Velomobile Road Trip with Brigitte and Fritz (Day 24)

Day 24.

Barcelonnette > Guillestre

76 km | 934 HM

The evening before we went shopping for dinner and breakfast. At the supermarket we met a local trike driver in his 70s. He still has a trailer with a solar panel for his trike. He had ridden up the Col de la Bonnette with it.

The first part of our stage today was just rolling. The good thing about riding a velomobile is that you only need a slight gradient to build up speed. We often rolled at 30-50 km/h on 0.5-2% gradients.

After about 20 km we come to Le Lauzet-Ubaye. There is a blue tandem plus couple in the car park. The surprise is that they are our tandem friends from Bielefeld. We knew that they wanted to go to the See Alps. But we hadn't made an appointment. First we hugged and exchanged who wanted to go where. We took photos and then both couples had to move on. They wanted to ride yesterday's Col d'Alloz today.

We continued down to the reservoir of the Durance. A few kilometres along the bank. Then came a crisp climb to Le Sauze-du-Lac. Once again I had an unequal duel with a racing cyclist. Halfway up, we stopped for lunch above the reservoir.

Then the second half to Sauze. Today it is incredibly humid. I have sweats. I can normally tolerate heat quite well compared to many others. Today it is extreme. At the top of the restaurant we look at Brigitte's Grenouille shifting. The place is packed with Italian motorcyclists. The first gear in the A7 won't go in. The B-screw has become misaligned. And the shift cable is a bit long. Readjust everything and the gear comes back. It's stupid to ride up these hills in second gear and still have an irritated Achilles tendon.

After the climb, it's back down again. Down in Sabines-le-lac we find a small café with very tasty tarts and cakes. The Italians are delighted about the velomobiles. "Bellissima, bella machina".

In Guillestre we go to the campsite. Here most of the sites are still closed. So we don't have much choice.