Had another good sleep but woke up rather chesty with a hacking cough, sounding like an ex smoker with emphysema and felt like one too.
We started off with a trip down to the lake and an easy run round the track to be shown the course for the aqua than. I could barely breathe, still coughing and very chesty. Oh the dilemma of applying common sense ( which in hindsight should have been applied on day 2 given the woeful riding - its a SIGN Christine you dumb blonde :-) or HTFU and embracing the JFT mantra of Epic camp.
After some deliberation and tears I decided an aqua than was probably not a good idea so chose to sit out and watch, what a glorious morning and a glorious swimming location. Think Wanaka on steroids but quite bit more balmy :-)
After everyone was done and we were shuttled back, breakfasted and organised ( poor support crew- we must try their patience immensely; its like herding cats trying to get a bunch of triathletes rolling out and doing as instructed!) I was dropped off ~ 34 km up the valley so that I could ride at my own pace and take it easy.
I set off in the sun after a quick pit stop then 6 km later started the 14km ascent of the Izoard, coughing and spluttering and gasping for air - its about an 8 % average climb and tougher than I had anticipated but the scenery was ( literally) breathtaking and I am sure the crisp mountain air worked wonders on my lungs. The faint clanging of cowbells reminded me of (the badly dubbed from German) Tv programme "Heidi" that I used to watch in my younger days and also that hey. I was in the French Alps. Fucking brilliant, who cares how my legs and lungs feel??!!!
Made it to the top, took a photo and rugged up for the long descent to Brandon, disrobed in Brandon ( hot!!) then a long gradual trundle up the valley towards the Col de lautouret with a quick stop at a servo for an ice cold coke zero ( heaven!!) then a further trundle to eventually reach the summit of the Lautouret ( it climbs at ~3% for AGES!!!). Then a 10km descent down to La Grave with 3 tunnels. I had no lights and was solo so shit scared would be a euphemistic way of putting it. However, the motorists are all pretty courteous to cyclists here - a treat in comparison to the small minded attitudes of many on our roads on NZ, I am ashamed to say.
Our repose for the next 2 nights was in La Grave at great little auberge called the Edelweiss ( how apt!!). Dinner was a tasty 3 course affair and of course the red wine in accompaniment was excellent also. Did I mention how cheap the wine is here and very good. The reds anyway; I had been rather scared since I love my Central Otago pinot noir but no, not had a bad one here in France yet :-)
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