# Look porn



## AcesFull (Jun 10, 2003)

Look 555 on last weekend's climb.


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

Very nice. I would ask how the ride was, but epic is the only answer that will suit it likely.


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## AcesFull (Jun 10, 2003)

*One of the very best*



spookyload said:


> Very nice. I would ask how the ride was, but epic is the only answer that will suit it likely.


It was most epic. We had a great ride up with only a light wind. Afterwards, there was a wine festival in Bedoin with all you could sample wines for 1 euro. After that there was a town dance with many attractive French ladies. At around 1 AM, we drove the R/V up Ventoux and slept near the top.


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

Nice work what a day out you had 

Nice ride, awsome bike, great weather, good wine and hot French ladies and you slept alone at the top of Ventoux ???? lol 

what was it like coming down ????

Twiggy


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## AcesFull (Jun 10, 2003)

twiggy73 said:


> Nice work what a day out you had
> 
> Nice ride, awsome bike, great weather, good wine and hot French ladies and you slept alone at the top of Ventoux ???? lol
> 
> ...



Hey, I didn't sleep alone...I went with 2 buddies.

The decent was incredible. Coming down from the trip has not been so easy.


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## maximum7 (Apr 24, 2008)

I'm kinda disappointed. 
I figured a thread title with Look porn would have more than one pic of a bike and/or scenery and where half the bike isn't blocked by a roadside marker. 

Can you post more pics of your trip? It sounds very cool.


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## AcesFull (Jun 10, 2003)

maximum7 said:


> I'm kinda disappointed.
> I figured a thread title with Look porn would have more than one pic of a bike and/or scenery and where half the bike isn't blocked by a roadside marker.
> 
> Can you post more pics of your trip? It sounds very cool.


Thanks Max.

You are right, but I was not thinking well at the time. Here is one from near the top of the Glandon:

A bunch of shots from the rest of the trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=188970&id=631283084&l=6308fd7c53


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## George M (Sep 25, 2008)

Now your talkin. That looks much better. The only thing missing is me. Nice going Ace:thumbsup:


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## Weav (Jun 21, 2009)

That's an awesome trip you took AcesFull. Can you speak about what went into planning the trip and how much you guys rode while there. That camper looks like a great idea, was that cheaper than staying in hotels? I'd love to do that sometime but don't have a clue where to start planning.


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## maximum7 (Apr 24, 2008)

It makes me miss my 555


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

Hey Ace 

Thanks for sharing the photos what a great trip I am extreamly Jealous. 
And when I wrote about sleeping alone having your mates for company wasnt quite what i was referring to lol 

I must say it must have been inspirational riding those hills then looking up or down at the world around you to forget the pain for a bit. that would be just an amazing exp. Well done 

Twigy


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## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

George M said:


> Now your talkin. That looks much better. The only thing missing is me. Nice going Ace:thumbsup:


Agreed...now that is more porn worthy . I too, am envious. :thumbsup:


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## AcesFull (Jun 10, 2003)

Weav said:


> That's an awesome trip you took AcesFull. Can you speak about what went into planning the trip and how much you guys rode while there. That camper looks like a great idea, was that cheaper than staying in hotels? I'd love to do that sometime but don't have a clue where to start planning.


This is the third time I've traveled to France from the USA in order to follow the Tour. My first trip, in 2004, was with Graham Baxter tours out of the UK. It was an OK trip, but I came to hate Americans more than any Frenchman I’ve ever met. The constant wait for jerks (I calling out the 2003 Texas woman amateur TT champ – complete a$$hole) who got lost or didn't care about schedules made the trip very stressful. The tour was well organized, but I knew French better than the guide and thought I could do much better myself. 

My next trip, in 2006, was with some buddies. We rented an R/V in Marseilles and did Ventoux and the Pyrenees. It was a great trip, but we probably didn't plan enough before the actual trip and constantly got lost. 

This year, I went with some guys from Athens GA, and drawing upon the experience from my previous trips, I had my best trip ever to France. We used www.IdeaMerge.com (A+ service) for the R/V rental and had a good idea of the climbs we wanted to complete along with detailed directions from Google maps. We flew into Lyon and stayed our first night at the airport hotel (NH Hotel - exceptional service). We rode our bikes to the R/V pick up and then set off to the Alps. We spend 5 nights in the Alps, but did not see the Tour at all. We generally rode not by distance, but by elevation gain. We tried to keep the gain to ~3km a day and usually this meant ~3 hours of riding (we usually had a couple of stops for drinks and lunch). We generally parked at the base of the climb an either did one or a couple of HCs, and then make our way back to the R/V via an out and back. Our typical day was breakfast 8-9, ride from 10 – 2, wash up, eat 2-3, drive 5-7, eat & drink 7 – 11, sleep 11-8…rinse and repeat. 

After the Alps, we made our way to Ventoux and stayed near Bedoin for a couple of the best nights of my life. We got extremely lucky with wine, weather, parking, restaurants, etc.

After Ventoux, we made our way over the Pyrenees and stayed there a few days. We watched the tour on the Col d’Aspin and that was fantastic. We did the Tourmalet and dropped Bobke our last day in the Pyrenees (which was the rest day for the Tour). We split up our trip back to Lyon with a night on the original ******* Riviera. We found R/V parking literally on the beach near the city of Sete which is a blue-collar resort town that reminded me of the Gulf Coast trips I took with my family as a kid in the late 70s. 

We then made our way back to Lyon and spent the last night at the same hotel in Lyon. We flew out the next morning and I have been missing it ever since. 

We had very few issues beyond getting the R/V stuck in a castle and doing some significant damage to the front bumper that cost us a few hundred Euros. Overall, I would highly suggest that renting an R/V and doing it yourself IF:

You, or someone in your party, can speak some French.
Everyone on the trip can deal with ambiguity and a living in an R/V.
Everyone can climb ~3km or more a day.
Get an Orange pre-paid SIM.
Have a trophy wife who will let you do this even though you have four kids including an infant. 

The costs per person (3 riders) for 12 days roughly broke out like this:

Flight from ATL to LYS on British Air (cattle class with bike fee) ~$1400
R/V rental ~ 900
Tolls ~75
Fuel ~200
Hotel (2 nights) ~100
Incidentals (maps, R/V damage, SIM card for phone, WiFi, taxi back to hotel) ~300

Total hard costs: ~ $3k

Let me know if you have any more questions or PM me for more details.


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## AcesFull (Jun 10, 2003)

twiggy73 said:


> Hey Ace
> 
> Thanks for sharing the photos what a great trip I am extreamly Jealous.
> And when I wrote about sleeping alone having your mates for company wasnt quite what i was referring to lol
> ...


Thanks twiggy!

I told my mates about your comment. LOL! 

Unfortunately, a night with a French local could have significantly increased the lawyer fees as the result of the trip!


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

AcesFull said:


> Thanks twiggy!
> 
> I told my mates about your comment. LOL!
> 
> Unfortunately, a night with a French local could have significantly increased the lawyer fees as the result of the trip!


Um Yes it would have lol, but arent cycling tours like end of season football tours lol 
" What happens on tour stays on tour" lol 
I guess the good thing is there is plenty of oppurtunity for the single cyclists out there in the back blocks of france lol 

Keep Riding 

Twiggy


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## rubbersoul (Mar 1, 2010)

Very inspirational!
________
Shihirizada1990


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