Day 4 - Lac Chambon → Murat

Weather or Not

The group is on the move today, leaving lovely Lac Chambon behind and heading toward Murat—a 57-mile trek packed with 5,228 feet of climbing.

Just as I was finishing packing my gear, a sharp crack of thunder echoed overhead, followed by an immediate downpour. The rain came down in buckets, but luckily, it passed in about 15 minutes—leaving behind air that felt drastically cooler than it had just moments before.

I pulled up the Epic Ride Weather app to see what we were in for. As you can see in the upper right quadrant of the image below, the forecast was calling for scattered showers throughout the day.

Still, with temperatures expected to hover between the upper 60s and low 80s, I decided against a jacket. At those temps, rain might make you wet, but it rarely makes you cold. So I ditched the outer layer, grabbed some breakfast at the restaurant, loaded my bags into the van, and rolled out.

Today’s route was tweaked based on what we learned on Day 3. The goal was simple: stay as high up as possible to avoid the sweltering heat of the lowlands. It meant a slightly longer ride with a bit more elevation gain, but the tradeoff was more than worth it.

As you can see on the map below, we kicked things off with a solid 6-mile climb to grab some early elevation and cooler air. Rolling up those hills instantly brought back memories of riding through the lush, sweeping landscapes of Brittany a couple of years ago.

Then, right on cue at 10:00 AM, the forecast delivered. A full-blown storm rolled directly overhead—lightning, thunder, hail, and torrential downpours. We scrambled for cover under a stand of trees just off the road as rivers of water carved down the pavement, getting completely soaked in the process.

But just like that, within 20 minutes, the storm moved on. The temp mercifully dropped to a crisp 67°F—absolute perfection for riding. Half an hour later, our gear was completely dry, and the sky had cleared into a brilliant blue dotted with classic "Simpsons" clouds. It turned out to be an incredible day on the bike.

As you can see from the ride profile above, the entire route was a constant game of up-and-down—hardly a flat stretch in sight! But true to the plan, our revised route kept us out of the worst heat for most of the day.

We stopped for lunch at the 30-mile mark, right at the edge of the day's longest plateau. It was healthy, delicious, and gave us the exact fuel we needed for the final 30-mile push into Murat. Right on cue, the weather app called it again with one last shower. It wasn't nearly as intense as the morning's downpour—just a refreshing splash to cool us down for the finish.

All in all, a fantastic day in the saddle.

Today's Photos

Happy biking,

Brian