Christmas 2008 here at King of the Mountains was a quiet one, but highly enjoyable nonetheless.  After first expecting to have guests staying here, and then planning on heading to the Ardeche for the day, we ended up finally staying in our own little area, amid the snow, sunshine and high winds.  SO, we decided to make the most of our (relative) youth, freedom and proximity to lots of fun stuff by heading up to Alpe d'Huez for the day.  We opened our pressies, ate a bit of porridge, then demolished a quick bowl of pasta and we were off. 

First on the menu was a bit of a ski - cross-country style - the whole Alpe d'Huez climb on the road was foggy and miserable, until we finally popped out on bend 2, into glorious sunshine and lots of blue sky. It was, however, blowing a gale and felt a bit "Scottish" - sort of damp and harsh and uncomfortable BUT the winds did push us uphill for a good while, which we needed to get us started.  The XC area up there is on an elevated plateau and you reach it by ski-ing uphill for half an hour.  It was just too miserable to get up there though, so when a lady appered (shivering a lot) down the trail and told us it was the worst weather she had ski-ed in in 20 years, we did a U -turn and headed down to the resort, where we brushed up on our technique (largely gathered from YouTube video watching) on the flat there.  The weather calmed and we had a great time.

Next up was a trip to the swimming pool - Alpe d'Huez has two - one indoors and one outdoors - the outdoor pool is an environmentalist's nightmare - 28'C and steaming - but it was fun to bob about in and look up to the glowing peaks around us.  We even did a bit of "who can sit on the pile of snow by the pool for longest" to keep ourselves amused....

Finally, into the sauna - all good til I got a bit too relaxed and nodded off (and began snoring....hmmmm....). Oh well, it sparked a bit of conversation with our fellow sauna-goers!

Hot coffees and back in the van to come home (met at our door by the legendary Yves Berlioux) who gave us our Christmas presents - I got a Daupine-Savoie Champion jersey (he won it ages ago on his MTB) and Helyn a very smart Assos Swiss national jersey donated to him (but sadly too  small for him to wear) by the Swiss ladies team who he had guided around the World Marathon Champs course 2 years ago on a recce of the route which he had devised.  We were charmed.

So, dinner was eventually eaten at about 10pm, but we had earned it!

Now, looking forward to some skiers coming out to stay here tomorrow....

Best wishes to everyone reading.

Guy & Helyn


www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

It's been a fun-packed weekend here and things are starting to get festive; the Christmas tree is up, Father Christmas is coming to Bourg d'Oisans tomorrow and last night some good friends of ours invited us to experience a typical French Christmas meal. As you can imagine, lots of courses, lots of wine and lots of good cheer! The delicious spread included oysters, smoked salmon, foie gras and local chestnuts all rounded off some hours later by a sumptuous Christmas log smothered in chocolate icing, coffee and the regional tipple here, Genepi. Parsnips were certainly not on the menu - not a well known veg' here and definitely not associated with culinary use but more often used as animal feed, what a waste! No crackers either - and hence no corny jokes or paper hats - though that's probably no bad thing!

A good job that we have been out cross country skiing on the Col d'Ornon toady to burn off some of those calories! Our technique is improving slowly. A little like swimming, when your technique gets better it is supposed to become a lot less tiring - a good incentive to keep practicing! The (frequent!) rest stops today gave us a chance to take in our dramatic surroundings. It was a truly stunning winters day - deep blue skies, pure white snow, crystals of hoar frost clinging to the trees and to add to the drama, a huge avalanche rumbling down the mountain opposite us.

We have attached a few photographs (click on paperclip icon below) and above top left - the stuff of Christmas cards! Summer visitors who have ridden the Col d'Ornon may be surprised to see how buried road sign is!

Helyn

www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

If you're setting yourself challenges for the coming new year, you may want to consider 'La Marmotte', one of the largest, best know and certainly the hardest cyclosportive held here in the Alps. Covering 174km and including the cols Croix de Fer, Telegraphe, Galibier and finally, the sting in the tail, Alpe d'Huez, riders climb a total of nearly 5,000 metres - quite a day out!

The website for registration is now live for those wanting to sign up:

http://www.sportcommunication.com/GT/index.php?langue=2

If you are planning on riding the event and you would like a recce' of the course beforehand, or, if you just want to see what it's all about, how about coming out for a supported training ride over the route? With the King of the Mountains minibus as support vehicle you can hop in and out and ride as little or as much as you like.

Food for thought for 2009!

Helyn & Guy
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

Snow usually signals the end of road riding here in the Alps, however, in previous years I have battled on and ridden anyway. Stubborn. This year however there's just been too much of it to try to ignore and to descend to the valley from here would be tantamount to bobsleigh suicide!

About 3 weeks ago I unenthusiastically set up our turbo trainers in the workshop, they have been gathering dust ever since. Last night, resigned to the fact that road riding really is off limits for now, we kitted up and headed down to our 'turbo den'. One advantage of indoor training is that you get to use all that bad kit that you wouldn't be seen wearing in public - the garish jerseys and the shorts that have gone a little too thin on the backside to be decent!

An added novelty to yesterdays' session was a laptop loaded with a spin coaching DVD (thank you Dan). I was pleasantly surprised when out 45 minute session was over - although it was tough, having something structured made a great change and the time pass fairly quickly. The cheesy coach and 'motivating' music made it as amusing as it was physical!

As if our legs weren't jelly-like enough afterwards, we had to negotiate the stairs up the back of the house which are at present like sheet ice after days of freeze thaw (picture the burglar scene in 'Home Alone')!

Well, even though the wind was not in our hair it was good to be back in the saddle.

Helyn

www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

.....but it's still snowing here - like crazy.

I will pop a few photos - about a metre in the garden just now.

And to think in a "normal" winter, we would be getting our first snow around next wek!

Guy & Helyn

Winter 2008/9 sees us opening our doors to skiers and winter sports enthusiasts for the first time. We have now created a website outlining what is on offer here and in the local area. One thing's for sure this year, SNOW! Snow is very much on the menu, we have a good couple of foot in the garden just now and more due this week.

Take a look at: http://www.winter.kingofthemountains.co.uk/

Any feedback gratefully received.

Helyn & Guy

Winter has come early.  It's official.  For the past 10 days, it has been either snowing, minus 10'C or both ALL the time.  The snow shoes have been out, as have the cross-country skis (in Alpe d'Huez in a blizzard yesterday!).  Helyn even did a bit of snow cycling on Saturday!    Her tracks in the snow gave her away and she is now on a whole new pedestal of winter madness.

So, come on out.  It's looking like an epic winter season in the making.  Most years we have no real snow until mid December...

A good site for local detailed snow info. is: http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/ColDOrnon/6day/mid 

Guy
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk/

PS: Our neighbour here, Yves Bocquraz (not to be confused with the (legendary) Yves Berlioux, champion cyclist and all-round friend to "the English" as we are known), even let me have a go of his snow blower.  It's a Honda, it's new, red and shiny and it even has a headlamp for nocturnal "blowing" so to speak.