6 Days before Ironman Western Australia. It is not all about the IronMan

We finally arrived to our destination. It took us 4 days to fly from Amsterdam to Singapore, Singapore to Perth. Rest for 2 nights in Sorrento (North of Perth) and then travel from Sorrento to Dunsborough (20km South of Busselton). Dunsborough is a very laid back location on the coast of the Geographe Bay. Its beach is considered to be one of the top 10 beaches in the world. As far as we can tell, it could be true. It did not take our girls long to discover the fun of a low tide. Hopping from one sand bank to the next, catching small shells, jumping into deeper pools of water. SO, it is not all about the Ironman? Definitely not: what an unbelievable feeling to be back in the Summer, living outdoors, looking forward to a cold shower to wash the salt away. Isa is soaking the sun in. Zoe told us she likes the place because it is so wonderfully hot and everything is so quiet. Dunsborough reminds of Hanalei on Kauai. Beautiful beaches with surf possibilities, great yoga places with organic food.. a slow-down-relax-breathe kind of place.

I went to Busselton this morning for a first ride to check out the course. First impressions. Gorgeous course across The  Tuart Forest National Park (50% of the total course), the rest of the course is exposed to prevailing South West Winds and has a remarkable absence of shade. Temperature this morning at 11:00, 31.5 degrees. Oh yeah. Despite the wind, I could keep a good pace at a very low HR. It is so much tougher to ride in the cold-wind-bashing green heart of The Netherlands. It feels that I can cut right through the wind here…. Anyways, it also felt great to see other participants. I usually feel pretty lonely mostly riding solo back in The Netherlands.

The Ironman in Busselton is definitely a big thing here. EVerybody talks about it. You hear about it on the radio, there is a special edition of the local newspaper, everybody cheers and say hi when they see you on the bike. People understand what we do and do not consider those strange bikers with tailed helmets as aliens. It is a great feeling for a change adn definitely a great place to race. I CANNOT WAIT!!!

It’s now snack time for the girls: Fresh pinapple and…Philadelphia spread over bread…there are also things that really don’t change…

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The Grimselpass Ride…or How a Windmill Warrior Takes on Cars

Had we known that we would ride in a 35 degree furnace, battle head wind for 60km and for Joel to crash into a car 100m before the end of the ride, would we have started riding on that foggy Monday at 07:30, the 9th of May from Saas-Fee to the Grimselpass? Probably not, but that’s what an adventure is about, I guess (and that’s why I do not understand people reading the last pages of a book before actually starting to read it).

I had been thinking to ride to the Grimsel Pass for the past three years.  Joel – a training partner and founder member of our Windmill Warriors Triathlon Club – and I could not have picked a better day to do this ride.  It all started the evening before, with some serious carb/protein-loading with our families in front of the chalet. Joel, is a Masterchef when it comes to marinating meat and BBQing. We limited our beer consumption and went up to bed fairly early.

We started to ride with a 26km long descent from Saas-Fee (1800m) to Visp (500) before taking a right turn and started a 65km climb towards the Grimselpass (2164m). The climb was gentle at first along the river Rhone. We passed Brig and were surprised how fast the temperature was rising. It was 11 in Saas-Fee, 15 in Visp and already 23 in Brig. The first “hills” showed up after Brig. Quads were warmed up by then to tackle the first serious climb until Bellwald. 800 m elevation gain in 16km. Joel was quite surprised to hear, that this was the “easy” part of the climb. From then on his requests for short stops increased . The real deal started after Oberwald. There is even a sign warning cyclists of the 1000m upcoming climb averaging at 7.6%. It is long and it is quite hard but the view is breathtaking and seeing for the first time from a “saddle perspective” the famous switchbacks of  the Grimsel were very rewarding.

And because every ride has its loads of surprises, we suddenly encountered, crossing the road, the first trains constructed to pass the Furka Pass (same road as the Grimsel).

We manages those switchbacks without problems and finally arrived to the Pass after riding for 4 hours and 1800m of elevation gain. It was a perfect day to be up there. No violent winds, no snow, nearly no clouds. Just Perfect. We quickly ate something before moving to our main activity of the day: photo-shooting.

Now that the battery of my camera was empty, we could get back on the saddle and ride down. Joel acquired his downhill riding skills in The Netherlands. Going down the Grimsel was slightly out of his zone of comfort, but after training twice down from Saas-Fee to Visp he managed pretty well (although it took him a while to unclasp his hands from the drops afterwards).

We thought we had done the hardest bit, but the weather decided otherwise. The wind picked-up together with the heat and every km we rode down we faced more heat and more wind. We ended up in the valley with the watch registering 35 degrees in the shade. I believe we each drank about 3 liters for the 6h45min ride. It was thougher than expected, especially for my fellow riders who challenged a car in the last 100m before our arrival to the bus station in Visp. Joel does not know exactly what happened. I was in the front, unclipping my shoes when I heard a metallic thump about 80m behind me. I hoped for the best but feared the worst. And yes, it came out to be the worst. Joel on the ground with a bruised shoulder. But the car was bruised too! A good dent in the side door and a broken mirror. Joel 1 – Car 1.

I have a bit of a reputation back where I train in The Netherlands. “They” call me the Swiss Assassin, because I provoked a fall of 2 fellow bikers by braking in front of the group without (a lot of clear) advance warnings. I just would like to clearly state, that Joel decided to take on this car on his own free will. Namaste.

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The First Feelings of Truly Being on Vacation

80 days have passed now since my bike crash on June 8. A lot happened in between. We have now left Vienna behind, the international furniture removal is now behind us, a large part of the administrative work related to expatriation is now done. Today is the first day, during which, Isa and I truly feel  on vacation… and there are good reasons to let these feelings invade us.

It is June 27th, the 4th day we spend at the farm in the French Jura. Not a cloud in sight and we decide to discover the surroundings. We find a few kilometers away from our place a  a small quiet river. We decide to picnic there but do not find immediately a convenient place to park the car and sit comfortably next to the river . We suddenly see a rather idyllic garden at the river. The only issue: a big sign marked “PRIVATE”. Fortunately the owner is mowing the grass and we ask him whether we could stay there. To our surprise he answers that he likes Swiss people and that we should sit at  his table by the river. We spend a great 2 hours there, kids playing along the river while we rest on the blankets.

We decide in the afternoon to explore a bit further and discover a lovely small city called Saint-Hipployte . We stop to take an ice-cream on the terrasse of one of the restaurants of the main square and just love it. This square is for boh fo us the stereotype of a traditional French square, with a bakery, a florist, a traditional deli, a couple of terrasses with people drinking Pastis and of course people walking across the square carrying their baguette under the arm pit.

We travel back to our spartan farmhouse at the end of the day and have some second thoughts about the level of comfort there.

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FATWorld (Family Around The World), First Destination: Jura, France

We had planned to spend the whole summer in this farm, but due to my bicycle accident, we only arrive on August the 24^th. We take possession of our rented flat in this “Pipilangstrumpf-Heidi-House”. It is very basic and not for anyone that could not live with all usual urban-flat amenities. It has electricity but no hot water, no bathroom, no central heating system, no TV, no internet connexion, no dishwasher, no washing machine, no luxury.

We love it at first, but also quickly feel the necessity for home improvement…which is our main common hobby! Anyway, back to the simple life (without  Paris). We try the first two days to personalize the place and we now feel a bit more at home. We love in the meantime to make wood fires for everything (heating water, washing clothes and ourselves, cooking, grilling. The kids, impressed by the fire in the first day are now helping and throw more wood in it.

But it is now 21:30, time to go to bed.

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