Col du Mont Noir

Went for a beautiful ride to the col du Mont Noir today. Beautiful weather… in NOVEMBER! The road goes through some spectacular scenery, most notably a road cut into the side of a cliff. Later on, after the small town of Malleval, the road opens up to a huge cirque, then up to the col. Halfway down the descent, I noticed that my friend was no longer behind me, and I had the thought that one of the usual jerk drivers had run him off the road, so I emptied what was left of my power into cranking back up the hill. Thankfully it was only a blown tube. Whew! The descent was a little wet in places, so I could easily see a mistimed brake application sending you into a ditch, or worse. Actually, the ditch scenario would probably be the best case.