Day One--Chateau de Candie

A beautiful day in France--everything has gone exactly as planned!  All flights arrived on time, all bikes showed up at baggage claim.  We loaded our gear into the Andiamo vans and headed to Chambery arriving at Chateau de Candie by 10:00 AM.

By 11:45 we had built our bikes, checked into our rooms and were ready to ride.  The sun shone and temps warmed into the 80’s as we headed down the valley on a bike path, before turning onto a car road and almost immediately found ourselves on the day’s signature climb.  It was exactly as advertised—in a word, unrelenting.  It pretty much hit 10% immediately and stayed there—well, between 8% and 14%--for the entire 9 miles.  It was Hogpen x 2, and I was thankful we were climbing it on the first day when legs were still fresh.  The view from the top was spectacular, as the horizon was lined with snow-capped peaks. 

The descent and subsequent climb were perfectly French, down narrow winding roads, through 6 or 7 building French towns, views of wildflower meadows, lakes and woods.  We arrived back at Chateau de Candie in time to take a swim and have a beer before dinner.  


For another account and more details, see Chris's blog at http://cyclingthealps.posterous.com/