the seats of the van never saw our butts.

The city of St. Jean was very quaint. There are old buildings lining the small streets. Not many restaurants but quite a few small bars with outside seating where you can enjoy a cocktail. We did that tonight after dinner to celebrate out last day of riding, which was one of the best. At the beginning of the week each group contained about 10 people. But now as fatigue has built up. Group C has grown now containing about 20. We left from the hotel and headed across the Rhone valley about 11miles to the ride leaders' favorite bakery. They were bragging about the almond croissants. Never ate something like that before a ride, but it was the last day so why not, besides it smelled so good in that place. The bakery (patissier) is pictured below. I planned on having a bite or two and saving the rest for later but it was so good I ate the whole thing. I just wished I had a cup of coffee and time to enjoy another.




















Then time to set off for the first climb, Col du Telegraphe, which was 11.8km long and about 2800ft of climbing. We felt good and made it up without much trouble. To the left is my picture of me feeling good after the Telegraphe. This was followed by a short 3mile downhill before beginning the monstrous Col du Galibier. The stats are that it is 18.1 miles long and climbs to about 7500 feet. As the climb started I began having tightness in my right hamstring muscles. This was least uncomfortable when I stood to pedal. But I got tired from standing for long periods. So the battle began. We were warned that the temp at the top could be in the 40s, so carrying a jacket was also necessary.
This is my Garmin about 1km from the top, showing a section with 11% grade near the end of the 50km (30 mile) up hill ride. There was still snow up near the t0p. Also kinda scary with narrow roads close to huge dropoffs, as you can see below. Richard and I both made it to the top
where the temp was chilly but nice with the jacket. We had a break and then began to slowly work our way down. The ride home was almost all downhill. The ride totaled 60 miles with 8200 feet of climbing. We never sat in the van the whole day. I think we actually got stronger as the week went on.
Slow on the downhill has become my style during this trip. I have learned to respect the power of these mountains and how dangerous they can be.












There is some information that was not included in the blog, because I wasn't sure how the situation would turn out. A very unfortunate accident occurred to a member of the group on the decent of Joux Plane on Monday. I referred to it when we saw Lance on his training ride but the details were left out. What happened was one of the riders with the A group crashed. Although he had a helmet on he struck his face and forehead of the road at a very high speed. The crash rendered him unconscious in a face down position. As riders stopped to come to his aid one of the physicians in the group noted his pulse was weak and he wasn't breathing. He was repositioned with care taken to protect his neck and CPR was begun. This was a bad situation considering we didn't have any appropriate life support equipment and were on the side of a mountain although there were 6 physicians in the group. Cell phone reception was poor although finally emergency services were contacted as CPR continued as his pulse was intermittently lost and breathing was never on his own. After approximately 40 minutes an ambulance arrived and shortly after a helicopter . We eventually continued the ride although with several people were somewhat shook up and not in the mood for riding a bike. I was one of those because I had participated in the CPR until the paramedics arrived. As of the writing of this, we are not sure of the outcome for the rider, Roger. But we send him our blessings.

My last blog for the trip will be tomorrow after our day in Lyon and the return flight home. Stay tuned.