France Part Deux – Grimaud, St-Tropez, St-Maxime

I’m back in France, and damn did I miss it! This second stay is about 1 hour’s drive further west, right along the French Riviera in the Town of St-Maxime. There’s not as much elevation as Vence, but still plenty of lumpy hills to make me work hard.

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This ride was 2 parts (stopped for lunch in Grimaud) for a total 97.22 km and 5000 feet.

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There are a little more vineyards in this region. Here’s your typical French countryside home. Love the colorful shutters.

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Super roads. Quiet, smooth, and fairly narrow to make it quite intimate.

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Here’s a view to the north, it gives a good perspective of the terrain. It gets quite a bit more lumpy closer to the coast.

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After an awesome lunch outside on a terrace (18-20 degrees C), I set off for a 70km leg. There’s quite a bit more elevation on the trip south to the coast. Thankfully the wind was subdued.

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The start of the route was nice and flat, perfect to get the legs warmed up.

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After ~30km I turned into some kind of national/regional park. I only saw maybe 2 cars over the next two hours?

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At the top I finally saw the Mediterranean Sea. Beautiful!

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Below you can see the road winding its way down to the coast. It was a really nice decent, fairly open turns, smooth pavement, and 4-6% grade to keep the speeds in check.

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The coast line was quite rugged but beautiful.

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Lots of designated cycling paths in the region. It comes in quite handy during peak traffic.

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