Granon

Rode Granon at low intensity. Pretty hard.

Snacks in monetier les bain

Drive to Monetier

It was move in day for two weeks in Monetier. Jon took off to the airport to pick little Jon, Amy and Evie up, and then make the long drive from LYX to Monetier. Chloe packed the kids up, and I packed myself and a bunch of the goods up to drive up separately. Not very eco, but because of some complicated logistics, including the fact that Jon had to leave because of his visa before everyone else, and the fact that the rental car was a standard transmission, that was the only way to do it. Add to the joy that the standard way to drive to Monetier has been shut down by a landslide, which means driving up and over Galibier, and it makes for a fun day on the road (especially for Jon!). I took my time, stopped at the lacets de Montvernier for a quick bike ride up them as fast as I could, then drove over Galiber, parked at Lautaret and rode up Galibier

then back down and after a long wait got the keys for the chalet.

A big ride

The etape preparations continue: Today I rode to the Fort St. Eynard, then Charmant Som, then the back side of la Charmette, and then Planfay. It used to be that any one of those would be hard, and riding them together would be unthinkable, so it is nice to see some progress. 85k, 2757 meters of climbing.

Ice cream in town!

Hiking near the col de la Charmette

Riding up 2/3s of the Col de la Charmette is one of my standard training rides. It's a dead end road that tops out around 1200 meters in the Chartreuse. From there, most people hike the standard trail to the Grande Sure. There is a little known road, however that descends towards St. Laurent du Point. Although closed to traffic, i is accessible on foot. Most people ignore it because it descends very steeply for a mile or so, but curious people are rewarded by a beautiful prairie with a brook running through it a little further down the road. We all went hiked down there and floated boats down the stream until we couldn't take the bugs anymore and hiked back up the steep road to the car.

Charmette, Porte

Col de la Charmette, then into the Guirs area, then back over Porte. 60 km, 2000m climbing 17.7 kph avg

Theseis defense in Paellology!

Alejandro invited us over to his place. The deal was: he would provide the ingredients, and I would apply all of the skill I have acquired in Paella making over the past few months, but on an open fire instead of a kitchen stove. I was actually quite nervous, but it turned out fine:

A big ride with Stef!

We rode from Bourg over Telegraphe, into the Maurienne and then back over Glandon. Highlights were running into Hank in the Maurienne and watching Romain Bardet -- a contender for the Tour zoom past us on Telgraphe and then seeming him again on the bottom part of the Toussuire climb.

Comboire, kid climbing

The kids had climbing lessons outside today! Usually they are in the gym, but the instructors organised a trip to Comboire. The parking lot was a bit of a clusterfork, but other than that it went well. Chloe and I climbed while we were waiting for the kids. I forgot how bad the climbing is there. Yuck.

I made fruit gummies today. Pretty good, but there is a hint of agar taste to them. I might use gelatin next time

Dauphine Libere

I took a couple of hours off to go watch the Dauphine pass by on the plateau. It's such a cool race, and with all the big names!

Gentiane

I was looking through the French cyclotouring calendar and found a cool looking ride yesterday, which was not too far from us. So this morning I got up early to drive to Bourg de Peage to ride "La Gentiane", a ride organized by the Romans-sur-Isere cycling club. Several itineraries were possible, and I did the "easy" one. I was originally planning the next one up, but changed my mind after getting my butt kicked on the hors categorie climb! They had a really nice meal waiting for us at the end, and decent feed stations. If I'm in shape next year, I will definitely do this one again!

5 hours on the big, 5:22 elapsed, 24 kph average, 124 km, 2046 m elevation gain.

Kalymnos with Ian and Susan!

Thanks to Jon and Sue!!!

We got back quite late to Milan, so I booked us a hotel along the way back.  It turned out to be *fantastic*  and had a fantastic breakfast -- there was Champagne!  58 euros.. amazing.  The Devero hotel.