Hi

This will be the third time in the last week that i've sat down and started writing an entry. Each time, something went down, and I couldn't finish it. They were pulp anyway. As this will be, but I hope to get to the finish this time out. And what a perfect gateway that last sentence makes for my race exploits for the month! "I hope to get to the finish" I'm still cruising on that woeful run of poor form. I've had a couple races so far, and have strung together more DNFs in the last month (3) than I have in the previous 3 years combined. All in stride, of course. They've been courses on which I'd have difficulty with even on great form. The mind is well. I fully realize that with the highest highs come the lowest lows. Not quite that dramatic, but yes: you can't have peak form without some kind of relapse in form. It's how it goes. And now, a photo. I've got a nice stash from the past month...


Pretty nice, huh? The contrast between the jagged permanentness of the mountain and the fleeting clouds...and smooth tarmac flowing through it all. It's a really swell road, one of the longer climbs around here at 15k in length. Really reallly fun to come down it, too. As the season winds down, I feel like I'm noticing more things of this nature. I'm enjoying being on a bike, listening to good music, and taking in the surroundings. As for the bike...I've unpacked and packed the thing 500 times in the last month. Each time a bike is unpacked and repacked, things on it change. Measure to your heart's content, but something will feel different. Since I unpacked it (for hopefully the last #$%#%$ time), it changed. It feels amazing. Particularly when going downhill. I finally feel really connected to the bike and take it to its limit and back without worry. And yes, another photo from the vault...


I'll miss that guy when I leave...but you can bet it'll be ridden to the ground for the next couple months. Another important note. Former roommate and teammate Mike Fitzgerald has gone home. He had a battle with a truck, and lost. Inredibly, he is almost completely unscathed. Only broke his arm in a few spots, but he'll be allright, and will be ready to start his 13 month Australian-European season in a few weeks. That's how those guys roll. Pictured below is the only photo I have of Mike. Like most professional hockey players, Mike is a firm believer of the "don't EVER smile in photos" ideology. He told me it gives him an extra 20 watts of power and forces all opposition into submission. If only the truck-guy had a look...AT THIS:


Take it easy, guy. See you around. Allright then, as I mentioned, I went to Paris for a week earlier this month. Before getting into that, a quick word on the big beautiful train systems all over France. Aww...they're so fast, smooth, convenient, yah! But! They're friggggggggin expensive! No one ever mentions that part. So, nearly another month's worth of stipend went to that little trip...and another month will be spent in total struggle mode as I wait and hope that the pattern of continually delaying payment will be a bit more lax this month. Paris!


Okay, look: As cyclists, we share a few common interests, among which are the love of really expensive and cutting-edge bike parts. We love them because they represent the most recent evolution of an already insanely efficient machine. Road bikes represent the most refined type of this machine. We love advancements in road bike technology because they [conceivably] serve to make that machine even faster, even more efficient. This is their purpose and the reason for our fascination. Let's go to the otherside now....what else to cyclists universally enjoy? Scroll up, that first photo in this entry. That's what I'm talking about. We enjoy that. Totally non-cutting edge natural and undisturbed formations and a way in which to access them (the road). The gadget-lust and the setting in which to enjoy them. We love that. The fusion of the two.

Paris is none of these things. It is an old city. Nothing is cutting edge. Old buildings with gold trim on random street corners and statues....statues EVERYWHERE. I don't care for any of these things. There, I said it. Big obsolete buildings with a solitary purpose of bringing in as many tourists as possible...and that's what hurts most...you check out the city, notice these things, and find that there are a billion others swooning over it all. Eh, to each his own. I think in the back of my mind this is what I expected. But in any case, the primary reason for my visit was to hang out with family that lived there.


And that was the best part! The baby-head to the left is Levon. Levon (2) is a fun baby. He speaks Armenian, English, and French equally well. He's a big fan of the Thomas Train series. BIG fan, and occasionally makes them smash into each other and cites "accident" as the reason. Atom (7) is an anomaly. An amazingly interesting anomaly. Some kids (me) like Dinosaurs, sharks, naps, painting....you know, that kind of thing. Atom's [current] singular interest and pursuit in life is Paris' public transport system. He enjoys being tested on the subject matter..."Atom, how can I get from Arc d'Triomphe to Gare de Lyon by bus....while only using Buses with odd numbers." After a second or so explaining what "odd numbers" are, he'll come out with a timely response with a tone of disappointment, because that question was not challenging enough. Really, they're both super kids. Can't wait for them to grow up, but definitely want to visit them again before they do! Here's Atom hard at work...


Though I wasn't a fan of the cardinal aspects that define the city, there was lots about Paris that I liked. First, the metro system. There's a metro stop every 500 meters or so, in any direction! Most amazing, is that during daylight hours, the trains come every 4 minutes or faster. No one runs to make trains, as there is no point -another will come shortly. Let's not forget, however, that the city itself isn't that big...perhaps 20k in diameter? So you can get from A-B on a bike much faster and cheaper than the Met with some crafty riding. Still, a cool metro system. Here's a photo:


Le Tour Eiffel. A daisy in every way. For one, it's very easy to find. Just ride around for a bit 'till you see it in the distance, then ride toward it. I used it as a landmark to be able to find my way home. I read up on it on wiki, and turns out it was supposed to be just a temporary thing, to be torn down later. Fascinating that something so massive and expensive could ever be considered "temporary". The entire structure really separates itself from the rest of the city. Massive, undecorated (except for the lights in the evening), a paltry brownish color, and visible from anywhere. A bit of a cycling parallel....the "hollow" frame gives it less surface area so that the wind won't destroy it. At the base of each leg there's some kind of tourist shop or restaurant. Kinda cool. And of course, being the easiest spot in town to find, it has billions of tourists. At all times. And that's cool, but not so much with the bike. C'est ici:


The Arc de Triomphe pretty much sums up what I didn't like about Paris. Ornaments on top of ornaments. Even my $.02 photo shows it. It's overdone beyond belief. BUT! The roundabout that encircles the Arc. Fkkkkkkking amazing. It's hell on earth. Entirely of cobbles. No lanes. No markers. No rules. A little piece of total anarchy in an otherwise [overly] law-abiding country. I made sure to include it at least once in each of my daily rides while out there. Big wide smile on my face the whole time. Made me nostalgic. It's like riding in downtown LA, or anywhere in LA at rush hour. Not nostalgic because of how great it is...it's not. But it's something that's familiar to me, and I just had to beam. The cobbles, man...that's the kicker. The big mean cobbles...One of my favorite parts of Paris.


It's not a great city for riding bikes. One of the worst i've ever been to, actually, but I don't know the city well enough to really judge it properly. Most French riders agree, however. Let me rephrase: Great city for bike riding...with a max of 20 km/h. I think on my first ride out I managed almost 30k in 2 hours of riding!! The day before I got to Paris, the city introduced this program called "Velibre", in which 100s of bike-rental stations are put up all over the city, and you can rent them. Great for putting around town, easy to find parking. I didn't rent one, but it's amazing how quickly they started to get used. After only a couple days people all over town were using them.


I won't lie, after the week, I got a bit attached to the bikes -despite not actually riding one. I like their style, color, and bulletproofness. In Paris, everyone rides, ["regular" riding...not the dork tights and goofy glasses kind] and I'm a huge fan of girls riding bikes. It's always worth a couple extra points in my eyes, and Paris has no shortage of amaaaaaaaazing looking girls riding these bikes, shifting gears, stopping at traffic lights, mashing the pedals. Maybe the drabness of the city makes them look that much better in my eyes? Regrettably, I have no photos of the aforementioned girls on bikes...but the Ditties won't disappoint.


Other enjoyable aspects of the city: The downtown area ("La Defense") was pretty neat. I got lost during one of my rides and ended up there (among other places). The place is deserted compared to the inner part of the city. Zero tourists. Smooth roads, one-way streets, and lots of fast food. Again, eerily similar to downtown LA. Here, I stopped and had a chat with a guy about Le Tour. Here's a quick photo of the Grande Arche...


For me, it's on par in coolness with le Tour Eiffel, and wins outright because it isn't drowning in a sea of tourists. It's made to be in line with the Arche de Triomphe, though locals say it's slightly off. Eh. So this is the most eccentric of the downtown buildings. There are a couple others, too. A nice refuge from the city's madness. I wonder how the night scene is? What else? I found that Parisian bakeries are generally better than their Ardeche/Aubenas counterparts. I think this is because of the general demand for bread in Paris is so high that the turnover rate of baguettes in Paris is very high -meaning they're always fresh. For me, the most important and only criteria for french bread and other baked goods is freshness. Paris has that down pretty good. Only a select few in l'Ardeche adhere to my tastes. Produce in Paris is expensive. Everything is more expensive. I think I saw figs (one of my favorite foods) for 16 euro/kilo! But the selection is prime and colorful.



Finalement!! Done at last. Anytime there's a big gap between entries, it's hard to follow it up properly, but I've done it. More updates coming this week, for sure. And what? The new interpol album came out? AND my apple matches my shirt? Far out!


ps: apologies for lack of any Tour rhetoric....this entry is long enough, I think. I feel the same way big Maggie does.