May 26, 2019 Roanne to Lyon

Today was the easiest day of this week at 95 kms and 1050 m climb.  With check in to our Airbnb at 3:00 pm there was no real panic to get out of the hotel too early.  So when Ken, Bob and I rolled out of the hotel at 8:40 we were plenty early.   The morning chill was off and the sun was high enough that we could be seen by over taking motorists.   

Roanne is not a really big city so we were out of the city in no time and headed south.  The route was down a kind of busy road however being a Sunday morning there was very little traffic.   We were making good time even though the route was generally uphill.  At about the 15 km we turned off the main road and headed down some country lanes.  At about the 18 km mark we hit a section of newly applied chip seal.  Not the big rock variety but the small sharp angular kind which really tear up tires.  In addition all of the potholes were filled with loose rocks.  When you hit them it grabbed your tire and threatened to throw you over.  Fortunately it was only about 4 kms.  

Back on the main road we started the big climb of the day.  It was 15 km long and got steeper and steeper as we got closer to the summit which was at 38 kms.  The total climb was 410 meters.  By now the traffic had increased quite considerably.  While we were doing the climb our side of the road had a wide shoulder however after we reached the summit the shoulder was on the other side of the road.  There were a large number of motor cycles who were flying up the hill on the wrong side of the road passing cars as they went.  As there were cars passing us this meant the you had two cars, a motor cycle and us all side by side on a narrow two lane road.  It was a little disconcerting to say the least.  It looked like these motorcyclists were all weekend warriors out proving their manhood.  Fortunately the downhill section was only about 20 kms long and it went by quickly.

As it was now close to lunch we pulled into one of the large boulangier places which are really large cafes and specialize in serving lunch to tourists.  The classic ham on a baguette was lunch and we were on our way.

I had done a lot of work trying to figure a way into Lyon as it is a very big city and has a lot of traffic.  I had finally settled on coming through a light industrial section and winding down to the river on a bunch of back roads and lanes. This worked perfectly as it was a Sunday and everything was closed.  We had not seen a single car for maybe 10 minutes when some jerk driver buzzed Ken and then yelled at Bob and I.   It looked like he had been doing some ramming with his beat up old car as the front was all smashed up.  It was the one and only bad driver we have seen.  Absolutely every other driver stops and waves you through. The drivers here are so polite it is amazing.

Lyon is built at the fork of a river and we had to cross the first river and then the section between rivers and then the second river to get to our Airbnb apartment.  The section between the two rivers has huge tunnel under the city.  There are actually three tunnels, two for cars and one for bikes and pedestrians.  This tunnel is over 1.5 kms long and is an amazing piece of infrastructure.  It is lighted, has music and moving light shows which play along the walls. It was really quite an experience riding through there.  

After the tunnel we cruised down the bank of the far river to our apartment and found Agnes and Judy already checked in and they had everything under control.

This was a great ride day as is was sunny and warm the entire day.   This ends the second and by far hardest section of the tour.  I am looking forward to our two rest days and  touring Lyon and seeing some of the sites.

Terry