In support of

One of the Johns is spending the month of June working as a cycling guide for VéloSport Vacations in France at its Provence Cycling Camp. You can find regular updates here about his experiences.

Our little compound is humming along nicely. All the clients stay at the Arts et Vie residence in Malaucene while the staff stays at Chris' house here. As I said, Jef (yes one f) was a fireman in Paris for 3 years. Living and rooming with him I can tell. I am a fairly organized person who likes a routine, but Jef is way beyond me. Up early, our clothes are clean and folded, beds made, floors swept, car clean, dishes done, meal made. All we need is a pole and a Dalmation.

Anyway, we all rotate guide positions from front (fast) group, to second group, to driving the support car. I drew support duty today. Good thing though, because it was cool and rainy this morning. The clients didn't seem to mind. We did a killer loop along an old railroad bed then up the Col du Propiac. Not really a Col, but it does climb 500 or so meters in about 3k. The return route took us along the Route du Veaux, which is a narrow, winding, up and down piece of road in the shadow of the Ventoux.

Driving support also means you get to provide the rest stop food. Cherries and strawberries are in season here.


This is some kind of apple sauce in a squeeze bottle. Mmmm good.

In case you were wondering the car is a pretty sweet little Peugeot. By the way, you can see the top of Mt. Ventoux in this picture just above the car.



More tandem pictures! Are you getting bored with tandems yet?




I did get a 2 hour ride in later in the afternoon. It was nice to ride solo and at my preferred pace. I did get caught in an extreme downpour. Good thing I was only 10k from home.