Distance: 75.5 miles / 121.5 km
Elevation: 3,210 feet / 978 m
Time: 7 hours and 24 minutes (5 hours and 40 minutes cycling)
Breakfast challenge
The B&B I had booked included breakfast, but it seemed like most of the items came straight out of the freezer. The butter and the cream cheese especially were very effective at making huge craters in the bread, and I was too impatient to wait for the items to become spreadable.
Whilst I have been hand washing all my clothes whenever I can, the rain and general dampness from camping outdoors is now having a significant impact on their freshness. Choosing which clothes to wear reminded me of choosing who plays in your sports team at school once all the good guys have been picked. I was basically opting for the least offensive outfit of all, from a selection of items already past their best. I’m happy the end of my journey is in sight in that respect.
Col des Mosses
Thunderstorms were forecast for the entire day, and when I left the B&B it was already raining pretty hard. I wanted to try and make it to Geneva today, so I couldn’t really afford to wait for it to ease off. Thankfully the first 10km or so of the ride was a climb up the Coll des Mosses, and my wheels weren’t moving fast enough to create much spray on my back.
I had not particularly given much thought to the climb given what I’d completed. But the reality is that this would be a pretty big climb back home, with 500m+ ascent. Every 1km there were some boards that told you what the terrain was going to like until the next one – which were both a good and a bad thing. The climb was very inconsistent, which some sections exceeding 8% and others <1%. Even with the heavy rain, it seemed to be over fairly quickly. At least compared to the mountains, 75 minutes is just a little one.
Visiting France
After the descent, I would be entering France ???????? for the first time on this trip. The lady at the B&B had told me that “it’s always warmer in France” but I don’t think she’d seen the forecast. In a way she was actually spot on – it “was” really warm.. incredibly humid in fact. Basically, the perfect conditions for a thunderstorm. It was also incredibly windy – the biggest enemy when on a flat ride – and this was getting under my skin a bit when my laser focus was set on just getting this ride finished.
As it turned out, I was incredibly lucky. Whilst both the conditions and forecast predicted the worst, I was seemingly in the right place at all the right times.
Approaching Geneva
Before I knew it I was alongside Lac Lémon and honing in on Geneva at a great rate of knots. Upon arrival I had planned to take some sort of selfie next to a ‘welcome to Geneva’ sign of some sort, but I never found one ????????????♂️ since my route passed the train station ???? I didn’t think that would be a real issue, but that location also did not have anything to suggest it was Geneva ???? you will see from my photos that I found a small, unassuming information board – and that will have to do.
Completion
So as you may have gathered – I have made it! Thinking back to the start seems like such a distant memory, and I have seen and experienced an absolute shit ton since then. I think overall this has been up there with being the hardest trip I’ve completed – with some absolute incredible highs, but some punishing days which really pushed my mental strength to its maximum. The unsupported and solo effort really made this ridiculously hard at times. Having never ridden any mountains anywhere near this high, I also maybe did not appreciate the time sink creating some of them would involve. But overall I’m just really happy to achieve what I set out to do.
The Aftermath
Sadly my flight home was delayed by 2 hours. Whilst delayed, there was a thunderstorm in Geneva. Unbeknown to me at the time, the cardboard box my bike was packed in was being exposed to the elements. When I collected it in Gatwick, it was a sad, soggy mess.
I was really upset, but thankfully (and amazingly) there is no damage. Phew!
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