T18: Embrun to the TdF Stage 16 finish in Gap

Good morning Embrun!

Today's installment was another fairly lumpy affair which took in the first half of the ITT course (the pro's tackle that tomorrow). It will be absolutely brutal for them. I'm interested to see what bike set up and kit they use as there are 2 big hills with pitches of 10%+. I'm guessing road bikes with clip on bars, deep dishes and road areo, not full areo, helmets. There are no flat sections! I wouldn't be surprised if they can hit speeds of 95km/h+ on the second descent just before Gap where it's dead straight for about 1.2k and downhill at 11%. 

By relative standards for us, the first climb wasn't too bad. But the last climb up to Col de Moissiere of 7.5k was our own version of brutal: 3 pitches of 16%, one of 18% and plenty of 10%+, it was hot and there was no wind. Thankfully though, the middle kilometres were through forest shade with delightful little babbling brooks just off to the side. They were flowing over mossy rocks which seemed to defy the ambient temperature. 

One 16% stretch went for about 150m and it dealt out some serious pain to a few of the guys. When you are climbing, there are markers on the side of the road every 1,000m telling you elevation above sea level, distance to the summit and average gradient for the next kilometre. So as you glance to the right through your sweat speckled sunglasses at those ominous white and yellow tombstones and squint to read, praying for 1km and 2.6%...and instead you see 4km and 11.2% — you know you are in for pain. It's hurtlocker city, population you. No sir, it's not a Pain Snack, it's a whole degustation of stem to chew.

I mentioned it was hot. Well when you are in the shade and you look down and see your thighs and knees are glistening, and you notice the rivulets of sweat coming out of your shins and slowly making your socks damp, and you can't read the decals on your top tube anymore because they are covered with drip splatter, and you see all this because you can't lift your head to see the road ahead...you know two things. 1. You are not going to wee for a while and 2. it's DAMN hot. 

I managed another KOM (this time for the Maxxxxx). It was good to open up a bit over the last 2k which was all above 9%. As an aside, we've all commented that it's weird to have the sensation of hitting 6% and going: "thank god it's flat for a bit" as you ram her into the 23!

When we got into Gap to watch the end of Stage 16 it was the usual Tour mayhem. We reconned two spots: the base of the final climb; and 25m from the finish line as both possies were in Gap (3 streets apart). I had it better planned this time - observe, orientate, plan which shots to take and stand back to absorb the atmosphere! 

On the way to getting a beer, burger (which by the way I must add was a sensational double patie n cheese number on a soft yet lightly grilled bun - totally in the Top5 best burgers ever) and chips, we bumped into none other than Dave MacKenzie from SBS and I did some talk back for VO3Max. 

Now I don't know if you watched the stage but those boys were FLYING and by the time the 26 rider break got to us, 2 were off the front. Now I said I had my shit together this time right? Nup. I've decided you cannot photograph a bunch and try to watch at the same time. Even with the iPhone set to rapid fire - not much chop. I don't know what I was expecting. On Ventoux they were crawling. So I guessed that coming to the base of a climb they'd be on the top of the bars getting ready to drop it into the little ring. WRONG. If they weren't doing 40km/h up a 5% slope into a 90 degree corner, they were doing 45+. And again, gone in a flash. Just enough time to have my slack jaw recover enough to yell GO CAM!!

Here's the bunch coming through...

...and then run to the finish line...

Another great day. We had a 20k roll out to the pre-positioned car via only our 2nd flat tyre of the whole tour. The roads here are too awesome to get flats...oh, and the fact that there are no bogans throwing bottles out the windows of their lowered, beat up 1974 Toranas. 

And to top it off, a magnificent sunset as we transitted to the very flash ski resort of Pra-Loop to flop into a king size bed. Yes!

T17: Embrun Lake with 5 Cols

Another gorgeous day with a top of 32 degrees and we didn't turn the peddles until 10am after last night's late night.

What we've done so far in 16 days:      

Count:	15 Rides
Distance:	1,350.49 km
Avg Distance:	90.03 km
Time:	60:18:20 h:m:s
Avg Time:	4:01:13 h:m:s
Max Time:	8:50:03 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	31,115 m
Avg Speed:	22.4 km/h
Max Speed:	91.8 km/h
Avg HR:	126 bpm
Max HR:	178 bpm
Avg Bike Cadence:	75 rpm
Calories:	30,035 C

See today's lumpy ride here. You could take most descents without brakes today. Yummo. 

 

 

The water in the lake was impossibly blue. This dam is the second largest earth dam in the world with a rock base of 124m thick. Thanks Jez - totally interesting. You're welcome. 

 

 

Just your average suburban bike rack...

Yep - another town limit for me!!

 

 

Without exception the food has been great. In Embrun we ate at the resturant at the hotel and they, like many others, have been VERY accomodating. Many of you who know me well enough, or have eaten out with me, know that I sometimes mess with the chef. It's not that they have bad ingredients or the menu is no good - it's just that sometimes they don't put them in in the right order. Or they offer too many awesome looking things. For example, last night's molten chocolate pudding with ice cream was soooooo good. But it wasn't on tonight's menu. What the? So I put it back on tonight's menu - no problemo. Two, maybe three nights ago at Avignon, both the mains seemed fantastic - so I asked for the (unlisted) half and half option...and the chef was VERY accommodating. Twice cooked duck breast with a sweet Thai glaze and a locally caught fresh water fishy. Good on him and I personally went back to thank him. It was soooooo yummy and the follow up exploding toffee chocolate cake was orrrrrrr-sum!!

Thank god for the riding...

T16: TdF Stage 15 on Ventoux on Bastille Day

Well - my very first live Tour de France Stage...and what a way to do it on the queen stage of the 100th edition. It was a morning filled with anticipation. I woke early and headed down for a big breakfast because we were going to be on the hill all day and not being sure what would be available on Ventoux, we had to be self sufficient. 

We all wore the same matching red Diamond Cycle Tours kit. The idea was that all of us in a gaggle might maximise the TV spotting opportunity. That didn't work at all!  

We took the van to just outside Bedoin and rolled from there. It was an easy roll but it became very clear very quickly that it was going to be bedlam - and it was. 

Here we are getting through Bedion at the base of the climb. The poor pro's would soon be tackling this massive Mont after 222km of racing and only afterwards did we find out that they hit the bottom of the climb with an average of 47km/h. OUCH!

There were humans everywhere. In cars, on motorbikes, walking, and on all manner of bicycles - I have never seen so many types and brands. For example: one had the wife recumbent on the front and pedalling whilst her husband was in the standard upright position but tandem. As I mentioned previously, some had been camped out on the hill from 2 days ago - others had been there less time, but by 10.30am, they had had a skinful and were both cheering and singing loudly. There were the obligatory number of mankinis and body paint as well as a squillion flags and banners showing support for the various riders of teams.

It was really hard to take it all in. We tried to stick together but it was tricky. At one stage at about 7k up I looked over my shoulder and thought I saw more Vini Fantini kit, but the double take confirmed it was actually Cycling Tips kit and none other than Wade Wallace and his editor Matt (the former Climbing Cyclist). I rode with them for about 5k and had a great chat. I really enjoyed meeting personally and riding with both Wade and Matt because I read their blog nearly everyday. Check out the link to their blog of Stage 15 and see Sagan doing a one-handed wheelie in front of the peloton!

Just hanging with Wade Wallace

We stopped for a bit about 13k up the climb and joined the party for a while, just trying to soak up the atmosphere. It was hot - so coke and pain chocolat first, then beer! There was a DJ on at Heineken corner so it was a real party vibe as thousands of cyclists and fans made their pilgrimage up the hill. The biggest cheer went up for a young kid of about 8, on his kiddie mountain bike in Orica kit slowly making his way up the 9%+. The huge cheers gave him a boost as he surged through the corner!

Tim meeting Didi the Devil

 

The original plan was to see the tour come through at Tom Simpson's memorial but the view was rubbish. By the time we got there, the gendarmerie had closed the road so it was off bikes, don the thongs and walk on up upon the rather uncomfortable rocks of Ventoux heights from the spectator side of the barricades. We finally settled on the 500m to go banner, which gave us a view down to about 1.2k to go and up to about 300m to go. 

It wasn't long until the caravan came through. It was absolutely nuts - and I mean mental. What is it about free shit that just drives people to jump and dive as if the last meal on earth had just been tossed out the window of a car? I was no exception. It was like a fever as I maneuvered for position and then launched off other people's backs to take a speccy for a 20c key ring for some washing powder brand I'd never heard of!!! Wearing thongs on fist size rocks whilst taking off-balance species was not good for my poor feet and I ended up with a few cuts and scapes. Anyway - we scored a lot of crappy TdF loot and the kids will be happy!

When it was finally time for the pro's to come through I muffed it. I was getting updates from home via text from T-Bird as there were no big screens and we couldn't understand the French commentary. SBS tour tracker was no good because with 1 million people on the hill, there was no bandwidth to get anything. Finally we saw Froome in yellow come under the 1k to go banner. But I didn't know where to look. It sounds weird but I kinda missed the whole thing - there was too much going on and I was just bamboozled. I was a kid on a 5 minute excursion to the biggest candy store in the world and it was too much. In retrospect, I should have stood back on the hill and watched it all go by - just soaked it up, focussed on the race and the riders. But I was on the fence, screaming as Froome, then Quintana, then Rogers, Porte, Schleck, Orica Greenedge guys, and then the autobus went by; whilst trying to take photos and video; and dodge motorbikes close to the barriers; and look at the agony on their faces...and no sooner had they come past - it was over. 
 

They looked shattered. They were so skinny. And they were mostly so small. When they rolled past, I thought, man - I went up there faster yesterday. Then I remembered I had not just ridden 241k at an average pace of 47km/h before the climb and 41km/h for the whole stage. Just wow.

 

The transit to get off the mountain was absolute gridlock - it took over 2 hours to get 20k down. We literally had to walk our bikes down around 4k before we could roll. One poor chap had had a heart attack part way down to Sault and they were giving him CPR. There was a very sombre mood after we got past that.

 

Back at the pre-positioned van, we had a 2 hour trip to Embrun. It was very pretty going through the gorges, past rivers and finally getting to the lake. I can say that I really like Embrun already. We didn't get in till 10pm, just on dark, so the first order was to eat. 3 chocolate croissants, a coke and a beer for the day weren't doing much for me right then. Dinner was so very welcome and I have to say the best ravioli ever for entrée. Lamb followed and then a brilliant exploding chocolate molten bomb thingy with vanilla ice cream.

To top it off, there was a marching band for Bastille (National) Day, fireworks and a rock band that played well past 1am in the main square. Very cool. Tim and I "Bastille Day Bombed" (you know, like photo bombing) by joining the procession right behind the band and followed it into the town square. 

Big, big day. Crashed into bed and out like a light.

 

See Mont Ventoux ride from Bedoin here.

See Mont Ventoux ride from Malaucene here.

 

 

T15: Mont Ventoux from Malaucene

When Jo and I went campervanning in New Zealand around 10 years ago, we said that it was the best holiday we'd ever had. Part of the reason for that was the amazingly picturesque countryside that changed landscape style and formation so often and in such short distances. 

Well credit to both France and to Diamond Cycle Tours — the route we have taken has shown France to be a beautiful, wildly variable and equally picturesque part of this massively amazing planet. 

The day started climbing straight away from Malaucene. That wonderful non-pedalling for 10k (and 15k of average negative 10%) from yesterday that delivered me directly to the hotel front door came back and bit me on the arse - hard! This direction back up had plenty of +9% to 14% and one section was about 3k averaging over 11%. The bottom had nice forest and cool shade but as she went up, the sun got higher and more over head and I lost a tonne of juice. (I'm getting sick of washing down my bike after every ride just to get the salty sweat remnants off the stem, forks, top tube, down tube and bottom bracket - but I guess it's OK, I'll keep managing).  Paul and I just tapped it out together. 

After the second summit of Ventoux in 2 days (with another to go tomorrow for the TdF stage) we descended down to Sault for coffee and then through countryside more reminiscent of the Adelaide hills than Europe. We left the vineyards and rode into lavender country - it was totally like riding your treddly into a massive pile of freshly laundered clothes, or being at Granny's house and opening the draws of the linen cupboard. 

The Gorge de la Nesque was totally unexpected and superb...not least of which because it was about 25k long at an average descent gradient of 3%. Just cruisin and lovin life! 

And when I've been trying to explain fresh laid black top: get a load of this...smoooooooooooth!

The back of my right knee was a little tight after yesterday so I went for a massage last night. It was a bit naff and light on but probably better than going too hard. Either way, it was very relaxing. Now to get there, I caught public transport all by myself - and lucky for me, it was seamless. It is a very humbling experience to bus in a foreign country with little language skills. For all of Australia's awesomeness, our remoteness leaves us very insular when it comes to language. 

Avignon did not gain anything in our absence!

Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention...the first 6k of the descent from Ventoux was MENTAL...humans, bikes, cars, dogs, motorbikes, tents and Campervans by the thousand - all waiting for tomorrow's stage. There was one family cooking a BBQ on a blind hairpin on the road!! I'll put up a picture tomorrow. Crazy stuff but the excitement was palpable. 

________________________

Another great stage of le Tour. Absolutely bugger about Alba but we were cheering VERY hard. 

As you read this, we are en route to Ventoux to watch the Bastille Day Stage 15. Can't wait...I'm like a kiddie on Christmas morning!!!