The French Challenge /// Day 04

Stats: 

Day 04: Les Croisettes Saleve (1379m), le grand Bornand (948m), col de la Colombiere (1618m) 148km 

Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5575254

Difficulty: Hard.  3 medium cols in a day with different reliefs. The first one is short 

but tough followed by 2no of long but steady hills. it's a long and straight back home

on flats and hard with a front wind. Relaying essential. 

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Last day of our French challenge brings us to a second attempt of le col des Croisettes on the Saleve which directly overseas Geneva. Short, steep and painful, this is a category 01 on the tour de France 

charts. We make it up there and carry on the other side, riding through a beautiful road which leads us up to the Grand Bornand. 

There, we have a lunch break and head off for the ultimate climb of the trip. Le col de la Colombiere 

along the easier side. Still, 11km of steady climb in the heat and a difficult descent into the valley as the 

road 's crash barriers seem to be lovely concrete pylons on the side of the road. 

We reach the valley and head towards Annemasse, with a heavy head wind to fight against. This is when you are glad to be cycling with a great cycle companion and our relays pay off massively by switching pretty much every 2-5 km. The previous day's efforts start to pay off, I think we would have 

really struggled to accomplish this had we started off with this. 

We were glad to get back home again and fill the stomachs full of amazing food and wine. Thanks Mom and dad, your welcome is always amazing!!! 

Tomorrow, we rest, pack and set off. This is the end of the French challenge. This was a very physical challenge. I think next year we might be talking about redoing a bit more of a cultural challenge like we did in Vietnam. 

Let's see, we'll keep you in touch. Ciao for now.