A week of climbing: part 2

Had a great dinner the day after Petit San Bernard and retired nice and early.Unfortunately the local cockrel and peacock decided that i was not to sleep, add that the the church bell that decided it needed to toll twice and hour and freak out at 7am and 7pm each day.....well lets just say i got little to no sleep....and Pauline got attacked by the sneeze daemons and kept us both up! Short story long, i pretty much got no sleep for the first two nights. I unfortunately am a light sleeper...need to change this....i did find a way though. Wine.

The next day was very very hot (35' in the shade) so we just chilled out, i wasn't feeling to good for a change in the heat and pretty much. Woke up early and got a 6km run in before breakfast. Got in two 15km rides and a swim. Think i didn't drink enough the day before so spent the day drinking and getting hydrated again. Hit the beds early that evening after a few glasses of the house red, ZZZZZZ when combined with earplugs.

Local lake and swimming spot

RAIN, alpine rain, and lots of it. An 8am breakfast turns into the most leisurely chill out to wait for the rain to pass. At about 10am it lets up so we prep and head out at 10:30. Along the main road, through the tunnel, and off towards Moutier. Right turn after a few km and we arrive at the base of Notre Dame Du Pris. a 10km climb with sections of 9%, nothing to hard, nice and short but fun... apparently. Went out nice and hard as we were warmed up and kept up the pace, held off at to get our breath half way up, and found une petit petit lapin.

Met some random cars blaring out Europop and shouting 'Allez' at us through the speakers on top of the car. Something was afoot we thinks. As we get to the top it turns out there is a local fete on! Welcomed in with cheers from the lashing rain we get free coffee, pizza and snacks. Pauline even gets her own cheer as she gets to the top 'la femme! Allez'.Paul tries to pay and the woman just waves us away. Gotta love the French. Long cold wet descent in the slithery rain and we get back to Mascot. Great ride albeit kinda wet.

Had some food back in the pizzeria after spending 2 hours trying to get food...i HATE when French towns shut down and don't feed me. That evening we went out for a second spin up to La Plange. Long hard ride straight up from the village. Decided to drive it with Paul for the first 9km and we just rode each other into the ground until one of us gave up. Paul broke first....but only just, very much on the edge when he said 'enough' and we recovered for a section or two. Picked up Pauline as we recovered in the shade, and we rode on towards the top. 13km in and my legs were shot, and Pauline wasn't doing much better so we turned for home and had a descending masterclass for Pauline on the steeper 10% sections. Good ride, but needed fooooooood!!!!

Bob sleigh course near the top