Le "Rapid' Cycles" ride report

Saturday 27 June ride (lead Labrico, but ride request posted by Limoncello on June 26 - Claude had technical issue to post), hence ride report written by the same Limoncello

Ride Stats:

• 74 km
• 1528m up
• 4h50 on the bike
• Average temp 23C, Max 37C. Temperature on top of the Salève was perfect.

From Veyrier, went half way up the Salève, down to Monnetier for an unplanned break, then up the Salève by the road, all the way to the end of the Salève above Cruseilles, return to Labrico's home then Veyrier.

Highlights

• Great biking day, and writing this report only now, I am glad I had we had this ride dear Claude.
• Labrico fixing his bike at Rapid' Cycles: that's a place to go (may be for a year end dinner). This music bar / pub has been closed for years, and is being re-opened by the  next generation. Vintage coffee machine and oven in the kitchen, stage for gigues, the kind of place with a heart (bon, en français: avec une âme). The owner sees DH riders stopping by with broken bikes, so he put some tools outside the bar (not the right tools though). Place is called Café de l'Union
• Statue of the oak on the way down. You guys probably rode nearby in the woods by the Maison du Salève in the bois de Pomier.
• For both bullet points above and pics beloz, see quiz posted 27 june (no good answer)

Points:

• Points for both for a great ride
• Shared points: Labrico organizing, Limoncello appointed as personal secretary for ride request and ride report

Still discovering new things in the Salève area

Ride report: The Sarkozy Ride

Saturday 13 June 2015

Riders: BoumBoum, Adrien (Bassist - contrebasse) at the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Limoncello
Ride lead: Boumboum (comme d'hab)

Ride stats: 52 kms, 850m up, 3h10 on the bike (note: I went up the hill before reaching home to pass the 1000m up mark (just for the sake of it). Total time …. well, probably 5h due to some stops, talking, mechanical, drink with a lady who fell in love with the musicians, etc...

A really nice ride: Arve river banks (flat, direction Chamonix) till St Pierre en Faucigny, then up next  on le Mole, via a pretty technical track (rocks, roots) including about 150m portage (in preparation for TdMB?). Then down in direction of Fillinges, to reach the little single by the Ménoge which took us back to the Arve again, about 2 km of the Casino).

Highlights (see pictures in relation to some of the comments):
- The Danny Macaskill pass
- The Arve river banks are beautiful. Its a nature reserve with numerous spots to admire the wildlife
- Meeting Carla and Nicolas Sarkozy (hence the title) and their friends (including Obama)
- Limoncello: mechanical with "le dérailleur de merde". Not sure buying this bike was such a good deal
- Refill stop by a house for Adrian who was running out of water. The lady (no picture available) clearly fell in love with our two musicians, and heavily insisted to invite us (successfully in the end) for a drink in order to get BoumBoum and Adrian's contact details (which they eventually gave). That was supposed to be for his son, who was here and couldn't care less, so I let the readers draw appropriate conclusions.
- Boumboum: tentative for OTB (no succes)
- Almost a hit into a horse who was quietly drinking out of a bucket, right in the middle of a small road (downhill). Lovely apologetical owner (unfortunately, no picture)
- The "Labrico land" road … you need to see the last picture for this one

Points: No points claimed since the ride was not advertised (per the rules). Up to the venerable ref to make exceptions of course.

Pictures:

Come on BoumBoum, Danny Macaskill would do it on the bike with closed eyes

(wooden bridge probably taken off by the water a few weeks ago)

 Wildlife

The Arve near St Pierre en Faucigny

Nice pedestrian bridge over the Arve (near St Pierre en Faucigny) 

The former and future French Presidential Couple 

Sarko, no Banania for us, beers for 3 thirsty MTB riders please! 

The whole family 

Attention les poules (et les poulettes), la prochaine fois, on amène Labrico!

Ride report: The Balls_Less ride

Riders: Labrico, Papy, Limoncello
Ride stats: 28 km, 494m up, 2h11 on the saddle

That was a back-up ride since poor Marcel is suffering from the back (see his ride attempt post)
Labrico started from the BMX track in stade du bout du monde, and was joined by Papy and Limoncello at the Migros Etrembières.
Dynamic and uninterrupted ascent of the Petit Salève, although we decided to start our way back slightly before the top for Labrico to be on time for Mathis, and we were indeed right on time.
Papy and Limoncello rode back to Chene-Bourg for a well deserved (and very good) pizza, before heading home.

Highlights:
- Papy in an artistic figure while hesitating between two technics on how to manage a technical passage. Kind of a slow motion of an OTB, but still ending on his two feet
- Limoncello being trapped in the net by the paint ball area, Papy patiently waiting behind for this to happen as he had noticed the flying net due to the wind
- Mathis proudly wearing his Cat MTB Tshirt (the 2012 edition???) which use to be too large and is now perfect size for him. This boy has changed / grown up big time lately.
- Very nice colors on the Salève with the sunset

Points:
- Point for all riders
- Point for Limoncello for organizing last minute
- Point for Mathis for wearing his Cat MTB shirt at the BMX track

Thanks Joes, it was a cool ride and evening

The Moussaka ride report - 12 May 2015 ride

Ride: Petit Salève, starting from le stade du bout du monde
Riders: Balls, BoumBoum, Labrico, Missile, Nameless, Zorba, Limoncello (host)
Ride details: 568m up, 32.6 km, 2h17 on the saddle per my GPS (a bit less for some)

Fantastic weather, dry track.
We left around 18h30 from the bout du monde, riding the Arve's right bank, which is a nice little single, yet offering less chances for checking on jogueuses getting out preparing for summer time.
Quite some time waiting for Zorba who got a flat and then missed the trail going up to Monnetier. BoumBoum and Balls as the rescue team, the later bringing back Zorba.
Pause on the way up, Rescue team 2 (Balls) feeding Missile with whatever energy bar was left from years of MTB, probably forgotten in the camel bag since 26" time.
Went up via the escargot way, Missile being inspired by the video posted by Beaujolais a couple of days ago.  Rescue team 3 with Balls helping carry Missile's bike while our dear ref was firmly holding the handrail, followed by a well deserved 5-min recovery time.
Limoncello's joke of the day: "Zorba (quite stressed as well), if you fall there, we'll have to change your name to Jo Moussaka."
As it was a bit late (and some did not have the lights), we did not make it to the top, and started the downhill. Petit Salève is a great play ground !!!!!!
At the bottom, BoumBoum, Missile and Zorba headed to Limoncello's, making sure they could benefit from the limited supply of Bière du Salève (1664 was the other option), while the rest of the crew headed back to get the cars.
A bit late for Nameless to join for dinner, so he missed the spaghetti - carbonara prepared by Christèle.
Balls volunteered as the DJ, and it was a great evening for all with LOLs.
Of course, respect was of essence and no laughs were heard when the ref sudently stood up with a funny face, suffering from a cramp.
All together, a great evening for all.
Pictures: Courtesy of Balls

Points:
Point for all riders
Points for Limoncello (ride host - dinner),  Thanks again Christèle for your help
1 point for Balls alias Mitch Buchannon. Next time bring CJ!

It's cool man!

Cramp, WTF!!!!

Energy bars please

I was a poor lonesome MTB rider

σωτηρία

Sunset on the Salève

Missile: j'ai faim

The last ride of 2014 ?

Tour des Pitons à 14h. Pas de vent, pas de nuage, pas de boue, pas de neige. Parfait, pour le moment...

Probablement la dernière sortie 2014 avec un temps incroyable. Si vous regardez bien à gauche, il neige déjà sur le Jura. Pour une fois, c'est quelque chose de positif pour les Jurassiens ;-)

The "Le Lion est mort" ride report

Indeed the Lion (the ref in our case) was dead, actually experiencing what it means to be trailing behind (on the flat and/or against the wind, he was alive going up and down).
3 courageous riders, knowing they were likely to get some rain, but still eager to hit the trails: Labrico, Missile, Limoncello (host)
We left the Stade du Bout du Monde around 18:30, went south under Labrico's guidance, trying to escape the dark clouds, our wheels going from single trails in the woods, to wider trails, to bits of asphalt. We then went up the Salève above Beaumont (really cool single track by a little river, got some rain at this stage), and crossed on the flank of this beautiful mountain to land behind Labrico's house.
The usual magnifique DH towards Veyrier and back to Stade du Bout du Monde.
Drive to Limoncello's: Bière du Salève, BBQ, Ice cream, and ….. Limoncello!

Stats:
46 km (longest Tuesday ride this season)
Up 673m
Time on the bike 2h35

Highlights:
- Missile's day off. Man it was good to have him behind me once in my life, even if not for a good reason. Had we been in Jussy woods, I would have had 1 kg of mosquitos in my teeth
- Missile's excuse book (excerpts) to have a rest: "I need a natural break", "I need to fill in my bottle", "I need more air in the rear wheel", "I stopped for a beer with a group of junkies" … Ref, with all due respect, it is OK to say you're just f….g dead once in your life.
- Labrico's attempt to make us believe he too was talking to the clouds ;-)
- Christèle on Wednesday morning: "where is the meat and vegetable left for Tiphaine's lunch?" …. well, ask starving Missile ;-)

Points:
Participation point: Labrico, Missile, Limoncello
Host and dine points: Limoncello
Bullshit award: Missile -0.5 (see above)
Courage award: Missile 0.5 starving (light if any lunch) and suffering, but … pedal damn it
Leading award: Labrico 0.5 for finding the tracks while escaping (most of) the clouds and rain
Selfish award: Tiphaine -0.5 for drinking all the coke with no notice for the shopping list. Fortunately Labrico had a bottle in his car

Thanks guys for a really nice ride and time together.

Final Sortie...what a day, what a ride, AWESOME!!