Livin' la dolce vita!

Thats exactly how I feel right now...living the sweet life. To be completely honest, I pilfered the title from La Dolce Vita which is a pizzeria I ate at tonight in Grenoble in the italian section. Pretty tasty stuff. I spent most of my day in Grenoble exploring on foot and taking in a cafe. Grenoble has tons of farmers markets. Needless to say, I was in my element looking at all the tasty food. World cuisine has always fascinated me. It would be a super cool gig to travel around and get to taste different flavors then create recipes from them. Maybe a future career for me. But now, its racing my bike atleast until school kicks back into gear and my coaching gig starts again...don't worry charlie =)

As I promised in my last entry, I would continue with the legendary tale of my first cyclosportiv. After finishing, I made my way to the gym where they had lunch ready for us. I turned my number in to get my food and all these women came over and kept saying, "you are #215!" I left my bag in the kitchen prior to my start and the women wrote my number down. It turned out to be my ticket to food heaven. One women, Katherine, was from Scotland and spent half the year in area. She came over and spoke english to me and made sure I had everything I needed then she introduced me to her wonderful husband who was a great man to chat alongside. The rest of my time in the gym, I was carefully watched and tended too. If I had an empty plate they would come over and ask if there was anything I wanted and then go and get it for me. It was an ideal situation =) They didn't do that for anyone else. I guess it was like I was their special American boy who came all this way to do the race so they took extra special care of me. The generosity of the people I have met in my cycling trip have been incredible. The race director gave me a ride back to my house last night which was really helpful.

So lunch consisted nothing typical of american faire...We had some sliced meet, couscous, cold pasta, shredded carrots, and this white cream shredded stuff. I saw it today at the market but I forgot the name. And of course baguettes with brie. It was muy delicioso! Then they gave coffee and had some cake type bread. Definitely hit the spot on my calorie deficient body.

Tomorrow, I am riding to Bourg d'Oisans which is 50km southwest of here. Its a village in the middle of the Alps and just below the hallowed climb of Le Alpe d'Huez. I will take on this mythical giant, and all of her 21 switchbacks over the 14km at 7.7% avg. On Saturday I was invited by a british couple to come and have afternoon tea at their mtn chalet, Guy and Helyn. So it will be a day of training and tea! Guy and Helyn moved from the UK a couple of years ago and opened a mtn chalet that caters to cyclists in the summer and skiers in the winter. Seems kinda of like the dream job for me eventually...That way, I could ride,ski and cook for my guests. But I digress...The name of their house is King of the Mountains, its just 10km from the base of Le Alpe d'Huez. Check out their website,

http://www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

Well, I will leave you on that note. Its 11pm here and I need to get some sleep before I battle with the giant tomorrow. Stay tuned for the photos...

Ciao,
Matthew