Day 6- Chichillane to Vensoc

Today's ride would take us up two cols, San Sabestian and Ornon and a wicked good descent into the town of Bourg D,Osians at the base of Alpe d'Huez. The first climb was a breeze. We had determined that anything under 8 km was relatively easy. We seperated from the group for a snack along the way in one of the villages; a patisserie and a big beautiful home grown tomato and some fruit.

On the way to our lunch stop we couldn't pass up a shot of this road side greasy spoon in honor of our daughter Kelly:

After a luch of meats, cheese and fruit from the local "Casino" store we began the long gradual ascent up to the summit of the col d'Ornon.

But the descent to Bourg d'Oisan was worth it!

Bourg d'Oisan is the cycling mecca in France, especially two days before the tour arrives to climb Alp d'Huez. They have all kinds of wild things going on. Check out this 10 foot diameter frying pan perched over a real log fire. We never made it back to see the results but it smelled good!

Our hotel was 10 miles out of town but we figured it would be an easy ride....not so...a major 10% grade landed us on the doorsteps of our hotel. We had a spectacular view from our hotel room complete with a waterfall and local vegtable garden.