Tour de France and L'Etape de Tour 2023

 Today as the day when they announced the route of Tour de France 2023

And back to my post of a week or so ago where I talked about St Gervais being far more than just a winter sports resort, it has probably the biggest summer of cycling it has ever had coming in 2023.

 

In the past the TdF has done a summit finish at Le Bettex (the main ski station in StG) back in 2016 and Le Dauphne has done a start in the village never have we had 4 days like we are going to have in 2023.

 

It starts on July 16th 2023, when the stage 15 route comes from Morzine to StG and finishes at Le Bettex.

 

July 17th is officially a rest day (which in reality is not a rest day as the teams will be around doing gentle climbs), then July 18th is stage 16 and a time trial in the bottom of the valley. 

Finally stage 17 on July 19th starts in StG and heads to Courchevel.

Hotel prices are already sky high, the benefit to the local economy will be massive, as besides the 120 or so riders you have 1000s of support staff from the teams, broadcasters and sponsors to the those providing all the infrastructure such as Orange.

So much has changed in the village in the 20 or so years we have been coming and next summer is going to be fantastic, better book my favorite restaurants now!

In addition the L'Etape de Tour is July 9th, the weekend before whilst it is not one of these routes the start and finish in StG it is using part of a route it used a few years ago.

 

That was also back in 2016 when the route was Megeve to Morzine, I cycled up the hill to the start in Megeve before doing the route, although it was a slightly different route to the TdF that year as Col de Ramaz was closed due to a rock slide, it is one thing 120 or so riders, but 15,000 is a different matter. Although a few weeks before we did ride from StG, Col de Ramaz, Col de Joux Plane, Morzine and back to StG. I'm sure before next years we'll do that route again plus the other of minor Cols.

So I'm signed up for L'Etape de Tour 2023 all 4100m and 152km over roads I know reasonably well, which always helps, that said the first few km of Joux Plane are just brutal (the infamous left turn into double digit %s in Samoens) and it is the last climb of the day as it was before.

It is going to be outstanding summer of cycling in StG next year, bring it on, good news is that Spain is great for winter training.

La Vuelta de Espana

During the summer I got to watch a stages of 2 of the big 3 cycling Grand Tours, specifically the Tour de France and the Vuelta de Espana.

 

Salobreña > Peñas Blancas. Estepona

09/01/2022 - Stage 12 - 192,7 km - Flat. Uphill finale

This years Vuelta traveled thru all the provinces of Andalucia and during part of the journey it passed thru San Pedro de Alcantara where we live.

Unfortunately an evening commitment meant I couldn't get to the summit finish, sad as one of my Marbella cycling buddies had booked at table in the refuge at the top by the finish line.

It started off to the East of Marbella and head towards Cartama, Coin, Mondo, Ojen and into Marbella, for those that have ever done the Marbella 70.3 Ironman the ride from Cartama is the return leg of the cycling part of that.

The race then went thru Marbella and then onto the A7 autopista and thru the San Pedro tunnel, so how do you take a cycle race down a motorway, well clearly you close it (one way anyway). It started off by the Guardia Civil closing the entrances between Marbella and Estepona (where the race left the A7) and eventually closing the junction where the A7 comes down from the AP-7 to the coast. Once the race had past there was essentially a rolling roadblock behind it and as it past junctions the Guardia Civil opened up the junctions, that also ensured those of us that were standing on the carretera watching the race had time to get off.

The race then head down to Penas Blancas in Estepona, the climb is category 1, going up 1239m in 19.7km at an average of 6.7%. Although the first 14.6km according to Strava are HC, doesn't seem to be a segment yet for the whole of it since the new part was added.

They recently resurfaced the last part of the road adding 5km,  previously those last few kms were more of rough road / gravel track.

As with the TdF not just this part got resurfaced but so did other elements of the route including other parts of the climb.

The climb itself is brutal and for the first 8km aside from a little downhill bit is as brutal as any climb you'll do with sections of 15%.

The previous weekend we we drove to down to Estepona, cycling down the A7 from Marbella whilst legal is suicidal, we have done it but in a group of about 20 or so.

Then with fresh legs we tackled the climb, none of us had done the whole of the new climb so after about 14.6km it was new territory for all of us. To put it in perspective the pros did the first 14.6km in around 35 minutes, half the time of all of our PBs, and it was hot for them as it was for us when we did it. Plus they had done 175km before they got to it! Even if you are used to the heat it still has a negative affect on your riding, so just because we are crazy we went off and did a further 60km+ and another 1000m of climbing that day.

None of us are particularly bad riders we ride in the order of 10000km and climb something like 100000m which is non trivial (one of the benefits of where we live is winter training is readily available as it only rains 30 days a year, typically during November and March).

The finish line on the new road was somewhat quieter when we did it.

So this year I got to watch not only a stage of TdF (and ride a summit finish for that) but for a stage of the Vuelta as well now I just need to do the Giro.

San Pedro de Alcantara Feria

One of the things about living in a country other than where you were born is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a different culture. Spain is known for local festivals, fairs and holidays (although not as many holidays as people would have you believe) the culture also includes regional food and wine plus lots more.

The Ferias in particular have very much been put on hold due to COVID, the last ones really being in 2019, although some places did have some very cut down versions in 2021. 

The fairs run for typically a week at a time and have everything starting with a familiar fun fair, adding to that are lots of various eatery establishments plus what can best be described as dance halls, where not only is food provided but you have groups of people doing traditional dances which of course includes flamenco. 

It is also not uncommon for particularly younger children and the older generation to dress up in traditional costumes.

This year San Pedro Feria is back to pre-pandemic size on a specially developed piece of land which has a large carpark as well as hard standing for all of the attractions.

Fortunately gone are the days at these where you win a goldfish which promptly dies a week later now you win the customary stuffed toy.

 At least in the case of the San Pedro Feria it runs for a week starts around 1900 and goes thru to 0200, it is not unusual for people to take the week of work to attend it all and the children miss school that week.

During the day they also have events around the town such as horse riding processions with people in traditional dress, the whole event be it daytime or nighttime is very family friendly.

If you are ever in Spain and have the opportunity to attend, highly recommended.

Cow Shit Day aka the St Gervais Agricultural Fair

 

 

For many years we've been fortunate to have a mountain retreat in the village of Saint Gervais Les Bains Mont Blanc (to give the correct and full title). Technically the peak of Mont Blanc sits within the commune boundary of StG.

We started going to this part of the French alps something like 20 years ago when the children were young as it is a great place to learn to ski, basically as soon as they would take the children in ski school. Then after a number of years of coming every winter and then starting to come in the summer we bought somewhere, then as the children grew up and more and more people wanted to come out with us we sold that and bought somewhere a lot bigger. Both places we renovated, by that I mean ripped back to the walls, then new everything from there on in.

StG is not just a winter resort one of the things we've seen change the most in 20 years is the summer in the valley in the last 10 years we've had two visits from the Tour de France including a summit finish at Le Bettex. We've had countless other cycling events start/finish/come thru the village in that time as well such as Le Dauphine. We also have the Tour de Mont Blanc every year. The village also has the Tramway de Mont Blanc pass thru it as well.

It allows us to enjoy our passions of skiing (all of us), cycling (me), walking (mainly my wife), eating good food and drinking good wine (all of us).

Anyway today was the 43rd Agricultural Fair, this should have been the 45th, but a small event called COVID intervened in the middle.

 

Put simply they close off the village from 0400 on the Sunday morning animals arrive, stall holders arrive and finally people arrive from about 0900. It is a day long event with plenty of food and drink available from one of the local clubs putting on a catered lunch an dinner in the Espace Mont Blanc all the way to stall holders selling all types of food such as Tartiflette, you also have a lot of the local drink producers such as the Marmotte Brewery and Distillerie Saint Gervais, the later has the distinction of being the highest distillery in Europe, plus the owner happens to be a friend.

You have stall holders selling cheese, meat, clothes, fruit and vegetables, cow bells, hand carved "stuff", lots of other things you would typically expect and associate with the Alps, pretty much everything as well as lots of local clubs and societies. You also have the StG mountain rescue, artisan apple crushing, the local orchestra and bands, the ski resort team selling discounted ski passes for the upcoming season, roofers, tree surgeons, the list just goes on. Of course the local shops restaurants and bars are open as well, even the local car dealers bring up vehicles.

Oh yes and of course lots of animals cows, horses, sheep to name just a few. Like every other agricultural fair they also judge and award prizes for the animals.

Having been coming to and resident (for some of the year) for many years it very much feels like home, we know a lot of people and you seem to spend half your day catching up with people you bump into in the street or whose shop you pop into.

Somehow they always manage to have perfect weather for it as well, today was no exception.

I will write some more about StG, the scenery is as you'd expect stunning and so much has changed for the better in those 20 years, of course the start of the ski season at the top of the Chamonix Valley is only 6 weeks away!

Work from anywhere

The events of the last three years have definitely changed the way the world works, literally how it works, prior to COVID companies had lots of office space and whilst companies often had a Work From Home (WFH) policy unless you were a remote or home based employee meant people were typically in the office 2-3 days a week. Some companies just had no WFH policy.

Now the world has really returned to a new normal the concept of work from anywhere has really taken off, personally I've seen that in hiring people, gone are the days where you can say to people you have to be in the office X days a week or you have to be based in this country, if you did that you simply wouldn't be able to hire people, this is particularly true in tech, brought on by a world wide shortage of people in tech. This shortage has been exacerbated by events in Ukraine.

There are many stories of companies fighting this new normal Goldman Sachs is one of those most vocal about it, but in the words of many they need to "read the room". Plenty of companies have downsized office space both during and after COVID, which has had another effect on smaller businesses that used to rely on those people being in the office, but the world has evolved and we have to adapt as employers and employees.

One key part of this actually working is infrastructure, both the corporate IT and location internet connectivity. There are many stories of those companies who had no concept of WFH when COVID first hit scrambling to figure out how to keep their business running. Life was not plane sailing for those at the other end of the spectrum who had a mature WFH policy, they had to solve challenges like how to on-board new employees remotely as typically that initial on-boarding always took place in an office. Today it is not uncommon for new devices such as laptops to be shipped to a new starter they turn it on and goes off and configures itself over the internet, such technology was always available its use has become far more mainstream now.

A challenge in a lot of countries has also been internet connectivity, there were stories of what you would consider to be leading connected countries struggling, the UK is an example where such stories came out where day time traffic showed a 35% to 60% increase. It also pushed to the limit particularly upload bandwidth.

Spain is an interesting case, as a country it basically skipped generation one of aDSL and has a Fibre To The Home (FTTH) policy and it is from what I can see universal across Spain you can goto a lovely white pueblo in the middle of nowhere and see a sign like this offering FTTH

In our many house moves I've also seen this, before we bought our current place we were renting we moved in and no fibre, so one of the local providers olivenet ran 300 meters of fibre to our house from the nearest junction box and then Cat6E cabling thru the ducting inside the house, took them all day, has anyone ever seen this kind of thing anywhere else in the world?

The price in Spain is also amazing value for €39.99 a month you can get 500Mb full duplex and I really do mean up and down, my line speed is around 200Mb full duplex which is way more than most normal people can use. Download does tend to vary depending on time of day but typically it looks like this.

This compares very poorly with a lot of other countries, the UK is a long way from this still relying on the old copper wire for the last mile even with Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC), in this scenario you get something like 60Mb downstream and around 25Mb upstream.

France still has work to do as well but there is a plan to drive FTTH and hit some very aggressive targets over the next few years extending fibre to everyone by 2025. Personally I'm very much looking forward to this as our house in France is struggling with something around 10Mb downstream and 1Mb upstream as you can see. To be honest I'd sacrifice download performance for improved upload performance. 

The UK doesn't seem to have a plan to match what is happening in Spain and France, how can a country like the UK hope to compete on the world stage when infrastructure like this is not available?

What the last three years have definitely shown us is the need to have the basic infrastructure as well as tools and supporting technology in place.

 

Some countries are also making it attractive for companies and workers to move, Spain has a number of incentives in this regard, you have the Beckham Law as it is known, Digital Nomad visa has been promised and Andalucia has just made significant changes to the tax regime, more on these in later blogs. Without the basic infrastructure any of these are meaningless.

Living in a box, living in a cardboard box

Two weeks after signing are paperwork, we'd essentially completed moving, well at least the moving in part. With all of that I haven't really had anytime to write anything here. I've posted a couple of pre-written blogs.

Previously we had been renting and we had until the end of September to exit our current place so this essentially gave us a two and a half week window to do things.

First step was to blitz clean the new place and I mean blitz, fortunately one of the locals I ride road bikes with runs a professional cleaning company they also deep clean furniture as well.

So we got the keys on the 12th and basically the first 7 days were spent blitzing the place, the family selling it were leaving the country so left a lot of their furniture, which is great, some we can use, some we can't and what we can needs deep cleaning.

Then of course we move boxes and all the other things that need moving like patio heaters, BBQs and bikes! We are of course now living with piles of cardboard boxes and will do for several months to come.

Here we are three and half weeks down the road and we've moved beyond the moving in phase to the renovation phase, I've been working my way thru somethings, like putting up shelves, fixing electrics that needed fixing, putting up heated towel rails to name just a few. We've also been ordering a whole bunch of what can best be described as parts for some of the more serious elements of the work to happen. Leroy Merlin has definitely proved to be your friend here we've spent the best part of €2500 for those parts to renovate bathrooms and the kitchen. 

Leroy Merlin have renovation packs at the moment which basically mean if you spend a certain amount of money on renovating certain rooms you get 10% back, for us that means over €250, you have to exceed a certain threshold, which for bathrooms is €1200.

On top of that we have the labour for the stuff I can't do, which includes building wardrobes in three rooms, all in all the total bill is looking like €15.000 and for that we'll have refurbished three bathrooms (changing shower screens, a shower tray and taps), changed the kitchen worktop replacing both the hob and the sink as well as three custom built wardrobes.

That stuff has now started arriving and are terrace is starting to look like a DIY store. Just to make matters complicated this week I'm in Malta for work so my wife is project managing deliveries and tradespeople.

Nabuchodonosor (aka a wine bar in Toulouse)

 

One of the things I've discovered on my trips to Toulouse is a great wine bar, not "on the beaten track" as they say but you'll find some of the best wines you are ever likely to drink here.

The building itself is not swanky it looks like a proper wine bar should and some of the walls look like they have bullet holes in them, the focus is on the wine and the environment not on fancy lighting and colours. The website is equally understated the wine does the talking.

They specialise in truly natural wines, lots of wines describe themselves as organic but that most of the time just refers to the process by which grapes are grown, truly natural wines are defined by the Oxford Companion to Wine as:

• Grapes grown by small-scale, independent producers
• Grapes hand-picked from sustainable, organic, or biodynamic vineyards
• Wine fermented with native yeasts (no added yeast)
• No additives included in fermentation (like sugar)
• Little or no sulfites are added

To me anyway you don't necessarily have to a small-scale, independent producer, it is more about the rest, if you can do it at scale you'll be making lots of natural wine.

Music in the wine bar is provided by the thing called a record player using vinyl some at least reading this will remember those.

I've definitely got a taste for natural wines, they have the added benefit that you don't have the after effects of them the following morning.

Don't just take my word for it put "Nabuchodonosor wine bar toulouse" into google and read the reviews.

Personally what he has done has change my drinking habits, I'd rather pay more for a natural wine when in a restaurant and my wine cellar at home is slowly filling up with natural wines, they do require more care in terms of storage but the result is very worth it.