Last day in France – I decided to check out the town of Gourdon, a small hamlet perched on a cliff ~1700 feet above the valley floor.
I rode up the Loup Gorge one last time. Amazing scenery.
After 2 weeks the climbing is getting easier. I love to climb regardless, but having a bit more punch makes it that much more fun.
Nothing too scary on the way up. The way down had some eye-opening sections in the first few KMs.
Beautiful view up top, you can apparently see 70km of the Mediterranean coastline from here.
My first stint to France this winter is now a wrap. I had hoped to get 400+km but it just wasn’t possible with family sight seeing day-trips, and ‘lumpiness’ of the region making you earn each kilometer. My 314 kilometers included 21,000 feet which if you consider approximately 1/2 of that was descending, everything else averaged out to approx. 4% gradient. There’s not much that’s flat in this region!
I look forward to coming back in 6 weeks (for another 2.5 weeks!) and checking out St Maxime, France. This second location is closer to the coast should and should have ‘easier’ kilometers. That and going solo will mean I can hammer out a lot more kilometers.