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sports
Mountain bike diary: La vierge noire (baseline)
Aug 3rd
So, not discouraged by my last but ultimately rather unfruitful attempt, I decided to go try the Vierge noire trail again, following the itinerary I scoped out last time.
I was more prepared this time. I left around 2pm, which was a little too late for a comfortable ride as it turned out it got quite hot and there was still a bit of ambient humidity from the morning rain. My tire had been repaired and the bike checked by the nice folks at Mountain Cycle in Voiron. I still need to buy a tool kit to take with me on the More >
Mountain bike diary: the unforgiving virgin and stupidity
Jul 27th
After a nice week-end riding my bike, I decided to try to ride some more today and try to do the second part of my Saturday ride albeit with a much shorter climb. The trick was to figure out a way to climb all the way up to the Bastille and then proceed towards Mount Jalla again.
I thought I had figured out an itinerary but after climbing as much as I could, I got stuck and ended up having to backtrack. It wasn’t that bad in itself because I very often have to backtrack because I took a wrong turn somewhere More >
Mountain biking diary: Mount Jalla and Le Mûrier
Jul 26th
Saturday: Mount Jalla
I had originally planned on spending the week-end in La Plagne to ride around at higher altitude. Things didn’t turn out as planned (do they ever?) and I ended up having to be in Grenoble this week-end.
I was determined not to let that get in my way of taking my mountain bike for a spin and took opportunity of the good weather on Saturday to attempt the climb of Mount Jalla, starting similarly to my failed attempt riding around Mount Néron but then, instead of going west towards Mount Néron, you go a little further up the valley More >
In the US for a couple of weeks
May 30th
I’m going to spend a couple of weeks on my old stomping grounds (the DC area) in the United States, visiting friends and attending a wedding. Today is the bachelor party. It’s more like a bachelor day really, as we’re going to go white water rafting in West Virginia! The weather seems alright so far and it rained a lot the last couple of days so there should be enough water to have some fun!
Unfortunately, as my camera is not waterproof, I won’t be taking any pictures during, which could have been a lot of fun.
Tension
Apr 3rd
The weather is starting to warm up and it’s enticing me to take my bike for a ride. At the same time, each time I go out, I can see the surrounding mountains still very white (and I know that it has snowed a bit higher up) and it makes me want to grab my board and go ride some freshly covered canyon. Tension between wanting more winter and spring now!
Moutain biking diary: Néron tour attempt
Mar 15th
The weather was pretty good today, not as good as yesterday but still nice. I decided to take my bike out and attempt an itinerary that I’d never tried before: a tour of the Néron mountain. The Néron is a mountain just north-west of Grenoble at the south tip of the Chartreuse massif:
Not long after moving to Grenoble, I bought a mountain bike itinerary book and I thought I’d follow their indications for this trip. Everything started rather well at my rather slow pace with a nice weather. Of course, it started getting colder as I climbed and ended More >
Snowboarding Breckenridge
Mar 17th
I went to Breckenridge, CO a couple of weeks back. It was nice to ride some real mountains for a change!
Despite being used to the French Alps, I’d actually never been that high up for as long before. The base elevation is 9,600 feet (2926 meters) which is already pretty high and goes all the way to 12,998 feet (3963 meters) at the top of the Imperial lift on Peak 8! Going down Lake Chutes was fun. It wasn’t too powdery and not as difficult as the extreme terrain denomination would make you believe, that is, unless you chose a trajectory More >
Don’t mess with my Beaufort!
Sep 6th
Global warming might alter the taste of cheese as the flora is evolving because of warmer conditions, affecting the cows diet. First, less snow (or at least, it isn’t sticking as long as it used to), now different tasting cheese! Is it going to impact everything I like >_<?
And, yes, I am well aware there are a lot more important consequences (too numerous to list her) to global warming than my selfish little desire of being able to snowboard in deep powder and eat good Alpine cheese afterwards… but it just keeps adding up and getting more personal. Maybe, people will More >
Moving on…
Nov 29th
It’s pretty amazing the amount of crap useful stuff that one can amass on a desk and on a computer… I wish sorting through all this stuff would be easier/faster and wouldn’t leave me with the paranoid feeling that I’m forgetting to transfer something important… Then again, maybe it’s time to start implementing some changes to live simpler without accumulating as much junk as I currently do. I am thinking about getting started with GTD to improve efficiency on that front (tracking important things is the first step towards controlling chaos) and help me stay on track while working from home.
On the More >
