Valserine ride

The Tour is coming down this valley in two weeks time, so I went for an early morning 45k pootle down the valley towards Valserhone. It really is a beautiful place, gently descending through Lelex to Chezery-Forens. The valley changes character from arable and partially wooded to something close to a gorge lower down, with waterfalls and the river quickening pace. At Chezery, I started the climb up to the Col du Menthieres, but quickly realised it would have taken too long so after steep initial slopes I turned off for Rosset and then climbed back up the valley. This is known as the Lelex Monts-Jura climb and it is pretty gentle but it does drag on, almost all the way back to Mijoux.