france-2017

The morning was cool and clear, with a light wind coming from the south. I was heading north, so this would be my first real tailwind of the whole trip! After the (bad) hotel breakfast, I went into Moirans and has a couple of great pastries (Eclair au chocolat et tarte frambroise). The patisseries were part of what had charmed me about Moirans the previous evening, and I wasn’t disappointed. Properly fueled, I headed north.

The morning was cloudy, but I could see the clouds breaking up on the mountain, which was encouraging, It was also cold, particularly in my hotel room because the heat was not working, so I was motivated to get moving. My stomach felt almost normal and my energy was good. I could do this. I had a quick coffee, got set up and headed towards the mountain.

The weather was iffy, with the high at the peak forecasted as 2º C. But I was here for an adventure, so off I went. Climbing up the valley, I felt strong at points but weak at others. I still couldn’t eat normally, so I was taking small snacks and sips of water as I could, and it got quite cold, single digit C temps with wind.

After the end of my Croatia trip, I hopped over the Italic Peninsula to land in Lyon, France. One of my goals for my time in Europe was to ride some of the classic Tour de France climbs like L’Alpe d’Huez and Mont Ventoux, and Lyon was the easiest connection from Croatia.