Flumet ride 1 - Wonderboy hits the Alps

Or... did they hit him... read on and find out!!

Also... will MissP get out of bed and ride.... see below!

And... with Gramps (me... how did that happen) ever be forgiven for today?

These questions and more are revealed below!!

Well, today started with me making a mad dash to Annecy for a quick business meeting (yep... I almost have a life outside cycling..almost!). Then I hurried back to the Chalet, arriving at 12 noon worried I'd wasted the whole morning ride and that the team would be pacing the floor. Wrong... Wonderboy had just woken up and MissP was still dead to the world. What a difference having separate rooms makes!!!

Then... MissP actually appeared... and everntualy after some discussion decied that this riding thing can't be too bad. Next this were dressed and ready for the Alps.. (at 1:30pm) .. not bad !

Here, we headed up the Col des Arravis (12k of about 6%), and stopeed at the top for a sandwich with Sausage and Tomme. Awesome... Wonderboy wanted more Sausage!

After this we headed down the Col des Aravis to La Clusaz and thanks to the General (my Cluster ride co-designer) we headed down to Thone and around to the Col de la Croix-Fry - this is a climb in the last week the TDF this year and an awesome chance to experience their real world.

Well... it's 12k with some k's over 10%, and it hurt,... a lot. Seriously! Even Wonderboy "blew up" and had to stop for a break. Eventually all made it to the top and I didn't even get hit by the water bottle MissP threw at me! (All in all a pretty great outcome!).

Then down and back up (yes... more swearing)... to the top of Aravis again and then down down down to Flumet.

At the end of the day... we headed into town for Tartiflette (Mont Blanc even had an appearance out of the clouds). Awesome!!  MissP gave it a 2 trotter stamp of approval.

All in all an awesome day... .Wonderboy increasing his "satisfaction with the trip" rating by 1.5 (out of 10)... not bad for a very tough day in the Alps.

And... MissP is still thinking about whether to forgive.. or just forget.

Paula's Footnotes: Will we or wont we WMM asked....... Toughest day of my life. I was broken, hot, dehydrated, sore and ready to call for the 'swag wagon'
No hot boys to report today ladies but I noted I was the ONLY woman out there in the mountains today. Many men on bikes but no woman and I was to beaten to notice any cute boys. There was a moment where I needed a break about 5km up a 12km climb where I wondered if my blond hair and blue eyes would score me a lift with a passing truck to the top.....but Im too stubborn for that so it was a slow grind to the top where WMM was dished my best silent treatment and filthy look but what a view. I couldn't stay mad for long.
Wonderboy gave me a life (a push for 500mt) and we were off again. A day that will go down in my history book.