Sense won out in day of disappointment

Today completes week one of the cycling content of the 2010 tour.

Our evening dinner included each of us outlining how we became involved in cycling which is after all, the commencement of the path which we came along to be here. Each participants' story was interesting and there was largely a common thread involved. Certainly, no one ever had any perception of doing what we are doing in France and Switzerland.

Dinner included local produce and local cooking styles including rabbit, beef, fish, ice creams and sorbets, goats cheese and local salads. A local red wine was also sampled and many readers will know about Peter's obsession with Rose. His rate of converting his colleagues to Rose is not nearly as high at it was during the 2006 edition of the tour. (but it is early days).

We awoke this morning feeling ok but certainly not as fresh as previous mornings due almost certainly to the extreme efforts of yesterday.

We were greeted by a cold, wet morning and after some investigation it was revealed that the forecast for Alp d'Huez was for freezing rain and snow.

We discussed the merits of attempting such a climb in these conditions. It was thought that climbing the famous Alp was certainly a possibility however descending in such conditions was insane - or at least an un-necessary risk.

With much collective disappointment, we cancelled our day on the saddle. With the weather closing in and forecast to stay the way it is for another 3 days, we decided to head straight for Orange where the forecast was much more encouraging and where the Monster of Provence awaited us - Mt Ventoux. (scheduled for Monday).

Six of us made the train connections to Orange while Craig travelled in the van with "Pants off Phil". We all arrived at the same time.

An exploration of the town of Orange followed including a late lunch and several coffees.

There is a big concert tonight in the old Roman Amphitheatre by 'French Pink Floyd'. Different.

We checked out the old Chapel and the local version of the Arc de Triomphe constructed over a period of 50 years and now stands proud after some 2000 years.

Alp d'Huez is perhaps the number one iconic ride for cyclists the world over so it was extremely disappointing to have to make the decision to by pass it. Howevcr, this simply means we are each determined to return to the Alps another time and to tame the beast.

It is however great to know that we have multiple nights in the same hotel and a chance to catch up on some washing etc and plan the details of the next week or so.

One week in, we are a happy, contented satisfied tour group looking forward with excitement to the next week. We are getting fitter, stronger, gaining in confidence and experience and even improving our collective abilities to communicate in the local language.

We really appreciate your feedback about our blog be it by way of comments on the site, e-mails or text messages. Thank you. We are also thrilled to learn we are sometimes a point of discussion at Brisbane post ride coffee.

Today is disappointing in many ways but such is life. It also continues the trend so far where each and every day is totally different from the ones before it.