Wednesday, June 27th - Highest Paved Road in Europe

Somewhere around two-thirds of the way into today's 35+ mile climb up to the Col de Bonette, at the top of Europe's highest paved road (9311 ft.) it occurred to me that waiting till I was 61 to do the most challenging ride I've ever done was either patently foolish or demonstrates incredibly poor long-range planning skills. In any event,  it was only mildly gratifying to know that the rest of the almost-50, just-50, a bit over-50-Monsters (and one 19 y.o. Monster progeny) here on the trip were all working pretty hard themselves as we all made the climb. 

Since my words are not up to the task of fully describing the grandeur of  the high mountain views by which we were surrounded at every turn, I'll let the pictures tell today's story.

Ride summary: 10 mile downhill followed by 35 mile climb to Col de La Bonette and then returned the way we came. Total day's mileage was a bit over 90 miles with about 11000 feet of climbing(David JK and I skipped the final 10 mile climb back to our chalet).

Here are the pictures...

At the start of our 35 mile climb looking up the Tinee River valley

The early starting group cruising through the valley

Philip, Jeff, and Bob lead the climb to the top... their breakaway begins here

Don climbing... 

Jason and David grinding it out...

Above tree line now...

Kevin's looking strong!

Sandy at the top

Duncan with support crew Ian and Peter

Lunch never tasted better!

Looking down on a small fraction of switchbacks to come on the descent

Philip flatted 2 miles from the summit, but rode it anyway (he must have heard that Lance did this at Leadville)

Monsters on the summit of Col de La Bonette

Peter and Ian keep the group going

Pausing for cafe stop after 15 miles of downhill with 20 more to go

Jason shows mild fatigue at the close of an epic accomplishment!

Monsters doing what they do best - enjoying post ride rehash & refreshment