Origin of "Bike Dreams"

This trip to France and Switzerland, sometimes known as "Bike Dreams," grew out of an improbable dream idea involving the marriage of two crazy obsessions. First, my obsession with France and all things French; second my obsession (shared by several of our children) with the Tour de France bicycle race. One day, about 3 years ago, I suggested (only semi-seriously) that it would be cool to take a trip to France themed around the Tour de France - where we would travel around France with a series of bicycle rides to sample all the sensations of France in our own version of the famous Tour. As soon as I gave words to the idea, I was locked-in because all the bikers immediately signed on!

From that moment, the Bike Dreams trip became a concrete expectation, even though the date was very fluid. No one was ready to do it immediately. It had to be coordinated with all kinds of other priorities, from new babies to work schedules to Nan's racing schedule to saving for the cost, etc., etc. We came close to setting a date for fall of 2010, but finally pushed it to late May, 2011. That was after at least a year of scheming and dreaming, and more than a year away when decided, and seemed far enough into the future that no one had any concrete conflicts.

Everyone in the family was invited (all 11 children and their spouses), but from the outset it was understood to be Dutch treat - each couple would need to pay their own way. Sorry, I'm not Daddy Warbucks, just Papa Duck (as in "Scrooge," you say?). I hope no one felt pressured to go - that was never my intent. Some of the couples decided early on that they were either not interested or not able to go. Some held out hope, but eventually decided it would not work for them. Elisse/Garry and Ashley/Matt decided early on that they were definitely in. Their commitment locked me in. Aaron and Nan were always a strong probably, and participated in the planning, but didn't finally pull the plug on the airline tickets until about 3 months out. With at least two couples in, I could hardly back down, now could I?

So, with input from Matt (on which bike rides to do - just the most famous mountain stages from the real Tour) and Garry (on other things to see - castles, villages, museums, Paris), and taking into account the need to plan alternative activities for Suzanne and any other non-bikers, I began to lay out the itinerary. The more I studied, the more I realized how much there was to see and do. We could have spent several days in each locale, but we had to keep moving in order to hit all the bases within our limited time frame. This was not going to be a vacation for casually enjoying all the amenities of any swank resort h0tels. Instead, it was going to involve finding our hotels in the evening (possibly after dark) each day, and leaving them early the next morning. Yet the participants did not want a string of Motel 6's, they wanted the flavor of France even in the hotels.

We had to decide whether to use one giant vehicle or two medium ones. Whether to bring bikes from home or rent them in France. Bringing our own bikes would require bigger vehicles, and present the problem of packing the bikes around even when we were not using them. So, the decision was made to rent bikes. We settled on two cars large enough for all our baggage, so that the non-bikers would have wheels to go sight-seeing while the bikers did their thing. I searched the Internet until I found a bike rental shop at the base of each of the three mountains. And I searched for hotels in each locale.

The final plan was to leave home Friday, arrive in Geneva Saturday and spend the weekend adjusting to the jet lag while visiting our dear friends Gisèle and Philippe Dubrez. From there to Grenoble as the base for biking the Alpe d'Huez on Monday morning. That evening to Provence (near Avignon) for biking the Mont Ventoux on Tuesday morning. Tuesday p.m. and Wednesday sight-seeing in Provence and Carcassonne and traveling to the base of the Pyrénées. Thursday morning biking the Col du Tourmalet, and then driving to the Loire Valley by nightfall. Friday, take in one of the chateaux of the Loire (Chambord), then Versailles in the afternoon, and arrive in Paris by nightfall (with a stop in Chartres for its famous cathedral if time permits). Saturday and Sunday in Paris, and fly home on Monday. A whirl-wind itinerary. At the last minute, I revised the plan for the non-bikers so we could visit friends in Perpignan (Spanish/Mediterranean border) and Brive (half-way to Paris), while the bikers did their Pyrénées climb without us.

That's how the trip came to be, and how the plans evolved. The actual trip went mostly according to plan, with wonderfully few hiccups. I'll try to fill in the details in later posts. Pictures too, I hope.

Papa Duck