I apologize now for the lack of wit and thoughtful commentary in this post. I’ve just done 500km in the last 5 days and am on my way out the door for more right now. Remind me again why I’m doing this?

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On the 3rd day of my 100km/day self-inflicted training camp, Erik and John whipped up a little route to test our legs and their memories (they’d done it before). Here they are discussing which way to go out of the parking lot. ‘Left’ was the agreed upon direction.

We were riding into the Cévennes, a mountain range that is part of the Massif Central, and virtually right on my doorstep (I really need a car). It’s pretty and rural and filled with little roads you can have all to yourself. This is a bridge for Tootlepedal, but it was a photo taken on the go, so it’s more like a Where’s Waldo game, I’m afraid.

The big climb of the day, the Col de la Lusette, was long, so we threw caution to the wind and took off our helmets. They look like they’re doing something wrong, don’t they?

Oh, the locals apparently call this climb Le Petit Ventoux. Yes, it was steep.

110km and 2100 meters of climbing later we were back to the car (not mine. Did I mention I need a car?) and on our way home to knee icing, leg raising and soul searching because we all needed to get out on the bikes again the next day.

I leave you with some hams.