The Blog has moved...

I've moved the Grenoble Life blog onto the Grenoble Cycling Pages sever, and you can find it here.

http://www.grenoblecycling.com/wordpress/

Cheers, Russell
www.grenoblecycling.com

Classical Metallica?

Back in the early 90s, I was a big fan of heavy rock. Rush, ACDC and Metallica were among the influences that helped push me to play the drums and to annoy my neighbours.

Rich, a bass player from my first band, sent me the following link to a classical guitar version of Metallica's Orion by Rodrigo y Gabriela. It's superb and even if you are not a Metallica fan, it's a very nice and mellow piece of music that deserves to be sent around the internet.

http://www.myspace.com/rodrigoygabriela

Winter arrives in the Alps and so do Coldplay

The snow has finally arrived in and around Grenoble, but at the moment, it's not enough to fully open the ski stations this coming weekend. It is enough to put me off getting on the bike for a few days.

I visted London last weekend for a three days of tourism and Christmas shopping with the family. It was the first time I'd flown from Grenoble airport, and what a pleasant experience it was. The place is tiny. The car park is right outside the airport and within a minute, we were standing at the check-in desk of Easyjet. For 150 Euro, my wife, daughter and I were flying to Luton, just north of London. We'd also already booked our bus ticket online and then had a bus from Luton to central London. It was then a five minute walk from Victoria station to our hotel and it couldn't have been easier.

London was busy with life as well as with tourists. We went on the London Eye then a river cruise, which again had been booked through the internet saving us queues as well as fifty percent of the price. We also did a lot of walking to see the main sites around the centre on the first day, and then resorted to taking the bus on the second day. Hamleys toy shop was full of eager children and adults, with my daughter being no exception. We returned on the second day to buy toys, when the little one thankfully slept through the whole experience.

It was great to have convenience where we could eat at four in the afternoon and not be frowned upon. In France, if you go into a restaurant at seven, you're too early. London however seems to have been taken over by coffee bars and restaurant chains like Garfunkels. Starbucks was literally everywhere with each street and even some of the larger shops having a Starbucks. I'd always thought that McDonalds had taken over the high street, but Starbucks has taken this to a new extreme in London.

It seems that we'd missed the worst of the bad weather when we arrived back in Grenoble on Sunday afternoon. London had been cold and grey, but Grenoble airport however was sitting under a blizzard, and we had to run from the aircraft across to the terminal building. I've also seen that there are flights to Rome, Marrakech and Stockholm amongst other places from Grenoble which opens up new holiday destinations for the future.

Last night I joined about 5000 other people for an intimate evening with Coldplay in Lyon. They played the Halle Tony Garnier, a sizable hall with tiered seating at the back and standing room at the front. The British group Goldfrapp were providing support, and they entertained us for half an hour with a blend of mellow and fast moving pop. Their loud electronic bass penetrated the soul as well as the stomach with the vibrations from their songs vibrating my whole body.

Coldplay were incredible, and put on a great show. Apart from Chris Martin having to aplogise for making a mistake with his piano playing at the start of Trouble, everything was perfect. In between songs, Martin addressed the audience in basic French, with a few words in English when he couldn't find the word in French. At times, he would take a camera or mobile phone from the audience and take photos of himself and the band to give somebody a great souvenir.

It has been a long time since I'd been to a concert. I'd seen Frank Black in 2001 in Grenoble, but that was in a small room. The band were backed by a big screen that was often a blaze of colour or showing close up of the band as they played. The majority of the audience was obviously French, but they knew the words and were able to sing along with the songs, and for me, it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen.

We have Oasis and the Stereophonics coming to Grenoble at the end of January, so not too long to wait until the next gig.

A Formula One Car on the Mont Ventoux

If you have a few moment, check out this footage of driving a formula car on the Mont Ventoux. They have an incredible in-car view as well as shots from the road of the cars on the climb. Not for the faint-hearted!

http://videos.streetfire.net/Player.aspx?fileid=FF0C3901-0B0D-4912-9BC3-761051EFD4B3

Three great days in the Alps in 2006

The 2006 Tour de France route has been announced with a route that will cover 3639 kilometres over the three weeks of racing. The riders will start in Strasbourg on the eastern side of France before heading north and riding anti-clockwise around France. The Pyrenees come before the Alps this year.

There is no team time-trial this year and we have three individual races against the clock including the prologue.

The race hits the Alps in the third week and had three great stages. The first stage takes the riders from Gap over the Izoard and Lautaret before the final ascent to Alpe d'Huez. Day two in the Alps takes in the alpine giant of the Galibier before the Croix de Fer and Mollard and the final climb to finish in the ski resort of La Toussuire. The final day with take the riders over the Saisies, Aravis and Colombiere before the brutal Col de la Joux Plane and the technical descent into Morzine. These are great stages with the race taking some beautiful scenery.

Prologue
Saturday 1st July - 7 km Strasbourg
Stage 1
Dimanche 2nd July - 183km Strasbourg > Strasbourg
Stage 2
Monday 3rd July - 223km Obernai > Esch-sur-Alzette
Stage 3
Tuesday 4th July - 216km Esch-sur-Alzette > Valkenburg
Stage 4
Wednesday 5th July - 215km Huy > Saint-Quentin
Stage 5
Thursday 6th July - 219km Beauvais > Caen
Stage 6
Friday 7th July - 184km Lisieux > Vitré
Stage 7 - Individual time-trial
Saturday 8th July - 52km Saint-Grégoire > Rennes
Stage 8
Sunday 9th July - 177km Saint-Méen-le-Grand > Lorient
Rest Day
Monday 10th July
Stage 9
Tuesday 9th July - 170km Bordeaux > Dax
Stage 10
Wednesday 12th July - 193km - Cambo-les-Bains > Pau
Stage 11
Thursday 13th July - 208km Tarbes > Val d'Aran-Pla-de-Beret
Stage 12
Friday 14th July - 211km Luchon > Carcassonne
Stage 13
Saturday 15th July - 231km Béziers > Montélimar
Stage 14
Sunday 16th July - 181km Montélimar > Gap
Rest Day
Monday 17th July
Stage 15
Tuesday 18th July - 187km Gap > L'Alpe d'Huez
Stage 16
Wednesday 16th July - 182km Bourg d'Oisans > La Toussuire
Stage 17
Thursday 20th July - 199km Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Morzine
Stage 18
Friday 21st July - 193km Morzine > Mâcon
Stage 19 - Individual time-trail
Saturday 22nd July - 56km Le Creusot > Montceau-les-Mines
Stage 20
Sunday 23rd July - 152km Antony-Parc de Sceaux > Paris Champs-Élysées

For more details and profiles, visit the official Tour de France website.

To Alpe d'Huez or not to Alpe d'Huez - that is the question

Eyes will turn to France today for the unveiling of the 2006 route of the Tour de France, with the world waiting in anticipation to see who will suit the route to take over as Armstrong's successor. Starting in the eastern city of Strasbourg, the riders will first visit the Pyrenees before heading up to the Alps on the three week event. Alpe d'Huez should be on the route as the riders missed the climb on this year's route, and they seem to visit every couple of years.

Basso has already said he won't ride the Tour of Italy so that he can concentrate on the Tour, and the big question Basso and the rest of us concerns Jan Ullrich. Will he arrive lean and ready to take his second win. I certainly hope so.

The mountainsides above Grenoble have turned into a mass of colour from the green trees who are fighting the arrival of autumn to the beech and oak which have already turned light yellow, orange to dark reds. It's a beautiful time to be outside, be it cycling, driving or walking. The mountains have had their first coverings of snow that have been and gone.

It is also now the mushroom season and apparently the autumn of 2005 is a great year for finding mushrooms in the hills. People actaully come on holiday to the area at this time of year, just to find the various edible varietys the spring up in the woods and fields. Good mushroom spots are one of the most closely guarded secrets in France. The French will tell you they are going, they tell you know a fantastic place, but they won't let you know where it is or take you along. After last years 'mushroom' walk where we didn't collect one good one, it's something I leave to the locals.



Cycling arrives in Grenoble today with the start of the Grenoble Six Day. We have six evenings of track racing. This year, we don't seem to have such an international presence with the majority of riders from France, Belgium and Germany making up most of the professionals. There is plenty of action, with talented performers taking over the stage in between the racing, and all alongside the glamour of corportate entertaining with the middle of the velodrome turned into a restaurant.

The wind of change

Something was in the air today as I cycled across Grenoble to make my way to the bike path. There were clouds and clouds of tiny flys which I've never seen before. I was thankfully wearing my sunglasses, and was peppered as I rode through the numerous groups of the tiny creatures. Not a very pleasant experience.

Since I've started riding again, I've started to loose weight. I gained it quickly and so far, it's come off quickly. Two kilos or four and a half pounds is a nice result after two weeks of riding my bike more regularly. I just need to keep it going now, and for the moment, the weather is pleasant and I can still ride in short sleeves and shorts.

HP has announced that it will reduce it's workforce in Europe and in France. Forbes reports that 1240 posts will go in France. It will be an interesting few months ahead, and for the moment, we wait to see the exact details of what will happen.

Finally, I've upgraded my internet connection at home. Competition in France is intense with each company trying to entice customers to go with them, so it's a great place to be a consumer. For the same price I was paying for my two megabit line, I now have an eight megabit download with a one megabit upload, which is perfect for those online games and using the webcam. The old modem has gone and has been replaced with a WIFI modem. It seems that I can now receive just about everything through this box, so internet, television, telephone and even video phone. As I use Skype, and spend most of my time chatting with people outside France, I'm happy to just have the internet part.

Lance, the French and Playboy

It seems that from a report on http://www.cyclingnews.com,Lance Armstrong is considering riding next year's Tour de France. After the French press have been trying link Armstrong with doping, it seems he has found his enthusiasm for training and racing is still strong. He also say's that "I'm thinking it's the best way to piss (the French) off."

I don't think that this a serious remark, and personally, I'm ready for a change. Seven years of one guy winning is quite enough, and I think the Tour needs a new winner. Armstrong has been a worth winner and we've seen some great battles, but it's time to see a new face on the podium in Paris next year.

I also found the following interview with Lance from earlier in the year on the Playboy site. If you're at work, I wouldn't recommend visiting this link as you may get a visit from your network team, and if you're at home, you may get a visit from your wife. However, it's a good article. By the way, I found the link on some cycling forums. Honestly.

Link to Lance article in Playboy