Gnarliest 28-mile ride ever? Welcome to Grenoble!

Today was our “option” day; the ‘Tour isn’t passing by close enough to make it practical to see (and we’re going to get plenty of ‘Tour viewing in the next 5 days straight!) so instead we chose to do a ride local to the Grenoble environs, something we could ride directly from our hotel to. And if anybody ever gets the idea I’d rather avoid driving, they’re right!

We’re staying a few miles out of town, in St Egreve, nestled in a valley between the Vercors and… something else. We’ve ridden the Vercors; we’ve seen the steep stuff on the other side, and wondered why there weren’t roads going up there. A quick check of mapmyride and strava confirmed my worst fears. There are roads going up there, but very few people ride them. Why? I guess it depends how you like your roads. If you enjoy Sonora Pass, Ventoux, Redwood Gulch, China Grade… then D105 up to the Col de la Charmette might be for you!

First a trip to one of the few bakeries in this town, for breakfast and “spare” cokes to bring with us for refueling. Next a stop to pick up more sunscreen, and then the main event. Up, up, up and more up. I’ll have photos soon but ran out of time for this entry due to having to plan tomorrows big day at the time trial. But we survived, had a good time, and downed more coke, orange juice, water and lemonade than you would have thought possible. So yes, we’re staying hydrated.






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