France Cycling Trip 2011, Part Eight

After the ascent of the Plateau de Beille I was gassed - and I mean gassed. But we all were. We took a half hour or so to recombobulate at the top for the descent. It was a good thirty degrees cooler at the top so we had to bundle up with our arm and leg warmers, a warming vest and full finger gloves for the descent so we didn't freeze. Of course at the bottom we had to strip all that sh1t off for our ten mile ride home. Trials of riding through the mountains, I tell ya.

When we got back, we all were a quart low and needed to eat. I raided our fridge and got some of the great bread they provided along with some ham and brie and made myself a snack before dinner. Also had a couple glasses of Coke - the Coke in France is made with real sugar and kicks so much more ass then ours here in the USA made with high fructose corn syrup. I drank a lot of Coke in France - my body was screaming for the sugar.

After a break to shower up, it was off to Dave's for dinner. The appetizer this night was a heavily (and I mean HEAVILY) peppered quiche with a little greens on the side. It was great.

The main course was what I had been waiting for, the coveted confit de canard, or duck confit.

You can read the wiki link above if you want to know how it is made. It was the single best thing I have eaten in a long time and the best thing I ate my whole stay in france. Just a spectacular dish and so peasanty. The wax beans on the side added a nice touch.

Dessert was a crepe with whipped cream in the middle and caramel drizzled on it. Also wonderful.

This was the best meal I had in France, although some later on do come close.

After dinner the clouds came in, and so did the rain. It was time for bed soon.

I should mention that in this part of the world that the sun doesn't go down until 10pm - I suppose that may be because we were in the mountains, but for whatever reason, it kept screwing with my sleep patterns, as if that needed any help from the previous couple of days of jet lag.