Cycling, Jim

I went for a morning ride up Charmette today (only a few seconds faster -- I dont know how I am going to find enough power or lose enough weight to get to my goal of 1 hour even). It felt pretty hard, which I guess is expected for a hors categorie climb, but I need to work on my endurance on climbs over 600 meters.

Anyway, I usually turn around and go home at the col, but I decided to be a little adventurous and try out the forestry road that descends to St. Laurent du Pont today. I had heard different things about the state of it, so I just took it slow and was careful. The road was in very good shape; the only problems were the unlit tunnels. The first two were short enough that I could see what I was riding over, but the last one (tunnel des agneaux) was very long and *very* dark. I made it through without crashing, happily. The views from the road are spectacular,

and you pass a convent along the way

It's a wonderful ride, with no chance of cars! You just have to be careful and take it slow on the descent, unless you are on a mountain bike, in which case it would be no problem at all. I'll probably bring a mini bike light for the Tunnel of Death next time.

Later on, an old colleague from south san came by (he is in Europe for four weeks), and we went into town for vietnamese food and a trip to the top of the Bastille. It was great to catch up and gossip about biotech days and people and show him our new stomping grounds.