Tuesday AM

I'm doing just a small entry this AM to kind of get back to something close to normal.  By my rough calculations, I'm still about a full night's sleep short of my regular rest.  That seven-hour time difference about equals one night's sleep for me.  Hmmm.

As I reported on Twitter, I got out for a routine, week-day ride on the bike path last night with a feeling-good result.  I figure that I have a couple more weeks of riding before I shift to the Turkey Trot training schedule.  There's less than 100 days before the start of the race.  Ugh!  I hope that The Winniferous is ready to run.

I've thus far encountered no surprises either at home or at the office from my two-week absence.   (Definite knock-on-wood in making that statement!)  August is always a slow month business-wise, and I have that Perfect Neighbor watching the homestead.  My RCL had been through last Wednesday, so my house was guest-ready upon my return.

That travel home on Saturday was no where's near as painful as the outbound-trip.  The flights were pretty much on-time, the gate agents in Bilbao and Atlanta did good work with the bikes, the plane from Paris to Atlanta was an older model than from our flight over there and it actually had an extra inch or two of leg-room (which made my comfort measurably better), and for whatever reason, the gate agent in ATL upgraded us to first-class right before boarding for that final leg.  Whoa!  Three Bloody Mary's on the way to MLI.

The bikes made it all the way with us, with no significant damage.  The madam at our hotel in Bagneres, the bike shop owner there who helped us box the bikes, the hotel folks in Bilbao who accommodated us on storage and shuttle transportation, and the Air France/Delta personnel who took various efforts to complete the transport, all contributed to a very positive end to our journey.  A bit surprising, actually, to me.  Especially once we placed them in the care of the airlines.  That result may impact how I plan for the next trip, even to Tahoe next Summer.

Here is a Top Ten list of the Good Moves from our trip:

1.  4 electing to bring along her laptop computer.  With wi-fi in all the hotels, we were able to stay connected throughout the trip.
2.  Ordering the Amazon travel books for references.  They weren't flawless, but they were pretty much on-point.
3.  By-passing Lourdes on our August 15th travel day.  Lucky move, for sure.
4.  Using Hertz and American Express.  The small problem with the back window was a non-issue.
5.  Efficient packing.  Neither one of us over-packed, and we seemed to have the right amount of changes.
6.  Getting up the d'Aspin and the Tourmalet will always make the TdF a bit more personal.
7.  Making Bagneres de Bigorre our campsite in the Pyrenees.  Great location.  Plenty of services.
8.  Visiting the Guggenheim.  Striking facility.  Always a conversation piece.  But curious art.  Two hours was the right allocation of time.
9.  Being a bit choose-y on food selections.  We never had that bad-shrimp feeling.  (With the vino either!)
10. 10 days of visiting places and two of travel was the right amount of time.

So I will add some pic's and other commentary later this evening.  Have a great day!

BCOT