Once again the gang (John R ,Bernard ,Tony ,Jerome ,Dave and Garry)embarked on what would turn out to toughest trip yet ,starting in Geneva and crossing the Alps to Nice.Each day provided a different Col to challenge our fitness , stamina and determination ,most of the accents took many hours of muscle burning pain ,not helped by the fact that some members now have Garmin 705's and so were able to give a running commentary on the current gradient and predict how with every kilometer the gradient would change, somehow this always seemed to go up and one could imagine that further up the road we would in fact be upside down and going backwards !!.
Having struggled to the top of the Cols the long descents were absolutely amazing , with the pain of the climb soon forgotten ,clocking over 60 mph (96K) at some points and descending through spectacular mountain scenery ,picturesque villages and negotiating endless switch backs and tunnels , not to mention avoiding large trucks that we always seemed to meet on the narrowest part of the road and usually on a bend . This was cycling at it's best ,the stuff we live for ,a feeling of being both exhilarated and frightened at the same time .
Our trip conclude in Nice where we stayed at Stephen Roche's Hotel .This had been a very hard but very enjoyable cycle with lots of stories that were duly re lived at our final evening out in Nice where we ate , drank and entertained the locals before returning to out hotel for more drink and reflection . For the record the Cols we climbed were Col de Marais, Col de la Madeline, Col de Grandon, Alpe d Huez ,Col de Lautaret, Col de Izoard , Col de Vars , Col de Cayolle and Col de Coullole .
No comments:
Post a Comment