Flat is boring. Flat doesn't give you great views. Flat also doesn't leave you with your tongue on the front wheel with your eyes crossed and your knees quaking. OK, so it wasn't THAT bad, but boy, I did get a workout. It all started out so peacefully, gliding along the valley of the Ardeche, then along its tributary the Chassezac, before a short-ish climb into Les Vans, where I stopped for a homemade burger and fries (can't eat fancy food all the time). The city was in full market day frenzy, but I found a quiet side street to navigate past the crowds.

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From Les Vans I took the road toward Villefort. It begins climbing immediately and doesn't stop for thirteen long kilometers, with an average grade of about 6% and spots of 9% or more, it took me almost two hours and two liters of water to get to the top. But the way down was a blast.

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The road turns right just before Villefort and gives a last little shove with a 10% downhill for 500 meters. After some hesitating I got a hotel room at the Hotel Baume, thanks to the nice lady in the tourist office. The hotel didn't open until five, so I went into a bar and got a beer, which I drank on the terrace watching as hundreds of motorcycles roared by. Must be a Saturday thing, as there didn't seem to be any organization to the groups that went past in both directions.

After the hotel opened, I found it to be old and worn but clean, and best of all it had a great restaurant. Making up for my mundane lunch, I got a salad with mousse of trout, trout meunière, and chestnut cream cake with chestnut cream ice and chestnut sauce. Yum!