The day started off early for us 3 girls with a chilly descent from our chalet in St Foy to Bourg St Maurice - highly amused at the 3 French lads lying passed out on the grass verge after what had obviously been a great night out!
Once through Bourg, we started the climb of the Cormet de Rosalind which is a lesser know climb, ~ 14-15km long and around 2100m at the summit. It was bloody cold for the first 10 km as the hillsides were thick with pine trees and no sun but once out in the sun we were rewarded with more fabulous chocolate box views, jangling cow/goat bells and snow capped glacial peaks in the skyline.
The descent from the summit was FREEZING. Dam trees. Who needs 'em?!!!
After 22km of descending we ended up in a little town ( Beaufort? I think) where we found the patisserie ( best one yet!) and duly sat in the sun with coffee scoffing delectable delights. I finally succumbed to temptation and enjoyed an almond pastry thingy, filled with a custardy mixture and dusted in icing sugar. Then we set off to enjoy around 5 km of flat before hitting the next climb which was the Col?/climb to Les Saisies, a ski village and quite a busy ascent. Did I mention previously how jammed the Alps are with motorbikes? Some of whom think they own the road and the centre line is purely for artistic decoration.
Anyhow, this was another ~ 15 km climb ( I think, nicely switched back to break it up and my climbing legs had turned up ( more than likely the caffeine and the pastry :-)
This must be a climb on the TDF as there was Tour propaganda everywhere up top, big jerseys and finish lines. Must be awesome during an actual live stage!!
More pastries awaited at the top and other tasty morsels ( another point to mention that this is also Epic EATING camp!!) then time for another long descent, a very pleasant one in fact and once at the base time to hit the last climb of the day, the Col de Aravis which was also ~14 km ish ? Again, nicely switched backed but a bugger to have a one way road works ~1km from the summit where the light was RED for us. Grrrrr!
Once at the top another nice descent ( and not so chilly as the day had warmed up very nicely) down into St jean de Sixt and through the valley to le Grand Bornand, beautiful Swiss like little town. We are in the Savoie region of the Alps. The chalet we are staying in here is another 5 star affair ~ 7km up the valley from Le Grand Bornand, owned by Piet( a former Epic camper himself) and his wife. Its amazing here!!!
A fine spread of salad, veggies, meat and wraps awaited then decided to get the 7km run out of the way and run the net downhill to the pool although my stomach was not so happy after 6h 20 on the bike and large feast trio but I got er done and decided it was great last-10km-of-an-ironman -training. John had booked 2 lanes for us at the outdoor 25m pool ( packed!!) so I managed 45 minutes of some loosely termed swimming, lots of back stroke to stretch out the tight pecs and nagging upper back from all those long climbs. The swimming is great recovery I must say even altho it is with utmost reluctance that I step in the pool :-)
We were shuttled back by the super support crew, showered then an amazing home cooked al fresco dinner with local wines and way too much food consumed by us all. I'll bet the skiers and families who come here to cross country ski in winter do not eat anything close to what we are munching through :-) Oh well, all part of the fun.
Tomorrow is an "easier " day involving a triathlon "race".
Just checked TP - biggest training week ever of 45 hours. Thats a LOT of saddle time.
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