From chaos to serenity....

As with most of our days, a very early start leaving Les Deux Alpes to head back through Bourg d'Oisans and on to the route of Stage 19, heading North East to Le Grand Bornand just East of Annecy, taking in just over 200km in distance, 2 Hors Categorie climbs before finishing with a Category 2 and Category 1 climbs, a tough day ahead.

Straight from the off, it was made tougher, we almost expected it after yesterday, queuing along roads through Bourg packed with even more motor homes and vehicles trying to get onto the Alpe, into Bourg, out of Bourg, through Bourg, into fields and it appeared almost anywhere just to 'park'. To make up for the delay we drove into the course, riding from a few kilometers before the first HC climb of the Cold du Glandon, it was a tough start to the day, 22km at 6% gradient, but back to the serenity of the quiet mountains, a far cry from Alpe d'Huez. The Glandon was spectacular, a reservoir near the summit and low lying clouds made for great photography (we think!), check some of the earlier tweets. The descent was equally stunning, watch it tomorrow on the live broadcast of Stage 19, nearly 30km straight down to la Chambre, sheer drops at the top.

We were on our way, next stop the HC climb of the Col du Madeleine 20km climb at 8% gradient, a long long climb that took nearly two hours of hard effort, the climb surrounded by woodland, meadows and nearer to the summit a small ski resort.
 

Madeleinem, above the clouds!

Another long 30km descent followed (again, watch this on the live broadcast, sheer drops and unguarded, we were on our guard rider and crew.

We were then forced to drive a short distance due to the now familiar 'route barrie' signs that appears in readiness for the Tour, we made it to the foot of the Category 1 climb of the Col de l'Epine, 7km at 6%, but now bard to traffic meant a lone ascent on the bike, without the support car the plan to ride onto the final climb 10km further along the road was gone, care of the the Tour.


At the foot of the Col de l'Epine was the most amazing roadside mechanical Tour decoration, hope it get's shown in all its glory on tomorrow's live broadcast.

Amazing roadside Tour decoration!

Two locals seemed to be making last minute checks as half the village looked on at a large white bicycle and cyclist mechanically moving along zip wires suspended across poles between, what appeared to be, the houses of the two locals, amazing piece of creativity and engineering, just watch it live on TV.

The climb to the summit of the Col followed local teams involved in the 'Tour de Fete', similar to Ride 21, following and riding Stage of the Tour, it was a nice way to end the Stage.

Riding with 'Tour de Fete'

And so, to the last big day of Ride 21 before reaching Paris on Saturday, an early start from Annecy to ride Stage 20, 125km along the lake and into the mountains for a finish on, you've guessed, another Hors Categorie climb.........

From the crew and rider of Ride 21, mixed emotions as we draw closer to the end of our challenge, that we put together to celebrate the 100th Tour de France, to push ourselves to new limits, and most importantly to support Action Medical Research, we had hoped to raise £10,000 though our efforts as a team.



www.action.org.uk/tourdefrance

Twitter @chrisarmishaw

'impossible is nothing'