A day of rest (or week)

Despite a few predictable sibling differences, cycling with Michael was fun. My little brother despite being a pretty much novice cyclist, donning his first pair of lycra shorts for this trip, lacking SPD cycling shoes that we consider pretty much essential, kept up with us (me). During the week with him we had some of our hilliest and windiest days. One day involved Nic sitting constantly in the lead doing ~14kmph with myself then Michael behind him trying to draft. My rather tall brother got some benefit from our efforts however this wind had gusts that made it feel as if our disc brakes had been suddenly applied. For the 5 days we had perfect camping weather and incredible views as we skirted the foothills of the Rhone Alpes. Our campsite prior to Grenoble was amazing. In a tiny village that we had to climb to it was in the grounds of a ruined chateau. As the sun set the ruins were lit up in tones of orange and yellow.We met up in Grenoble with Anais and Julien (above), the cycle tourists Nic had been approached by Toulouse. They took us on a tour of the city complete with glace (icecream of sorts of flavours) and beer. We were then taken back to their apartment where we were given Caprioska made by Anais' mum. They had very kindly offered to have us to stay or to do laundry there but with Michael in tow and the gite imminent we regretfully declined. Michael had given me a card promising us a dinner out in Europe for Christmas and we “cashed” it in at Grenoble at a restaurante recommended by the locals as suitable for hungry cyclists. Our initial order of an entree of 3 salads and a chacuterie platter (cold meats) plus mains that a included a raclette for the boys to share was “too much”. The waitress was right. The boys took 2 ½ hours to get through their huge chunk of raclette, a massive piece of cheese that was set up at the table under an element from which the melted cheese dripped off onto a plate that was then eaten with pototoe and cold meats. This provided immense amusement for a couple of women – one French and one Albanian. They returned the entertainment by inviting us out for a beer which we enjoyed before hopping on the tram back to the campsite. A wonderful night in Grenoble thank you to the generosity of the locals.

More complicated arrangements were in place for the following day as we wanted to meet again with my mother to offload the panniers into her car before the final push UP to the gite. Again through texting we managed to meet up fairly easily in a town just out of Grenoble. Nic had cleverly had several looks at the map and found us the route that did not climb to 1000m before dropping to 700m then climbing again. We enjoyed cycling through an amazing gorge and its tunnels. The final 4.5km up to the gite was continuous climbing including our first double chevron with a gradient of 9-13%. This felt suprisingly easy with no panniers! Nic still arrived about 10 minutes before me (and I was glad to arrive 10 mins before my brother who impressively managed the hill – the biggest of this trip).

It was an amazing feeling of relief to find Pam (Nic's mum), Mum and her travelling companion Anne all there. We had been looking forward to this time for about 1 month and it was brillant to all be there in one piece in a beautiful converted barn in a tiny alpine hamlet with all 3 parties arriving without getting lost. Nic was also very excited to be given a NZ cycle shirt from Pam, (I got kiwifruit chocolate!). Most exciting (apart from seeing family of course) were the clean towels and sheets!