Mende to Joyeuse: More down than up

June 16, 2018

Today was a great bike ride of 95km with 3200’ of climbing but 5000’ of decsent. The climbs were at most 8% but mostly 2-4%. The downhills were long and sweeping so very easy to let the bike run. My max speed was 61.5kph. Some of the downs were almost 20km long. We rode a route I did a few years ago when I rode from St Malo to Nice with Patti, so the climbs were familiar. We crossed the continental divide where the rivers flowed west to the Atlantic and south to the Mediterranean. We have entered the Ardèche region and will ride the gorge tomorrow. I think this will be the most spectacular ride of them all but we will see. The weather has changed it is much warmer and will stay that way for the next week.

A peloton going the other way as we crusade downhill.

Howard and Marianne from the San Juan’s were my riding partners.

Salmon tartare a lunch option for today, not mine.

We are in Joyeuse for the night. The church has a long history and the murals on the wall depict some of it. There was also a tour going on with actors in character but my French is not good enough for me to understand it.

Today's ride: 95 km (59 miles)
Total: 1,195 km (742 miles)

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