villard de lans

Was already feeling much better on Friday, so I decided that if the weather was going to be good on Saturday, I would head westwards of Grenoble to the Vercors region to bike. And lo and behold, the sun finally came out on Saturday! And so off I went..

Took TransIsère number 5100 at about 10am to Villard de Lans, the main town of Vercors. Actually it is only 35km away from Grenoble, but I think that at least 25km of that distance is uphill, plus I didnt exactly know the way, so decided to take the easy way out. =P

all excited and raring to go before the ride

The ride began gently enough with the gentle downslopes, but it soon escalated to a all-hell-let-loose-scream-your-lungs-out theme park adventure ride as we hit les gorges de la Bourne. Les gorges de la Bourne, as the name suggests, is a gorge and we cycled on narrow roads just carved out of the mountainside! Most of the road was wet as the rocks were porous and water was just seeping out of them, so on hindsight it was pretty dangerous as we were like zipping down in excess of 40kmh. But I didn't care at that point in time! The view was too beautiful with waterfalls and all, and the descent was too heart-palpating to be concerned with minor issues like life and death! =P

What goes up has to come down, and the opposite sadly applies too. After that nerve wracking ride down the mountain, we began our steady but rather gentle climb up the many small villages scattered amongst the mountainous terrain. Our destination? Le col du Rousset.

taking a non-technical pee break after the gorges.. it was a cold day and this was the first of many to come!

the lovely carved-out-of-the mountain roads

long and lonely road ahead

hadn't planned on dying, but since it was on the way..

Reached Col de Rousset without much difficulty after about 2.5hrs. It was much easier compared to some of the climbs I have done, but I could still feel the impact of my URTI for the past week. My thighs were aching, my back was aching (although I suspect this is due to my stupid lumbar support-less mattress), and I had to resort to spinning up most of the time. As expected, the view was magnifique up there. And it was freezing cold too - There were puddles of snow along the way up! I took a quick lunch (and pee) break, and hastened down to warmer regions. But not without taking the obligatory photos first! =)

all smiles after scaling the summit. the men in the background came up on motorbikes!

brilliant views all round

from another angle

look at the snaky and waving roads leading up the mountain!!! o_O

And so that was my ride around in Vercors region. I'll most likely be heading back here as this route seems like an ideal training route for IM Suisse (oops did I let the cat out of the bag?) as it is roughly 90km per loop, and has enough uphills to simulate Heartbreak Hill and The Beast. Plus, its not too far from Grenoble so I can bike here as part of training! But first, I gotta find out how to get here! Damn.. =P