Looks like a totally boring ride.. up and down:
However, this is one of the classic climbs of all time!! The Col de Torini has been a Tour de France climb and is one of the famous rally events, with sports cars tearing up and down the switch-backs. I started this morning from Sospel, riding to the northwest for 24.5 km up, up and up without a break.
I drove to Sospel, left town at 8:00 am and climbed through the clouds into the blue skies, up into the snow. At about 1300 meters, I hit black ice on the road and the back wheel would spin for a moment as I stomped on the pedals. The ice was actually much more scary on the descent, which I did like an old lady on the wet and icy switchbacks. No sense in ruining a wonderfull week of riding in the Maritime Alpes by sliding off the road, falling hundreds of meters to a painful and possibly terminal landing.
My week of riding in the Southern Alps is done. This has been a great jump-start on the season and my reconstructed knee is working well, albeit a little stiff from time to time after long rides, but nothing unexpected given the stress of thousands of meters of vertical climbing in a short period of time. Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger. Hopefully, all of this will pay off during the Cape Argus Classic in Cape Town, three weeks from now!
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