The tour hangover

Well, well, well. We no doubt all know the good news and slept during daylight hours over the weekend to witness the fantastic work of 1 Aussie and his loyal teammates take out the largest cycling race in the world. Fantastic stuff, we all believed and thought Cadel fully deserved the Maillot Jaune this year. Alpe d'Huez looked like it was going to be the unraveling of the dream, but Cadels determination and gritty Aussie background ensured that wasn't the end of the story.

As for me, well, of course have been watching cheering, drinking and calling Aussies (my wife mostly) at inappropriate times while celebrating. Sunday for me was a rest day off the bike as I was just too cooked from battling crowds. Yesterday I attempted Galibier... The weather man said it would be cloudy with a chance of a shower, clearing in the arvo... So off I went. Well, about 2.5hrs into the ride (almost exclusively climbing) it began to snow. Although I was warm at the time, I was getting damp under my rain jacket, could no longer feel my feet or hands and was getting an ice-cream headache from the cold. I climbed to about 2000 vertical meters, though if i continued i would have had to decend and then begin the climb up to Galibier. With that in mind and some advice from a local that the road would be closed, I turned around and came back home. Later yesterday we went to Pic Blanc(3300m) via chairlift and I found out that it was minus 1deg at the altitude I was at, not taking into account the wind chill (60kph wind).. I suppose that explains the snow.

So today I am again a bit trashed after a big day sightseeing then getting home to watch Cadel on the Champs Elysee- it's a beautiful day, i'm tossing up whether to get on the bike for another crack at Galibier or go into Grenoble to look at the Chartreuse caves and go up to Le Bastille (2 things I missed doing when I was there). I have another chance at Galibier tomorrow, and the weather looks fine, so I think Grenoble wins.

Hope all is well where you are and you don't have to deal with such difficult decisions as I do!