This morning same place, almost the same time. Her ankles are almost a memory. Let’s touch wood!
This afternoon, in Annecy, Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival. A show organised with lots of biathlon champions – nordic skiing + rifle shooting. They are there ! And so are Kerrian and Elouan. Not enough snow (!) therefore roller-skiing instead of nordic skiing.
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Yesterday morning, at Saint-Jorioz, the end of a 9km-run by the Lac – coming back on the bike path.
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At the end of this week, UTMB. The dream of the four cyclists who cycled to Nice by the mountain passes! Chamonix is getting ready.
At the end of the week, the UTMB. The dream of the four cyclists who went to Nice by the mountain passes! Chamonix is preparing.
They are having a picnic at the Plan de l’Aiguille hut, not far from the intermediate station of the Aiguille du Midi cable car. View of the Junction. Then they’ll walk to Montenvers. In the meantime, Christophe is cycling around Lake of Aix-les-Bains. As an aperitif. Arthur, yesterday, in Ardèche, had the right to give in to greed, didn’t he?
This morning they walked up to La Flégère and along the path to chalet de Chéserys, then walked down to les Montets where they took the train to go back to Chamonix. The ankles of Frimousse’s Mistress are okay for the time being. Elouan is in Ardèche with Arthur doing sport. Today was swimming and playing tennis. As far as I’m concerned I haven’t done any sport for nearly a month. Shall I try a little walk round here in the morning tomorrow ?
First day of a (small) week of walking in Chamonix. They climbed, on foot, to Montenvers. What remains of the Mer de Glace. Tonight Frimousse’s Mistress has sore ankles…
Monday 5 August, we’re on the way to Valloire. Hotel reserved for the evening in Les Verneys. In the afternoon a little reconnaissance by car to Plan Lachat – the climb is less hard if you know the profile.
Tuesday morning, big thunder-storm but as soon as the rain stops the Mistress of Frimousse will start the ascent. A stop is planned at Plan Lachat, another at the Granges du Galibier and a third at the tunnel – it is better for morale to plan stops than to have to stop unexpectedly. Very heavy rain before reaching Plan Lachat, but Frimousse’s Mistress is not the only one to get soaked! Then everything goes as planned. The last kilometer between the tunnel and the pass is particularly hard, but it is the summit.
We sleep in Serre-Chevalier-Chantemerle. The chain of the bike jumps at times and we decide to leave the bike with a repairman, who promises it will be ready in the evening. It’ll be a day’s rest to reconnoitre Isoard Pass by car.
The repairman, amazingly, did not solve the problem but made everything worse. The bike will have to stay on the small chainring using only the three largest cogs… For the passes, it will do. Thursday morning, therefore, departure from Cervières for the top of the pass. And everything will go well.
For Friday I decide the Mistress of Frimousse to climb col du Galibier from col du Lautaret rather than Alpe d’Huez from Bourg-d’Oisans because it takes more than an hour to go to Bourg-d’Oisans, and it’s at 800m altitude and it will be very hot. Finally she climbs on her bike 3km before the summit of Lautaret (alt. 1840) to warm up. A planned stop to drink halfway up and everything will go perfectly.
Very happy, the Mistress of Frimousse. And especially boosted for the next climbs. She gained the confidence that she lacked.
C. akas Christophe, E. aka Elouan, and his two friends A. aka Arthur and M. aka Maxime, have dived into the Mediterranean after 600 km (375 M) 14000 m (46000 ft) D+. Elouan has promised to write a small report to be published here.
For her part, Frimousse’s Mistress climbed Galibier pass North side on her bike on Tuesday, Isoard pass North side on Thursday and Galibier pass South side yesterday, Friday. “What passes do I climb next” she asks?
