Yesterday (Friday) was another beautiful day, as can be seen in the pictures. It was cool when we started from our hotel in Le Freney, but quickly warmed up. We were soon able to take off our jackets and ride in our undershirts and jerseys.
Our destination was the Col du Galibier (Galibier Pass), another iconic Tour de France route. We rode up through the valley created by the Romanche river to the Col du Lauteret, then turned up the road to Galibier.
On the way, we stopped in La Grave for crepes and ate on the terrace pictured below. It was so incredibly beautiful ...
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Mark showing off his chocolate crepe.
Unfortunately, he didn't notice the large amount of chocolate running out of the plate and onto the table. |
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| The interior of the restaurant where we stopped for crepes. |
From La Grave, the grade got a little steeper, but it really wasn't too bad. And the vistas served to detract from any stress in the legs (and lungs and heart).
Once we turned onto the road leading up to Galibier, it was pretty intimidating to see the road stretching way up to the top, but the grades weren't that bad. Mark got some good pictures of yours truly, both leading up to the Col du Lauteret and then on up to Galibier, and I got one of him, too. (As you can see, he was usually ahead of me.)
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| This was near the beginning of the Galibier ascent. |
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| A shot of a section of the road. The jumping off point for Galibier is just visible in the lower left. |
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| Another shot of the road, near the top of the pass. |
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| At the top! Another moment in cycling history! |
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| At the Col du Galibier |
Great ride! That must feel so great to see how far you have climbed - a wonderful analogy for your personal progress as well.
ReplyDeleteI can't get over the gorgeous skies and temperatures that you're having. So very lucky!
Enjoy, enjoy! (I know, though, that you don't need to be reminded!)