Chalais

Attempt number two on the dreaded Chalais montée. To review, it is one of the more difficult climbs in the area, with sections approaching 20% grade, and an average of 11% over 6.7 km (736 meters climbing/2400 feet). Round trip from Fontanil is only 15.7 miles.

This time I had enough time, but got rained on pretty hard in the last km. I was surprised by the number of cars, and it turned out that it was because they were doing some kind of Christiany thing that had to do with Assumption. I peered into the chapel, which is really beautiful, and there was a camera crew inside doing a feature. I found out later that that it made it onto the evening news.



The descent was dicey, and I took my time

Not tremendous power output (avg 213 watts over the hour it took me to get up there form Fontanil). I didn't hit the interval button at the bottom, but assuming it took ~10 minutes to get to Voreppe, I did the climb in ~50 mins or so. On the flats on the way back I was doing sprint intervals for fun -- I can make 750 watts for ... 5 seconds. 456 watts for 30s, and 355 for 1 min. Time for some EPO?