Col du Lautaret June 28 2011

To day was an easy day as we had ridden the Lès Alpes Heuz yesterday. This turned the 93 kms day into a 65 km day. However before I get in to the ride, Richard had fixed a broken spoke back in Sicily and yesterday it broke on the climb. I found a spare spoke in one of the hundreds of bike shops in town. So I gave Richard the replacement spoke. When I awoke this morning Richard had fixed my bike, so that I could ride. WOW!

Juerg and I rode out together and were joined by Jack which was a welcome addition to the ride, so the three of us cruised along. The ride to the summit from the camp ground was 38 kms at a very low but steady incline. I think there was only one kms of 8 % and the rest was only 1-2%. It was perfect ridding temperature and the sun was not yet shining on us as we rode up through this canyon. There were several tunnels and snow sheds. The sun was shining on the mountains which surrounded us and it was very pretty.

When we got to the summit at 2058 m it was only just after 11:00 Am so we stopped and had a great lunch in one of the restaurants at the summit. Sitting eating on the terrace and enjoying the scenery was fabulous. About 1:00 Pm we rolled for camp which is in Briancon. It was a 30 km down hill which was a very nice easy 2% down. It was perfect.

The first thing Juerg and I did was head down town where we got some beer and drank it in the town square. The local police came by but we saw them first so we put the beer away. There is nothing like having a cold beer in the nice warm sun (36C).

Fun in the Sun

Terry