Well, after much deliberation we decided that Ventoux wasn't in the cards for today. We all want to do it, but it would have a been a 3 hour drive, for a 40mile ride, followed by a 3 hour drive. As much as I have thought about doing it, I figure it gives me a good reason to come back. Plus, the riding here in the Vercors is so incredible that we didn't really see the point to such a long drive. 

So today, we did hop in the car, but only for 20k or so. We drove down to St Martin en Vercors, and rode down the Grand Goulet and the Petite Goulet - which is this super sweet gorge. Unfortunately, avalanches caused the French to close part of the road and they dug a tunnel for about 2km. It was rippin' fast and the pavement was smooth. It was a little bit cold in there, but that was fine. As soon as we came out the other side the Gorge opened up and the views were tremendous, and the pavement was super smooth all the way down.

Once at the bottom, the climbing began. This time we were climbing the Col de Pionnier and Chaud Calipier, then dropped and climbed the Col de Rousset. When  we got to the Rousset, we dropped through another tunnel - maybe .5km or so, and came out above this awesome switchback road. Unfortunately, we couldn't go down it as there wasn't a good way around (other than straight back up, which at this point of the ride wasn't an option).

We climbed back up through the tunnel, and then cruised down hill for most of the wat back to St Martin, with only a 2km climb at the end. 

When we got to town, Gary, Toby, Kevin and I sat down at a cafe, had a Jambon Beure and a Coca, and waited for Larry. Larry had taken the day off and was driving around a little bit. After about 30 minutes, he showed up much to our relief.

Today's stats -

90km/57mi

1615m/5300ft of climbing

Here's Gary thinking about dropping down the switchbacks. 
Here's Kevin at the Col de la Rousset