Verbier!!!

The top of the climb-Contador did it a bit faster than our tandem



Our favorite sign so far

July 3rd
Today we woke up on the shores of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) and ate a nice American type breakfast; Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!! After our breakfast we packed up and tried to head out as quickly as possible which ended up being about 10:30am. From the lake we had some more nice flat easy riding to begin the day as we headed towards the Verbier (we decided to postpone going to Chamonix for a day or two). When we made it to the town of Martigny we did a bit of shopping at the grocery store to stock up before Sunday when they aren’t open at all. After the shopping trip we had to rearrange most of the contents in our BOB trailer to accommodate for the larger than normal amount of food that we carry. As soon as we finished packing we rode down the road about 1k where we found a park to eat our lunch. After lunch we hit the road again in an effort to get to le Chable. This is where our climbing began for the day. Although the climbing wasn’t really steep I could still feel every degree the road was rising. Finally we made to le Chable only to find that camping wasn’t for about another 5k uphill. However, on our way up to the campsite at Champsec we passed a great bike shop that even had the rare replacement parts for my cycling shoes and they were even cheap!!! So, we purchased a spare set and continued until finding the campground which is really more like a plot of land next to a small village that they charge you to sleep on… Once we got the tent set up and BOB disconnected from our bike we decided to head back down into town and up the Verbier. Once reaching town we found that the climb started right from the middle of town and climbed about 9K up to the ski resort town of Verbier. We were able to do the climb without the trailer in 50 minutes which was about 45 minutes faster than what we would have been with the trailer on. Once we summited the climb we turned back around to head back to the campsite where we came across a bar that was showing the prologue of Le Tour live!!! So, of course I ordered my first Swiss beer since we have been here and sat down with Mo to watch the show! It was a great showing by all the top players (Lance, Contidor, Fabian, Schlecks and even a fellow collegiate cyclist and friend Brent Bookwalter who finished 11th) This years race should be a good show down between Radio Shack and Astana and I am excited to see what happens in the following days. Anyway, after watching the Tour we continued to our campsite where we cooked ourselves some bratwursts and instant potatoes with gravy. Now it’s time for bed and some rest from a fun filled day!
(for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Verbier, it is a historic stage of Tour which was last visited in 2009 when Contidor attacked on this climb to pull away from Lance and win the stage. Of course this really upset Lance and the fireworks between Lance and Contidor began to fly, or as some might say “it hit the fan.”)
67K with the Bob trailer
28K without the trailer
Nate