Well, our internet connection still sucks. Our hotel has a computer that is hooked up, but it has a zerty keyboard, so it is very difficult to try to email or type anything. So we keep driving into town and using the crappy wifi at the tourism office. Oh well. 

It's raining again! Merde! Kevin and I woke up early again and headed into town for our morning cafe au lait (I just have hot chocolate). Then I quickly did some laundry at 7AM, and hopped online for a few minutes. It was raining a little bit, and wasn't looking real good. We got back to the hotel and had breakfast, then went back to town to finish my laundry. When we got back, the rain really started to come down. We all cleaned our bikes a little bit (we got pretty muddy yesterday) and then got dressed. Then it rained some more. We all sat there in the dining room talking about bagging the ride, but I wasn't really interested in a rest day already. Larry, Toby, Kevin and I decided to at the very least get an hour or two on the bikes. Gary decided to take the day off and watch the Tour, but as I told Kevin, Notre Tour de France et plus importante que Le Tour de France! We rode out when the rain subsided. The roads were wet, but then a mile into the ride the roads were dry again. We decided to ride up to Autrans, which is where the Masters Cross Country World Championships will be next winter. They've got over 900km of groomed trails in the area. That's a whole lot of trails. 

We climbed up to Autrans and there was a little bit of rain, but not enough to really get us soaked. Within a few minutes of descending we were dry again. Autrans was a nice little town tucked away in a beautiful valley. Everything is very green here. 

We cruised down to Meaudre, and then back up part of the gorge that we went down yesterday (just for a km or two.)

The ride was a nice little spin - and hopefully the weather will improve a little bit, although quite honestly, I thought the weather was quite nice - we just need to dress properly. I don't mind getting wet if I have enough clothing to keep me warm. 

Ride stats:

Distance: 36km/22.41mi

elevation gain: 414m/1358ft

# posted by WebCyclery Blog @ 10:05 PM