Day 5: Condrieu to Lyon, France
(29 miles, 750 ft of gain, Komoot Map)
From Uri’s campsite, he continued north to Lyon along small countryside roads. For the first time, the weather was quite overcast and cool, making for some good riding. He met a couple from the Netherlands and Switzerland who were on a bike tour, and they all stopped at a bakery together where Uri indulged in coffee, quiche, and eclairs. While the coffee wasn’t necessarily better than our favorite café in Ithaca, Uri swears that the quiche is the best he’s ever had in his life.
Five days in, it became clear to Uri that bike touring is “mainstream and vanilla” in Europe. A ~1000 mile tour is not unique at all, and there is luxurious infrastructure (long distance bike lanes, camp sites, bike shops, etc.) to support these adventures. How wonderful and humbling it is to be in a place where your grand adventure is shrugged off by the locals. If only the US could get on board with making this such an accessible activity! Also, Uri is getting in the groove, and the isolation of the frist four days feels more manageable!
It was a short day of biking; Uri only needed to go 30 miles to get to the city, but getting there was hectic. There were about 5 miles of single track, which Uri took his first fall on, but thankfully he and the bike didn’t get hurt. Additionally, the Eurovelo route was technically unfinished in this area (the routes are still in development), and so there were about 4 to 5 miles of sketchy riding on busy streets with fast cars.
“While I'd prefer to ride on protected bike lanes, the occasional adrenaline of exposed city riding is fun! My brain was so over-simulated that I had no ability to think of anything but the present moment and enter a flow state.”
Lyon is beautiful. Its main avenues have massive old buildings, and it seems to have an endless maze of tight side streets. Its population is also quite diverse, leading to endless languages and foods.
With only a half day of riding, the rest of the day was for chores. He loaded up on groceries, calling me with one question: “Can you microwave veggie burgers?” At 9:30 PM, I also walked him step-by-step through the process of how to hard boil an egg (I’m pretty proud of my hard boiling skills, not gonna lie, so DM me if your egg yolks are green). In the rain, he made his way over to Decathlon, the European version of REI, to look for new front panniers, and he scored a hot deal: a 2L frame bag, microfiber towel, and power bars all for only 30e! He was also able to fix his GPS mapping problem, and now he has European maps loaded so he isn’t biking through blank white space on his Garmin! And it wouldn’t be a proper chore day without doing laundry.
He ended the evening in an eight-person room at the Slo Living Hostel for 27e/night; a hostel almost perfectly in the city center. It is a super hip place to be with a central hangout space with stringed lights, hammocks, and edgy art on the walls. It’s such a popular place that there was no vacancy for two nights in a row, and when Uri called me to chat, we had a hard time hearing each other over the loud talking and laughing. Everyone there was dressed über cool, compared to Uri who showed up in his biking chamois, donning that that eau de cycling scent. Nothing that a hot shower and laundry couldn’t fix. In the evening, we looked at the upcoming weather together- an ominous forecast of rain and lightening for the next few days in Lyon. Meanwhile, it just started raining at home in New York (the first rain in weeks!), so it feels like we are bonded by the sky, and it’s pretty comforting (for me). Uri, on the other hand, should expect to have some fairly wet rides coming up.
While Uri cycles his way to Geneva from Lyon, I am prepping for departure. All my cycling things are in organized little piles while I work through my checklist of gear. T- 4 days to lift off!
Day 6: Lyon to Brangues, France
(70 miles, 1760 ft of gain, Komoot map)
Uri had a difficult time sleeping because of other loud Americans that were also at the hostel but thankfully not in the same dorm space that he was in. Other Characters of the Hostel were flirty lady who asked Uri if he was on this bike ride to “find himself” and casually mentioned that she had just broke up with her boyfriend. What timing! Also, a dude, Manuel, who was very close to finishing his bike tour around the entire world, beginning and ending in Switzerland! Like Uri, Manuel had finished his PhD and was taking some time off. His research is on the economic impact of the Swiss apprenticeship system, which he explained, was a popular alternative to conventional 5-day-a-week high school. To Uri's surprise, he said that only ~30% of Swiss people go to university on an academic track, the majority doing an apprenticeship or trade school (readers, is this true?!). Interestingly, Manuel explained that what decided whether someone went into the job force or stayed on an academic track was teacher's opinion of standardized tests results, starting around late elementary school or early mid-school. Having been a terrible student at an early age, Uri wondered if he would have been able to keep exploring academics and get a PhD if he had grown up in Switzerland. Wild!
It was also a late start since Uri woke up with a swollen and puffy eye, requiring a visit to the pharmacy. After some eye drops and CBD oil (for his muscles), he was back on the road, and the swelling began to subside. Maybe something gross in the hostel perhaps?
Overall, it was a very windy day as Uri headed east out of Lyon, still following the Rhone. Today, he got his first flat tire, likely from pulling his bike off the side of the road into the vegetation, but the fix was easy. The rest of the day was spent biking through beautiful valleys on bike lanes with the stunning view of the Alps in the distance.
He ended the day at a farm with a campsite, Camping La Tour Des Saveurs, that he shared with two German bike tourers. The camp site was Uri's favourite so far. Set in the foothills of the mountains, it came with showers, a kitchen, and guitar for 7.5e. For dinner, he dined on pear juice and cream of zucchini soup from the farm. The pear juice was exquisite, but the zucchini soup would soon come to haunt him: during our evening phone call, he had to excuse himself multiple times to go to the bathroom as he was having terrible stomach pains. This would be the second time with the runs in 6 days, convincing me to load up on more Tums before my upcoming fight.
Day 7: Brangues to Nattages, France
(20 miles)
One week in, Uri has a rhythm and is mostly on an upswing. Yet, the seventh day had its challenges:
The soup was still wreaking havoc on Uri’s digestive system, and he was feeling incredibly weak and tired.
At the same moment that he was reflecting on how lovely it was that businesses were closed on Sundays, offering a period of reflection and meditation, he got a second flat, a snake-bite puncture, from a pot hole. He patched it, but the patch didn’t hold and he got a third flat. While fixing his tire, his tire lever broke, and so he really struggled with getting his tire off with one lever to re-patch the tube. The process took almost an hour.
The reality of everything being closed on Sundays meant that Uri couldn’t get coffee, and so he was frustratingly decaffeinated.
The one place that WAS open was a restaurant! Uri went in to get an ice cream, pointing to what he wanted to the woman, but the women just spoke something in French and didn’t serve him. She gestured to the tables where Uri took a seat, assuming she wanted him to sit. But, she still refused to serve him. He waited for 20 minutes while she helped everyone else around him, including new people that entered after Uri and who sat right next to him. The woman even made eye contact with Uri but never came over. Clearly, he wasn’t welcome, so he left. Unfortunately, dirt bag bikers are not always welcome in nicer establishments.
The icing on top of the cake were ominous clouds that suggested an incoming storm, and, without fail, Uri had to bike in the rain for a period of time.
Lastly, he had some serious climbs today, though this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it was definitely a hard thing: 15-16% graded hills! For reference, I usually have to stop and walk around 11-12%.
Through all this, Uri traveled through beautiful landscapes. The climb at the end was a mix of gravel and pasture, and there were old stone castles casually along his route.
Things turned for the best as soon as Uri got to his Warmshowers for the night. He was staying with a middle-aged couple who were both teachers, the husband for pre school and the wife for elementary school, and they were so gracious! Not to mention, from their back porch, they could see Mont Blanc. That evening, they fed Uri so much food: pizza, salad, cantaloup, cake, and tea. They even used oil pressed from their own grown hazelnuts which was mind-blowingly delicious. On top of all that, he was given a wine glass that never emptied no matter how much he drank. Magic! After dinner, his host played music with his guitar because he knew “American songs!” Together, he and Uri sang Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Beatles, and this is a big deal because Uri rarely sings. In short, his hosts were so incredibly welcoming and kind, and this was exactly what Uri needed to lift his spirits from his horrible morning. So grateful for kind humans!
Day 8 Nattages to Athenaz, Switzerland (!)
(70 miles)
Uri left his Warmshowers house with the wife who was commuting to work by e-bike. Periodically, she had Uri grab her arm so they could zip even faster along the route together. After they parted ways, Uri stopped at a bakery, a grocery store for some power bars and banana, and a park where Uri was able to enjoy a short break.
The roads today were precarious with no shoulder or protection from traffic, and the size of the streets were just slightly larger than a bike lane. This didn’t deter semi trucks from squeezing past him. The elevation was mostly uphill, a likely recurring motif as the Alps approached.
For the 70 miles of riding, Uri was blowing through food and water at a faster rate than the previous days. There is a term for this in hiking… hiking hunger. This usually sets in when you’ve worked through your body’s stored calorie reserves and all you can do is eat eat eat. For me, this sets in around 9 days of a hike, and it only makes sense that Uri has now acquired his biker hunger. He had even noticed a decline in weight in just one week!
And then it happened: Uri made it to Switzerland! He crossed the border without any issues or even being stopped by border patrol. Thankfully, his Warmshowers host, Fred, did respond to him and actually give him an address to aim for, which is what he did. What he happened upon was this super cool Bohemian house where his host greeted him in only underwear. “Sorry, I was gardening,” the 70 year old apologized for his appearance. Because gardening in your underwear makes total sense.
There was the main house and the guest house (where Uri would be staying). The main house was very minimalist and beautiful with enormous windows and abstract statues. For an occupation, Fred helped the homeless and was an acting judge.
On top of the beautiful aesthetic, the home was heavily environmentally conscious. There were only composting toilets, and supposedly conventional AC units were actually illegal in Switzerland. The hosts were even against flying in planes because of the environmental impact, and these viewpoints were echoed by others. Uri was told that in Germany, you could be fined (upwards of 2,000e) for throwing away something that could be recycled since your trash gets checked. Furthermore, product labelling is pretty stringent. If you claim that your products are Swiss products, then a certain percentage of the components of the product are legally required to be sourced from Switzerland. Even the McDonalds have fresh and locally sourced food. What a concept!
Uri’s first impressions of the other people staying at the Warmshowers were that they were both cold and cool. There was a Polish guy, named Maciej (pronounced Matché) who spoke English, some French people, and the host’s family members. Fred seemed annoyed and short with Uri at first, perhaps because of some miscommunication about how long Uri would be staying and that Claire and I would also be joining in two days. But through the initial gruffness, he insisted to Uri that he was very good at saying "No" if he didn’t actually want us to stay, so that’s good. Additionally, people came and went, and nobody greeted each other or made pleasantries. They didn’t care about Uri’s coming or goings or make any effort to play up the role of host. It seemed as if this place was a constant revolving door of visitors and everyone just passed through. It’s not that people were mean, they just didn’t care. Uri did bond with Maciej for a while since they both couldn’t speak French with the other visitors.
For dinner, they had steak, salad, wine, and olive spread, cheese, and dessert.
Back home in New York, Claire and I packed up our bikes and prepared for the flight to Geneva the following day!
Day 9: Geneva rest day and Erin and Claire fly! Ahh nothing like sleeping well, no diarrhea, no loud Americans. Just pure sleep. Waking up at 9:30, Uri had a light breakfast while meeting a bagpipe player who would be practicing at the yurt on the property. After breakfast, Uri could hear the sounds of bagpipes. Walking around, he wandered into the studio of a stone worker who was busy making stunning abstract sculptures. What a cool community of people living at this house!
Interestingly, Uri's back wheel had gone flat overnight, but at least he was taking a rest day and could have time to work on it. With this fourth flat, he finally found the culprit: a small piece of glass embedded in the tire from the very first flat. Bike repaired (for good), Uri headed 8-miles into Geneva to meet Maciej for some burgers and then to the historic center for coffee and WiFi, followed by a hunt for a new bike tube. Four stores later, he had his spare and went to enjoy icecream on the lake when BANG! Out of the corner of his eye, Uri saw a motorcycle flying! No one was injured with this rear-end crash, but it was enough to send Uri back to the bike store for a rear-view mirror.
Once back home for dinner, the social boundaries of the previous night disappeared and a conversation about civil disobedience and ethics ensued. It turns out that Fred had been to prison for four months after refusing to serve in the military. The conversation went late into the night, ending with a plan for a fondue party (from the Maciej and a luxury watch maker named Pascal that also lived in the house) and an invitation to a women's rights rally the following day with Claire and I.
Day 10: The gang unites!
In Geneva, Uri started his morning late and found a new person practicing guitar in the living room; it sounded like he might even have been a professional. He then gardened with the host (who was in his underwear again), did laundry, and touched base with work. The weather was nice and Uri was greatly anticipating mine and Claire's arrival. Spending the day in the main house of the host, Uri was continually shocked by how beautiful the space was!
Meanwhile, Claire and I took a red eye flight to Lisbon at 10:30 PM from NYC. We were incredibly fortunate that her dad, Bruce, was willing to battle the traffic and drive us the 5 hours to the airport. We desperately tried to get some sleep, but ended up napping in all the public spaces in the terminals during our layover in Portugal. We finally boarded another flight to Geneva and put together our bikes at the airport!
Uri met us at the airport, and we set off on a lovely 8 mile ride back to the Warmshowers house around 7:30 PM. After many little turns through side streets and perfectly paved bike lanes, we passed golden, flowing wheat fields before taking a short gravel road to the house. And it was stunning! Tucked away with a big backyard, there were enormous windows, books, beautiful wooden furniture, and it was so breezy and open through the house. Maciej and Pascal stood by their promise and cooked us fondue, and we all dipped bread, potatoes, and pickles in the delicious gooey, hot cheese in a center pot on the outside porch. The conversation and light humor flowed naturally, and it was a perfect way to welcome us into Switzerland.
Our room for the night was an open two bed room with wooden floors, tall ceilings, and big airy windows. “If you hear any scuttling, we have a lizard that is living in here”, Uri warned us. Even though it was 5 PM New York time for Claire and I, I fell asleep fast and slept perfectly.
Again. I'm thoroughly enjoying your journey. Keep safe!!