Vosges road cycling

Road Cycling: Colmar-Wintzenheim-Cote de Cinq Chateaux-Ingersheim-Colmar (Vosges, Alsace)
Distance: 40k/500m
It would have been nice to have taken in the bigger Vosges climbs like the Grand Ballon, and that had indeed been my ambitious plan, but after a lengthy drive through gorgeous Alsatian villages time for a pre-dinner ride was limited. As a result, this was a very short outing but also a rather complex one - to the point that I'm not quite sure where I went! But after riding out from the centre of Colmar, some combination of the three villages of Ingersheim, Wintzenheim and Wettolsheim led me to the base of the Cote de Cinq Chateaux above Wintzenheim. This was taken by the Tour last week, and made an excellent little climb of 7k or so. After a very stressful drive from Belgium and a tricky ride out of the centre of Colmar it was a wonderful balm to enter the tranquil woods of the Vosges. The climb was a good mildy sustained effort and an excellent low-key aperitif for what I hoped would be a big day in the Alps on Friday. These Vosges climbs have a distinctive atmosphere of their own, thickly wooded with the occasional glimpse of side valleys and distant hills. Slovak graffiti for Sagan was interspersed with interesting Alsatian separatist slogans on the road.The gradient on the Cinq Chateaux stays at a fairly constant 7% or so, with numerous hairpins, so it is never too taking. The weather was humid and sunny, but not overly hot. After reaching the summit, I descended down to Ingersheim and along an unpleasantly busy main road to beautiful Colmar and a stereotypical Alsatian meal of quiche, choucroute, munster and pinot blanc.