EU26_06 Grenoble to Allemont

Grenoble peak hour is very different to Sunday sleep in. The city was buzzing but with bicycles blending into the traffic with separate lanes and relaxed rules for cyclists not having to stop at stop signs and red lights so long as it’s safe to not do so. It works a treat.
I called into a few bike shops but they weren’t opening until 9:30~10:00. I thought I would try and get some better wax lube than the stuff I bought on day 01.

Well about 30 km in Last three or four I’ve been on gravel some of a challenging but crumbs I’ve got a mountain bike on packing. It was fine. It’s still very warm though nowhere near as hot as it has been. I’m looking up to my wife which is the main highway which I could’ve been on but it’s chockablock with traffic at a standstill going the other way to where I’m going admittedly but I’m glad I’m not up there. I’m by myself down here and bicycle tracks in the gravel so I can tell it’s frequent by bicycle Tourist as well as horseback riders and I cannot see too many motor vehicles tire tracks or motorbike. Interestingly that’s good at the moment, it’s all to myself.

I’m on a freshly paved, what was meant to be a gravel road, perfect I don’t think any of the roadies who are on the motorway know its existence. Garman say it’s a gravel road and I’m enjoying the hot mix.

Decided to take a chance on a side road that the maps said was not going to rejoin the route. It did right near a bar serving cold beer (Bière sans alcool) and pasta.

As the day progressed, the breeze has become stronger from behind as the storms develop further in the alps, sucking the warm air from the valley. I’m hoping it rains tonight as that would cool things down a lot quicker.
I’m camping tonight in Allemond, on my way to Briancon. That will be my next decision point depending on how I go tomorrow. I am nervous about the routes I have mapped out, more so with the current weather conditions. Hot in the valleys and on the climbs before reaching the cooler temperatures up high. I’ve done similar climbs many times but not on a loaded MTB. The need to carry more water than usual is the killer (or in reality the opposite) but with so many fountains now turned off and many roadside shops closed down, it’s become a scarcity; sad.

The storm is about to hit and my clothes line from the tree to the tent needs to come down, maybe just the clothes into the tent.
I ended up not taking the clothes in as the storm just isn’t dumping its rain on this valley. It has cooled down nicely though.
It is meant to rain between 1 and 3am tomorrow.
I have a spare fly to put over the bike but I’ve used all the spare guy ropes to bolster the tent as the wind is blowing a bit with this storm.
I’ll be posting some photos but the data and the wifi here are pathetically slow for modern standards so videos will have to wait.