France ride: The pages I could not turn

( If you have not read the prologue, start here ) The final morning of my four weeks in France had arrived. In Grenoble, a city ringed by the Alps, my fourth base, Nikhil and I had been living in an apartment, heading into the mountains every other day. This day was supposed to be an easy day, just a long, gentle climb nearby. But the evening before, as Nikhil and I talked it over, Nikhil somehow…