Off to a bit of a late start as I waited for my tent to fully dry from last night's drizzles, and then it was up and up and up. I knew the road followed a river up the valley... silly me was thinking that would mean a fairly mellow grade. These are
The Alpes you fool! The scenery here is just jaw-droppingly astounding- I've always been spoiled by living right next to the lovely Rockies and getting out to play in them most every weekend. But the Alpes are a whole different level of mountain spectacle: soaring vertical faces, jagged peaks, endless valleys and sooo much above treeline. A truly amazing place to ride a bike.
After about 17mi of steady climbing (and a couple descents that you curse- since you'll just have to regain the elevation anyway) I made it to the top of the Col du Glandon at 1924M... about 4000ft higher than the valley I departed from today. The Glandon is another legendary climb of the Tour (these all are) with a monument up top. The crest was just a half mile off the route to the next one, so this may be a case of "Col Bagging."
 |
| Col du Glandon, 1924M |
From here is was just another brief stint to the highest point of the day, the Col de la Croix de Fer at 2067M.
 |
| approaching the Col de la Croix de Fer, 2067M |
 |
| you gotta wonder if these cows know how good they have it?!? |
From up top, it was a smokin' descent all the way back down to a different valley floor at 700M for a 10mi pedal through the valley where I stopped for the night in St. Michael de Maurien and rested up for a harder day to come. I can't get enough of these mountains!
No comments:
Post a Comment