Day 5 - Col de la Croix de Fer

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Well there are a few weary souls puddling around Chalet Morville this morning.  A combination of the 100km ride to Galibier and back and a late but fantastic night at our local Venosc restaurant, that we have commandeered, has left us all feeling a bit jaded.

Last night we enjoyed the traditional alpine cuisine of Raclette and Fondou and this coupled with some fine wine and arm wrestling made for a very entertaining evening.

Three of the team decided not to ride but instead explore what Venosc and Les 2 Alps has to offer.  What they found was paragliding.  We have watched them sailing above Venosc since we arrived and it looks fantastic and the boys confirmed it was exactly that!

For the rest of us we wanted an easier day as a late night and 4 days in a row of riding ( the 4 days equated to 18 hours of riding and 7,308 meters of climbing) so we drove to Allemont and rode up to the Col de la Croix de Fer at 2067 meters.  Fortunately we, again, had absolutely stunning weather (the Garmin said 34 degrees but it didn't feel the same 34 degrees we have in Australia - it felt cooler) so the views all the way to and at the Col were fantastic. Apart from the views we also enjoyed the beautiful pastries that we purchased at Allemont before the ride. We are REALLY enjoying the french pastries.

We left the Col and screamed down the 30km to Allemont for lunch at Cafe de L'aiguille.  It is worth mentioning that it appears one of our elder statesmen is starting to hit his straps with a fantastic effort up a 13% ramp towards the end of the ride.  Although I am little concerned with one of the other elder statesmens cornering as his back wheel has been skipping a bit on sweeping left hand bends.

What was terrific about today's ride is that after lunch at Allemont we loaded the bikes on the van and drove back to Venosc.  Brillant, as not one of us have enjoyed riding the last 8 kilometers back to Venosc after lunch over the last few days.

Back in Venosc we are back into our usual routine of watching the end of the TDF and then slipping down to see our second favourite publican, Pascal, for a few well deserved beverages.

Tomorrow we are off to see stage 13 of the TDF on the Chamrousse which is an 18.2km climb at 7.2%.  We will be somewhere on that hill so look out for our Kidson's Kit, an Australian flag and a white sheet with Wagga Wagga on it.

Au revior

Simon