The drive to Icheon

Taking a really sweet taxi from the airport to my destination, I was
able to look around and click some fun shots. My first impression was that it's flat and there's lots of water and lots of bridges. Travelling alongside the waterway I stopped counting the number of bridges...

Not only bridges, but lots of tall apartment buildings that were so close together and all looked alike. So what would happen if you came home tipsy???

And since this was an Olympic site in 1988 I think, what would this blog be without the Olympic bridge! Looks more like a tower but it's really a pointy grey golden gate.


And after seeing more and more water and flatlands, I hit the mountains. First thought, wow cycling must be great. NOT! I don't think there are actually roads up these piles or rock and the humidity of this place at this time of the year is unbearable. Well, maybe not unbearable but something that takes a few days to get used to before you can walk 5 minutes without sweating like you're on a trainer...

Time to restart the posts!

Well I am in Korea and it's definately an experience. I'm here for work and that's basically all myself and my coworkers are doing. It's like going back to university. We can have all three meals at our customer site and it's open 24 hours a day. And we are here until the wee hours of the evening. Unlike university though, I need badges to get in, and we all walk around in slippers. No shoes inside other than the front lobby.

I've got to present in 15 minutes, but I was so excited I found a way to get access to the outside world that I had to post. We are not allowed to bring in anything that has memory on it so I have no electronics and all my internet email accounts are blocked. But alas, I guess they didn't think of the blog. Well I only thought of that one this morning.

so, more later and I hope to start these again...

bfn

Some more updates as my time here comes to a close...

I am sitting here eating my rosti and bratwurst left overs from the other night. YUM. It's just amazing how time is getting the better of me in my last few weeks in Swiss-land. And with all that time, there is no shortage of stories to tell!

One great ride I did about a week ago was to go visit the capital,
Bern. I started out riding to the top of Lausanne and then headed north along a hilly range between the Juras (Swiss-French Alp range) and the Swiss Alps. The view is always great as the sun shines and where ever you look you see the Alps. The first town I hit was Orne and it's villars-d-Orne. It seems if you are big enough you get have a chateau and some environs (villars) where there are the outskirt houses. So yes, Orne had it's castle and I unwilling took off zee gloves and clicked it!


After Orne I hit Romont which is a definate must see. In the middle there's a chateau on top of a narrow hill and around it are the quantest little houses and shops. Of course I had to climb it to check it out and it was well worth it.
Great view over the country side from said castle.


After Romont, I hit Fribourg and German-land. These language borders are quite invisible yet very distinct! Fribourg is also a must see merits a return visit. Cute university town with your typical river running through it and hills on all sides. All signs here were, however in German. What a multicultural land!

Now after Fribourg comes Bern. HUGE! Tons of shopping, underground cellar shops, above ground shops, chocolate shops, everything, plus a hug train station. The old town was cute with it's castle walls and cobblestones. And like every village there's the traditional fountain and in this one a clock tower you could drive through.

So back to these cellars. I only saw them on my later visit and they are basically holes on the side of the street (look like old bomb shelters) which have been turned into stores. How cool?

Long ride deserves nice German dinner and a train ride home. :) And that was the end of this trip!

I'm back....

memory card, aWell, how easy is it to get swamped with life... And with no camera, I was missing a little bit of inspiration with my writings.. But alas, Taz came up with a solution which involved a new phone conversion memory card, a phone, our gps system, and of course my laptop. So, now I have phone pictures..Not the best quality, BUT I HAVE PICTUREs...YAH!

Last Saturday was Dan's last day so we figured it was time to souvenir shop! We started heading around the lake with a knapsack because there are always tons of markets in the AM. We hit Lutry-- great market if you want to bring back fruit, cheese and meats...then we hit Vevey where we hung out for abit and found lots of shopping, a merry go-round, an ice rink and more market vendors selling food and second hand thingys. Walking away from zee water we found some things Swiss-ish. Oh and yes, I was sporting my new kit. And like all the villages, they look so cute with all the houses connected.

Once we were walked, shopped and were snacked out, we decided to make a dash for Geneva (before it got dark) and have a nice dinner there. So we tempo'd right around the lake, through Evian and made it just in time to have an awesome Indian dinner all nicely dressed in our spandex and wet woolly sweathers and jackets. YUM! Then we trained it home, watched a copied episode of Grey's anatomy.

Sunday AM, we had a nice coffee and breaky at our favorite bakery, walked along the water by Ouchy and then lugged our two suitcases and skis up the hill. It took us 20 minutes with several breaks! I took the train to Geneva with Taz to make sure he made it there and got checked in ok, and then he was off. Doesn't he look GQ-ish here...

And that's the end of Roadrunner and Taz and it's up to Roadrunner to hold down the Swiss fort!

Speaking of forts, the weekend before, we hit Neuchatel after a day of skate skiing in the border of the Jura mountains. Really cute city and the brasserie we went for dinner was awesome. We ordered a litre of beer for 9 Swiss Franks. What a deal. And we also visited the chateau. Like my pirated photos?

When in Switzerland, do as the Swiss do

With the advent of rain, we headed for the hills to get some altitude. Why ride in rain, when you can ski in fresh snow with strong winds at 5000 feet? This was some serious skate-skiing resistance training.

So, we rented a little nissan car, headed up to Montreux for some breakfast and then kept on driving past Aigle (huge castle here worth taking a better look at next time) and then drove up to Les Mosses, which is one of the thousand villages up in the Alps which offer skiing (alpin and nordique).

Yes, it was snowing like crazy, but we strapped on our skiis and hit the trails. Of course it was probably better we didn't have a camera because we may have just gotten it wet and destroyed it another way. :) However, thanks to the internet, I was able to borrow some pictures of Les Mosses.

In the breaks of the snow fall, we could see a vast expanse of snow, trails, mountains and skiiers of all kinds. Looking back it all went by too fast, however when the snow was pelting my face, the time was going by too slowly.

My biggest impression was that yes there were people out here, but there were no crowds. There was no stress, no waiting, no line-ups! I guess there are so many places to enjoy the snow that there is no need to crowd one resort. It felt like this was part of my daily routine and I wasn't a tourist here. Ok...that is my serene moment..

After we were on the trails for about 4 hours, we hit the one uncrowded chalet, had soup and a plate of deli meats and cheese (cold cuts) and headed for an exploratory drive. Yup, we drove another 1.5 hours in and out of the Alps until we hit Gastaad. Another beautiful ski-resort village surrounded by mountains, hills, houses, resorts, shops, restaurants, auberges, and gondolas up to the mountains. Again thanks to zee internet you can share in what we saw. So, we had some crepes and hot coco, and then took a shorter route down from the mountains and back to Lausanne.

A long day, but a spectacular adventure!

The inevitable has happened....

The roadrunner is drinking and seriously enjoying European coffee in the mornings.. Yes, we have this wonderful Espresso machine at work where you toss in a little package and out comes a little espresso. Of course, I have to run it twice to water down my coffee, add a sugar cube and some full, rich creamer and then I have a fantastic cup of coffee that I really look forward to in the mornings...

Enough said...

Oh, and no more picts! Camera needs to go back to Rehad center in the States. Will try to pick up a cheap one and the neighborly Migros. (the main grocery, everything store here).

Ride to Geneva and back

After a rainy day around the lake, thoughts of an out and back touristy trip sounded inviting so Taz and I ventured to Geneva and back. Yes, Taz was back on the bike. The weather was decent, ie some sun but mostly cloudy with some drizzles, but just little ones. So we followed the "1" path which essentially has you going off the main road onto these little side streets and walkways, through little villages and basically criss-crossing the main road. Obviously scenic, but less efficient!

Once in Geneva, we had two goals: one to visit the spout, and two to get some food after 2.5 hours of tempo riding. So there on the right is moi in front of zee pissing fountain

And being quick tourists, Dan so nicely clicked a couple of additional pictures of the environs.
I think being a big city, it still had the European flavor, but the quaintness we've found in so many other towns wasn't here.



So, off we were in quest of some food. Well, at 2pm the only things open were "patisseries" so we bought a loaf of yummy corn bread and some jam and that was lunch! Next on the agenda, was a nice tempo ride home along the main road that follows the lake which would take us 2 hours.

And just as we embarked on our journey home, we had our first casualty. Taz, our amazing "I can ride and click" photography, clicked one last shot of moi as I faced homeward, and didn't see a sidewalk lip in front of him. So, "WAAMP", down he went along with our camera. :( We got the pictures out, but our camera is currently in a coma. I will be visiting a camera doctor tomorrow to see if we need to put it to rest or not... Stay tuned...

As for Taz, he was mumbling something about "smelling the blood of his wounds" on the ride home, but when we got home, he only had some redness on his hip. So, are our clothing layers protecting us or is Taz becoming Tazinne?

Around Lake Geneva

The plan was to head north around the lake, then east, south, and north again hoping to catch the colder part of the lake earlier. It was cloudy, but the sun was shinning when I left.

So, off I ventured for what I knew would be at least 5.5 hours, or so I was told. First off on the route, were the wineries, then I got some awesome views of the Swiss and French Alps, and of course Lake Geneva (or Lac Leman in Swiss-land) On the left side are the Swiss and on the right are the French. Can't really tell the difference only that I know when I look out our my aparment window, I am facing Evian and the French Alps!


I hit the town of Evian at about 2 hours, and well, it was getting cloudy and it started drizzling abit. Hey, what's a bit of rain??? About 2.5 hours into it, I caved, stopped and put on my rain jacket. Again what's a bit of rain??? While I was stopped this Frenchman passed me by and when I got back on the bike I could see him in the distance so I tried to catch him to find out where he was going. Well it turned out he was heading to Lausanne. Claude, turned out to be my saviour. :) He knew the way and he gave me some chocolate and tea when I bonked after about hour 5. He also proved to be crazily strong after I caught up to him. He drilled the first hill and my eyes were popping out, and then he peddled so slow on the descents that I almost passed him, but didn't want to be impolite, and then later I was just happy to hang in his draft. And going through the little villages, he stopped at the lights...Ok, I went along with it, until the last hour where I just went to the front and just ran the lights because my fingers were freezing and going numb at this point.

In any case, it rained for 4 straight hours on us and I was drenched all the way through and covered in mud when I got home. Oh, and I got a good taste (yuck) of the French and Swiss roads because Claude didn't have any fenders! So, yes, got home and my fingers were so cold that I couldn't even bend my fingers to take off my 4 layers. (yup had 4 on today). Thank god, Taz was there to great me, strip me and toss me in the shower. Oh, and did I mention pasta and Camomille tea were on the table when I got out of my 20 minute steamy shower?

Next time, when it's sunny and I find a group of people to do this, I will click some pictures because I took no more after it started raining and I am sure there were lots of things to see.

The rowing club..

No, I haven't gone back to rowing, it's just a very convenient way to get my weights in and it's a safe haven during cold or rainy days.. Check it out... I've got all the weights I need and there's me on the trainer. All the people are really friendly and everyone says hello and good bye to you. And if you are really lucky you can even get some snacks.. So far people have brought in some tangerines, chocolate and carrot cake. :)

Upstairs from the weight
room is the erg room where
Taz hangs out and works
out when I do my weights. The view from upstairs is like most of the views from Lausanne...pretty spectacular and they include the lake Lemon(Geneva) and either a view of the Swiss or French Alps.


And it just so happened that while I
was spinning inside, Dan ventured
out onto the water with one of
the boats the club said we could
borrow. Note the little tip of his
boat on the left corner. He got some great shots of the Alps while
rowing.


And that was our Friday.... Saturday was a whole new adventure.. :) Stay tuned...

Back in LA Suisse

Well the honeymoon was cut short due to either food poisoning or the flu so we hightailed our butts back to the homeland to sleep off Spain's curse. :) And what better way to test one's fitness with a crazy ride to L'abbaye and back. After 2.5 hours we got to the summit. The ride getting was great but we sure didn't think about what would be on the other side! The little town of L'abbaye was darling, but no pictures because fingers were too cold. However I almost choked with laughter when Taz says "Oh look the lake is frozen", with complete surprise. What was he expecting? That we'd take a little dip as we went around an Alp?

But seriously, I forgave the cold as we rode alongside the frozen lake, so pristine and white, for we found a series of cross country havens. Several on top of the mountain and one around and on the lake. Mental note: come back with cars or bus or train and skiis!!! And after the lake meant another climb to get back to the other side and climb mean warmth...YAH!!! But alas we caved on the decent and Dan pulled out the camera and clicked...Once again we were mesmerized by the views. Even though I try to mentally click pictures, it really does help to click some real ones once in a while.







After our descent we were rewarded in a town call St George by a bunch of kids standing around an oil drum with fire in it. What a strange site, but it turns out they were bombarding all passerby cars with confetti and staying warm with the fire. So after they bombarded us with confetti they happily let us share in the warmth of their fire. Boy did my fingers praise the drum and it made New Year's Day quite fun!
And yes it was dark after this 6 hour ride, and yes we won't leave at 1pm next time.... OOPS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here is what we should all be
doing today. This is Mr. McGoo
one of the cats from our B&B in Padul. He really took a liking to our bed! And to the right (if that's were it appears on the final blog???) is our happy host couple. They were fantastic with conversation, food, hospitality and information. Definately a place to visit if you want to see the Alahambra or if you want some great cycling in the Sierra's!

Well, it was time to say good
by to Padul and head down to
the coast to Alumenacar.


Our drive was again filled with picturesque views and our arrival in Alumenajar had some nice ocean and different house views as well.




Check out the view from our new pad!



It place was great, we just didn't have heat for the first night. And though this was south and by the beach it did get really chilly at night and even with blankets it was cold...Check out Taz!!! Ain't he cute?