The Crêt de l'oeillon is a bit like le Mont Ventoux for the Lyonnais. A mythic summit that you can see in the distance from downtown Lyon. The climate this autumn hadn't been bike friendly.

Very fast tour today. I profited a bit from sheltering behind cyclists where possible. Average speed was 23.9 km/h which is quite good given the climb and complex nature of the semi urban roads.

Trying some new roads. I went along the Saône to a spot called Hawaii - people surf here on the waves.

I was a bit late getting out so had to hurry on the ride out. Lucky was able to ride with someone else to the Isle de Barbe and there was still a bit of a headwind.

A short lunch ride, I had just over an hour to do a tour but wanted a bit of climb.

Jackpot, both the climb and descent were closed to motorvehicles (except locals) due to road works but cycles allowed. This made things much calmer.

Same route as Friday but on the new bike. A bit hotter todayClimb (24m46s. Average HR 163bpm. VAM 859m) 25m34, 164bpmDescent (6m50s. Max speed 62.9km/h, 48.6km/h ave) 6m17s, ave 52.9 km/h, max 69.

My idea was to test an old bike against a new bike over the same circuit.Climb is 4.04 km over 355 vertical meters giving 8.8% with sections over 10%. 24m46s. Average HR 163bpm. VAM 859mDescent is 5.

Same as last year but in the reverse direction. I was looking for another pass but it doesn't seem that the road is surfaced. The weather has been unsettled and it didn't look good reaching Omegna.

Some stats to illustrate how much slower I am than last yearCol de la Poya 44m15 (39m06 last year)Marie de la Combe 25m31s (22m34 last year)Over 10% down. VAM around 750m/h at the moment.