To Grenoble

May 22, 2025

A pretty tiny post, but it's important to take credit for our two miles. Yesterday I was feeling appreciative for the bicycling infrastructure in France, but today it's for the train network, something Americans can hardly even imagine. The weather looks terrible off and on throughout the day today, so it's an easy decision: Janos and Suzanne will take the car and their bikes to Grenoble, while Susan and ourselves will take the train. Regional trains leave the Chambery depot for Grenoble roughly every hour or so and set us back about €7/person. So we could do that, or we could suffer through miserable conditions like our friends Jackie and Al, who are working their way to our rendezvous in Pont en Royans from the opposite direction. I'm thinking about them all day long hoping it's going well for them, but I didn't hope hard enough apparently.

It's only four blocks from our hotel to the train station so if the weather didn't behave it wouldn't matter that much anyway but it's nice that we get a break in the weather and have a dry ride. Once there we find a spot to lean our bikes against a wall near a cafeteria and hang out until our departure gate gets announced. It's a modern facility with comfortable places to sit and well supported by elevators, so when the time comes it's an easy matter of taking the bikes in an elevator up two levels to the passerelle across the tracks and then down a different elevator to our platform,.

Chambery has an excellent, modern train station, and one that's obviously bike friendly.

Two types of regional trains support the Chambéry/Grenoble connection. There's the one we caught from Valence to Annecy last week - a long train that runs every two hours and uses older rolling that involve muscling your bike up the stairs and through a narrow doorway; or there's what we've chosen today - the short line that runs much more often and consists of modern stock - wide doors, easy roll-on. Particularly without panniers (they're in the car), boarding the train is a snap.

The skies stay dry and there are even a few patches of blue breaking through on the ride to Grenoble. Really, if we could have had the foresight to know exactly when to leave Chambéry we probably could have biked to Grenoble and arrived basically dry. Or we could just as easily been unlucky and arrived soaked, cold and miserable.

I'm sure this would make an excellent ride under the right conditions.

Even with the cloud cover hiding the dramatic formations behind, it's still a compelling landscape.

And we have no complaints at the other end too, enjoying a dry spell for the mile-plus to our hotel. As we bike, Grenoble impresses us for how bike-friendly it is with its wide streets, its plane terrain, and wide dedicated bike lanes taking you through the heart of the city. It's a place that feels like it would reward a longer stay someday.

We're all staying at the amusingly named Rocky Pop Hotel, a place that delights us for its frequent references to my best friend. You see Rocky references everywhere, even with the WiFi password (Mercirocky).

We're reminded at dinner in the hotel's restaurant later of how lucky we were with the weather. Suzanne and Janos saw all conditions on their drive down - sometimes dry, sometimes wet, sometimes very wet; and Susan, who left for an Invader hunt almost as soon as we arrived turned back after just a few blocks when the sky suddenly broke open.

Does this look like appropriate cycling gear to you? The helmet is one thing, but how about those shorts? Tres chic, but it seems like they might chafe a bit on that Brooks saddle.

Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km)
Total: 806 miles (1,297 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	11
Comment on this entry	Comment	0