Haute Route day 2: oh... those climbs

‎It's really nice here. Today I was riding up the Col de Bonnet (early in the day), and taking time to briefly glance around the valley around us. Lush, expansive greenery everywhere to be seen, and grand vistas everywhere you top out into the alpine. France really is a country with beautiful geography, and it is no wonder the world likes coming here to ride.

Today was 1 of 2 big days this week: 150km over 3 climbs - Bonnet, Vars, and Izoard. 12,400ft of climbing. 

The stage started neutral as we descended 8km from yesterday's finish. That means about 8km of not pedaling before beginning the 25km ascent of the Bonnet - Europe's highest pass at 2700m. I decided beforehand this would not be a day to chase the fast guys.

I settled into a cadence of 80 rpm - regardless of the pitch, I would endeavor to maintain that. It worked so well up the Bonnet - while not riding fast, I found myself catching more and more as the climb progressed - that I made this my new climbing strategy for the day/week.

Descents today were fun. While not all are timed (they stop the clock at the top for ‎safety), they are worth taking with more speed and some caution, the roads here are well-built.

Riders here game the non-timed sections. It's kind of silly and I don't really resonate with that. ‎Like when they wait at the bottom of descents for minutes and group up before rolling over the next timing mat. I know it is in line with the rules, but seems to defy the spirit of racing and long, hard days.

Rolled up the Vars and pulled into the feed station to have my Speedplay cleat stay In my pedal. ‎The bolts had torn out of the adapter plate! Fortunately a nice swiss girl named Heidi (seriously) helped me with a philips screwdriver, and then once again with a whole new cleat whem it broke for good 500m down the descent. 

‎Col du Izoard is short (14km), but steep as heck. Like 13% for extended periods, then steep with lots of switchbacks. The view up top is incredible. Absolute highlight was 300m of downhill near the top. The finale 1km took me 10 minutes.... geez. It poured rain from the summit until the finish, 25km below. Great news is that we expected (and dressed for) all-day rain. Hard!