Author: Will

44.8 kms View Larger MapI was reading a French magazine listing the 30 most beautiful cycling climbs in France and seeing Joux Plane there motivated me to climb it today. It has been on my list for a while and is perhaps the closest famous Col to our house. It has featured several times in the Tour de France. It is one of the very few climbs that has seen Lance Armstrong struggle. Back in 2000, when it last appeared, Richard Virenque left Armstrong far behind to win the stage. Perhaps home field advantage as Virenque is from nearby Annemasse.…

42.1 km Interlaken as its name suggests is between two lakes. Today we road around the east lake: the Brienzersee. A fantastic ride with great views of snow peaked mountains and the super bright blue lake. We had ridden along the south shore before with a couple of steep climbs, but had never tried a circuit. Total distance 5,114 km will-davies.com

Click Klein Scheidegg for 3d Maps and Will’s Log Entry Doreen: 42km with 1500m gain (!!!) Heck of a ride, and surprise to Doreen you can’t take bikes on the train…oops, guess I have to do that treacherous climb under the Eiger face after all!Chilly finished a good hour and twenty minutes before me and had just about given hope when I finally arrived. To my credit, I’d gotten slowed down considerably when I stopped for a drink and a sandwich…how long does it take to make a ham sandwich? Too bad for him I was carrying his pants…

25.5kmHello – this is Doreen writing from Berner Oberland.Today we cycled from Lauterbrunnen through the beautiful valley (lots of waterfalls right now!) Before turning at Stechelberg up an ambitious bike path which Chilly has done a couple times but was new for me. It’s his favourite ride of all time and I was anxious to try it. It was STEEP in some places and we had to walk, or even carry our bikes. Chilly was very nice and helped me a lot. Eventually we arrived in Murren and had some lunch. What I didn’t mention is the weather – changeable…

57.8 km Well, it’s the last day of the 1st half of the year and I have reached 5,000 kms! There was never much doubt that I’d try my best today to get at least 53 kms. But after yesterday’s storms it was much cooler so the ride was a pleasure. The bad news is it was quite hard to make it to 5,000. The good news is I have done many great rides and several fantastic climbs and I have more of the same planned. I am cautiously optimistic that 10,000 is possible. The best news is that the…

27.2 kms I started in perfect sunshine, but dark clouds quickly made me start heading for home. Strangely the first batch of clouds passed me by and straight up I saw sunshine – yet it started pouring. Bizarre. Anyway, the whole western sky had become a huge black wall so I raced home beating a thunder/lightning storm by about 5 minutes. Total distance 4,947 kms will-davies.com

36.2 km Fairly easy local ride in extreme heat. Hills avoided today for a fairly flat route Total distance 4.920 km Total Ascent: will-davies.com

33 km Avoriaz is a perched purpose built ski station in the French Alps high above Morzine. Starting in Morzine, the climb starts gradually but soon becomes relatively steep and provides great mountain views in all directions as the route continual switchbacks. My bike computer said 100 degrees F (38 Celsius) and I was dripping with sweat the entire ride. The heat made a climb of average difficulty pretty hard and I welcomed any breeze even if it meant riding into the wind. Just short of Avoriaz is the Col de la Joux Verte at 1,760 metres. After visiting Avoriaz…

34.9 km Thunder showers during the night and in the forecast cancelled our Alp plans. Relaxing ride near home with Doreen. Total distance 4,851 km will-davies.com

42.6 km Hot weather continues. Good hard ride. I will take tomorrow off with an eye on a big weekend climb. Total distance 4,816 kms will-davies.com