Vercors

I had to bring the car in for servicing in Echirolles this morning, and decided (as I did last year) to ride up St. Nizier while the car was being worked on. It was quite cold though, and a foggy cloud layer had settled into the valley and the plateau. As a result, I broke out all of the cold weather gear I own: windstopper N2S windshirt, thick Giordana jersey, new Ekoi bib tights, thick polypro socks, windstopper beanie, and my much loved Goretex paclite shell. I felt a little like a pack mule. Along the way to the climb I passed the always cool "fancy car service place", which had a GT3RS, a Gallardo and a 360 Modena out front.






I wonder what routine maintenance costs on one of those. I know, that's the wrong question. Anyway, after snapping a few pics, I rode over the beautiful new pedestrian/bike bridge that traverses the Drac, got a little lost in the maze of houses around Sessins, and eventually found the base of the climb. It is easy to find when you get close, because our car insurance place is right there, and it is located in the amusingly named "Zone Industrielle des Fleurs" (Industrial Zone of the Flowers). Anyway, under my many layers and tons of gear I did not feel very sprightly riding up the hill and indeed was downright slow. It took me ~1:02 to do the climb, which I'm sure I can better if I get a good day, the planets are aligned and I feel a little less sick. You know, the usual excuses. Anyway, the big problem was that even maxing myself out on the climb, it was so cold that I lost feeling in my feet by the top, and I considered turning around. I could see the clouds burning off though so I decided to press on. I continued through Lans, and the beautiful small towns that line the Route de Villard. At the top of one of the hills, I saw what looked like a herd of cattle in the road ahead. As I got closer, I saw that it was indeed a herd of cattle, being moved down the road by three people. Unfortunately, things started going poorly when one adventurous cow broke through an electric fence and started loping into an adjacent field. This induced some yelling by the closest Shepherd, but it was too late, and there was soon a peloton of cows escaping down the hill. They did not have a dog, unfortunately, so two of them ran down the hill and corralled them back, but not before the electric fence was completely trampled into the mud. Eventually the cows exited the road, and I continued onwards through Villard-de-lans and Les Jarrands. By now the skies were blue, and the sun was out. Around one of the curves I saw a Loomis truck pulled over on the side of the road, with a guard outside the truck on a cell phone, with the door open! I would think that even with an empty truck, you would not want to invite attack by doing something like that, but that's just me. In fact, the only time I have ever seen stopped armored cars is when they are loading or unloading. I'm sure it is a good policy to make as few stops as possible. Anyway, onwards to Meaudre, through les Gorges des Meaudret, which are lined with a stunning display of reds, oranges and yellows. From there, it was on to Autrans, over a little hill and them the Col de la Croix Perrin, the last major effort of the day (and not a big deal at only 200 m of elevation gain). Then came the descent into Lans, where I realised that I did not have house keys with me, so instead of the Gorges du Furon, I descended via St. Nizier. Before that however, I finally found a water fountain, after pulling up to several that had been turned off along the way. One bottle is not really enough for 50 km and 1500 m of elevation gain! The descent was beautiful, and not too fast. I arrived back at the dealership at the 89 km mark, but the car was not ready and the battery was disconnected for service. The problem was that my change of clothes was in the trunk of the car, and the trunk is not easy to open without power. I eventually was able to change out of my clammy cycling stuff and went off in search of food. Unfortunately, that part of town is unexpectedly seedy. There was a crowd of teenagers in the supermarket parking lot drinking beers, and a random guy was approaching strangers and trying to sell something. I decided to live with the chance that I might be missing the deal of a lifetime and continued to the Tabac. As I was queued for the register a drunk guy wandered in (it was 2:30 PM) and asked the Tabac lady about the different kinds of cigars they sold. I quickly left and went to the supermarket, where the only thing resembling a sandwich was a chicken-pickle mayo sandwich. I wandered through the supermarket to find something else to eat and noticed an unusually large number of middle aged guys in leather jackets and heavily gelled hair. Time to go. After paying and avoiding eye contact with the by now boisterous and probably drunk teenagers in front of the store, I found a park across from the Honda Dealer. Exhausted and famished, I sat down on a park bench in the sun and started inhaling the chicken pickle sandwiches which were, to be fair, not as bad as they looked. A group of women ambled into the park at this point, and were screaming to each other about couscous, which struck me as a strange thing to be yelling about. They had a toddler with them which they would take turns playing ball with. At one point one of the women shuffled off to a stand of trees WITHOUT much cover, I might add, and squatted down for a pee. I took this as a cue to again find a new place to wait, but the only place left was the dealership. Happily, the car was ready! I think they must have uploaded new engine management because the acceleration feels a lot quicker.

Video of the ride here: