Hands Free Map?

After a week of good weather and a beautiful Saturday (which I wasted running errands and shopping) Sunday arrived like a flash flood. It was cold and raining putting a bit of a damper on my planned bike ride with two friends.
I had been looking forward to this ride all week...a 65km ride into the Jura mountains with a killer 10 Km stretch that climbs 1600 meters (1 mile elevation gain!)...

Knowing my propensity for getting lost, I crafted a velcro map holder and Dedi helped me laminate a few map cut-outs showing the route.Now I could ride with my hands on the 'wheel' and check my map at the same time! I was ready!

I polished off my breakfast burrito, hoping to store some energy for the ride. It was about 7:00 am and we were all meeting at 8:00, rain or shine.
I heard a few beeps but couldn't quite make out what was making the noise...The computer was dormant, the microwave was off..
It was only as I was packing up my camelback and heading out the door that I saw the text messages on my cell phone that basically read.."Sorry Dave, but I'm not about to go out in this insane weather..." or "You've got to be crazy to think I'd go out in this x#$**y weather....

Probably wise decisions but with my monster burrito at work and my mind set on trying out my new hands-free map holder, I decided to go for it and hope for a weather break.

I got out about 8:15 and took it easy as I warmed up in the rain. I had been given general directions to get to the starting point of my map, with that famous saying "You CAN'T miss it" ...

Well with visibility at about 10 feet, I did manage to do just this...and getting lost in Swtizerland on a Sunday morning is problematic at best and worse when the weather is bad. Everything is closed and most reasonable people stay indoors.Those that are out would rather avoid soaking wet, lycra clad bicyclists...My map was in place but only served to let me know that I was off the map!

I did however find a few hardy and friendly souls who helped get me quasi-oriented and wished me 'bon courage'. With their help and a bit of wandering down wrong hills and villages too small to be on any map, I was finally back on track...

37 km later I arrived at the foot of Montricher drenched but eager to find out what the climb would be like. Despite having 10 switchbacks, the small paved road up the mountain was well marked and surrounded by trees cutting the wind and promsing perhaps a better ride.

The climb from Montricher to Mont Trendre was as intense as advertised. My road bike lowest gear is 37/27 which basically means, even in it's easiest gear it doesn't like to go up anything steeper than a Colorado driveway..
I was standing up on the pedals for most of the climb but amazingly I started to feel good at about 7km. Must have been the Burrito...I notched up the bike a few gears and started to feel like I was a contender for the King of the Mountain jersey. 1 hour and 10 minutes and I was at the top...I was pretty pleased with this, as based on other rider's experiences (in good weather too) I had expected a time closer to 2 hours.

I got off my bike and noted that along with being soaked to the bone, my feet were frozen numb..It was now pouring pretty hard and windy. Views would have been nice on a good day, but today all I could see was white...There was a barn at the top, and I couldn't find a way in to get some shelter... So I did my best to wring out my clothing and put on a rain jacket without getting soaked again.. I then headed back down.

The ride down was fast and scary...very limited braking ability and lots of wet leaves on the road..Topped 55km/hour (25km/hour over the speed limit) despite doing my best to slow down...Still I managed to keep the rubber between me and the road and was soon pedaling from Montricher back home.
Called Dedi when I was about 10 minutes out and she prepped a hot bath for me...After 79km and 4 hours of riding time I was home and immersed in hot water! Absolute heaven!

We finished the evening off with some good cheese Fondue and I'm feeling great!

Hope you all are well and that your Sunday was dryer and at least as pleasant as mine!
Cheers,
Dave