Monday morning after a lazy wake up due to the late arrival and a good breakfast we headed out in search of our first col for the week. Seeing as we were coming straight off the back of Dordogne we didn't want to over-do-it straight away so we headed out for a steady ride up the Croix-de-Fer... well over an hours climbing with it being about 23km in length! A nice wake up for the legs from the previous days racing! At the top there was only Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne-Schuller) and myself left from the group to sprint it out for the line... i wont mention who won but my excuse is the car slowing down infront. It was here that i had my first scare of the week as we turned to head back down to find the others, just as we started descending my front wheel blew out... properly exploded with the tyre coming straight off the rim! Luckily we were only just getting going and i pulled over easily but 10seconds later and i would have been doing 70kmh+ and the result would have been a lot different!
The following days consisted of 4hrs on tuesday where we did Alp D'huez, followed by the col up to Oz-en-Oisans, very similar to Alp D'Huez, and i carried on after the others up Col D'Ornon to go and see if Guy and Helen were home at http://www.kingofthemountains.co.uk/. A good catch up and a few chocolate brownies later! i made it back home.
Wednesday was our epic ride day where we covered the Croix de Fer, the Col de Mollard, the Telegraphe followed straight away by the Galibier (the latter of which is a real beast and made a lot worse with me getting the hunger knock on the lower slopes and very quickly going backwards!) I love riding in the mountains but when you're not feeling great they can be really horrible... i was rather pleased to reach the top to say the least! All in all i clocked 6h40 riding time for the day, not bad!
Thursday was a little easier than the day before with just a quick Alp D'Huez mass start time trial planned for the day. Knowing the legs were not too hot since the epic outing the day before i decided to have a laugh and attack from the start, sprinting up to the first corner and getting a good gap on all the others however i soon realised why everyone talks about taking it easy on the first couple of corners as i imploded and saw 4 riders ... an ex-pro a few yrs ago who went on to win; florian le corre 2nd; matt J 3rd and a belgian lad with full national kit and bike 4th leaving me to finish the climb alone and take 5th. We couldn't get back down the mountain quick enough to get straight in the pool at the camping site as the temperature was by now easily hitting 35degrees+.
Friday was the day for a rest day and worked out 
well as firstly the weather turned a tad nasty and was snowing on top of the mountains!! and secondly it was the start of the French National Mountain Bike Champs at Oz-en-Oisans. A couple of local fellas from Quimper were competing in the tandem race... mad!... and they managed to steal 3rd place after a bad start which left them chasing all race.
Saturday was the elite national champs race which we went to go and watch just because the 
Olympic champion Julian Absalon was set to ride. The weather was again not great but Absalons class made up for that with a storming ride putting about 5minutes into 2nd place... just awesome! With the weather clearing up for a nice evening we headed up a smaller col opposite Huez which takes in the first couple of Kms of the Col D'Ornon before swinging a left and doing a good 10kms up a small road with wicked scenery all the way up. I headed up col d'ornon again after when all the rest went back to cook dinner... just for a bit more torture, love it though.
Olympic champion Julian Absalon was set to ride. The weather was again not great but Absalons class made up for that with a storming ride putting about 5minutes into 2nd place... just awesome! With the weather clearing up for a nice evening we headed up a smaller col opposite Huez which takes in the first couple of Kms of the Col D'Ornon before swinging a left and doing a good 10kms up a small road with wicked scenery all the way up. I headed up col d'ornon again after when all the rest went back to cook dinner... just for a bit more torture, love it though.
Sunday was time to say goodbye to Bourg D'Oisans... it had passed way too quickly but it was a great week with a bunch of top guys. We just had time to do a little exploring int he morning by heading up a little known col starting just behind the town which included a few tunnels which we had to walk through as they were pitch black! Slightly disconcerting especially on the descent!
The afternoon took in the drive down to Montellimar where the final part of the "holiday" was just beginning! The Etape du Tour...
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