2024
Geneva loop through France
This year we are riding a 700-mile loop out of Geneva Switzerland. We head to Lyon, then across some of our route from last year in France, and then returning from the north east of Lake Geneva.
Planning our Geneva ride
This year we are planning our trip similarly to the first one. We have set up Airbnb accommodations in advance for every night. The advantage of this is that we eliminate the uncertainty of finding places to stay. However, it is a bit of work to find Airbnbs along our...
Tapestry
We’ve worked hard over the last couple months to get physically ready for this trip. We generally got 1-2 hours of riding in before I left for work and rode 4-6 hours on Saturdays. This last Saturday we had our final long ride and it was windy: 25 mph steady...
Day 1 is in the books
We are writing in Friday morning, the day after arriving in Geneva. Our flights worked out well. We left our home at about 11 and drove to Bryan’s office (newly remodeled and expanded – bet nice!) and he drove with us to the airport and then drove our truck home...
Tired bodies
We slept moderately well last night. You’d think, as exhausted as we were, we would have slept soundly, but we’re off by about eight hours on our circadian rhythm and even melatonin couldn’t make up the difference. But we were both grateful for the sleep we got. So much better...
To Lyon!
We both slept great last night. Our room was a little warm, as air conditioning doesn’t seem to be a thing in Europe. We slept without covers and kept a fan blowing on us. It felt so good to sleep well!
Rest day in Lyon
We slept well, although we are missing air conditioning. Ironically this is so far our hottest European bike trip. (Maybe we aren’t quite close enough to fall yet.) We woke up early so we made a quick trip to the bakery nearby to get fresh bread. (The bread we bought...
Ride to Mâcon
I slept great last night, Natalie slept medium. We awoke, ate, finished all but the last of our oat milk, transferring the remaining amount to our leftover San Pellegrino bottle. It had a better lid. It was going with us, and we were happy to have it about an hour...
Many mini blessings
It was nice to wake up this morning and not feel like we had to hurry to leave our Airbnb. We had a relatively short ride, just over 40 miles, ahead of us, and we couldn’t arrive early. So we lingered in our Airbnb, ate our simple breakfast, organized, packed,...
Roughing it
Our Airbnb last night worked out great. We slept in a bed in the loft. The stairs to the loft were so steep! We both were worried that one of us was going to fall down them in the middle of the night walking to the bathroom. Gratefully, we made...
A rainy day
We both slept well in the barrel. Our bed was firm and the rain had cooled things off. We set our alarm for 7, as that timing worked well for our hosts who were bringing us breakfast. We wanted to be able to say goodbye and thank them in person....
Contrast
I’ll get to how we slept in a moment… I first have to tell you where we are right now. We’re relaxing on the porch of a delightful Airbnb in a town about 50 miles away from where we slept last night, and it couldn’t be more different than last...
Pfastatt
This morning we woke up and left our Airbnb by 9:15. We rode until about 3:15. It was amazing to think that last year we rode yesterday‘s ride and today’s ride all in one day. We were plenty tired arriving today and grateful we didn’t have another 50 miles to...
Resting
Last evening, we spent time with our hosts visiting on their back porch. They were so kind and welcoming. They shared with us a dessert she had made to celebrate her husband‘s retirement. We appreciate their kindness and hospitality. It was the second evening in a row where we disappointed...
Ride to Murg
We woke up to drizzling rain. We expected it. We set our alarm so we could say goodbye to Clara, an adult child of our hosts who was on her way to school. She was so sweet in wanting to say goodbye and hug us. It was fun to get...
Two week (too weak?) legs
I’m kinda going to talk about today in reverse order. We just had one of the more unique Airbnb experiences of our trips. Where we are staying tonight didn’t have many options. And so I had arranged for us to stay in a room, meaning we would be sharing the...
Cheating the rain
Rain was in the forecast, starting at 1, so we woke up early (after a really good sleep), ate breakfast, and started riding by 8 AM. In addition to the rain forecast, the Airbnb situation wasn’t really conducive for sitting around. We had one more opportunity to thank the kind...
Interlaken
Several months ago, when planning our route and our accommodations I decided to add a rest day into the middle of this week. I looked at various options to go up to Interlaken as part of a professional tour, so that we could at least spend part of a day...
A fine piece of humble pie
With a title like that, I realize I need to jump right to the story. I will cover the boring stuff, like how we slept, toward the end.
Arriving early
We both slept well. It is mildly awkward to stay in an Airbnb “room” with or without the host present. Our first Airbnb, the one we stayed in after we landed in Geneva, was just a room, but it felt a little more like it was set up for multiple...
Resting near Lac Léman
We slept well. The cooler weather helps, as does a comfortable (firm) bed.
Back in Geneva
We are back in Geneva. We are sitting in an absolutely delightful Airbnb. Once again we arrived early. I had purposefully planned the last few days of riding to be a little bit shorter. That way we’d have some flexibility in case something was going wrong and we needed to...
Blown away
Geneva blew us away. Literally. The wind today was crazy and didn’t let up all day. We took the train to the old sector and wandered for several hours. The Geneva fountain wasn’t operating due to the wind and walking along the lake wasn’t very peaceful either. But the weather...
Finishing the puzzle
Our rides are like putting together a puzzle. Some may see a completed puzzle and wonder “Why didn’t they just buy the picture? It would have been so much easier.” Some may see the puzzle and notice the imperfections created by the pieces that have been cut out. But others...