The Brief Off-Season (WARNING: non-cycling content)

For just the second time in Switchback Publications' short (but distinguished) history, I am publishing a non-cycling post. My 2011 summer cycling season pretty much ended with a 160km ride in Cesme, Turkey in early September. I had hoped to ride the following week in Istanbul, but the traffic and chaos was a little too unbearable. Plus, all I really wanted to do was eat more baklava (which would explain why I gained 3kg in Istanbul).


So, I decided my legs and knees should rest and recover in advance of my next cycling trip (details to be announced next week). I returned to the US on September 15th. Since then, I've been catching up with friends and family in Boston, New York City, and Dallas. 


Here are a few pictures from September. It was great to see so many people I had not seen in such a long time. 

I spent a week in Turkey with my friend from Babson College, Yigit Tatis, and his wife, Denise, and their two kids. We were in Bodrum for several days and then Cesme.

La Marmotte con Pave - Mas Fotos!

Javier from Pave in Barcelona emailed his photos of our La Marmotte ride today. His pictures are much better than mine, so I am posting them here. We did the 184km ride on August 13 with a group of Catalan cyclists. Marmotte crosses 3 passes and then finishes at Alpe d'Huez - a total of 5,200 meters of elevation gain. Its epic to say the least.

Pave in Barcelona.

Cote d'Azur with Paul Amey (June 2011)

I spent several days with Paul Amey in mid-June. Paul is an old friend from high school days. We did several rides out the back of Nice including the Ironman course and Col de Braus. Paul was in his final stages of training for Ironman France. He finished 4th in the Pro field in the race on June 26th.


The following movie is a compilation of our rides. I was wearing a Contour HD camera and Paul had two GoPro cameras attached to his bike (front and rear). 

Video Highlights from Pyrenees, Euskadi, Spain and Andorra

You may have seen my daily blog posts (below) from my cycling trip with Dave Andersen. We spent 9 days in late-August riding in the Pyrenees, Basque Country, Spain and Andorra. We shot many hours of footage and I finally had some time to edit it down to just a few minutes. Here it is. Enjoy.

Cesme, Turkey

I've been in Turkey for the past week visiting my friend from Babson College, Yigit Tatis, and his family. He was kind enough to host me in Bodrum and Cesme, two beautiful towns on Turkey's western coast. I didn't ride in Bodrum; I was mainly relaxing. But I did get out for several rides in Cesme. Yesterday, I rode 160km around Cesme's northern peninsula. It was just what I like: quiet, hilly, and scenic (although, all I really wanted to do was jump in the ocean). Here are a few photos.