Tour de France - Bad News

So after all the fun we had watching the TDF, it turns out that Rasmussen got booted from the tour last night for lying about his wherabouts in the last month as he was training for the tour. Vinakorov also got booted two days ago for doping as well. Do these guys not learn?

At first, I didn't want to believe it - it seems like every time we root for someone like Rasmussen or Landis, and they're winning, next thing we know they get booted for some doping related activities.

I don't really know what to think at this point - cycling certainly has out done itself time and time again with swearing that they're now clean and then another scandal comes out. I'm not sure anyone is telling the truth - cyclists, teams, testers, anyone involved.

As a fan of the sport, I'm hurt - crushed in fact - that the lesson about not doping hasn't been learned. The whole system needs to be examined, from the demands placed on the cyclists where they feel like they need to dope, to the testing procedures, to the training procedures.

Bicycling magazine has good coverage, if you're interested. Read it here.

But I really don't blame you if you just sit back and watch the whole thing go to hell.
~S

Mt. Toubkal - 13,671 ft Summit

Earlier this week, Jesse and I climbed the second highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Toubkal, in the Atlas Mountains. Funny, everyone here calls them the "High Atlas" mountains, but everywhere on the internet, they're just the "Atlas." I'm not sure of the real name.

Anyhow, we signed up to take a guided two day trek up to the summit of this mountain at a regular tourist office that books camel tours, beach excursions, and other touristy things to do. Seeing their other offerings, I thought that this "hike" would be no sweat, especially when the only thing they told us we had to bring was a sleeping bag. Part of me was skeptical about the equipment really needed, so we tended to over pack.

On Monday morning, we were picked up at our hotel early in the morning and taken to the base of the mountain trails in a city called Imlil. This is where the road ends. Any supplies needed further up the mountain are taken by donkey. (A donkey took our pack up the mountain as well, except for a few bottles of water, which we carried. Does this make me any less hard core?).

We started hiking mid morning and within 30 minutes, had stopped for tea. Although the mountains were looming, I was still convinced this was a "cake walk". After tea, we continued to hike for another hour and a half to lunch. Yes, the trails were getting steeper, but the stops were well placed and made it bearable. At this point, (around 1pm), I felt that it was too hot for a hat and put my hat in my pack that the donkey was carrying. I blame the altitude for this lapse in judgment.

After lunch, we continued to hike for another 2.5 hours up to base camp in the French Mountaineering Club's "Refuge." The hiking was getting much tougher. Once we got to the refuge, we learned that we'd use this for our base camp for our ascent to the summit the next day. Base camp was at 3200 meters, the summit was at 4167, and that we'd start hiking tomorrow morning, early. The rest of the afternoon, we rested, read and enjoyed the scenery. When the sun went down, it got wicked cold up there.

The next morning, we woke up at 4:30am, had breakfast at 5 and hit the trails at 5:30. The sun was just starting to come up at that point and it was still very cold out. It was great climbing weather, and Jesse and I summited by 7:20am, passing most of the groups that were climbing as well. Try as we might, we couldn't get our guide, Hassan, to break a sweat. I guess doing this every couple days, like he does, puts you in very good shape.

We spent about 20 minutes at the summit, taking in the beautiful views and feeling the rush associated with being the absolutely highest thing around (no thunderstorms thank you), and headed down.

Once again, we were reminded that coming down is the roughest part of mountain climbing - sliding down the skree field, we both went down a couple of times, nothing major, but we were sore the next day. All in all, we were down at the refuge by 9:45 and took a well deserved siesta while waiting for the other groups to come down.

We had lunch at the Refuge and then headed back to Imlil, sliding and stumbling down the mountain. I really enjoyed the hike down because Jesse and I got spend some quality time talking. Traveling together has allowed us to get to know each other better. After 3 years of marriage, I frequently learn something new about her. :-)

I also had some time to think about donkeys. Strange thing to think about, but watching them and their "drivers" as they went up the mountain, I was reminded of different theories of management. I started to craft a parable to explain these different methods of motivation/leadership. Once I work it out fully, I'll post my "Tale of Two Donkeys."

Marrakech, Morocco

Yes, we're in Morocco now - have been for about a week now. The blog has been strangely silent, because, well, internet isn't easy to come by here. Luckily, we've found a great cafe that has wi-fi. This cafe is so close to our hotel that we can get wi-fi in our courtyard (stealing again!).

We're staying at Hotel Toulousain, which is owned by the sister and brother in law of a friend in Michigan. It's a wonderful place, with a very helpful and friendly staff. No complaints about the price of the rooms either.

We've really enjoyed talking in depth with the family who owns the hotel about Morocco, Marrakech and life in a foreign country (outside the comfort of the US). They've been most gracious to us, treating us like family. Their kids are a hoot as well, captivated with our digital watches and camera, putting on puppet shows for us, and playing futbol (soccer) in the alley.

I'll go into more depth about this in another post, but earlier this week, we climbed the second highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Toubkal and are still recovering from the stiffness that accompanies an ascent and descent of a ~13,000 foot summit.

Tomorrow, we'll head to Agadir, a beach town on the west coast of Morocco for some good sun (yeah, like we need more of this... it's been 100 degrees + for the last week here in Marrakech) and swimming. I'm always fascinated with how each country "does" the beach. Growing up visiting the Jersey shore, I know the diversity that can be associated with a beach town (LBI vs. Seaside Heights, for instance), and I'm always curious to experience another beach dynamic.

Until next time,
~S

I got a fever...

And the only cure is MORE COWBELL!

The French cows have it made. They get the choicest pastures, most picturesque views and the dopest cowbells. As we were camping, all you'd hear in the in the background was the sound of a few dozen clanking cowbells. I'm sure like change in your pocket, a cattle farmer can tell if his heard is all there by the symphony of cowbells that he hears.

Off to Morocco

Well,
It's been a whirlwind tour of France for the past week (plus) following The Tour and now we're back in Paris, ready to fly to Morocco tomorrow. It'll be an interesting change of pace, and I'm not really sure what to expect, but that's the exciting part.

We woke up in Briancon this morning, packed up camp and hopped in the car to drive back to Paris. It took us 3 hrs to go the first 100km, out of the mountains, with traffic hopelessly backed up behind Caravan, cyclist, or small car towing large trailer. Once we made it to the freeways though, it was smooth sailing at 130-150kph...

One thing I don't understand is France's lack of public restrooms.... Do these people not have to pee? McDonalds was the only place that we could count on a public restroom. So today, when the 3rd grocery store in a row didn't have a public restroom, we tromped off into the
woods and peed. Apparently, we weren't the first people to do so, as a small clearing just out of sight of the front of the grocery store was littered with toilet paper. ~S

SC From Le Grand Bournand

Bike racing rules. Europeans are completely psychotic about this whole Tour De France thing. They'll dress up like Borat (you know the yellow thong) or paint themselves like their country's flag and come from far and wide to support their team or their riders.

The riders themselves look very young and posess a body mass index equivalent to that of an anorexic 13 year old. I can't imagine it's healthy, but when you ride 6% grades every day for months on end and pedal up them like there's nothing to it, your body's got to respond.

What they don't show you on TV is the procession of sponsor vehicles that goes before the peloton, a 25km stretch of advertising, throwing chotchkies to the fans, whipping them into a salivating frenzy with hats, tshirts, coupons, coffee, foam hands, etc. I can imagine this is how the pesants felt in the middle ages as they lined the streets waiting to catch a glimpse (and maybe some handouts) from the king or queen.

We hitchhiked yesterday for the first time. Kind of liberating actually and caught a ride from a local gentleman who was trying to make his way off the mountain in a car, where were were on foot. He graciously offered us a ride and sped up our down hill journey until he got caught in traffic. At that point we jumped out and in no time, we were down. ~S

3 Ducks Hostel - Paris

I don’t think any amount of preparation could have prepared me for the variety that awaited me at the 3 Ducks. Tip: don’t choose a hostel that doubles as a bar. At first we thought that it’d be cool to have a bar at the Hostel, but it turns out that it just attracted the younger (read, I think some of these kids still needed babysitters…) crowd. The first night, our mixed dorm contained a bunch of Spanish girls who gave me the evil, dirty pervert, eye for staying in the room that ajoined theirs. They gossiped like the school girls they were until they passed out from the Pot they were smoking around 3 in the morning. Luckily the next day they moved on.

The next night, there was a bit more subdued crowd in the hostel, a bunch of Aussies that had just come into town and were beat tired. The hostel had overbooked itself, so people were sleeping on mattresses thrown on the floor. Someone welcomed us back from our day out by puking in the trash can and all over the bathroom. Something tells me that I've grown up slightly from my college days. I'm not sure whether this is good or not.

Ear plugs are a god send.

Eating Tips - Paris

Best places to eat / eating tips:
1) Find the grocery stores far away from the Eiffel Tower. A liter of water is 14 euro cents. Stinky cheese is abundant and a decent bottle of Bordeaux is 5 euro.
2) Eat where the locals do: The best meal we had was a little Craperie joint on Rue Granelle. We waited for a table (which Parisans don’t seem to do, they continue on) and ate an authentic French meal for a reasonable price.
3) Stand at the bar while drinking espresso (café). There’s one price for a coffee at the counter, a higher price for table seating and an even still higher price for outside service. With the $ to Euro exchange rate being in the toilet currently, you can guess where we drank our café.
~S

Notre Dame

I do have to say though, that the shear size of Notre Dame is just friggin impressive. I don’t think they build churches that large or ornate anymore. It’s probably because people are now educated and would realize where the church was allocating their offerings. I can just hear the minister addressing his congregation, “Good morning people, today we’ll need you to donate no less than $700,000. Yes, I realize this is the 3rd year in a row that we’ve needed this level of financial stewardship, but come on people, we’ve got to pay for the 5000 uniquely carved faces in the ceiling of the new church. BTW: who did the purchasing for a church like that? ~S

Tourists vs. Locals - Paris

There’s just a yucky feeling I get from areas of tourism. I know that when we decided to go to Paris, I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame. After enduring the crowds at the Eiffel, I definitely enjoyed our random walking through the interior of the city – not on roads where there was a ton of tourist things. ~S

The Corner Bar "Open All Night"- Paris

Looking for some food and drink after checking in to HVM, we passed the houses of burlesque and stopped in at the corner bar – I don’t remember what the name of this establishment was, but the sign on the outside said something about being open 24 hours… After 4 beers and a cheese sandwich, we realized that if on a budget, you do not come to Paris and drink beer. If you must have a beer, be prepared to pay dearly for it. Wine’s where it’s at in Paris, probably the rest of France too. The rest of the time there we drank decent wine for less than 5 euro a bottle, rather than 8.50 euro for a “gran” beer.

Hotel Victor Masse - Paris

Despite my wife’s best efforts to pick a reasonably priced (there are no “cheap” hotels in Paris, period. Or if there are, you probably don’t want to stay in them) hotel for our first night, we were rebooked anyways at hotel Victor Masse in Paris. It was a cozy place, right next to “Club 31” and “Le Diam”, interesting bars with a plethora of dim, red lighting. The bars also seemed to be occupied by a certain type of woman. Any guesses? Needless to say, we slept in our silk sleep sacks at HVM that evening. ;-)

SC From Geneva - 7-7-07

Well, we’ve made it to Geneva from Paris and it seems like we just left Valencia the other day. I think I’m still picking Paella out of my teeth. Valencians are famous for their Paella, which is a rice dish, originally conceived as a peasant dish – spiced rice, and whatever meat, veggies and other protein sources are available at the time. Traditional Valencian paella is rice with some big wide white beans, rabbit (duck too?) and some green beans. We had a “Paella Langostina” which was rice, lobster and chunks of calamari.

Our trip to Paris was a relatively smooth one, even though our 50 euro flight was delayed a bit. Traveling between countries in the EU is a lot like traveling between different states in the US. It’s so easy, no customs, no passport checks, and lots of cheap flights. I wonder if the rise of discount carriers (Ryan Air, Vueling, Click.com, etc) through out Europe can be attributed to the EU? I believe it’s only a matter of time before the non-EU countries, like the UK and Switzerland join (not if those that control their currency have anything to do with it…) but that’s just my Americanized, uneducated opinion.

Random JC Thoughts

Here are a few run-on thoughts that I’d like to remember:
➢ Tour de France following is a cyclist’s dream!
➢ There are an amazing amount of fan’s parked on the route up and down the Col de la Columbiere climb way in advance. Most of these are all campers and you wouldn’t have guessed the people were big cycling fans, they were more like old geezers, no offense meant.
➢ An incredible physical feat of biking the climb was taken on by tons of fans. I was thoroughly impressed and felt very weak in their presence
➢ The atmosphere of the ski town (Le Grand Bornand – French Alps) makes us want to work internationally at a town like this during the Winter season (being bilingual is necessary)
➢ Camping is popular in France but they don’t know how to keep their tents dry
➢ Waking up to the sound of the dairy cow’s cowbells on the Alps was surreal
➢ Can’t find a decent in expensive wine…rouge or blanc (time to learn the region I suppose)
➢ L’Escale camping on "international row" included a French family, 2 Aussie guys, 7 Dutch guys, Us, and one French girl, Elodie, who works for the French embassy in accounting after being at the border for a while where she learned some English from the Swiss
➢ No one sells White gas for our stove!
➢ Left my Livestrong bracelet at home not wanting to stand out as an American but a tons of fans are wearing them…good to see that Lance is an international sport hero/star
➢ Men wear short shorts!

France beyond Paris

Since Paris we’ve moved into the back country of France and it is wonderful. It makes us work on our French skills more and when driving through the towns that are shut down for the Summer I don’t feel like a spectator among throngs that are all stopping to take photos. Yes, I realize that I’m not the first to find these places but I feel less creepy taking pictures when no one is around. The level of activity in Villages is very random and it’s amazing how many places you might see a few cars but no people. The castles are cool to view from a distance. Basically the country side is beautiful to the point that I feel like if I take a picture it just wouldn't do the view any justice.

We also had a tornado sighting (from a distance of course). With all the crazy raining you get used to the ominous clouds overhead threatening doom at any moment but all of a sudden while driving North on the highway towards Dijon we saw a twister shape form. By the time we were around the clump of trees blocking the view it was definitely touching down, very large and menacing, and probably creating destruction in its path. That is at least how it appeared from our angle.
JC

Paris

Oh, the city of love just wasn’t lovely…the weather that is. Rainy and cold, even colder than the clothes I have packed with me could sustain. I’m going to consider adding one more item to carry; a wool long sleeve might do the trick of keeping enough heat in. Lets face it, I get cold very easily and will probably even get cold in Africa. But back in Paris, the back streets of the city were very calm and peacefully residential. I preferred these over the crowded tourist routes. It gave us a chance to find little fromageries, boulangeries, etc. The Eiffel Tower was a cool landmark to see from a distance and even better lit up at night. The whole experience of climbing to the 2nd platform was soured by the weather (cold, rainy, and windy…my three favorites!) and all of the rude pushy people. It’s not like the tower is going anywhere soon, oui? There was no push in the toilette line though as I waited 25 minutes, that will try your patience any day. But the best part of it all was wandering around with Hannah and James eating Crepes, staring at the old buildings, ticking off the front desk lady at their hotel, searching for public toilettes, buying picnic dinners, and soaking in each others company. Absolutely fabulous!

Little Diesel Cars

Little diesel cars! What a change, a pleasant change for me. The Spanish especially love the BMW 1-series making them cool in my book. The driving rules are very relaxed but Valencians respect and brake for pedestrians. Even though the fuel is expensive everyone seems to drive around a lot actually everything is expensive plus for the Americans the exchange rate makes it frightfully expensive. I watched everyone though and consumption was on par with what I would expect at any mall but was absurd at the Americas Cup fan stores. People were wearing at least $300 worth of Alinghi gear or whatever team they were rooting for. The disparity in the view of purchases is most likely from my viewpoint of needing to make ends meet for one year with an income. Alas, all of the fan gear will just have to wait!
JC

America's Cup Races 4 through 6 - Alinghi Wins 3 in a row...

So after the Kiwi's triumph in race 3, taking a lead in the series 2-1, the Swiss have won the last 3 and now lead 4-2. Since it's a best of 9 series, they only need one more to successfully defend the cup.

The NZ boat had it's bouts of bad luck (wind shifts, exploding spinnakers) but has also been out sailed by the Swiss when everything's gone right.

Yesterday, Sunday, they were supposed to race, but the race was abandoned because the wind was too light and shifty.

New Zealand has to win 3 in a row now to win the cup, so I'm sure they'll be sailing like they've got nothing to loose tomorrow when racing resumes.