Another great day on the Hannibal tour. Following a fantastic roast lamb dinner at Chez Yves we all went to bed full of good cheer. Yves is a bit of a character in the annals of French skiing history. Apparently a champion skier once, he now leads the quiet life in a beautiful old house out the back of Mens. His oven is a bit like our pizza oven in the backyard, except it's 300 years old and huge. In fact it looks like a shed made from stone. The heat coming from inside was amazing as three legs of lamb and two large trays of potato bake sat sizzling inside. Our gastric juices were well and truly flowing by the time the plates were placed in front of us. I don't think I was the only one to have two serves either. A birthday cake for Tim was all the dessert required to top off a great day. Harold, the 70yo retired woodchopper from Traralgon entertained us with a song tune the tune of "Ghost Riders in the sky" or "The Municipal Dunny Cart" if you prefer. Apparently it's the local velo club song. Velo club song? Really?
Anyway, I think there were a few nervous sleepers last night given that today we faced l'Alpe d'Huez (how does one turn this blasted spell checker off?). A shortish but very scenic 60km into Bourg d'Oisan for lunch, a top up with some fluids then up, up and up. Took me back to 2004 when Robbie and I rode up together on the day of the Mountain TT in the TdF, won on that day by a no doubt drug assisted Lance thingamybob. I was able to identify the corner where we spent the day together cheering on the Aussies especially.
Sadly, my Garmin carcked it just after the start and I didn't check my watch when I summited so I have absolutely no idea about the time taken for the ascent. Anyway, that's no big deal as it was just nice to ride up there and reminisce. Got to stop on the way down and take a few pics which you will see below.
Sorry to hear Snake had a prang in the valley (Shez messaged us). Hope all is OK. Rest assured we are being careful on these big, long and unfamiliar descents.
Tomorrow we had planned to do the Lauteret, Galibier and Izoard but tunnel closures may change all that. I'll let you know in due course.
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| En route Mens to Bourg d'Oisan |
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| Pat descending te Col d'Ornon (1380 odd metres) |
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| My Garmin didn't record the fact but I made it! |
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| Harold passing by the chapel with about 4km to go |
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| Stunning view of the valley and Bourg d'Oisan from turn number 9 on the Alpe d'Huez |
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| Mick enjoying the view fro turn number 7 (or thereabouts) |
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