Today was a nice day with a major CAT 1 climb, but it seemed much easier. The legs are getting stronger and the weather was cooler than yesterday. The Col de Saisies was the 3rd of 4 major mountains today. We climbed to the top where Trek had an amazing food layout for us all. I think I am gaining weight on this trip.
If you aren't familiar with the tour de France, first comes the caravan which is an assortment of cars/vans that are fully decorated or in the shapes of tires, lions, dinosaurs, etc. They toss out trinkets like Mardi Gras and I was lucky enough to snag a couple of souveneirs including an Etap Hotel do rag. Hmmmm.....what will I do with that. We ate and drank (no alcohol for me) and watched the tour on TV until the tour rolled in at about 2:30 which netted me 1 euro on a bet. The over under was 2:22. After the stragglers passed through we fought our way down the mountain on our bikes, speeding to the hotel. I am one of the slower ascenders but one of the best descenders. We got to the hotel in time to watch the climb up the Col de Madeleine which is one angry climb. For those who aren't tour junkies like me, the yellow jersey leader was blown to shreds.
Tomorrow we view the stage start and then climb Alpe d'Huez a very famous climb with 21 hairpin turns and an average grade of 8% and over 3200 feet elevation gain over 8 miles. Ouch....
Tailwinds....
Ty
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