Some fifteen minutes later, I am at the top of col de Villefranche. To get to the gravel path along the mountain side, I had to take a narrow street in between houses, a hidden pathway only known by insiders.Even though I’ve got the route on my head unit, some of the bends between the houses are so improbable they keep surprising me. And a few minutes later I’m riding high above Nice, on a shaded path protected by the pine trees. It’s such a delight to climb through the olive trees in Vinaigrier’s park, and I’m already 300 meters above sea level as I arrive at the col des Quatre Chemins : I go over the top towards la Trinité, starting point of the infernal part of my day.

There are a few houses on the side of the road, and I sincerely wonder how people can access them every day, I can’t even imagine how a car could drive back on such an incredible slope, clearly you would need quite a lot of mastery and self-control. As far as I’m concerned, it’s power that I need, I keep pulling as hard with my arms as I’m pushing on the pedals, my bike is zigzagging and rearing up despite all my efforts. Shortly after 14 km, the grade climaxes, probably not to the maximum of what would be physically doable on a bike, but to the maximum of what Physics allows : one segment shows 37%. With more than that, I’m not sure you could stay low enough to keep the bike on its wheels !

Upon arrival back at the café, the weather had definitively turned to grey. All I could muster was a grimace to the man behind the bar who had seen me get on the bike a little over an hour ago; his early assessment of the route ringing true in my ears - and in my legs.