Cyclopaat, an alter ego with a twist
Unlike during last year’s Tour de France, I’ve not written any post-stage reports this year.
This is partly due to the poor internet connection we had and I needed my phone’s hotspot internet to stream Netflix.
But it’s also because I was just out of energy after each stage because of the murderous heat, not only while cycling but also in the apartment.
Plus, I have not received any requests to “pretty please” write any post on this year’s Tour de France.
As usual, I’ll give you a recap anyway…
So, yesterday when I got home, Paula handed me an envelope.
While I thought for a moment she was handing me the divorce papers, it actually contained my birthday present 🤣
It was a printout of a reservation she had made on Booking.com and while she knows that my hearth lies in the Dolomites, that was just (way) too expensive.
But because we both have fond memories of last year’s stay in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, she figured this would be more than a consolation.
Well, HELL YEAH!!!
As Paula righteously pointed out this morning, (most) normal people would take a day off, after yesterday’s effort.
She also knows I’m not normal, so she didn’t object to driving me to Moutiers, to start my ride up the Col de la Loze.
I had never even heard of the bloody thing and had actually planned a trip up to Courchevel, when looking that one up, I noticed La Loze, as it is mentioned “nearby”.
It all went downhill from there and unlike yesterday, today was a complete bust…
Today, it was actually sunny but still chilly early in the morning.
Which was not such a bad thing, as it made my warming up for this stage easier.
As it is not a repeat of stage 1 – in case you’re wondering if you did see that stage header before – that warming up took me to La Chambre.
During stage 1, I “missed” the first ~5 kms of the Col de la Madeleine and as they have good gaufres (waffles) at the summit restaurant, the one with the old motor bike in front, I wanted to get up the full length of it, just for one of those 😎
While the weather forecast was not very good, it wasn’t raining as predicted when we got up.
So, after breakfast, waiting a bit more to be sure, I got on my bike in front of our apartment.
After the warming up to get to the Lacets de Montvernier, it first looked like that road was closed, but it was only the road through Pontemafrey that was under construction.
I started to follow the “Col du Chaussy par Lacets de Montvernier”, saw the 13 kms sign and returned back into town to switch on my GoPro.
