Report from France
MEA and I arrived in Geneva and were picked up at the airport by Santana. We went immediately to dinner and enjoyed a wonderful evening of Suisse food and entertainment. We got back to the hotel and I built up our bikes from 11PM to 1AM.
The next day we hooked up with BF member Colotandem and his wife. We did a killer ride to museum and back drafting off the tandem. It was mostly z1 or z5 / z6. Colotandem reminds me of VanceMac - total monster. We also toured a Suisse chocolate factory and learned how they made chocolate and got a lot of tasting.
Friday, we loaded up our luggage and bikes and we crossed the border into France where we had the choice of 3 rides - 80/40/16. We opted for the 40 mile ride to hook up with the river barge / hotel. Needless to say, we passed all the tandems on the 40 mile and 16 mile ride even though the 16 mile tandems were bussed ahead of us 24 miles. We rode temp / team time trial the whole way - 43 miles
Saturday, was an easy ride on a back path along a canal and then through the Burgundy vineyards. I love these Fred rides and I tried to be social but it is not in my nature when on a bicycle. We toured a French 16th century hospital and learned about medicine as practiced in those times and saw the evolution of hospital care as it evolved over the decades. It was pretty scary stuff. We then visited a Burgundy winery and had a killer tasting of wines - just magnificent.
We had a very fast flat ride back and once again MEA and I did a TTT - 44 miles. I got back to the ship and sat in a cold bubbling tub of water on the sun deck.
The river cruise ship / barge is wonderful. And it is a perfect way to move along the river to new points of interest and cycle. Mount Ventoux is on Tuesday.