This year I’m back on a ‘real’ cycling trip. Flying to Nice in the south of France I plan to ride up over some of the highest alpine road passes towards Innsbruck, before turning back towards home. My original plan had been to ride from Vienna and end in Nice, but that would have meant two flights and less flexibility in case of bad weather or bad legs :).
Going north and then east I’ll take advantage of living near the Swiss border soI’ll be able to break off early and return home quickl, if necessary. It’s still roughly 1500 km with over 40.000 m elevation over many of the highest alpine road passes. Let’s see how it goes.
My flight is 45 minutes delayed and so I arrive in Nice at 4 p. m.. The humid heat is oppressive and I’m happy to head up into the mountains directly. After a ‘quick’ stop to shop for groceries (45 minutes in Saturday’s rush hour) I head up the Var River, first on a gravel road, later on good tarmac. I take a long dinner break on the riverbank, enjoy the evening sun and take the time to really get into vacation mode.
Later, I find a camp spot on the riverbank.