'Rest' day

The day after the climb of L'Alpe d'Huez was naturally planned as an easy day. One possibility was a so-called balcony road. Look closely at this picture and you'll see a road running along the side of the mountain:

There are several of these roads nearby offering a relatively flat ride and spectacular views. There is one slight complication. You have to get up to the balcony road to enjoy it. In this case, that meant doing the first five turns of the Alpe d'Huez climb. If you recall, that is the most difficult part of the climb. But I was feeling surprisingly good this morning and at least knew what I was in for. The legs felt good on the warm-up ride. It was only a little ways so it wouldn't be a problem, I thought. And then I started up L'Alpe d'Huez again.

By the time I reached the first turn, my heart was racing, the legs were screaming and my breathing sounded like a run-away steam engine. But was I going to let a few things like that spoil my plans? Of course not. After a brief rest, I composed myself and settled into a nice easy rhythm and in what seemed like no time, I was ready to turn off onto the balcony road. If the first picture didn't give you the idea of what this road is like, then maybe this one will:

The legs were telling me this was going to be a short day but I had done the hard work and now could roll along and enjoy the views:


Instead of doing the longer loop that was originally planned, I eventually turned around, knowing that it was downhill to go home. That included the steep section at the bottom of L'Alpe where I reluctantly used the brakes to stay behind this sloooow car.

And so ended what has been a wonderful and satisfying time riding in the Alps.

The bike is now packed, some clothes washed and tomorrow morning the trip back to Paris begins with a bus ride to Grenoble. The next post should be from Paris and I'll try to get more pictures uploaded then.

Thanks for all your comments and encouraging emails. They have meant a lot.