The most important thing about this post is that it is being written overlooking a lake and beautiful mountains while we are drinking chartreuse. If you really need more details, more about the day is below.
Short night last night but the heat motivated us to roll out (and up) “early”. We had a 7KM cruise to wake the legs up before the first 600 meter climb. Philipp sped off with some headphones and my warning of cycling safety whilst wearing headphones, and I was left to reflect on why my odometer wasn’t moving fast.
Sneak peaks of high alps provided another distraction, and we reached the first “summit” fairly quickly. We’ll be laughing about this as a “summit” in a few days, once we reach said high alps. Tested the breaks back down to below the original altitude – descents can be incredibly frustrating when you know you have more climbing to do, and sketchy road sections and break hand pain mean you can’t look around much, but a good reminder that we’re supposed to be having fun. This is fun, right?
Speaking of fun, chatted to some other cycle tourists who were doing a loop around the Mont Blanc, with trailers and what looked like camping gear. I love all the impressed “bon courage” or “allez allez” remarks we usually get with our two paniers, but nothing like a full set of gear to remind us how luxurious our trip is.
Back up a false summit for lunch, which Philipp kicked off by tossing his sunglasses into a waterfall. I heroically scampered down to rescue them, sadly without Strava so under-estimating my total elevation for the day. Triumphantly returned and finished off some aging baguette, cheese, olives, and cucumber that I’d dragged up the first peak. Cookies and a peach provided the sugar rush for the next 900 meters of climbing, where I tested podcasts as a means of distraction. No headphones as I like to hear the traffic coming, so was blaring it out of my pocket, but another American cyclist passing me recognized it and commiserated at the grueling switchbacks, saying he had likewise turned off his computer due to it’s incessant reminder of how slow you are up these hills.
Philipp raced some other gents up to our hotel, a no doubt infuriating experience to riders with no touring gear but much farther to go before the end of their day. Boys. Arrived in what seems like paradise, a half-board (breakfast and dinner included) mountain hotel with views onto Lake Roseland. A nap got me ready for the full-on mountain dinner of scalloped potatoes in cream and cheese and cured meats, and now digesting with a purely intellectual exploration into the difference between Genépi and Yellow Chartreuse.
Total distance/elevation to date: 2936km/20’174m
Rest days: 9
Day 38 Route and Stats
Relive Video
The 1948 Tour 
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