Bummer

Vence to Comps Sur Artuby.

Intended distance 53.3 miles.
My distance on bike 46.3 miles
My distance in van 7 miles...

Today was billed as a gentle introduction to the Alps and for the first 8 miles it was, gently freewheeling down the valley and across the bottom of a gorge. Alas what goes down must go up and for the next 12 miles we climbed up again the other side and with the day getting ever warmer I soon had sweat dripping in my eyes, ears and all sorts of other places.

Initially loads and loads of other cyclists on the road, all in the opposite direction. Sunday is a big club cycling day in France and loads of clubs were out in the hills. I am proud to say that I managed to bag a couple of french cyclists on the ascent out of the gorge. Me man me like overtaking french cyclists. Gave them a hearty "Bonjour" as I cruised past them.

Everything they say about cycling in France is true, the roads are fantastic - even remote roads over mountains are dead smooth. There are very few cars around and even then they go out of their way to give you loads of room. So much nicer than back home. You do however get really weird looks if you sit in a cafe doing your blog on a laptop...

So where is the granny gear I hear you ask - the gear made so famous from repeated overuse in my Lands End -> John O'Groats ride (tiresome blog at http://www.chrisride.blogspot.com/). Well I managed to avoid it on all of the ascent. OK, nearly all. At 19.8 miles the route sheet said "climb steeply for 300m" and this was my undoing, both physically and psychologically. Did the first ten metres OK then quickly had to get out of the saddle to try and power up the rest. Managed another 10 meters before conceding defeat. Oh well.

Spent the rest of the morning up in the hills, the weather clouding over a little giving some nice respite from the sun. Bagged my first col, the Col de la Sine (1080m) which was a bit of an anticlimax, it was a sort of summit within a gorge i.e. it was just the high point on the tarmacced road, all around us towered large hills. There is apparently a large book of the cols and the enthusiast ticks them off as they do them...

All the houses became very alpine in the hills, all the houses were in Swiss chalet style, wasn't expecting that.

Bagged second and third cols - Col de Cornille (1401m) and Col de Clavel (1063m) before my afternoon came to an abrupt halt 7 miles from the end when one of the links on my chain decided to seize up. Called out Chris the tour organiser and we decided it was best to try and fix it at the nights hotel rather than by the roadside. Much oily messing around by Chris and I think it's sort of fixed but really needs a new chain. We will see how it is in the morning.

Comps Sur Artuby is a nice little village, sort of in the middle of nowhere. A population of about 1000 and the village boasts 4 churches, a hotel and several bar / tabacs. Walked up into the hills to see one of the churches but alas the doors were locked.

Passed an interesting shop enroute but couldn't work out what was inside the door. Any ideas?

Stats for day:

Distance: 46.7 miles

Cycling time 3hrs 41 minutes

Average 12.6mph

Max 44mph

Distance cycled whilst swearing repeatedly, hoping this would help sort the chain out: 2 miles

Average speed in van 45 mph...