KOM's in Europe

Some people take their KOM's really seriously.

Auxonne

While we visited Malans, the Thetis sailed to Auxonne. This also made for a shorter return trip for us.  Afternoon snack. 

A last night on the Saone at Auxonne. 

A toast to Chris and Jared who were running the Leadville 100. 

St. Jean de Losne, visit to Malans

We set saile for the Saone River and spent the night on the Thetis under the bridge in St. Jean de Losne.  As it turns out, there was a free concert on too that we went to right after dinner in top of the bridge. So convenient. They were covering Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Amy Winehouse, Dire Straits, etc. good times!

We visited a mountain biking friend whose family has a house just near where we were staying. Nice day trip ride. 

It was good catching up, and the fed us a great BBQ lunch (somehow pork and fresh bake bread were involved). Cindy said she really liked the place. 

Cleansing

It seems so hip to discuss "cleansing" these days, so why not jump on the fad. Baguette, cheese, pork, wine and French press coffee has been our daily cleanse. Some people have a hate on for, or think your guys have a hate on for, glutens, alcohols, meats, lactoses and caffienes, but thank god such ridiculous thinking hasn't panicked the French into fad diet frenzy. Comte (missing an accent I can't make on phone) is a cheese I hadn't before eaten which now I'm addicted to. It's exquisite beyond what I can describe.   Jura regional wines have been our staple, as well as Hooegarden rosee beers, sausages of all styles, and a pork roast done in a Dijon and red wine reduction of course.  

This meal is double pork, double wine, double cheese, double bread. 

Yes, that bottom one is the same meal. "Dessert."

This is French crack. Err, Comte cheese. I'm hooked. The French know how to do butter too.  Comte extra is high scoring, regular Comte is 12-15 points, and below that it's just called gruyere. 

Adventures on Thetis

We love Thetis!

Dole, France

Shawn and Ashley were essentially the last two to make the flight departing from Calgary; Cindy and I didn't delve into how relaxing the coffee and cheese omelette was in the Maple Leaf lounge. The flight did both Toronto and Montreal stops before the overnight to Geneva. 

Luggage appeared quickly in Geneva, as did bikes. It was off to the rental car counter to pick up some tight handling hatchbacks. 

After jamming our gear in the back, we're shifting the 6 speeds.  The first 200km had no straight roads, and we didn't go the route of using GPS so we just navigated by feel. Fun. 

Dole is beautiful. Louis Pasteur was born here. 

Ride to Conquer Cancer 2014

Team FirstEnergy Road Rockets Cindy and Erik. Beautiful day. I rode with the front group which ended up being 4 guys, they enjoyed having a reliable draft ; )  Cindy was about the 10th one in which was great. 1769 participants raising $7.9m was the announcer's statistic.