The start was far from fun as we had to bike a couple of kms into the wind on the R St. Pierre. By the time we got to the track we were all frozen solid and ready to turn around and get back in our warm cars!! Well, if warmth is what we wanted, we were about to get our wish granted. As we turned North off the asphalt we hit a wall: 61m of elevation gain with an average grade of 9.6%. OK, by now the lungs were open and the legs warm. Time to ride.
Following a fantastic descent with banked corners we ended up in Robertvalle. From here we followed some asphalt up a wicked hill and then through some fields ... right at the top of a hill and in the middle of the wind! Brrr. The consolation was that looking to our left we could see the majestic Mt. Pagnotte. We endured through the fields knowing that soon we would be "En Halatte"!
... and so it was. From the field we started the long climb up to the Pagnotte. This is among the longest climbs in l'Oise and it held back no punches. 100mt ascent at 7.2% grade. For Harry last week was all about forgetting, for me this week was all about remembering. Today I didn't climb, I attacked. I welcomed every hill by locking the front fork, standing up, putting my center of gravity over the handle bars and stomping on the pedals. Doing so I remembered. I remembered why it is that Harry and I go out at 6:00am, on a weekday, in the wind, the darkness, the humidity, the cars; I remembered why we wrestle ourselves out of bed and into 6 layers of biking clothes. We do it so that we can stare at these silly hills right in the eyes and laugh at them, so that we can climb on the center sprocket, so that we can hold 178bpm for 8minutes, so that the bike feels like it weights 11g instead of 11kg; we suffer during the week so that Sunday can really be about fun. We also do it, because you get a neighbore like this only once in your life, so you better take advantage of it while you can!
Once we reached the top of the Pagnotte the heavy climbing was mostly done as we had already climbed 280mts. Sadly we only had 180 left to go ... but that also meant that we had a whole lot of descending to do. 333mts to be exact. Woohooo!!!! Indeed the rest of the ride was pretty much a sequence of rolling descents in the middle of the woods. Perfect for pedaling on the "grand plateau". That is, of course, if you don't get shot by a hunter!! They were everywhere today. Bang bang, some times too close for comfort. As a matter of fact Patrick got a shower of lead while we were waiting for the group to re-compact and having the never ending hardtail vs suspension discussion. When is hunting season over?
We hit the parking lot at 11:00 am and to our dismay the odometer read 27kms. We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere as we did not do the full 30kms and we even completely missed the 'revitaillement' ... but we didn't feel too bad as we ran into another group that had the same problem. They are the organizers of the Randonee La Croix-St-Ouen in 15 days and they promised us that it will be great so we better not miss it!!
As we packed our gear in the cars we all agreed that the biggest advantage of sub-zero weather is that your bike is squeaky clean at the end of the ride!
As I was driving home I felt a deep sense of satisfaction and relaxation; it felt so good I didn't dare turn the radio on for fear of disrupting the hard earned high.
Cheers my friends. Work hard and remember that next Sunday can never be more than 6 days away!
Fred
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