Ride 8 - La Berarde

Weather moved in the night before, so we made contingency plans for a really light low elevation ride in the Alps before we pack up the van and head north to the Savoie region and specifically Chambery for more climbing mixed with lake rides.

Waking up around 7am, there was not a cloud in the sky...Praise Jesus! Bill wanted to do the 60K ride up to the Alpe town of la Beradare...and I didn't reject the notion.

Leaving our Chateau around 9:30am the air was cool, the sun bright and the day...full of promise - my legs felt really, really good. The ride started with about 15k of flat valley riding to warm the legs, then at the turn-off to la Berarde the road began a slow gradual climb 1-4% for the first 3K and then cranking up to 9 and 10% in two sections of the 27k of road. I climbed hard and strong at about 7-8mph with a solid, steady cadence. I was putting distance on Bill. For the first time during our Tour de France the sun shined on our faces every minute of this ride, except when the road carved through the steep rock cliff canyons only to be exposed to light by the precarious turn that seem to hang over the gorge and river several hundred meters below. Wow, fear of heights and ledges would certainly make you freeze in complete anxiety around some of the sharp turns and corners we took on the bike.

I climbed 3500 feet on my trusty little Merckx today. We spotted large massive water falls dropping from the heavens into the gorge and soon and without notice...I'd look across this massive gorge and see that I was now eye to eye with the very same water fall (now in the heavens myself).

Today's most amazing experience was seeing the depth, drama, layers and ruggedness of the Alps. The sun exposed so much of them in the foreground and in the background, layers upon layers...and they were breathtaking! The jagged, rugged peaks were so alive and to stare at them for 2 hours while hearing the fall of water, feeling the beat of my heart (rapid one at that) and the smell of the fresh alpine air...C'est Magnifique!

Reaching la Berarde, hungry and with much lactic acid in the legs (from 8 days of solid, hard cycling) my body is wondering when it will feel that Herman Miller Aeron chair in my office again...well 7 more days! Bill on the other hand caught a cold and pushed himself a little too hard today (well maybe I didn't make it too easy for him - you know that fragile male ego). Bill is now suckin' down vitamin C, taking some French decongestant and breathing really heavy...actually its a little annoying...but I'm concerned that he may not recover. What really sucks is he can't taste the food. Needless to say I'm negotiating with him...well because you can't taste that cherve, why don't you pass it to me! Its not really working - but I keep trying.

Well...when we left la Berarde...about 5 riders from the Netherlands came rolling up and we immediately had a bond. We all took pictures together...but one thing I noticed, Dutch cyclists never match and are really not fashionable cyclists...not everyone can be like those Italians.

Checking out of our Chateau, we headed to Chambery. We manage to find this house above the lake with only three rooms. The owner (another guy from Holland or shall I say the ubiquitous Dutch) is our gracious host. Well, I just finished snacking on some fruit and tomatoes (they are so sweet here, they are like candy) and I'm headed to bed. Stats for the day...

Temp: 56F at the start warming to 67 by mid-day. Sunny with sparsely
scattered clouds.

Distance: 43 miles
Ascent: 3800 feet
Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes (including lunch stop)
Calories: 1398