Up Early (108km)

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Despite getting to sleep at 2:00AM because my room-mate (and head tour organizer) Tom and I opted to watch the England-Italy soccer match that started at midnight, I still made it to the van at the specified 8:00 for the ritual group start photo. For various reasons it was actually after 9:00 before we finally headed off en masse to work our way out of the city and determine who was where, cycling-readiness wise.

After rolling past cultivated fields around Lyon we encountered the first of our no-name climbs, one of which (in Saint Chef) had the undesirable feature of a traffic light in the middle of it. This was rather necessary inasmuch as the road narrowed to a single lane at that point, but was still unwelcome, especially as the light turned red just as we approached it.Two of us managed to score a roadside window ledge to hang onto while we waited for the light to change (and thereby didn't need to clip out), but I do not imagine it was fun for the others to get going again once the green light finally appeared.

Once over the top it was a nice descent to La Tour-du-Pin, our designated lunch stop, where we nabbed treats at the Patisserie (fortunately still open on a Sunday) and headed to the park for a picnic before resuming our trek towards Voiron. Just past Virieu it turned out the road was closed for a motor car race, and we had to backtrack to the previous junction. Whereas one of the race officials had given me directions we could follow to avoid the race route, others had consulted a local villager who suggested a more direct option, albeit one he claimed was rather steep: when someone asked how it compared to Alpe d'Huez he said was steeper We thought he was jesting; he wasn't. Apparently the grade topped out at 27% before finally relaxing to a more manageable 12%, and only 3 of us managed to make it up to the chateau near the top without unclipping.

After finally coalescing, our group then continued up and over the top to enjoy the descent down to Lac du Paladru, which all but one of us decided to circumnavigate before continuing our journey to Voiron despite the possibility of rain. It being Sunday, meal options were limited, so we ate at the restaurant attached to the hotel. Even on weekdays, eating in France is tasty but not well-suited to cycling, as vegetables are hard to come by and many dishes, like tonight's seafood tagilatelle, are quite heavy. It was just as well the mussels in it were still in their shells and the shrimp not peeled (requiring a considerable amount of manual intervention to eat), as the cream sauce was extremely rich and any extra burning of calories while eating was welcome to help avoid putting any extra weight on for tomorrow's climbs.

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Photos

barry
Barry's fish cover (yes, with a tail on the back)

requisite-group-shot
"Before"

the-van
Sagging is not really an option

leaving-lyon
And so the adventure begins

outside-lyon
Pausing in the shade to wait for the stragglers

near-lyon
cultivated fields

a-little-up
some climbing, followed by...

a-little-eating
...a little picnic in the park

hamming-it-up
At least I have my bottle!

everyone-at-their-own-pace
Gaps form on the climbs

race-day
The reason for the detour

the-detour
Nearing the Chateau (doesn't look like much...

more detour
...but it was (and this is the 'easy' part!)

finally the descent
down-to-the-lake

ominous clouds
weather-to-circle-or-not

Voiron at last
all-downhill-from-here