First hard bike ride of the year! 70km with 2300m climbing. The photos are taken from Champagny ski station – opposite Courchevel. The Courchevel main slopes are behind the old bell tower. Apart from a new chain skipping (old one had stretched about a centimetre!) possibly due to worn sprockets it was quite hard getting back into climbing with an over developed winter “cheese baby” belly! Given that the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sprockets (my favourites) were unusable this made climbing awkward. Either spinning in bottom gear and going nowhere or straining in 5th. I took 90 grams of mixed sugars and water. Even though the workout was over 3 hours this seemed to be adequate for the current performance level because there was no wave of tiredness later following the workout. 
Cycling back from Moutiers to Aime on the N90 was a bit worrying. One bus overtook at about 90kph leaving about a metre of space or less and an HGV passed less than a foot away. It’s very frustrating not being able to tackle those idiots. Most bus and HGV drivers are careful but it only takes one idiot. The tourist industry in the Tarrentaise – comprising mainly of inbred morons – is not intelligent enough to see the value in cycling so there are no provisions made to help the situation (Whoever designed Moutiers must be a moron because it is a complete dump despite being the central axis to the entire regional skiing industry!). Cyclists need to go to Bourg d’Oissans near Alpe d’Huez to be respected and catered for. Many thousands do. 
Despite struggling with the chain I settled into working on breathing – nasal breathing – and chi cycling – focusing on form rather than performance. It will take about a month to get fit anyway so this is a good time to concentrate on form.