No nonsense cycle threads

Sam Shaw is off-shore and on-the-road-hunting down the Enduro World Series as a privateer. He's had a stellar NZ summer racing singlespeed (winning the World Champs in Rotorua), Enduro (2nd in the NZ Enduro and 4th in the Toa Enduro at Crankworx Rotorua) and XCO (6th at the NZ Nationals and a cameo in DH). Sam is despatching regular diary updates to us by pigeon post. Think Alistair Cooke's Letter from 'Merica - but without the toff grammar and political satire. Round Five finds the circus in la Thuile on the Italian-French border.

According to family folklore, my Great Grandfather was New Zealand’s honorary Swiss Consul between 1926 and 1933. Perhaps it is therefore genetics that keep drawing me back to the Confoederatio Helvetica, although it’s more probably that my wife and half of my daughter are Swiss and we have family to visit.

Jamie's latest Europe adventure comes with a his and hers perspective. The getting there is a little tough, but worth it on this romantic Swiss get-away to a rustic Swiss refuge hut in La Derbonne Valley of western Switzerland.