End of the Lure.

Cold Sweats.

Sometimes I run.

Chewing the Fat.

Provence Verte.

A croissant to ride 2,500km for, a final big climb followed by one fine descent and a slightly anticlimactic denouement to end this part of the journey.
Today’s report is accompanied with a tinge of sadness already setting in. This was the last full day on the continent and with the kind guidance of Grenoble local Simon Mathieu (also for the first part of the route) I started the day with a diversion to pick up possibly the finest croissant I have ever tried. Pâtissier Chocolatier "FERRAZZI" in Grenoble if you’re ever in the area. The almond version was also excellent but I reckon you can judge a boulangerie by its plain croissant and this one was top.
This got me up the 14km climb out of the city in to the Vercours, where over in the shaded side of the hill it wasn’t particularly warm, yet. Another nicely graded climb that took an hour plus (at my current speed 😆) - the locals here are truly spoilt. I took second breakfast at Villard-de-Lans and decided this was the day to not hold back food-wise, not that I have been anyway during this trip! For the past two weeks I’ve been smashing back rice/semolina puddings, usually the smaller packets (although 4 at once has been common). This time I went for the big boy - the 500g tub all in one with some banana & peanut butter thrown in for good measure. Show me a better ride food…
The descent from the Vercours through the Gorges de la Bourne was extraordinary, both the ideal graident and non-twistiness of the road for descending and the scenery provided by the steep rocky mountainsides.
I was spat out in to a landscape more resembling the typical La France Profonde which, although pleasant, lacked the sheer breathtaking qualities of the places I have been during much of the past week. I still enjoyed the ride though and was accompanied for a while by a local until I turned off on to a road named ‘Impasse de …’ and he said in French ‘bikes don’t go there’. As this part of the route was planned on the fly using Komoot as a change my original plans I was slightly concerned it was another ‘Komoot Special’ of guiding you up a dead-end road or something definitely not suitable for ‘road cycling’. It looked like a road to me so I continued and the surface itself turned out fine. It was just the 20% gradient that was a bit of a shock. I was just telling my new acquaintance how roads in the UK just go straight up hillsides (none of this switchback nonsense) and I was now treated with a fine French example. This aside, the rest was relatively nondescript and I was treated one final time to a baking before the weather turns tomorrow. Turns out 2 weeks in this weather only gets you 17% adapted. You can take the boy out of Yorkshire…..
Up next, some riding (weather/how-much-I-can-be-bothered dependent), a different form of transport, some time for reflection and most importantly some of the finest pastries Lyon has to offer 🙂.

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Samuel Thompson | Acier,cc

13. Vizelle -> Lyon.

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End of the Lure.

Cold Sweats.

Sometimes I run.

Chewing the Fat.

Provence Verte.

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