Pre-Haute-Route

Adventurous day commuting by bike. My ride from near the airport to Stade du Bont-du-Monde to race registration was 8-km through winding streets. I carried my bunched up bike bag over my shoulder attempting not to hit any posts or pedestrians. Nice quiet morning and awesome bike lanes on the road.  

the Fountain early Sat morning

Race registration was well organized. Nice group of cyclists, easy to meet and make new friends. It was great to see one familar face Lenny from Israel who has raced both Tour-Trans-Austria and Tour-TransAlps same times as I did.

Mug shot with the race jersey

Made my way back to downtown Geneva thru tourists and to the race hotel. I chose "Premium" accom in hotels versus "Comfort" accom in the communal housing. Too much stress lately so I'm hoping more rest can be had with less unknowns. Checked in, left my bike to rest in the room. Hotel gave a free all day transit pass.

What I love about Europe is the closeness of the "big" cities and the ease to get around with the local transit. I walked 800m and was soon on the trolley back to Vincent's house. Grabbed fresh veggies from the garden for lunch and rolled my bag back on the trolley to the hotel. Organized for the next race day, short snooze before a ride 4 km to the pasta party.

white-snow capped mtns and the fountain in front of La Saleve

Sat with Andrew from Ireland and Iain from Britain (living in Geneva) for a bilingual race talk of logistics every racer best already know if they even considered racing this event... like how long the course is, the Cols, the elevations... It was nice they spoke first in French, then immediately in English. Hopefully the organizers will get feedback that to keep the racers happy it's best to feed them first (!) then have race logistics and awards.

The food was "typical" endurance race food... pasta and a bun, oh, and a sweet dessert! Not conducive to vegetarians or health as I know it. I came prepared, armed with Vega products and loaded up with fruits and veggies.

Here's a glimpse of Stage 1... long neutral start with two major climbs. The issue will be the weather... it is HOT!!!