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!

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

Beginners ride, the pics

Enjoying the great outdoors

Sani2c.... better late than never!

In May, it was time for the 10th annual Sani2c multi-day race from the Drakensberg mountains (Sani) through 270 km of amazing countryside to the sea. This ride is partly sponsored by the Cat dealer (Barloworld) and has been ridden by certain members of the Cat MTB team over the years. This was my turn for my first ride. Although I don't have many pictures, I encourage you guys to consider this as an option before the summer season in Europe. It's a lot of fun and quite a good test of your fitness. Happy to help make arrangements for anyone interested. Cmon and play in SA.

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