TR: Pierre/Col du Moelle

Leysin - Solepraz - Pierre/Col du Moelle - Le Sepey - Aigle - Montreux - Vevey - Epesses - Aigle.
Some 100+km. Issues with the odo again.

Ethan and I made some big talk the night before, and holding a bottle of White Russian, I can't say the confidence was high that we were going to make the ride today. We did.

Ethan made the call: Pierre du Moelle, aka Col du Moelle. It's the same place, but there is a big rock on the col; that's the pierre. Pierre, Peter, the rock, quite possibly from the biblical sense of things here.

One thing is for sure, the altitude change from Solepraz to Pierre du Moelle is noticeable. And the road is not long. So most of it (read all) is solid climbing. I stopped twice, the result of no riding in 2 weeks. Ethan did not, and he hasn't ridden in three. It was hot, but gorgeous out.

I had plans to go to the lake and meet Bill and family. Ethan had to work. Brutal for him. Bill had my bathing suit, and I never found him. I went swimming anyway. Hence the longest point from home, Epesses. There be a naked beach there (no photos of that). A cooling dip was necessary as I was burning up in the valley and along the lakeside. It was hot enough up high.

The pictures and captions will tell the rest:

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Ethan early on with Pic Chaussey (left) and Les Diablerets in the back ground.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03476.jpg

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Without Ethan. For those that want a screen saver.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03475.jpg

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With me in it this time.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03477.jpg

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Pierre. The military has an installation in the rock.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03484.jpg

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Mont d'Or, from the side. Yes, you can hike that ridge line (right), then pick a couloir to ski.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03480.jpg

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Looking over at the Dents du Midi (right), and on the left is the Dents des Morcles. In the middle, a little on the light side, above the van is Argentiere with the Dru on one side and the Trient Glacier on the other. Mt. Blanc is hiding in there somewhere between that and the Dents du Midi.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03479.jpg

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Don't mind the cars, they are there for the restaurant.
And no, there is nothing else up here. Ok, some climbing, lots of hiking, a military base sometimes in use (not now), bikers like us, and, What's better than a good meal in the mountains?
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03483.jpg

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Snickers are the best. Them and beans for breakfast. Beans! Make no mistake about it.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, can give you so much energy over the course of a day.
And nothing contributes more to the skid marks either. TMI?
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03481.jpg

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Ideal place to chill out for a bit. Down by the lake now, Lac Leman aka Lake Geneva.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03487.jpg

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Found this woman, Lola, on the road, biking from Geneva. Good effort!
She was with a friend and her brother, getting out of town for the weekend.
http://hosting.the-edg.net/TeleAl/DSC03489.jpg
Hay Guapa!

Freddy Mercury is the man of the statue.
He's busting that pose on the Montreux water front promenade.

I'd like to thank the AL train, for
a) naming itself after me; and
b) for bringing me up the mountain (the ride up sucks for many reasons).