Today - Lauteret and Galibier

After checking last night's weather forecast we decided a trip to the snow was the go, Norm still suffering from jetlag was up before 6 and was as toey as a roman sandal, his room mate Peter was somewhat concerned about Norm's early morning enthusiasm and quickly vacated the room to prepare his bike and gear for the outing. The outcome of all this was that Norm and Peter were all dressed and saddled up ready for the outing a good three hours before Bob and Tim had even woke from their slumber. 
When it was time to depart Norm and Pete mounted their bikes and were out of the barriers as quick as Black Caviar. After the fast 8km descent down to the valley floor we turned right and made for the head of the valley, after about 15km of relatively easy cycling the road suddenly rose up a very narrow valley.
 At this point we were spooked when the sign post indicated 'La Grave 14km' However the fear about being on our way to La Grave was insignificant in comparison with our first experience with a tunnel. Rather then carving out a road on the side of a cliff they whack in a tunnel. So when we rode into the first long unlit tunnel with our sunnies on it all went pitch black, the traffic was heavy and the echoing noise of the vehicles made us think that Wile E Coyote was looming towards us from the other side of the tunnel in a large locomotive in pursuit of the Roadrunner.
We could not see the large kerb edge of the road, could not see if there were any potholes and were concerned if we ventured in towards the middle of the lane (without rear lights) we would get hit from behind and end up in La Grave quicker then planned.
This road continued to climb at between 3% to 7% gradient up this narrow valley, gorge would be a better description. The road was full of cyclists and at one point when we passed a couple of riders they noticed my Wagga Wagga jersey and were quick to inform us that one was born in Wagga and the other had married a girl from Wagga.
We finally reached La Grave at 10.45am and decided it was time for 'smoko'. La Grave was beautiful and was situated under large glaciers which were perched on the side of steep rugged rocky peaks. The girl served us coffee in large cereal bowls (This is a common practice here for Coffee purchased before noon) and the best Ham and Cheese Bagguets this side of the Arc De Triumph.
Leaving La Grave we continued to climb up to the next stop at Lauteret. After a quick break we headed up towards the heavens, in the company of 100's perhaps even up to 1000 other cyclists.
By this time the trees had disappeared and large snow drifts lined the side of the road, the air become thin and we all found our own level of suffering as we could see the road climb ever skywards towards the summit. The elation of conquering Col de Gabilier by bike is second to none and the very animated discussions in a wide range of languages and accents of English by the cyclists leaves no doubt that this feeling of elation is shared by all.
The next sense of elation came with the realization that we had over 45km of descending ahead of us. Approaching speeds of 80km/h, overtaking other cyclists, cars and leaning the bike right over on tight corners at high speeds gives you a bigger high then I suspect morphine or marijuana.
During the descent we rode beside a whitewater river for several kilometers and I experienced divided loyalties. If someone had offered me the use of a kayak I would have been very tempted to abandon the green TREK.
We returned back to our hilltop resort very fatigued, whilst 3 of us enjoyed a hot shower Bob jumped into the local cow trough, claiming the freezing water is the best recovery for his aching muscles.
After a beautiful meal we became suitably refreshed on Beer and Wine. During dinner a large thunderstorm rumbled down from the valley above with a show of lighting, bangs of thunder and it dropped heavy hail as big as marbles before it headed off towards La Grave.
Tim D.