Two Cols, A Case of Napnesia, Soft-Boiled Eggs and A Baguette Sandwich

Today was a great day of riding: 2 cols, 55.28 miles and 3,157 feet of climbing.

You have a lot of time for thinking on the way up a mountain when you’re going 4 or 5 miles per hour, and so … here are a few of my thoughts …

While I’m not quite ready to fully admit it or accept it, age and injuries have caught up to me. I used to say they’re catching up to me, but I think I’m a little bit beyond that now. It’s become a challenge to ride 40 or 50 miles and climb 2,000 or 3,000 feet every day for seven or eight days in a row. There I said it. I’m not gonna stop doing it on this trip, because, well, I’m here and there are more cols to climb. And I’m stubborn. The Cret de Chatillon is tomorrow … and it’s “only” a 25.3 kilometer climb with an average gradient of “only” 4.8 percent. 

But here’s the thing – there’s a price to be paid. After a ride, I’m pretty tired. OK, really tired. Today I was so tired I was too tired to take a nap. I tossed and turned and couldn’t fall asleep. I think it’s an official medical thing. It’s called napanesia. Or maybe anapnomnia. There is no cure. Except, ironically, a nap.

But maybe, just maybe, I’m rounding into shape and will feel great after tomorrow’s ride. Hey, it’s possible. I’ve also learned it’s easier to be optimistic about climbing cols and rounding into shape on the way down the mountain than it is on the way up. It’s called ascendanesia.

OK, I’m getting tired (hey, it’s almost 9:15 p.m. here and I didn’t get a nap in today!), so one more thought … eggs!

When I first started traveling, I was too poor and cheap to afford breakfast at hotels. Actually, come to think of it, the hotels I stayed at back then were such cheap dumps they didn’t offer breakfast. Instead, I’d eat the banana and apple I got the day before from the supermarche, and get a coffee at a café. Maybe a croissant if I was feeling especially spendthrifty. Now, I need a good breakfast. I deserve a good breakfast. And will begrudgingly pay for it. And figure out ways to save money the rest of the day. For example: a supermarche dinner: a baguette, some cheese, tomatoes and fruit. And a bottle of wine, of course. It’s not like I’m a masochist. 

Here at the ibis hotel in Annecy the buffet breakfast is 13 Euros. A fortune! But I’m doing it. Every morning. And soft-boil-your-own-eggs are my morning ritual. Several years ago, on a trip, when I was new to hotel breakfasts, I thought the basket of eggs on the buffet line were hard boiled. I took two back to my table, cracked one open … and the raw yolk flew everywhere. That was embarrassing. Over here, there’s a machine filled with boiling water. You dip the eggs into it in a wire basket and time it out to the softness or hardness you prefer. I’ve settled on four minutes. And always have two. On a baguette. No butter. 

If there’s fruit, I’ll put a banana in my pocket (fill in your own joke) for later, on my ride. The ibis here has bananas and a basket of plums, so I’m set (fill in another banana and two plums joke on your own). They also serve cold cuts and cheese at most hotel buffets, and I have, from time to time, made a sandwich and added it to the fruit in my pocket. I also bring my large Michelin map to breakfast with me, to map out the day’s ride, plus you can wrap it around your sandwich and no one’s the wiser.

Speaking of sandwiches, for lunch today, I stopped at the boulangerie in Duingt and got a baguette sandwich and ate it by the edge of the lake. There’s just something special about a sandwich on a fresh, crunchy, tasty baguette. I would eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. Hey, there’s nobody here to stop me, so maybe I will. Maybe I will. It’s called … gluttony.