Jour 2 - Mont St Martin

I woke up around 6Am today so I could hop on my computer and Skype Angela. My computer was running out of juice, so we kept the call pretty short. I quickly ate my breakfast - yummy bread with Nutella, some cereal, hot chocolate, and some OJ, then I hopped on my bike. I decided to ride through town and head up Mont St Martin, which is also called the mini Alpe d'Huez. After finding my way through town on the bike paths, I finally got to the base of the climb. It is only a 5 or 6km climb, but it stays above 10% grade most of the way. I think I saw it drop to 9% on a switchback or two, and I saw as high as 14%. It had a ton of switchbacks and the views were pretty awesome. It had rained there before I got there, so the roads were wet, but I was able to stay dry (well, with the humidity as high as it was, I was pretty wet). The descent was pretty slow, as the road was narrow, twisty, and wet. Overall, the ride was only about 46 or 47k. I had to get back to the hotel so I could shower and re-box my bike before the 12 o'clock check out.  I don't have any really good pictures from today - it was a really great climb with a lot of switchbacks, but not many views, and it was cloudy as well. 

After getting everything set, I went and had lunch and then sat there waiting for the rest of the guys to meet me at 4:30. They had all flown in on different flights and were driving the rental van. Unfortunately they didn't realize that today was the Friday before the Bastille Day weekend, so traffic sucked (and it was pouring rain). They finally found my hotel at about 7:30. The only plus was that I was able to finish "Under the Banner of Heaven" which I had started on the plane coming over here. 

After they picked me up we drove up one of the gorges to Villard-de-Lans. We got to the hotel around 20:30, and they were nice enough to stay open and serve us dinner. It was great. 

Tomorrow, Gary is going to take us on a ride that sounds like "La Machine". I haven't researched it yet. More tomorrow.

A demain!

Ride stats: 45km/26 miles or so

673m/2200ft of climbing

# posted by WebCyclery Blog @ 11:44 PM