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Simon Holmes tells of his Tour De France challenge
 
 
This was very much a trip of extremes – extremes of weather and extremes of effort.

After a week with my family in Haute Savoie in which we had considerably more rain in a week than we had had in the previous three months in London, two friends (Alan and Phil) and I set off by bike from Yvoire on Lake Geneva with temperatures soon reaching the mid thirties centigrade. These extremes continued with fog and driving rain on the Col d'Iseran at 2764 meters and temperatures on other days reaching the mid thirties in the afternoon (peeking at 42°c one day in the South). These extremes seem to have become a feature of trips to the French Alps recently (72 hours non stop rain in Chamonix two years ago and forty eight hours non stop in the Alpes Maritime last year). The compensations, however, are the massive climbs, great scenery, quiet roads and road surfaces that we can only dream of in Britain.

The other extreme was one of effort. For the first week we were often out on the road for up to twelve hours a day and, although we stopped along the way, there was little time to explore the places we spent the night at. The second week after my accident was sedentary, first in hospital and then returning to Yvoire by car. Every bike I saw gave me a sick feeling in my stomach and an impossible desire to turn the clock back to the minute before the accident.

The accident itself was stupid. Far from being a high speed descent of a col, I was climbing a small hill and must have taken my eyes of the road for a moment while looking at the surrounding cultivation of lavender. The front wheel slipped off the road and I fell chin first onto a small wall – the wall and bike were fine but my jaw was in two bits and had to be stuck together with two small titanium plates.

Prior to that the cycle touring was brilliant. I carried the minimum necessary and had lightweight bags (specially made for me by a guy in Alaska) and the bike performed extremely well. The only change I would make is perhaps to have some slightly more robust tyres (I was the only one to puncture on the trip).

Our days were long but we stopped to re-fuel along the way: sometimes a restaurant, sometimes a shop for provisions but, most often, stopping at boulangeries for bread, jam, coffee and viennoiserie. Two of us stayed in small hotels all of which were extremely welcoming and supportive and offered secure places for our bikes - one even had a special (free) laundry service for cyclists.

This was very much a trip I would recommend. If you have a week’s holiday then a ride from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean would make a brilliant trip (if one could organise the logistics of different airports – or perhaps taking a train back to the start). As for a return trip, that takes a lot longer and will probably go back on to my “things to do” upon retirement list.
Simon Holmes
6 September 2010

 

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Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba.