Swiss National Day and the Mountain Race

The second session of AA is always particularly fun because Swiss National Day happens on August 1st. The festivities for Swiss National Day (at least in Leysin) begin at 6am with the firing of a cannon, followed by some live music as the villagers from the small alpine town gather round. In Leysin, there is also a half marathon mountain race (http://www.aigleleysin.ch/) which starts in the valley in Aigle and finishes in the town of Leysin after ascending the Berneuse. It is 16km (10 miles) running up the mountain, followed by 5km (3 miles) down. The start of the course is a brutal climb and I'm certain the grade is nearly 15%. (The average grade is 10%.) Over the course of the 10 mile ascent, there is 1650meters (5400 feet)of elevation gain. In the 5km decent, one loses 720meters (2300 feet). That's a quad killer.

Mary made a special class schedule this morning so that all the kids could come watch the race and cheer me on. In their first period class, they all made signs for me and made up cheers. It was overwhelming to come up the hill and see all my fans on the corner. They were so adorable!

Adorable doesn't even begin to describe

AA campers and staff awaiting my arrival

Leo and Latoya with a banner for me

AA campers with an adorable sign!

 My fan club waited at the corner of Nid D'Aigle before the Prafandaz climb. That's about halfway to the top. At this point, runners have gained 943 meters (3093 feet).

Fist pump as I see the kiddos!

I couldn't help but smile when I saw my fan club.

Rounding the bend, giving them a wave!

Onward!

I was the 8th female to complete the climb to the Berneuse (out of 50) and the 10th to cross the finish line in Leysin. I finished the grueling 21.2km in 2 hours 53 minutes. Now I have a time to beat for future years.

A Leysin, on attend le feu d'artifice

Some campers ready for Swiss National Day festivities

Ian and one of our campers from Japan

Ian and Erik on the town podium, looking like they have something important to say

Great people, great colleagues

One of my students made this sign about my race (as an assignment for her ESL class). So cute. (The quote on the bottom was not my own, but a cute addition.)

Tour de France (and Other Cycling Adventures)

One of the things that I have been wanting to do for awhile now is climb Mont Ventoux in France, a famous Tour de France climb. At the end of AA Session 1, I had a five day break. About two weeks before this break commenced, I realized (pure luck) that the Tour had a stage finish on the Ventoux during my break! I immediately made plans to get over to France. I spent four days in France cycling.

The first day, I drove to the Ventoux and climbed up the s

outh side

Atop the Ventoux (first ascent at dusk)

Atop the Ventoux on Day 2 awaiting the Tour

Claiming a spot 500meters from the Ventoux finish

Looking down the south side of the Ventoux at all the team buses etc.

Near the finish at the Ventoux

Let the parade begin

The helicopter is hovering to get coverage of Froome leading the charge

Froome is on his way!

Bastille Day victory for Froome!

I love Schleck!!

One of my favorite pictures

The last peloton of riders, complete with Cav

Cavendish

After seeing the Tour, we departed, direction Alpe D'Huez. We stopped in this town for dinner on our way to Serres, France

Serres, France

Bastille Day storm rolling in

On Day 3, me and Paul did a 60km countryside ride loop from Mens, France. My legs were spent on this day and the rolling hills were more difficult than the Ventoux had been or then the Alpe D'Huez would prove to be.

Me and Paul during the Mens loop

A lake we encountered during the Mens, France loop

The French countryside is absolutely stunning

Everywhere we went, the Tour was there. We couldn't escape it. When we spent the night in Serres, we watched as Tour vehicles and camper vans poured through the small streets en route to the Alpe D'Huez. It was clear that if one is within 100mile radius of the Tour, there's no escaping it. We even say two large bus loads full of gendarmerie (police) being driven to the next spot. Below, on the countryside ride, we find that we are actually riding part of the next Tour stage.

Best lodging ever. We stayed here and planned to attack the Alpe D'Huez the next day.

 I cycled the Alpe D'Huez two days before the Tour was scheduled to make the ascent (twice in one day for them). One would have thought the Tour was coming through that day. The entire way up the ascent was lined with camper vans, people singing, dancing, listening to music, drinking morning brews and cheering the thousands of amateurs riding up. It was a party. I didn't want to leave, but unfortunately after ascending the Alpe D'Huez I had to get back to work. The descent was rather sketchy. Cars, motorcycles, vans driving up and down the route, cowboy cyclists flying down the descent, not to mention the THOUSANDS of cyclists riding up. It was a technical descent that I took quite slowly

Getting ready for the ascent, camper vans hanging out

I cycled higher than the town itself into the cow pastures above

The Stage finish