the birm*

Riding with a Champion/a leisurely 2h 4h30 ride... Ever since I moved to Australia when I was a teenager, I've always loved the expression "he's a champion". I've had many opportunities to hang out with "champions" over the years, and I must say I'm so blessed to know so many great people who have a passion for what they do. Last week I got to ride with 2 "champions" who I have always liked and admired. However, I believe it's the first time in my life that I actually rode with a real world champion. So I "took" (only because I live here!) Jas and Arthur up Alpe d'Huez for a beautiful morning ride. The weather was perfect and there was NO ONE on the road (only 2 other cyclists and a few cars), which is quite different to riding it on a normal day. Jas and I spent the whole way up chatting (well, I'd ask a question and then take advantage of the answer to breathe!)n making the climb a lot more enjoyable than usual. Jas didn't sit down much, nor did he drink, while I was trying not to "max out" keeping up. Thankfully Arthur was just behind us, so I guess Jas kept the pace down for him (that and it was also a "recovery" ride, as he'd just done almost 400km over 24h a few days before...). We rode up in a decent 1h25 from my place, which is pretty good for "not trying". I suggested we should head back down via "la descente de l'Ours", one of the sweetest downhill runs in the area, as, being on mountainbikes, it's always a shame to ride down the road if there's a track option. Unfortunately my memory was a bit vague about where this track started (I'd ridden it in 1995...), so we asked for directions from the locals... who weren't sure either. So the "she'll be right" attitude prevailed and we headed down the road looking for the track head. Thick fog appeared from nowhere and suddenly it was 10m visibility. We took the signposted "pas de l'ours" track and, though it didn't look very ridden, rode down the first few switchies before having to stop because of a fallen down tree. "They usually rake it and groom it before the season starts" were my thoughts and my comment, since it is known to be a beautiful track... it certainly hadn't been so far!. After a few calls to Candide saying we'de be at least another half an hour and many minutes (read 1 hour) of hiking/riding/getting off/overcoming fallen down trees and slippery roots and not having that much fun, I faced the fact that "bear's step" WAS NOT "bear's track" and that we were lost BIG TIME. As the track got thinner and steeper (we'd been walking/stepping down for a LONG time by now, just wanted to get down) we eventually started heading straight down through the forest, hoping to hit another track eventually. I felt like crying. Here we were, lost, hungry, hours from home and not knowing whether we'd have to turn around and hike back up the 600m (there are a bunch of possible descents, but there are also cliffs on either side of the forest...). A few minutes after another call to Candide telling her to start lunch without us and a quick "Lord, please get us OUT of here!" prayer we FINALLY got to the bottom of the hill, onto a path I recognised. Overjoyed, we big-ringed it back home (about 7km) just as the sausages were coming out of the oven (we had planned on heading to camp for a BBQ, but as it was REALLY LATE, that option had been dropped). Jas and Arthur were pretty good about the situation and my million apologies... I'll be heading back up soon to find that stupid track (the real one)!