Posted by: Kyle

After two somewhat rainy cold days, the sun was out this morning and it began to warm up again. We headed out on our bikes toward Col du Glandon and Col de la Croix de Fer, two mountain passes frequently featured in Tour de France stages. Our cycling guide book says that Lance Armstrong considers the Col de la Croix de Fer to be among the most beautiful passes in all of Europe. I can believe it - it was definitely the most incredible road ride I've ever been on.

From Bourg d'Oisans, we headed up past Lac Vernay, where we swam last week, through the town of Le Rivier d'Allemont, a very nice small town with great mountain views and plenty of flowers.

Here are some pictures from the way up toward Glandon and Croix de Fer.

Becca, being careful to watch out for sheep.

One thing about riding around here is that since were staying in a valley in the alps, every ride seems to go straight up - often for a very long time, and often very steep. Some days we'll climb for nearly three straight hours. Yesterday, when I looked at my bike computer after three hours of riding, my average speed was 9.6 mph - that's a very slow, but not very easy first three hours.

It was a very quiet climb up toward the passes today, with very little traffic, though lots and lots of cyclists. After a while it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere - until, about 5 miles before the summit, a professional photographer with a giant camera jumped into the road and started taking my picture. After snapping off several photos he ran along side me and gave me a card from his photography business with a code on it that I could use to find my pictures for sale on their website. A half a mile later there was another guy from another business doing the same thing. They have photographers on many of the popular climbs in the area all day, every day all summer long, including several spaced out on the way up to Alpe d'Huez. There's a constant stream of cyclists riding by all day, so it's probably pretty good business.

There were probably 100 cars at the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer. There's a cafe up there, and people were hiking and picnicking. Some photos from the top.

On the way back down we made the short trip up to the Col du Glandon.

Then went to the Chalet du Glandon for lunch where we split a salad with potatoes, cheese, eggs, and bacon and an omelette, also with potatoes, cheese, and bacon.