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Published: March 22nd 2018
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It's funny how quickly one adapts to eventful days: last night at dinner I noted we've had only one riding day and yet already it feels like we've been on tour for a while - probably due to yesterday's unanticipated extreme climb, or perhaps because I am having a hard time finding time to catch up on much-needed sleep. Regardless, it's not a bad life (although gruelling at times).
At any rate, I awoke this morning feeling tired and sluggish, with last night's meal still feeling heavy in my gut. Rather than spend almost 10 Euros on the hotel breakfast I walked up the block to the bakery and improvised. I am sad to report the croissant was not up to the standard I expected - must be a big city vs. small town thing.
Then there was an issue settling our hotel/restauarnt tabs: our room rates were higher than had been agreed to, and rather than charging last night's meals to individual rooms (as had been promised), the restaurant had simply submitted the total amount to the hotel, who then divided the amount equally amongst all rooms. We decided we'd enlist booking.com to help settle things after the
trip, and then set off in heavy Monday morning rush-hour traffic.
There is little to commend struggling up a steep hill first thing in the morning while heavy traffic labours equally beside you, as the diesel smoke tastes quite terrible. That fuel choice is one difference between France and Canada, but in both countries summer = road construction season, which added a further unwelcome frisson to the day, especially when traffic was reduced to a single lane alternating directions (mediated by traffic signals. You can guess how that usually went).
Most of us decided to take advantage of a recently-added (last night) option to climb a route featured in this year's Tour de France, which gave us a break from the traffic and construction in exchange for grades of up to 15% (and this was only a Category 1 climb, not HC). It turned out there were actually two climbs involved (it's always disheartening to give back elevation knowing you'll soon have to regain it) before the col was reached, but the route down was fast and smooth, which made for a great ride - at least until close to Grenoble, where a few traffic lights interrupted the
flow and more importantly in the context of The Tour, raised crosswalks with crumbling interlock inlays lay waiting to pound my headset, jar my fillings, and loosen the clamp holding my seatpost bag.
Once at the bottom there was the small matter of route-finding through Grenoble which, as is the case with most large cities, did not see fit to post highway numbers alongside street names. This was rather unfortunate as all our directions referred to the former, a situation which was further exacerbated by the fact that the impromptu route I had taken did not even approach the city the way my directions anticipated. After some random wandering, I noticed a hotel and stopped in to see about sorting myself out and eventually, with the help of a map, managed to locate at least a few of the highways (with street names!) I needed, and cobbled together a plan. Interestingly, just as I returned to the intersection where I had originally entered the city, I saw the rest of the gang roll by and was able to ascertain where to go.
Traffic out of Grenoble was busy, there was lots of road construction restricting things, it was
hot (and mostly uphill), and my plans to stop to pick up more food along the way got derailed because I had forgotten stores shut down between noon and 2:00, but with the aid of a power bar I managed to limp in to Bourg d'Oisans and, taking advantage of knowledge gleaned last year, bypassed the hotel and went directly to the supermarket to refuel.
Then it was on to the hotel, where those who had taken the direct route (sans detour for the morning's climb) were already sitting outside enjoying a few beers. I cannot say enough good things about the Hotel des Alpes and had been looking forward to returning. Interestingly, I have been assigned the same room I was in last year.
Now well-fed, I will publish this and get some long-needed rest. Since we will be spending 2 nights in the Bourg, I believe I may even sleep in!
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