boxes while we rode our bikes to the train station. This went quite smoothly, and we were prepared to carry out our inital plan of leaving one person with our bikes, while the other two used the metro to bring the boxes to the station, where we would then pack up the bikes for the train ride to Madrid. Luckily, before we undertook this endeavor, remembering how chaotic and contradictory Spanish travel has been for us, we decided to make SURE that we could actually bring boxed bikes on the train. Before we left for Mallorca, we were informed (at this same station) that bikes could come on fast trains in boxes, or on slower regional trains without boxes (but that would require more navigating and longer travel time to get to Madrid). Turns out, your bike has to be folded to come on the train. OR you can get a night train, buy a full cabin with four beds, put two bikes in that cabin, pay for a second cabin, do a rain dance, and buy a puppy.... but only on wednesdays or odd days in july. So anyway, you get the picture, misinformation and beauracracy. We prepared to hop regional train to regional train, but it turns out.... NO regional train goes to Madrid before Thursday... Which is a little odd, considering Madrid is the biggest city in the country, and the capital. Oh well.

Step 3: Recalculate.

We were a little flustered. The info man had essentially told us that it was "impossible" for us to get to Madrid by Thursday for our flight. I asked, "as a Spaniard, not a train info man, what do you recommend we do?" He thought the bus would be a better bet. Turns out the REAL bus station is totally on the other side of downtown. We prepared to ride, but on the way, hating our cumbersome bikes more than we've ever hated them before, we thought mailing them home might actually be our best option. We stopped by Los Correos halfway through our cross-town trek, and learned there that it is also "impossible" to mail a package that large. A little panicked, we rode to our last resort, the Barcelona bus station. We got lucky! We bought three tickets for the 1 am night bus that night, and three tickets for our bikes. We enjoyed the rest of the day before dealing with our box situation.

Step 4: BOXES.

We went to Kabul, and finally left them in peace in the wake of three massive planes of cardboard. Walked to the metro and on the way, the fruit man on La Rambla yelled, "Chicas cajas!!!! Chicas cajas!!!!" Translation: box girls. Metro success. We folded our boxes and dealt with a couple strange looks (nothing new, let's be real). and before we knew it, we were boxing up our bikes in the bus station at 10 pm.

Step 5: Actually get the boxes onto the bus.

Tip for travelers: In Spain, departments that you would assume communicate, don't. In other words, just because the ticket lady guarantees our bikes can go on the bus, the bus drivers often have different opinions. So at 1 am when the bus was loading, we ended up frantically rearranging the entire cargo area to make room for our 3 massive boxes. We endured stares and glares, and I found myself arguing in Spanish with the bus driver. "Si, se caben ahora," he said, "pero si no se caben en Zaragoza, vamos a dejar las cajas alla." In other words, the bus was to make one stop in Zaragoza on the way, and the driver was claiming that if the new passengers' "maletas" couldn't fit, he would take our bikes out and leave them in Zaragoza. It was 1 am so we took the risk.... We figured, if the bikes were left in Zaragoza, we could probably just be left in Zaragoza too... no prob.

Step 6: survive totally full night bus ride with no bathroom.

check

Step 7: Improvise.

We didn't have a definitive plan of action for when we arrived at the bus station.... luggage consignment? nearby hotel? hobo? BUT, in a fortuitous turn of fate, we found ourselves waking up to.... airport scenery. "Wait.... are we at the airport? Like... can we get off here?" muttered Erin through her retainer and earplugs. Some people were getting off, so I ran up to the front, and asked the bus driver (apparently he changed at some point that night because it wasn't my grumpy friend anymore, thank god) if this was indeed the airport and if we could leave. 4 minutes later we were standing in terminal 4 with our cargo.

Step 8: Get to terminal 1, ditch the bikes.

We took a tram, got looks. We dragged our humongous accomplises down the stairs, down the hall, across the street, and across the parking lot in the rain to consignment, paid them 15 euros, forced the boxes through the tiny security scan, and GOT AWAY FROM THEM.

Step 9: Madrid! As a normal tourist.

Madrid is a great city. Feels a bit more like an American city, large white buildings and wider paved streets. It's clean and friendly, too. We took the metro into town, ran our usual McDonalds routine of Wifi-hotel-booking-friend-communication-morning-coffee-free-bathroom. We ended up spending the afternoon exploring the city and shopping with McKayla's Hamilton friend, Thea. She took us to Placa Mayor and brought us to a local cafe that specialized in "chocolate con churro" - basically a melted candy bar that you get to dip fried dough in and cover in powdered sugar. Hell yeah. That evening we met up with our Bowdoin friend Antonio, who is studying in Madrid. Between Thea and Antonio we learned a lot about the city, and Antonio FINALLY took me somewhere homosexual, Madrid's famous Chueca district. We had a great night, and it was a PERFECT way to finish our trip... or so we thought...

Step 10: The final leg.

"Today's the day!" Erin said, again, this morning (she's said this everyday this past week as everyday has been a big travel day), "for real this time." Metro, consignment, no problems. We even figured out how to do bikes in boxes on trolleys, and I, at least, was feeling like a champ when we slid up to the U.S. Airways check-in.
Cancelled. Ouch. So we threw a tantrum. Ok, not quite, but we did get a lil' scrappy with a few of those U.S. Airways employees. Again, all we heard, was "impossible." United SOOOO had extra seats available, the lady even offered to sell them to us, but beauracracy won the day again, and U.S. Airways wouldn't transfer our ticket, and would not refund it unless we were already in the U.S. (rain dance... seriously). All they could offer us was the same flight tomorrow and a hotel room for tonight. Obviously, we're pretty upset because we want to see all of you as soon as possible, but honestly, I was mostly upset because once again we were saddled with our three gargantuan, deteriorating boxes. sigh.

Step 11: Mission hotel.

Despite our efforts to make the U.S. airways take our boxes, we had to figure out what to do with them on our own (we did not want to lug them back to consignment). Waiting outside for our hotel shuttle, on which we fully intended to be allowed our boxes, we met two crazy old Spanish ladies who had also been bumped to tomorrow's flight and were entertainingly pissed off. Lucky for us, they were fired up enough that they were actually the ones who picked the inevitable fight with the driver over our boxes. After a rapid Spanish argument that I watched like a tennis match, and a phone call or two, we found ourselves stuffing our boxes vertically into the back of this van... taking up the ENTIRE space. Chyeahhhhh, we're getting good at assertion. Now we are safe and comfy in our fancy four-star hotel. Long story short, Erin and Amie ended up in a two-bed double... and McKayla will be sleeping in a three-bed room, all to herself. Spain.... We even made a bunch of grandparent-from-north-carolina-friends during our free buffet lunch!

So we'll see you tomorrow Hattons and Dunfeys! Assuming, that is, we aren't murdered by our van driver in the morning as we once again attempt to travel with things that are bigger than Europe itself.

New pictures from Mallorca

View our pictures from Mallorca here: http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/Mallorca

Wait, when was our last blog post?....Oh yea, that day Erin raised her seat a little

Hello friends and family!
This is Amie reporting from a super classy hotel breakfast buffet in Palma! Here's a recap of our last couple days on the road:

Erin caught us up to our arrival in Cala Millor, where we landed a fantastic, spacious, four-person apartment with kitchen and tv for only 45 euro a night! (cheaper than a lot of hostels when split three ways....). As some of you may know, my little brother Anthony took a trip to Mallorca this summer to rock climb for 5 weeks. In his travels, he met a group he calls the "cave people" who live most of the year in coastal caves near a popular climbing spot. Our plan was to follow Anthony's rather convoluted directions and find them by biking to Porto Cristo, finding the bus stop, taking an 11 euro cab, and hiking in a mile or so with a food offering. (Apparently these cave people are legit people, and the area includes many tourists and other females, which we doubled checked with Anthony before undertaking this endeavor.... safety first). Anyway, Erin had graciously taken notes during my skype-call to anthony, recording the necessary information. Unfortunately, determined to keep the paper as safe as possible, Erin managed to misplace the document among ALL our gear, which we realized that mornig. Unphased, we ventured to Porto Cristo anyway. The weather was spectacular, as it has been this entire week. It was only a 10 km ride, and as we pulled into town, the first thing we discovered was the local "Eroski" supermarket chain. Considering that Anthony took "days" to find the supermarket, we were heartened that perhaps the cave people wouldn't actually be that hard to find either. One piece of information that we could remember, was that the cave people live in caves. Therefore, we saw a sign called "Cuevas del Drach" and we followed it. We ended at an 11 euro tourist trap for elderly couples in loafers and heels. So we gave up. We went to the beach, had some oranges, and rode back north via a coastal route. We stopped for a quick insanity workout and ended up back in our hotel, fridge stocked, around 2 pm. At this point, you guys could probably fill in what happened for the rest of the evening. Dinner was delicious sammies and veggies.

The next day was our LAST DAY OF BIKE TOURING (hopeully). This is an especially awesome day for me, since I feel like I've been huffing car fumes for four straight months. Sangria is the national drink of Spain, meaning we were culturally obligated to drink it here. This morning, we still had about a liter of Sangria in our minifridge. It only cost me about a euro, but in the spirit of European thrift, we decided it could not be wasted. We shared a celebratory toast, classily passing our carboard container around. The rest ended up in our bottles to be enjoyed along the way ;) The ride was a perfect way to end our touring days. Perfect pavement, rolling hills, sunny skies, and a breeze (headwind, ew, but I was in the back as usual, so I can't complain). Our destination today was Cala Santanyi, where Mallorca's famous natural rock arch supposedly lives (seriously, google Santanyi Mallorca Arch and/or Chris Sharma, a person is like an ant on that thing). From there, the plan was to bus to Palma, instead of riding an ugly 60 km, but the buses only ran from Santanyi at 1:15 or 6 pm, meaning we BOLTED to the beach and back, and since the arch was not conveniently jutting from the water right at the sand's edge, we turned around and hauled it back up to town. Another fail, but lucky for us, we live in the 21st century, we have google, and we also caught our bus. Last night we found our hotel like the pros we've become (after carrying our bikes up 20 flights of stairs, won't miss these cumbersome beasts....), we had some crappy dinner out, and retired to our usual hotel-room pastimes.

Which brings us to this beautiful morning. Finally, another breakfast compris...which we've all decided will be one of our favorite trip memories. We're all sitting around, drinking our 32nd hot beverage. Today, and probably the next couple days are going to be travel-filled logistical challenges. Here's a quick game plan, just in case our current ETA of 7:45 (PORTLAND, McKayla would like to remind her parents) on Thursday night goes awry:
Today - survive a seasick 8-hour ferry-ride from Palma to Barcelona
Tuesday - find bike boxes (<--- this is the clutch in our plan), somehow get three boxes and three loaded bikes to the barcelona train station, box up the bikes and half of our gear right there, catch a train to Madrid, figure out what we're doing with our boxes, and find a place to sleep.
Wednesday - buy shoes
Thursday - Get ourselves and our luggage to the airport, FLY HOME!
We may or may not be able to blog again, but just wish us the luck we need in the meantime, and don't worry, Erin's a logistical mastermind and already has about 20 alternate plans in the making.
We love and miss you all SO MUCH!!!!!!

Port de Pollenca to Cala Millor 58km

Friday, November 12th

"yeah, this apartment living is nice.. we should have figured this out earlier" -Amie

We decided to return to our beach vacation stutus. Well we didn't know actually know that was what we were getting ourselves into. The island of Mallorca is a tourist destination, but in November many hotels and shops are closed, leaving the island with an overdone, hokey tourist feel, mixed with a semi-ghosttown-like feel. With that said, all the hostels here are closed and it's difficult to find hotels (because the few that are open are booked). Yesterday we looked on booking.com for a hotel on the east coast of Mallorca so we can visit the famous caves and cliffs. We found another apartment for 3 people with a kitchen for 45 euro a night, this one is super nice! We even have a balcony overlooking a pool and the beach. The mediteranean water is so clear and the temperature isn't too cold, McKayla and I (Erin) just took a walk along the beach (the sand is soft here). The ride to Cala Millor was gorgeous today, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We followed the coast at first and then cruised along backroads with a few hills here and there to keep us entertained. Our plan for tomorrow is to bike to Porto Cristo and explore the caves on foot.

mission blog posten accomplished.

Thursday, November 11th

Happy Birthday Colman!

Coll de Fema 7.7km 5.5% grade, 47km total ride

Amie just made me the best sandwich ever, fried egg with ham, cheese (edam and cheddar!), and tomato, grilled to melty perfection. We are cooking dinner in our 1-bedroom apartment in Port de Pallenca, Mallorca (located on the north-eastern coast of the island). Yesterday we had intended on taking the bus from Palma to Soller and biking along a scenic mountain route to Port de Pallenca. Amie was feeling sick and took the bus straight to Port de Pallenca. As soon as Amie left, McKayla and I (Erin) realized we didn't have the bike pump. I haven't gotten a flat tire yet (knock on wood) and the route we wanted to take was 60km in the middle of nowhere (not even one town along the way). I got really anxious, and when the bus to Soller had no room for our bikes, I took it as a sign that we shouldn't ride. I was a bit bummed, but enjoyed the views on the bus to Port de Pallenca instead and went for a scenic run on the beach that afternoon. The bay is amazing because you can see the jagged, volcanic mountains along all sides of the aqua blue water.

Today we woke up (luckily) and intended on riding out the peninsula and hiking to some lighthouses. Once again our plans were thwarted, the road we needed to take was closed for construction. So instead we biked out on the road that we had intended on riding in on yesterday. About 15km in there was a mountain pass called Coll de Fema. The pass was 7.7 km long but the grade was only 5.5%, making it real easy to ride up (especially without panniers). I felt strong and cruised through the first 4km or so and then stopped to wait for Amie and McKayla. We rode up a but further and I discovered Amie was hacking up her lungs. She decided to take a 10 minute break and then head back down. In fear of being way overdue for a flat tire, I didn't want to split up the group (despite my urge to continue riding). I told her I'd ride 7 minutes up the pass and 3 minutes back down while she took her 10 minute break. I busted out the next 7 minutes and knew I was pretty close to the top, so I extended my ride to 8 minutes up, rode up to the Coll sign (515 meters of elevation gain). We cruised down and back all the way to the water in only 40 minutes, what a fun descent! I loved riding alongside Palm trees, Pine Trees, and deciduous trees with their leaves falling off. We ate our lunch along the beach and spent the afternoon trading song suggestions for when we return to the land of iTunes. Oh, also I've been trying some new fruits. Yesterday I got one called (in Spanish) a Chirimoya. It's got a green skin that you peel off to reveal a white flesh that surrounds large, hard black seeds. It's got a a tropical taste and is fun to eat. We tried Kaki (in Catalan) which is orange, looks like an apple, but is soft like a pear and tastes like a mango. I prefer the Kaki over the Chirimoya. Today I got a melon, it's green on the outside like a watermelon but tastes a tropical honeydew. Now you know, in case you were wondering...

Tomorrow we are heading to the Eastern coast where we will spend a few days exploring the beaches, caves, and cliffsides.


Love you guys!

Mallorca!

Tuesday, November 9

Hola blog followers, (McKayla here)

Yesterday morning at 6am we landed by boat on the Spanish Island of Mallorca. This wasn't our original plan, but I think we are all completely satisfied with our decision to spend the last week of our trip, before heading to Madrid, in this incredibly beautiful place. Mallorca is a travel destination for many cyclist because the island has it all...mountains, cliffs, scenic coastal bike paths, rolling hills, and fantastic pavement for road bikes. Hiking is also very popular on the island's northwestern mountains which offer spectacular ocean views from the top.

We spent Sunday creating plans for the week, only to change them multiple times when we learned that you can't take bikes on high speed trains in Spain. We were going to train to Sevilla, bike to Granada, and then train back to Madrid, but after that plan fell through Amie and Erin suggested we go to Mallorca. Amie's brother, Anthony, spend five weeks rock climbing on the island last spring and only had great things to say about it. Our seven hour ferry (an enormous cruise ship) left Barcelona at 11pm, and we slept in a cabin with bunks right through the entire ride. At sunrise, we biked 5km into the city of Palma. Ahead of us, the sky was pink and purple, and we could see a huge castle in the distance. Palm trees lined the bike path to our left, and motor/sail boats filled the harbour on our right. In Palma, we had breakfast at a cafe, found out a ton of information at the tourism office, bought a new map, grocery shopped, and found wifi at a cute little tea salon where we searched for available hotels.

We biked 10km along a coastal bike path to the beach town of Can Pastilla. The waves occasionally sprayed us as they spilled over on to the bike path, and the sea breeze pushed us along. The first 6 hotels we found were completely booked. We think it's because the winds have been perfect for parasailing and windsurfing. As we biked into the town, we saw over 50 parasailers and windsurfers out on the water. It was quite a sight, almost like a playground out at sea. We eventually found a place to stay and settled in for the night.

Today, Tuesday, we biked back through Palma and then north to the town of Bunyola. We stopped at an outlet mall for shopping (aka looking) and lunch about 20km into our ride because it started down pouring. The sun came out about an hour later, and we continued to make our way to Bunyola where we were going to pick up a trail head and go for a short hike. My cold has been lingering on, so I decided to take a bus back to Palma while Erin and Amie went for the hike.

Back at the hotel, Erin and Amie cooked a delicious whole wheat tortellini and setan dinner, and we spent the evening planning our next few days of adventures.
-

Pictures from Lloret and Barcelona

Hi all, Check out our new pictures on the above link! Hope you enjoy them.

When in Barcelona...

Saturday, November 6th
Barcelona!!

Yesterday we met up with Kelsey, Amie and my (Erin)'s freshman year roommate, who is studying abroad in Barcelona. She showed us around town and brought us to the Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia, both of which are designed by Gaudi. Gaudi is a famous architect/artist who has many significant works in Barcelona. Kelsey described Barcelona as "Gaudi's playground." While exploring the city we had a number of strange occurances:

1) At the top of the Park Guell we met up with Kelsey's friend, Miriam, from her program and Miriam was with her friend Tim (who is studying in London). Tim happens to be from Bowdoin and Amie and I both know him very well. So that was cool.

2). While talking to Tim we dropped the word "Bowdoin" several times and a girl next to us asked where we were from. Turns out she is from Falmouth, Maine and recognized me from cross country running in high school. She also knew McKayla's cousins who live in Falmouth.

3). After leaving the Park we walked down a random road and walked right by my next door neighbors, the Skapinskys. WEIRD. Annie, who is McKayla and my age, is studying in Barcelona and her family is out visiting her. We exchanged hugs as it was nice to see familar faces.

4). After dinner (we ate at a delicious groumet-chef-in-training restuarant, it was yummy and cheap! called the 15 nights) we went out to a bar where Tim saw friends from his high school.

5). After we left the bar we were walking down the road and we ran into a fellow Bowdoin student, Mac, who is sutdying in Copenhagen. I also saw him again this morning when I was out running along the water.

6). Another one of Kelsey's friends from her program then met up with us. His name is Sam and he brought with him some friends who were studying in Athens. One of them, Matt, was from Cumberland and knows some of our Bowdoin and Hamilton friends from Cumberland. Another of them, Greg, was from New Jersey and dated Christina Pindar, a Bowdoin stduent who Amie is rooming with this spring.

7). Kelsey then ran into a friend from high school who was visiting from Madrid.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!!!  We love having friends...

oh also, Barcelona is a very beautiful city.  It's clean, classy, and colorful; it's real nice.  More modern than other major European cities.  The people are friendly (although pick-pocketing is a major poblem here... McKayla got her ID and 7 euro stollen yesterday, could have been much worse...).  The weather has been incredible too, real hot and sunny!

Gittin our tan on

Hi everyone! We are currently in beautiful Barcelona.  Here's our post for yesterday:

Wednesday, November 3rd

Hola, Erin here. Our mini beach vacation is treating us nicely. We started our day with one of the best buffet breakfasts we've had so far; fresh fruit, cereals, yogurt, breads, cooked meats, fried eggs, muffins, little donuts, even sugar wafers (my favorite! but I don't usually eat them for breakfast...) Afterwards, we walked along the beach and through town to a nearby track to do our workout. At first I was dispointed when it appeared that a track club, comprised of men, women, and children of all ages, was meeting at the same time that we showed up; I don't like to workout when people are staring at me the whole time. In fact, I'm quite tired of being stared at on this trip; I really can't wait to be a normal citizen again. I want to be able to walk into the grocery without my bike shoes on, I want a proper area to cook my dinner, and I want to rid myself of the feeling that someone is going to scold me everytime I try to sit down. Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to realize our presence on the track was completely normal. Everyone else wore similar clothing and did their own workouts that were just as weird as ours. It was a very refreshing feeling. More refreshing, however, was our dip in the Mediteranean Sea after the workout. It felt like it was 85 degrees in the sun on the track (although it was cooler in town). The sand here is redder and much coarser than the sand in Maine; as much as I wanted to walk across the beach in my bare feet, the sand was so rough that I only lasted the walk down to the water and back, about 100 yards (and my feet are still much smoother on the bottom now than they were before). The water was cold, it felt like the Atlantic in the summertime.

We had a long break in the afternoon where we sat outside and read our books and journaled. I have a lot of trouble on days like these where I feel like I have nothing to do. I'm realizing how much I need/crave the feeling of accomplishing something everyday, be that doing my schoolwork, completing a long ride, learning something new, or simply getting my laundry and chores done. I thrive off of the feeling that I've done something productive or meaningful (sometimes I can convince myself that rest and relaxation are what I need to do that day, but not when I'm feeling refreshed). So I found myself wondering all afternoon, what am I doing here? If I could do anything right now what would I do? McKayla and I ended up going out for a short bike ride out on the winding, hilly road we rode in on yesterday. The ride reminded me why I want to be bike touring in Spain right now. Besides the perfect weather, we had view of the sea on one side and the mountains and cliffs on the other. Since we were riding without panniers we were able to fly up and down the hills, I felt really strong. Plus Amie lent me her iPod so I had a whole new selection of music to enjoy. I feel remotivated for our ride to Barcelona tomorrow. Amie and my freshman year roommate and good friend, Kelsey, is studying in Barcelona right now and we are excited to meet up with her. I hope she can show us around the city, she's already given us many helpful tips about the cities we've been to in Spain thus far.

This evening we cooked up a hearty veggie soup and veggie burgers on the beach under the setting sun. So many people stared at us...

We may have found paradise (Girona to Lloret de Mar - 52km)

Tuesday, November 2

Quote of the day: "I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum…I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world, upon whose spinning wheel we must all earn to ride, or fall into the sluiceways of oblivion and despair. That which made me succeed with the bicycle was precisely what had gained me a measure of success in life -- it was the hardihood of spirit that led me to begin, the persistence of will that held me to my task, and the patience that was willing to begin again when the last stroke had failed. And so I found high moral uses in the bicycle and can commend it as a teacher without pulpit or creed." --- Frances E. Willard, How I Learned To Ride The Bicycle, 1895

Hi all, It's McKayla checking in. I've finally fully recovered from my sick spell, just in time to take full advantage of this unbelievably perfect weather here on the Spanish coast. This afternoon we reached the touristy beach town of Lloret de Mar where we checked in at a resortesque hotel complete with pool, hot tub, sauna, ocean views from our balcony, and a free buffet breakfast. We can't believe it's cheaper than most hostels (only 17 euro/person). I'm not sure if we actually found "nirvana on wheels" in Girona (check out NYT article, http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/travel/12girona.html?_r=1), but I'm certain we've found a little slice of paradise here in sunny Lloret.

Fresh, smooth pavement lined the roads from Girona to the coast. We cruised through two minor mountain passes on a winding, lightly trafficked route. We all agreed this was one of the all around best roads we've cycled on so far. I can understand why so many pro cyclists, including Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton, live and train in Girona during the off season.The warm Mediterranean air has certainly made riding even more enjoyable. I still can't believe I was biking beside snow patches just last week.

I've loved noticing the slight changes in scenery as we've been slowly moving south - new mountains, rocks, trees, birds, architecture, not to mention the larger changes in language and culture. It's challenging completing even simple tasks, like paying for food at a grocery store, when I can hardly speak a word of Spanish (I'm so thankful Amie is practically fluent). I'm now beginning to better appreciate the amount of French I can speak. In France, I was often frustrated that I couldn't convey everything I wanted, but now I'm realizing that I really could accomplish quite a bit using only my mediocre French. I think I'll have to start being more creative, using other means of communication, to get my point across these last few weeks in Spain.

This afternoon we finally got back into routine by doing a pool deck abs workout...our favorite :) We went swimming in the chilly pool, but quickly opted for the warmer indoor hot tub (which was disappointingly more of a warm tub). The sauna was too packed, so we decided to just take showers back in our room...I know, we have it so rough. We cooked a scrumptiously satisfying one pot meal full of veggies, beans, corn, and veggie burger. I'm not sure what you would call it, besides mush, but we all thought it was "the best thing ever." I guess we don't have very high standards.

Plan for Wednesday: Spend the day/night in Lloret. Do an insanity workout, go to the beach, and explore the town. We will bike to Barcelona on Thursday!

Good news: I'm posting new pictures later today. Enjoy!

Halloween and November 1st!

　
Hi friends and family (or let's be real, it's just family at this point :). This is Amie finally reporting for blog duty after a several-week hiatus. Currently we're sitting in our hostel room in Girona, Spain. How we managed to get here is actually a bit of a funny tale, but I'll start with yesterday I suppose.

We woke up in Perpignan to buffet breakfast (YES) and the best weather we've seen in a while. In fact, Perpignan has a street entirely lined with palm trees, which are a rather re-assuring change of scenery. We biked out of the city without a problem and started cruising toward Spain! For most of this ride we had one of the worst headwinds we've encountered yet, a bullying wind that seemed to get you from all sides at once. Lucky for us there wasn't really another town between Perpignan and Figueres for us to wimp out and stay in, so we battled the wind resolutely and biked on. The Pyrenees (sp? i've seen this word written in French, Spanish and Catalan recently so I forgot what English calls them) form the border between France and Spain, but we were close enough to the coast that we were really just in the foothills. We climbed gradually up and up from Perpignan until we hit the border town of Le Perthus. From there it was mostly a descent all the way into Figueres, rounding off the ride a bit over 60 km. The scenery out here is amazing - the mountains, foothills and palm trees remind me a lot of the mountainous regions of southern and central California. Also, I did notice that while the language had definitely changed, it was NOT Spanish.... Turns out we're in Cataluna (squiggle on top of the n, pronounced "catalunya"), which is still Spain but they speak Catalan here (looks like french and italianized-spanish). The buildings changed a bit too - more stucco and terra-cotta like one would expect. In Figueres there is no hostel, but we found a nice cheap hotel called Hotel Europa. Then we went on a failed laundromat mission (our situation was getting SERIOUS) - unfortunately it turned out that our laundromat didn't exist... Since it was Sunday, and the sunday before All-Saints-Day, no grocery stores were open, so we had some dinner in town and hit the sack. Overall great first impression of Spain.

Today has been a bit funnier. This morning we took a roundabout, 56 km ride from Figueres into Girona. Farmland. Stucco. Pretty clouds. Erin led us basically the whole way. I LOVE her for that, just absolutely love her. We hit Girona just after noon. We knew today was going to be rather hip-hoppin' because it's all-saints-day (Spanish Halloween I suppose, without the crappy candy and scary costumes), but it turns out Girona was HIP HIPPITY HOPPIN'. The downtown streets were teeming with Catalunan hordes perusing art and food stands. Based on our extremely technical assessment of our hostel's location (we glanced at google maps and "put it in our minds") we were pretty sure that our hostel was smack-dab in the middle of the commotion. So there we were with three loaded bikes waddling through disgruntled Spanish crowds and apologizing incriminatingly in English and cracking up, when people started telling us sentences that definitely included the words "bicicleta" "gente" and "impossible" in them. Getting the hint, we turned around, I asked a man where our hostel was, and we managed to find it via a parallel street that wasn't so chaotic. THEN WE DID OUR LAUNDRY. thank god. Currently we're having a siesta, but tonight hopefully we'll hit the town (in honor of the saints, of course). In fact, when we asked the hostel receptionist what there was to do tonight, he told us to come back 10 minutes later so he could properly inform us. We're going to assume that means there's SO much going on he wanted to get it all straight.

And that's life. I'm happy to be in Spain to use my Spanish instead of my rather pathetic French. I think we're all feeling a little burnt out on traveling and dealing with foreign...everything. I mean, we just spent Halloween without a single Reese's peanut butter cup. Then again, I saw a palm tree today, and there's no better way to give your persective a good workout than to deal with some new things. Tomorrow we're going to hit the coast and hopefully find some beautiful beaches a days ride north of Barcelona!
Much love from all of us!

real exciting days

Friday, October 29th
Avignon to Montpellier 110km

Today the weather was sunny and got progressively windier and grayer.  Amie and Erin rode their bikes, McKayla took a train (still ill).  Erin listened to Jack Johnson and Guster while riding, Amie listened to her entire iPod on shuffe, McKayla did not listen to anything.  That's about it, we ate some snacks and saw a lot of French farmland  It was pretty boring.  Montpellier has a lovely town center (just like all others).  There is more poverty in Montpellier however.  The hostel was awful, we shared bunk beds with middle-aged homeless women.  We ate pizza and ice cream for dinner.  Yay.

Saturday, October 30th
Montpellier to Perpignan via train

Today the weather was pouring rain.  Amie and Erin and McKayla took a train to Perpignan.  Amie wants you to know that the train was free because no one was checking tickets due to the striking (and not because we pulled any crazy turn-stile jumping moves).  We bought a map of spain and a new camera chip, so pictures will be happening again.  For dinner we microwaved vegetables and lentils and soup.  The hotel is cheap and modern.  Tonight we will finally enjoy a Religiuese before leaving france, tomorrow we will go to Spain if the weather cooperates.  Goodnight.

"Guess what?! Breakfast is included tomorrow." "YESSSSSSS"

Wednesday, October 27th
Valence, France to Avignon, France 147km

We got a bit of a late start this morning, after a sleep in and usual long breakfast we ran into some bike troubles.  We thought our pump was broken (its been on the fritz for a few weeks now), but upon going to a nearby bike shop and getting our tires filled by an air compressor pump, we realized Amie just had a flat tire (which she promptly changed in the amount of time it took me, Erin, to get my tires filled by the air compressor). By 11am we were on the road, following the Rhone river south.  The sun was out and we had a nice tail wind, we cruised through the first 50km in under two hours.

We stopped outside Montalier to eat lunch at a playground where we made a new friend, Valentin.  He was about 6 years old and we learned he was on "fete" from school (they have a two week school vacation right now).  He likes basketball (more than biking) and his dad drives a tractor.  It was a bit depressing realizing we could barely hold a conversation in French with a six year old.

We navigated te rest of the to Avignon like old pros.  I felt really strong, I was worried that two weeks without any serious bike touring would take its toll, but instead it left my biking muscles well rested.  It was a good day for a 150km (90 mile) ride, the longest yet of our tour (and my farthest day ride by 10 miles).  However, we thought the ride was going to be shorter (we didn't really look at the map scale too closely) so it was getting dark as we approached our hostel.  Seeing the sun set across the Rhone was beautiful and seeing the chateaus of Avignon all lit up was a wonderful way to end the day.  Plus, exercising at dusk, especially when tired, gave me intense nostalgic feelings of fall ski practice.  At school we are always fighting the sunset, trying to get in another 10 minutes of rollerskiing before dark.  However, at school we also always go to Thorne dining hall for dinner right after practice.  We were quite hungry upon our arrival (hence Amie's ecstatic exclamation to hearing we would get breakfast included in the morning).  We whipped up a delicious chili to top off the day, we're getting pretty good at this...

Thursday, October 28th
Avignon layover ride 50km

Another beautiful, sunny morning.  Unfortunately McKayla woke up feeling very sick (we've all been battling little colds for the past few days).  We attempted to get her on a train to Sommieres,where we intended on biking for the day.  However, due to the strikes there was absolutely no way for her to get to Sommieres (or Nimes, or Montpellier, or Marseille) with her bike today.  Too ill to even bike back to the hostel where we stayed last night, we found a cheap hotel right next to the train station and checked in so McKayla could go back to sleep.  Amie and I did a loop along the Rhone again, it was warm enough to ride in a t-shirt today for the first time in 3 weeks!  Although I woke up this morning amped to bike tour again (I wasn't even sore from yesterday, not even my sit bones!!), it was probably a good thing we didn't ride all the way to Sommieres.  I didn't realize how tired I was until we got going, so Amie and I just leisurely enjoyed our 50km ride. 

When we rode back into town there was a strike occuring in the city; at first I was nervous it would be unsafe.  However, the strike was very civil and reminded me more of a parade than the riot I was expecting.  There was music and marching and lots of police supervision.  Afterwards we explored Avignon.  The downtown area is surrounded completely by a large fortress, anyone know the history?!  It's very unique and has a charming feel.  We cooked up some vegie soup for dinner and then enjoyed fresh pastries for dessert.  I got a chocolate mousse thing dipped in more chocolate with bits of chocolate cake, it was scrumptious.  We were looking for a Religiouse, a favorite of my friend Grace, but we were unsuccessful in finding one... we'll have to try again, darn. 

Who knows what tomorrow will bring us, we'll have to see how McKayla is feeling and if the trains are running again!

Reunited

Amie and I (Erin) were able to make it to Valence, France to meet up with McKayla today!  Our original plan was to meet up in Marseille tomorrow, but due to the train strike, oil strikes in Marseile, and other circumstances we really wanted to get to McKayla today.  Amie got into Lutry with just enough time to hug Nadine and Jerry and grab her bike before we headed back to the train station.  We made it to Genevia without a problem, but then our next train to Valence was cancelled.  We hitched another train to Lyon and then were able to get a train to Valence (it was late and slow, but we made it!). 

We were all very happy to see each other again.  Our time apart has made us realize how lucky we are to be traveling together.  Plus we keep saying how excited we are to get back into the bike touring routine.  Tomorrow we'll bike to Avignon and then we'll make our way southwest toward Spain. 

Almost like sailing (123 km) Lyon to Valence

Hi all, I'm going to keep this blogpost brief because I'm thoroughly exhausted from a long day, but I just wanted to fill everyone in on our whereabouts and plans.

I spent the day riding downwind along the Rhone from Lyon to Valence. With the wind at my back, I felt like my bike had a motor. I hit 60km/h on several flat sections (that is faster than my usual downhill speed), and I exceeded the driving speed limit in a few towns! I honestly felt like I was sailing on a run with the wind propelling me forward as I pedaled just for kicks. I think my arms might be sore tomorrow because I had to continually brace myself when huge gusts almost blew me over. I watched the kilometers fly by on my computer, and I made it to Valence by mid-afternoon. When I crossed the bridge over the Rhone before entering the center of Valence, the wind was so powerful that I had to walk my bike. I started biking across, but soon realized that I would surely fall over if I kept biking. I had trouble keeping balance even as I walked. A woman was walking her dog ahead of me, and the dog could barely move because he/she was being pushed into the railing along the bridge (she eventually started running just to get it over with). I've never biked in such strong winds!

Erin couldn't make it to Valence today because of the French train strikes, so she and Amie will meet me here tomorrow. I'm very much looking forward to riding with them again!

All the best, McKayla

Rain = Train (after 50k of chilly biking)

Yesterday - Sunday, October 24

Today didn't go according to plan, but that tends to happen when it's cold and rainy. My goal was to bike all the way to Lyon, but about 20 km into my ride I had to take a detour up and over a mountain. This took some time as you might imagine.

I had been cruising along route D1075, following the cycling directions I had found online, until I discovered that the next route I planned to take was not at all suitable for me and my bike. I checked my map for an alternate route, turned around, and within a couple of kilometers I was biking north, about 80 degrees in the wrong direction, up "Col de la Placette." It's only a 587 meter climb, but it sure felt a lot harder than any section of Chamrousse. The rain, the cold, the weight of my panniers, and the fact that I wasn't really taking the most direct route made me anxious that I might never make it to Lyon. After conquering the grueling "col", I cruised down the other side and headed in the direction of Voiron. By the time I reached this little city, my finger and toes where completely frozen. I booked it over to the train station and hopped on the next train to Lyon.

Within an hour I was in the center of the city. I easily found my hostel in the old section of Lyon by crossing both the Rhone and Saone (a major tributary of the Rhone). The hostel is located on a steep hill that overlooks this huge beautiful city. The view is impressive even on this dreary Sunday.

I just took a nice warm shower and spread out my wet clothes on the radiator. I'm going to spend the evening making sure I know exactly where I'm going tomorrow. I'm very excited to meet up with Erin! We will spend the next few day biking to Marseilles where we will reunite with Amie!

Up in the air, Chamrousse style

Chamrousse, 1750 m -- 5,741 ft.
(21 km climb, 80 km for the day)

Quote du jour: "Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self—reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."-Susan B. Anthony

 Today I took on the magnificent Chamrousse. My ride was truly one of the most exciting and empowering biking experiences I've ever had.

Chamrousse is a mountain and ski resort town located 30 km southeast of Grenoble. There are two lightly-trafficked roads up the mountain from the town of Uriage-les-Bains, so most people drive or bike up one side and coast down the other. Chamrousse has been and will continue to be used as part of a Tour de France stage race. On July 19th, 2001, Lance won the ITT up the western side of Chamrousse. He completed the race (Grenoble to the top) in 49 minutes. Just about as long as it took me...

After spending a solid 15k taking wrong turns out of Grenoble, I somehow managed to find route D5 which could take me to either Alpe-d'Huez or Chamrousse. I woke up with the intention of climbing the famous Alpe-d'Huez, but after wasting too much time getting lost, I decided to stay closer to Grenoble and tackle Chamrousse instead. I know riding up Alpe-d'Huez would have been amazing, not to mention nearly impossible with its 21 hairpin turns, but I didn't want to risk riding too far from from my hostel so late in the morning. I'll save Alpe-d'Huez for the next time I'm in Grenoble.

I approached the mountain from the northern side, first hitting the town of St. Martin less than a quarter of the way up. I pedaled at a slow, but constant clip, taking only one hazelnut chocolate bar break about 10k up. I easily worked my way into a steady rhythm while listening to my motivational music, and I didn't really ever feel the need to completely stop until the top where I took some pics and added a few layers. There were several altitude signs along the way, so I always had a fair sense of how many more vertical meters I had to endure. The switchbacks on my map were not 100% accurate, so I couldn't rely on them to help me determine my exact location. I was biking alongside patches of snow for the last 5km of the ascent, and I could definitely feel the drop in temperature. When I rounded the last corner and saw ski lifts, buildings, and "Chamrousse (Le Recoin) 1650 m" I was ecstatic! I stood up and powered to the sign ahead. At this point, I still had another 100 vertical meters to the real top, "Chamrousse (Roche-Beranger) 1750 m", but I knew I'd have no trouble summiting after coming this far.

At the top, I prepared for the greatest descent of all times (for me anyway) by licking nutella (I know, I didn't fuel my body too healthfully today) out of a packet that I took from breakfast and by putting on my fleece zip-up, gloves, and a neck warmer. My route down consisted of a million, seemingly never ending switchbacks. I'm a pretty conservative downhill rider, so I'm sure my rear break pads are a little thinner than they were this morning. At one point when I thought I was flying as fast as any pro-racer, another rider zipped by me, and within seconds he was out of sight around the next bend. That reminded me of every time I ride down a hill with my Dad (who does everything in his power to go as fast as he possibly can). I'm always left in the dust, so I'm used to that.

Another day of intense riding has once again left me invigorated and thoroughly exhausted. Time for some zzzzzz. I hoped to walk around Grenoble this evening, but I just don't think my quads are up to it.  I think I just experienced the best of what the area has to offer anyways.

Future plans: Tomorrow, I'll ride to Lyon rain or shine. Someday, I'll move to Grenoble.

Statistics:
Base town: Uriage
Starting altitude: 410 meters, 1,345 ft.
Distance: 21 km (total mileage for the day: 80 km)
Vertical climb:1330 meters, 4363 ft.
Gradient: 6.5% average - 10% maximum


Picture and info from: http://www.grenoblecycling.com/Col-Chamrousse.htm>

Webcam action: http://www.chamrousse.com/www-webcam-33-HIVER-FR-CHAMROUSSE_2.html

Pizzeria, Gelatoria, Spagettoria, Patiseria...

Erin here. I've met up in Milan with my friend Libby from high school.  She made it in very early this morning and I was so so happy to see her!

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and I had the whole day to kill by myself.  After a leisurely breakfast I did a little track workout on a dirt track with some Italian high schoolers who had to run during gym class (they loved it).  I then took the Metro into the center of Milan to the Duomo (a large church with a thousands of spires, as Libby said, 'If I fell from the sky I would not want to fall on that).   Supposedly at the Duomo Metro stop there was a tourism office, however this simply turned out to be an information office for the Metro and proved unhelpful for getting a map/locating the hotel.  I bought a map, sat outside the Duomo and ate some lunch, and then attempted to locate the hotel on the map.  The hotel adress 'via G. Prati' was not located on the map's street index, but 'via G. Prevati' was, I assumed I had made a mistake in writing down the adress and started walking in the direction of the hotel. 

Milan is an old, European city.  It's kind of dirty and not too pretty, but it has old cobblestone streets and ancient little trolly trams for public transportation.  The guys do ride mopeds everywhere, just like in the movies.  The town is famous for its shopping.  I felt really out of place as I walked down streets selling Rollex, Lacoste, stillettos, cashmire sweaters, and diamond crusted boots while I wore my jeans and grungy gray sweatshirt and carried my dirty, mud-speckled pannier in my arms like it was my baby.

After about an hour of peaceful, meditative, and observant walking I approaced via G. Prevati, at which point I thought to myself, 'via g. prevati is pretty different from via g. prati, I don't usually make big mistakes like that.'  I walked down the entire road to where number 6 should have been, but right between number 4 and number 8 was just a gap with a metal fence.  Great.  I thought either I was scammed or G. Prevati was not the right road.  I kicked myself for giving all these directions to Libby for finding the hotel, but didn't write them down for myself.

So, what did I do?  I searched for a McDonalds, sat down, and attempted to get on their free wifi with my iTouch.  My iTouch didn't pick up their signal however, and I was getting a little nervous.  I scanned the map and luckily my eye caught a tiny little road called 'via G. Prati'.  I was so relieved, it wasn't too far away either.  It took me about 20 more minutes to walk there, and when I turned the corner onto the street and saw the hotel sign I was so happy!

Today Libby and I explored more of the city, saw the ancient fortress that is an entrance to the old city and ate Gelato in a Gelatoria.  I like how it's so easy to tell what every shop here sells because you just add 'oria' to the item that's sold.  Italy is great because they have real donuts (none of those fake donuts they sell in France) as well as tons of cheeses and breads and fresh fruits and vegetables.  Tonight we're going to enjoy a true Italian meal (on Italian time of course) and then head out early early tomorrow morning to take a train to Venice.  We'll spend a day in Venice and then Libby will head back to Berlin (where she is studying with the Stanford program) and I'll head to Lausanne.  I'll pick up my bike and meet McKayla on Monday and bike with her the rest of the way to Marseille!

Annecy to Grenoble (133 km)

Friday, October 22

Quote du jour: "Bicycles have no walls." -- Paul Cornish

I've made it to Grenoble...and I'm ready for bed. If my sentences don't make much sense, it's because I can barely keep my eyes open. I arrived at the hostel just before dark (7:15), and now I'm sitting on a comfy leather couch, elevating my lactic acid filled legs on a chair, while I wait to order my dinner in the hostel bar/restaurant.

My ride was once again incredibly scenic. I really could not believe my eyes most of the time. Looking out at the alps never gets old. I had some route variety today as I used both strict cycling paths as well as secondary driving roads. It took me until 1pm to reach Chambery where I ate lunch in a sunny outdoor plaza. Afterwards, I stopped by the tourism office to see if they knew of the best cycling route to Grenoble. I learned about the "voie verte," or green lanes for biking that are located throughout the region. I attained a biking map, and easily navigated my way out of town to the bike route "Avenue Verte Sud." So many recreational riders were taking advantage of the beautiful weather today! Everyone was so friendly and helpful, saying, "bonjour, ca va?" as they passed. I got a bit lost at one point, and a rider stopped and gave me detailed directions. We talked in French for a few minutes, and he said he had visited New York and Bangor, ME.

I struggled to find the cyclable route into Grenoble (the city is HUGE), but I eventually made my way into the centre ville via a riverside bike trail. I loved the feel of riding on paths with tons of joggers and bike commuters. I felt like I fit right into this sporty city. I repeatedly checked the city maps at bus stops to make sure I was heading in the right direction of my hostel, and after what seemed like eternity, I found it!

I'm about to research my options for tomorrow.  I'm thinking about either riding to Lyon, or staying in the Grenoble area to do a mountain pass loop.

Lutry, Switz. to Annecy, France (128 km)

Quote du jour:  "It is no longer a beast of steel…no it is a friend . . it is a faithful and powerful ally against one's worst enemies. It is stronger than anxiety, stronger than sadness. It has all the power of hope." -Maurice Leblanc
I (McKayla) left beautiful Lutry this morning at the reasonable hour of 9am. My traveling buddies left quite a bit earlier (3 and 5am) to catch their respective trains and planes. Erin and Amie are spending the weekend with friends (Amie in Amsterdam, and Erin in Milan), and I have decided to continue biking towards southern France. After a week of our solo journeys, we will meet back up in Marseille on Wed. Oct. 27. From there, we will continue biking along the southern coast of France into Spain. I already miss their wonderful company and smiling faces, but I'm sure we will have many great stories to exchange when we reunite next week. I have the laptop with me, so I'll probably have the easiest time posting blogs, but hopefully they will find a way to get online and fill you in on their whereabouts!

I could not have asked for better weather for my first day of solo riding. The first section of my ride was effortless as a tailwind practically pushed me all the way to Geneva. I rode along the north side of lake Leman and had crystal clear views of the Alps the whole way. In Geneva, I ate a warm ham and cheese sandwich inside a Starbucks cafe where I was comforted by the voice of Norah Jones on the stereo system. After fueling up, I took on the daunting task of navigating my way out of Geneva. It was a challenge to say the least, but I eventually made it through the last of the suburbs and hopped on a direct route (D1201) to Annecy. The second half of my ride was as equally beautiful as the first. I could see the snow-covered Mont Blanc off and on as I dipped in and out of the valleys. Time and kilometers flew by. I reached Annecy without even peaking down at my bike computer to check on my stats....that rarely happens.

It took me an average amount of time to locate my hostel. I'd say 5k of searching...haha. Like usual, I was so relieved when I finally saw the good old youth hostel symbol (a one door house next to a tree). I checked in, ate all of my snack food for dinner because I didn't want to bother biking downhill 3k to town, and I looked at my maps to plan out my route for tomorrow. I'm shooting for Grenoble! I'm mentally preparing for a hilly ride. Wish me luck!

Ciao

This weekend we are all embarking on solo excursions. Amie and I (Erin) are taking a break from biking, while McKayla is pushing herself to new biking extremes (she is biking from Lutry to Marseille). Amie is visiting her friend Sara in Amsterdam and I am visiting my friend Libby in Milan, Italy.

I started my day at 4:45am, although I can't complain because Amie started her day at 2:45am... On the train to Milan I stopped and walked around Stresa, a cute, touristy lake town with great views of the Italian Alps. I looked for a disposable camera, but they don't appear to have them here. After walking around for an hour I got lonely and bored so I continued to Milan. I navigated the metro and found the hostel. I am definitely more anxious being in an Italian city alone, but the hostel is very safe so I stayed in for the afternoon. Tomorrow I'll venture into the city proper, chech into a hotel, and wait for Libby to arrive! Although I'm lonely the hardest part of being alone is feeling like I can't take advantage of exploring Italy without feeling uncomfortable. So I'm reading in Italy, which is still pretty cool, haha!

Lutry to Evian

Monday, October 18

We are back in Lutry for a few days while we relax and prepare for the next parts of our trip. Yesterday, we started the day off with another insanity workout in the picturesque lakeside park right down the road from my (McKayla) grandparents apartment. We all felt a little more sluggish than usual because I think we were still recovering from our long hike/bike rides in Interlaken.

We had a few minutes to spare back in the apartment before we biked over to IMD (the university where my Grandma works) to join her for a yoga class and lunch. The campus is located in Ouchy, right down the hill from the Lausanne city center. We meet up with her and walked through the campus to the sports center only to discover that the yoga teacher was out sick. I think we were all just as happy to have an earlier lunch after having already done our insanity workout. The IMD cafeteria served the most delicious gourmet food. The buffet selections included fig and onion glazed veal, pumpkin risotto, calamari, fresh and steamed vegetables, and an incredibly decadent array of desserts. You can be sure we all had second helpings and then some...without question one of the best meals of our trip. We even got to take containers to go. After a satisfying lunch, my grandma led us over to the university library, so we could all do some research on computers. She told the woman at the front desk that we were her graduate students working on a special project. We figured we would fit right in wearing our biking tights and reflector jackets. We had a productive 2 hours booking hostels, trains, and researching routes.

Afterwards, Amie decided to bike back to Lutry for a hot bath, while Erin and I walked up the hill to Lausanne to do some errands. I mailed 2 postcards, bought 2 maps, and finally purchased a new pair of long spandex after having worn a softball size hole in my old pair. We walked back down to Ouchy where we picked up our bikes and headed back to Lutry. The ride back along the lake was absolutely beautiful. We were both thankful for the crisp fall weather after having endured harsh winter-like conditions in Interlaken. The sky was blends of pink and red, and we had the most gorgeous view of the French alps across the lake.

Tuesday, October 19
Lutry to Evian-les-Bains (67km)

Quote of the day: "You always know when you’re going to arrive. If you go by car, you don’t. Apart from anything else,I prefer cycling. It puts you in a good mood, I find."-- Playwright Alan Bennett, Boston Globe, June 2006
 The sun was shining in Lutry, so we (McKayla and Erin) decided to bike to Evian (the French town directly across the lake). We had amazing views of the French Alps with their newly snow-covered peaks as we cruised down the north-east side of the lake. However, when we rounded the bend to the south side of the lake, the sun disappeared along with the breathtaking views, and we were left with narrow busy roads that led us into France. When we arrived in Evian, we thawed our toes in a little cafe. The town was surprisingly dead, and on this cold October day Evian didn't have too much going for it besides it's famous water. We decided to take the next ferry back to Lausanne because we couldn't stand the cold any longer. We eventually made it back to Lutry where we warmed up with a nice pot of tea.

Meanwhile, while we were having our biking fun time, Amie was making her own fun. She walked along the lake to Lausanne and ate lunch at a dog park (Amie wishes she could bring a dog in her pannier).

New Pictures and 2 new blogs below

New pics from Interlaken: http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/InterlakenExcursions
If you are interested in reading more about what we did in Interlaken, I (McKayla) posted 2 new blogs today. Read below.

Interlaken to Grindelwald and beyond (50km)

Saturday, October 16

We woke up to more cold and dreary weather this morning, but that didn't stop any of us from wanting to explore more of what the Jungfrau region had to offer. Erin and Amie went hiking (they will fill you in later), and I decided to bike up to Grindelwald.

After bundling up in practically all of the clothes I packed, I headed up the mountain. The first half of the ride was pretty gradual, and I barely noticed the rain pouring down. Although the air temp was probably about 2 degrees Celsius, my body was working hard enough to stay warm. The road carried me alongside the beautiful glacial waters of the Lutschine river, and I occasionally crossed paths with the train tracks that lead up to Grindelwald. I reached the town at about 20k and proceeded to follow a narrow winding road beyond town. About 5k later, the rain turned to snow! I could see the snow accumulating on the hills above me, and I realized I better bike down into Grindelwald before I became hypothermic.

Back in town, I found a cafe where I warmed up with a few cups of hot tea and warm milk. After thawing my extremities and warming my belly for about 30 min., I headed out for the 20 km descent back to Interlaken. I had to constantly wiggle and blow on my fingers to keep them from freezing. I stood up and pumped as hard as I could on the relatively flat sections, so that my body could stay warm. The ride literally flew by (compared to riding up), but I would say the descent was much more of a challenge than the climb. I guess I'll have to come back here some day to do the ride when it's 65 F and sunny.


Once I made it safely to the hostel, I headed straight for a nice long warm shower! Erin and Amie had already returned from their hike, and we all spent the rest of the day relaxing, eating, and trying to stay warm.
As I mentioned in the last post, we are headed for Lutry today, and we will spend tomorrow planning the next few segments of our trip.


"My love for the bike remains as strong now as it was in the days when I first discovered it. I am convinced that long after I have stopped riding as a professional I will be riding my bicycle. I never want to abandon my bike. I see my grandfather, now in his seventies and riding around everywhere. To me that is beautiful. And the bike must always remain a part of my life." -Stephen Roche

I love this quote because I too hope to be riding my bike (and x-c skiing) around when I'm in my seventies just like my granddad :)

The Interlaken adventures continue...

Hi all, It's McKayla bloggin' today. Hope you are all staying warm wherever you are. It's been quite chilly up in these parts. Today (Sunday) is our last morning in Interlaken, and we will soon depart for Lutry.

Here is an update of what Erin and I did on Friday!

Yesterday (Friday) morning Erin and I started the day off with a bike ride up to Lauterburnnen, a small mountain town south of Interlaken. Amie woke up with a minor cold, so she decided to rest back at the hostel for the day. The route up to Lauterburnnen was fairly gradual, and we didn't have our panniers weighing us down, so we had an easier than expected climb up to the cute Swiss town. The Balmer's hostel receptionist, Celie, told us to ride all the way through town to the enormous waterfall, Staubbachfall. It was easy to spot from the main road as it poured a straight stream of water 297 meters down the cliff (see pics soon to come).

We had a fast ride back to Interlaken where we quickly transitioned into our paragliding attire...yep, you read that right, paragliding! The company picked us up at the hostel, and drove us up Beatenberg Mountain, 4400ft. Before we knew it, we were both soaring back and forth above Interlaken and Thunesse Lake. The ride was surprising very comfortable and both of felt like we were almost floating, rather than screaming through the sky. As we approached our landing field we got to experience a bit more turbulence when our paragliding guides picked up speed and whipped us in u-turns until we were about 200ft from the field. The actual landing was quite easy for us passengers. We simply had to straighten out our legs, and we smoothly landed on our feet. Although we didn't have crystal clear views of the alps (only the tip of Jungfrau stuck out of the clouds) the whole experience was still spectacular and unlike anything I've ever done before! I had my digital camera with me, and Erin bought pictures, so we will be posting them soon!

Wanderweg

Wednesday, October 13

Hiking Adventure

Last night during McKayla's birthday celebration we met a fellow college junior from Idaho, TJ, and a British friend of Amie's from Oktoberfest, Steve. We made plans with them to go hiking this morning. We met the two guys at breakfast and then walked down the road to the train station, where we caught a train from Interlaken (576 m) partway up the mountain to Grindalwald (1034 m). It was cold and cloudy. From there we walked through town and then began climbing straight uphill through cattlefields on paved pathways/roads to Brandegg.

We then hit the true mountainside and followed a more traditional hiking trail upwards toward Eigergletscher. We crossed the couldline, could see blue skies, and the begining of many spectacular views. To our left (East) side was a large, snow covered cliff. Behind us and to the right (Northeast) were views of Grindalwald and more of the Swiss Alps. We hiked in hopes of getting past the cliff on our left and above the ridge, where the sun would be shining and where we would be able see the mountains in the South. As we walked, everytime we felt we were getting closer we also felt like the cliffside was getting longer and longer. While I (Erin) knew we could make it up past the cliff without a problem, I was worried as we hiked longer and longer that we would have a tough time getting back down the mountain (people don't die hiking up Everest, they die hiking down Everest... well some people die summiting Everest but you get the point). TJ and Steve were motivated to get past the cliff and were not phased by this thought, and so they pushed us onward.
I was glad they did so, I was very happy when we crossed over the ridge and could see the sun shining in front of us. We quickly walked into the sunlight and saw stunning views of the snow covered mountains to the East and South, as well of the town we walked up from. We were at an elevation of 2320 meters (1300 meters of elevation gain) and we think we walked about 6 miles. We enjoyed a late lunch in the sunshine, crisp fall air, and blue skies. While walking back down the mountain, the whole time we were all saying to each other, "wow, I can't believe how far up we walked." The hike was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.

Dead tired, we rode the train back to Interlaken and stopped at COOP to pick up dinner food. Amie cooked up am amazing meal of sausages with onion, pepper, and potatoes. We fell asleep early and woke up today, Thursday, with extremely sore legs. The weather here is very cold and cloudy so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then walked around town with Steve. Now we are catching up on our journals and chores while hanging out on the fantastic couches in the hostel, watching CNN with our friends.

New pictures from Interlaken, Switzerland

http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/InterlakenSwitzerland

Lutry to Fribourg!! (57k)

So we posted our last blog on empty stomachs, waiting to head out to dinner in celebration of McKayla's 20th birthday (which is actually on Tuesday).  McKayla's sociable grandparents already have many friends in Lutry, including the Schneider family (Ulla, Phillip, and their two little daughters Helena, 5, and Jessica, 3).  The Schneiders are German but now live and work in Lutry, and speak perfect English, French and German.  They have been exceptionally helpful to us in planning our route to Interlaken where they used to live.  Ulla took us out to her favorite restaurant, Madame Lutz', which is an incredibly classy restaurant on the top of the hill surrounding Lake Geneva.  We sat underneath grapevines, looking over the glittering lights of the lakeside towns.  Words can't even describe how amazing dinner was, so I won't try, and we topped off the night with a "Tart au creme"  decorated with Smarties (european m&ms) courtesy of Helena and Jessica.

Saturday we soaked up our last day of rest and relaxation with the grandparents before our schlep to Interlaken.  We took care of our bikes (good for us!) and we planned our route and lodging for the week.  Dinner at home was unbelievable as usual (it's going to be tough getting back into our one-pot routine and eating with sporks....).

That brings us to today.  We took our time this morning, and finally left our beloved Lutry around 10:30.  Turns out the first part of our "bike" was actually a hike... I'm pretty sure most of these Swiss roads came into existence before governments regulated their grades, because we walked our bikes a few kilometers up a vineyard-covered cliff.  At one point, McKayla dared peddle sitting down.... which pulled her front wheel right off the pavement.  Our slow morning gave way to rolling hills and adorable, almost cliche, swiss villes.  The day was cold and foggy but the fall foliage is in full color right now!!  We had lunch in Oron, but didn't stop much this ride because of the cold weather.  We found the hostel in no time!  We've gotten SO much better at that business... Currently we are Internetten... guess where... MacDonald!!!!  Never before have we spent so much quality time in fast food establishments (granted, at a Swiss McDonalds you can buy a 12-dollar burger...it's much classier here).  Pretty soon we'll check into our hostel, cook some dinner, and have a relaxing evening.  We love and miss you all blog readers :)

Update from Lutry

We've been enjoying incredible weather here at McKayla's grandparent's house in Lutry, Switzerland.  It feels like August again, it's been 21 degrees celcius, sunny, and blue skies.  McKayla's grandmother and grandfather have been so welcoming and hospitable, and they are so fun to chat with.  We've really been enjoying our stay.  Our first full day here (Wednesday) we spent relaxing and exploring Lutry.  The town is really cute, and McKayla's grandparents live in an amazing location.  The front door of the house is on a little cobblestone street, lined with small local shops (a meat shop, a winery, a cheese shop, etc.).  The back of the house has a lovely porch overlooking a small garden and the lake (Lac Leman, also called Lake Geneva).  There is a perfect view of the Alps, jagged and predominate across the lake.  It's incredible, I (Erin) keep thinking to myself, "this is unreal," but it is real...

Yesterday, Thursday we rode our bikes along the lake to Montreaux where we then rode up the hillside, locked up our bikes and hiked up a bit.  Our trail ended a bit earlier than we expected, but the view was already so amazing that we were unmotivated to hike any further.  So we stopped and ate lunch overlooking the lake and the Alps.  That night Granddad Jerry made a delicious chicken soup for dinner (he loves to make soup) and even cooked up some Fera (a white fish found only in Lac Leman), which was amazing!

Today we slept in, went running alongside the lake (there is a path that follows the lake within inches most of the way).  Then we did an insanity workout -- definitely the most beautiful place we've done Insanity so far.  After, we jumped in the lake, it felt so refreshing and wasn't too cold!  There was even a high-dive board that we jumped off a few times.  Can't imagine what it's like to go swimming here in August!

Tonight we're going out to eat for an early birthday celebration for McKayla.

"The Way We Ride" sound clip

I've finally got around to posting a sound clip of my song.

As we were riding, I (McKayla) wrote a song to the tune of Ingrid Michaelson's, "The Way I Am." Enjoy...

The Way we Ride

If you are chilly, here take my jacket
It's quite flourescent, so we'll be seen
CHORUS:
And everyone will know we're not Parisians on the Metro
We're just tourists from aux etats-unis
-----
If dehydration is your dilemma
I've filled my nalgene, right from the tap
------
CHORUS:
Et si tu dois aller pisser later tonight
I-I-I-I'll help you find the light
--------
If you are "hangry"
or your eyes tell you that you are
we'll go to cafes
eat palmiers
------
then we'll go to the exotic isle of the Carrefour
and buy our fill of buerre de arachideeeee
"......"

More pictures from today (french alps and lac leman)

http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/LutrySwitzerland#5525354115061576242

Check them out! It's hard to believe they are real. We are in such a beautiful place.

New Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/CrossingToSwitzerland

Check out our pictures from the last few days!

Amie's Marvelous Munich Memoirs

Hello friends,
Here's a recap of what I did while Erin and McKayla were heading toward Switzerland on their bikes!
We parted ways Thursday morning, and I spent the day making my way to Lausanne on a train to meet my friend Shelby there.  Shelby is living and working in Switerland this year while studying French.  I felt like an idiot all day for trying to speak french, trying to find my train, getting yelled at by the train conductor for where my bike was, charged extra for the bike, and finally trying to pay in euros once I hit switzerland (they use Francs...).  But I survived the day and finally Shelby came to meet me, took me back to her host mom's house on the metro, and we went to sleep.

Friday we spent the day traveling to Munich.  They don't do TGVs here in Switzerland (treins a grand vitesse, aka REALLY fast trains) and so it wasn't until a nauseous 8 hours later that we finally pulled into the Munich station.  Luckily our hostel, the Meininger Hostel, was only about one kilometer down the road, and we walked there no problem.  There were drunk Germans EVERYWHERE.  It was Friday night after all, and people were parading the streets singing drinking songs in German, wearing Leiderhosen?? (spelling completely wrong, but that's how it sounds and it's the traditional German garb for men, with the cuttoff brown overalls, long socks, collared shirts, hats, you get the picture).  There were also many frauleins equally decked out in puffy German dresses.  Shelby and I walked around town, but didn't make it out to the actually festival grounds that night, opting instead for a beer at the hostel bar and an early night of sleep.

For those who don't know: what Oktoberfest actually is, is the world's largest public festival.  It started in 1810 as a celebration for a royal wedding (prince Ludwig i think?) and every year since, for about 2 weeks in early October or late September, they rope off a huge area of Munich, and have a dozen beer tents, and hundreds of food stands, shops, rides, etc.  Apparently about 50 million visitors come to Oktoberfest over the course of the 2 weeks, and the festival itself actually feels like a small city.  Outside, it's very fair-like, and inside the beer tents, it's a massive shitshow of people of all ages drinking excessive amounts of delicious German beers from liter-sized steins, amidst endless cheers, toasts, and drinking songs.  They also serve traditional German foods the entire time, all brought to you by an army squadron of Frauleins in dresses with arms the size of my thighs from carrying all the beer.

So that's what we did on Saturday... We had booked our hostel though a company called First Festival Travel, based out of London, with the happy result being a hostel full of ENGLISH speaking friends, even if it was kiwi, aussi, and british English.  We befriended our roommates at breakfast, Sophie and Mouse of New Zealand, and we headed down the tents with them that morning.  By 9 AM the tents were already PACKED with drinkers.  We're lucky we even got a table, which was in the back corner.  Shelby, Sophie, Mouse, Stephen, I, and about 6 young to middle-aged Wimbledon tennis workers then sat around drinking steins of beer and acting foolishly.  The day was one of the more fun I've had, EXCEPT when I had to battle hordes of drunk, uncomfortable women in the lines for the bathroom.... Eventually I tired out, and went back to the hostel to siesta before evening festivities.  I woke up at bedtime with massive hangover, and went back to sleep.

Sunday morning I was doing better than my hostel mates at our delicious buffet-breakfast.  We hit the tents again, starting around 9 am, though I postponed the drinking a bit this time around.  The tents were quieter Sunday and Shelby and I made many random friends with the others who came and went from the tables around us.  We also met some swiss-french semi-pro soccer players, Bruno, Johann, Andrea, and Cedric who were rather sexually agressive, flirting with the closest girls they could find.  Bruno even kindly asked if I would care to "faire l'amour" with him... which I politely declined.  So if any incriminating pictures turn up on facebook, that was the situation. Took another evening siesta, and actually made it back out at night, when Shelby and I opted to experience a little more of the fair aspects of the festival, and less of the booze-soaked drunk-men-filled antics of the beer tents.  We rode a MASSIVE ferris wheel, I ate a bratwurst, bought a present for my lil' bro, and then we went to bed.

And that was it.  The next morning we were back on a painful (though unbelievably gorgeous) 8 hour train ride from Munich to Lausanne, where I was finally reunited with Erin and McKayla!  Phew.

We are all in Lausanne at McKayla's grandparents!

Hello blog readers,
Sorry we have not posted for a few days. We have not had internet connections. All three of us are safe and sound in Lutry, Switzerland! We are staying at my (McKayla) grandparent's new home in Lutry, which is right outside of Lausanne. It is amazingly beautiful, and we are all so happy to be here! Here are our posts from the last few days. Stay tuned for pictures...enjoy.

Saturday October 2nd

Besancon to Pontalier (70km)

Quote du jour: "To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks."
 -Scott Martin
(this quote is very fitting for me (McK) and Erin because we both like pushing ourselves through pain, but more importantly we LOVE to compare everything to food)
Today was our first real mountain climbing day. We started at 1000ft. in Besancon and ended at 2700ft in Pontalier. Shortly after leaving the city, we had to immediately ascend up steep, winding, narrow backroads. Some sections were so steep it was hard to keep balance. At the top, we were very cautious to make sure we had the correct route because we didn't want to backtrack up the mountain if not necessary. Despite having three different maps of the area, none of them showed how to get from the road we were on to the road we wanted to go toward. One kind woman stopped to help us and pointed us in one direction, but a few minutes later three men pulled up on a tractor and gave us a more convincing argument to go the other way. We followed their advice and quickly found ourselves on roads we could once again identify on our map. We rode along D67 towards Ornans at a comfortable conversational pace until we reached the Ravine du Puits Noir. We then cruised down an amazing 3k descent which ended with spectacular views of Ornans and the surrounding valley of the Loue River. We were both in awe. It's impossible to capture the natural beauty in words.

We stopped for lunch at a picnic table aside the river, and then proceeded to ride along the Loue for several kilometers. Cliffs surrounded us on both sides, and many elite-looking cyclists passed us (which we found comforting knowing others were riding on the same road as us). I was pleasantly surprised that they smiled and said, "bonjour," as they practically flew by. One of Erin's favorite parts of the day was looking up at the cliffs, and then rising up into them and looking back down at the river. Our quads burned, but we kept a nice steady pace up the gradual switchbacks. At one panoramic view point along the way, we stopped and met a French couple traveling by RV. They were so friendly to us, despite our choppy French, and they even gave us coconut merangues for "bon courage!" We continued for a few more descents and ascents, through many cow fields where the ringing of the cow bells remined us of ski racing back home, and which gave us energy and spirit to continue riding all the way to Pontalier.

We were SO happy when we easily found the tourism office, and learned that the hostel and supermaket were right down the road. Pontalier is located in the foothills of medium-sized mountains. It's in close proximity to mountain biking routes, nordic/alpine skiing operations, and endless hiking trails. It's a very sporty town to say the least. I (McKayla) loved seeing people ride around town on their bikes with baguettes bungeed to their back racks. Pontalier is only 10k from the Swiss border, and it certainly has a bit of a Swiss feel with it's chalet style architecture. This evening we met a French guy, named Francis, who was staying at the hostel while searching for an appartment. He told us all about his travels in Canada and the US, and gave us advice for our route to Switzerland. He was very friendly, and we both enjoyed his company for the evening.

While we were climbing, Erin composed a short poem...enjoy!

The day started out with a doozy,
a big uphill climb that left me feeling a bit woozy.
My heart rate soared oh so high,
as we climbed and climbed into the sky.
At the top of the hill there appeared a gap,
as the roads we were on were not on our map.
So we asked three men upon a tractor,
for directions toward the route we sought after.
Soon enough we were back on track,
our legs refreshed from a granola bar snack.
Now this climbing is using the blood from my brain,
I'll have to end this rhyming game.


Sunday, October 3rd

Switzerland! We made it!

Pontalier, France to Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland 45km

The weather today was absolutely perfect; a crisp fall breeze, clear blue skies, and warm sunshine. I (Erin) hurt my wrist yesterday and I was concerned to ride today, but the beautiful weather made riding irresistible. We were smart enough to hit up the grocery store before we left Pontalier (because it's Sunday, and as we learned last weekend, Sundays suck for travelers like us because everything is closed). We began with a constant, uphill, winding climb out of Pontalier on Route D6 towards the nordic ski town of Les Fourgs. McKayla was getting quite excited about all the "Ski du Fond" signs and wished she could go cross country skiing. We cruised into Switzerland, climbed one final hill, and peaked for the day at 3600 ft of altitude, a total of 900 ft of altitude gain. As we were crossing into Switzerland, McKayla noticed that we were following one of the roads from the Tour de France in 2009!

Once we reached St. Criox we caught a beautiful view of the Alps in the distance and began the greatest descent of our lives. The descent was 10km long, full of switchbacks, and lots of motorcycles and cars. The first five minutes were glorious, the last 15 minutes were painful as my arms were fatiguing from braking the entire time. I remember watching the men on the Tour de France go down descents as frightening as this one, flying around 180 degree switchback turns going 100 km/hr. It's crazy that we were actually doing the same thing. We, however, did not scream down the mountain that fast (don't worry mom). The experience was surreal, it's hard to capture the awesomeness of our ride today. It's one of the coolest things I've ever done. There could be no better way to enter Switzerland than by crossing over the mountains using our own two legs and our bicycles.

　
After the steep descent we travelled another 10km downhill to Yverdon-les-Bains (alititude 1290 ft), which is on the southern tip of a big lake, 98 km around (Lac de Neuchalet). The area is beautiful, surrounded by moutains; McKayla exclaimed, "so far I love Switzerland!" To which I responded, "what's not to love?!" We cruised around town, went to a bizare antique/flee market/fair and sat on the lake watching all the sailboats.
Tonight we staying at a rather expensive, yet low quality hotel, next to a McDonald's (yet, we can't get on the free wifi here because we need a cell phone to get texted the password, we are not big fans of Swiss McDonalds now). Tomorrow we will cruise to Lausanne to meet up with Amie!! Looks like there is a bike path from here to Lausanne which we will test out. I'm looking forward to reuniting with Amie tomorrow and then heading to McKayla's Grandma and Granddad's house on Tuesday!

Sunday, October 4

Mountains in the Clouds

Yverdon-les-Bains to Lausanne (57k)

The mountains we could see from our hotel window were almost completely hidden by fog this morning. We could tell the sun was trying to come out, so we were optimistic that the fog would quickly burn off and give way to clear blue skies (which it did!). We had a leisurly, but quite small breakfast in bed (apple and "la vache qui rit"cheese) as we conjured up enough motivation to do a 10-minute abs workout before we started biking for the day.

We checked out of our hotel around 9:30am and made our way into the center of Yverdon to find the bike route signs. The first sign we saw was located right next to the Information Office so we stopped in and asked if they had a map of the bike route to Lausanne. They provided us with a highligted bike route map for getting out of Yverdon and told us to follow the number 5 signs all the way to Lausanne.

The route took us on narrow paved roads, alongside corn and cabbage fields, through small Swiss towns, and over rolling hills. The paths occasionally turned into dirt roads, so we eventually decided to take a more direct, less bumpy route on real roads. We stayed in the bike lanes of larger roads for the last 5k into Lausanne. We easily found our hostel, located a few kilometers from the city center, showered, napped, and waited for Amie to meet back up with us!
(this quote is very fitting for me (McK) and Erin because we both like pushing ourselves through pain, but more importantly we LOVE to compare everything to food)