Monday, 27 July,
Rested and replenished, I ride out of Grenoble at 9 am, a short ride along the main road out of town South to Le Pont de Claix and then the turn off to Vizil. The sky is blue with very little cloud and after the turn I have quite a strong tail wind. The road is very busy, signs are up that the Col du Lautaret is closed due to repairs and all traffic to Briancon is diverted through Gap. It must be the rockslide at the Galibier/Lautaret which also canceled and rerouted the second to last stage of the Tour de France. Also I learn there is a tunnel collapse at La Grave between Bourg d'Oisans and the Col du Lautaret. By the look of the amount of traffic now, it must have been chaos, when the tour was on! My ride is only about 50 km today and mostly up hill, but nothing too strenuous.
The mountains along both sides of the road are very impressive and I have certainly arrived in the big stuff now.
After Vizil the roads divide and the density of traffic is a lot less. I stop and make coffee about half way, at a big modern rest area. There is a lot of roadworks going on and the roads are much bigger than a few years ago.
It is smooth sailing, and I get my action camera out to do some videoing along the way. The trouble is condensation in the waterproof box, it happens every time and it is hard to know if the video will be ok or not. The difficulty is that the camera has no view finder, just on/off and you get what it is
pointed at.
pointed at.
Arriving in Bourg d Oisans at lunchtime and book in to a small hotel on the edge of town where I have stayed before. I enjoy the plat du jour for lunch and walk to town to get a haircut. No such luck as most shops are closed on Monday apart from the tourist shops, bars and such like. Have an ice cream in stead and generally have a relaxing time. Riding 48.6 km today and climbing 522 m.
Tuesday 28 July,
Woke up the usual time, feel quite rested, my aim for today is a haircut and a ride up Alpe D' Huez, for the uninitiated, it is a ski resort and in the summer it has become famous as a finishing stage of the Tour de France.
This year is no exception, it was the penultimate stage and expected to be the final deciding stage
who would win the tour. I was supposed to be there, if it wasn't for the lost credit card, but we won't
mention that again. The whole summer, bikers of all ages, size and ability, ride up this mountain, solo
or in groups, it is the Mecca for cyclists from around the world. There is an unofficial race each
Saturday where one can try and break ones personal record or become the fastest in ones age group.
Bourg d'Oisans the town on the bottom of the mountain has become a busy tourist town in summer because of it. Alpe d'Huez itself sits on top and is a huge ski resort.
who would win the tour. I was supposed to be there, if it wasn't for the lost credit card, but we won't
mention that again. The whole summer, bikers of all ages, size and ability, ride up this mountain, solo
or in groups, it is the Mecca for cyclists from around the world. There is an unofficial race each
Saturday where one can try and break ones personal record or become the fastest in ones age group.
Bourg d'Oisans the town on the bottom of the mountain has become a busy tourist town in summer because of it. Alpe d'Huez itself sits on top and is a huge ski resort.
The climb for us sucker cyclist, officially starts at the bridge at the bottom and finishes at the "tunnel" where the road passes under a building. The real Tour finish is well beyond that. One reaches the top after 21 hairpins and about 14 km of climbing with grades of up to 14%. The agony one suffers depends on the time one wants to beat. I have done it in the past in 1 hour and ten minutes which is respectable for my age group at the time, but I am not riding to better the times of anyone anymore
including my own. I did ride up this morning without stopping and the cold air affected my throat a
little I must admit, so I must have done some heavy breathing from time to time. At the top I enjoyed a big pancake with Chestnut paste, which is one of nature's super foods. I turned my action camera on during the descent, but my iPad hasn't got enough memory to download it so I cannot see the result until I get home. Hopefully it will come out ok, I stopped shortly after going down to clear the waterproof box of condensation, and after that it did not steam up anymore so I am hoping for a good result.
including my own. I did ride up this morning without stopping and the cold air affected my throat a
little I must admit, so I must have done some heavy breathing from time to time. At the top I enjoyed a big pancake with Chestnut paste, which is one of nature's super foods. I turned my action camera on during the descent, but my iPad hasn't got enough memory to download it so I cannot see the result until I get home. Hopefully it will come out ok, I stopped shortly after going down to clear the waterproof box of condensation, and after that it did not steam up anymore so I am hoping for a good result.
I kept the speed of the descent well under control and did not go much over 50 km/h.
Back in town I did get my haircut, and the nice lady must have understood my wish for "short"to mean bald, as only a razor could have made it shorter!
But that will have remedied itself by the time I connect with anyone who knows me,
The fun ride up and down was 30.2 km climbing 1,098 m.
Wednesday 29 July,
Today's ride will take me over the Col de la Croix de Fer, which is another famous col in the history of the Tour de France, it is 2068 m high and the climb starts a few km out of Bourg d'Osans in earnest at the power station at lake Allemont. The power station receives its water through underground pipes from Lac Maisori formed by an earthen dam 20 km or so up the mountain by road.
From Bourg d' Oisans it is about 35 km to the summit, with slopes between 5 and 17 %. It is a fantastic ride with varying vistas from forest, deep ravines with the river Romanche far below to wide open grassed mountain slopes for cows, goats and sheep summer grazing. The bells they wear, have a
different tone, because of the size and play a constant distant melody, which walkers and cyclist
enjoy, out of earshot for all motorists and noisy motor bikers.
different tone, because of the size and play a constant distant melody, which walkers and cyclist
enjoy, out of earshot for all motorists and noisy motor bikers.
I stop and make coffee, about half way up, at a small space where I can pull of the road, without much view, but I need a break after a good 2 hours climbing.
The weather is overcast and quite cool with a strong breeze behind, which helps keeping cool, but the bikers coming down look very cold indeed.
I reach the summit after 3.5 hours and after a photo to record the effort, I go down the other side and stop for lunch at a camping which has a restaurant where I, and a few years ago with Veronica, have camped several times in the past, about 3 km down from the summit. Olivier, the owner and his partner Anique are very pleased to see me and we have a lovely chat, about old times. They have been extremely busy over the period with the Tour de France, and that event must provide the cream for many businesses along the route of the race.
After a lovely lunch I continue my descent through St Sorlin d 'Arves and St Jean d' Arves. The
weather is changing, very overcast and the wind is up and getting colder.
weather is changing, very overcast and the wind is up and getting colder.
I stop to put on an extra jersey and encounter only a few small climbs on the way down and riding
past some incredible ravines, the sheer walls of bare rock going down hundreds of meters, like the
mountain was split into two.
past some incredible ravines, the sheer walls of bare rock going down hundreds of meters, like the
mountain was split into two.
The roads I have traveled since Le Bourg d'Oisans were all part of the Tour de France and are full of slogans and names of people's favourite riders. Some comments not so nice, where Froome is even accused of doping in writing on the tarmac. People have behaved very badly towards Froome and the whole Sky team really. It is a pity that there is so much suspicion and nastiness towards anyone doingwell in the tour. Lance Armstrong has a lot to answer for. It is time to trust the doping controls in place now otherwise the sport may not survive.
I arrive at the Hotel Europe in St Jean de Maurienne around 3.30 pm as it is starting to rain, after 66
km and climbing 1,652 meters.
km and climbing 1,652 meters.
The view from my hotel room window.
Thursday 30 July,
After trying to decide which way to go next, I decided to go the Grand Route des Alpes, which
follows the Italian border and gets me to Bourg St Maurice, where I turn up the small St Bernhard
pass into Italy, but that is for the future. Unfortunately when figuring out a route with the GPS, I left
the town Moutiers programmed in so the first thing I did was ride the wrong way! Luckily I noticed it soon and reprogrammed the GPS, turned and corrected my mistake before I had gone too far and wasted too much time and energy. It was a good move, as I now have the wind behind, following the river hammed in between the big mountains, going in the North East direction. This valley is quite industrialised and narrow, it widens out a bit at St Michel de Maurienne and the sun is coming through, it looks much clearer up ahead. The D1006 road is busy and parallel to the E70 which is a
toll road and connects with a tunnel at Modane that takes the traffic into Italy and the city of Torino. It is much quieter after passing Modena. The road is rising though and it is a constant drag to keep pace, despite the wind behind.
follows the Italian border and gets me to Bourg St Maurice, where I turn up the small St Bernhard
pass into Italy, but that is for the future. Unfortunately when figuring out a route with the GPS, I left
the town Moutiers programmed in so the first thing I did was ride the wrong way! Luckily I noticed it soon and reprogrammed the GPS, turned and corrected my mistake before I had gone too far and wasted too much time and energy. It was a good move, as I now have the wind behind, following the river hammed in between the big mountains, going in the North East direction. This valley is quite industrialised and narrow, it widens out a bit at St Michel de Maurienne and the sun is coming through, it looks much clearer up ahead. The D1006 road is busy and parallel to the E70 which is a
toll road and connects with a tunnel at Modane that takes the traffic into Italy and the city of Torino. It is much quieter after passing Modena. The road is rising though and it is a constant drag to keep pace, despite the wind behind.
At Bramans there is a statue to commemorate Hannibal coming over the mountains with his army and elephants. That would have been a sight to be seen, unless you were on the receiving end !
Just before Lanslebourg I turn onto the B 902 and climb the Col la Madeleine at 1,745m. Hopefully the last 15 km are downhill as the climbing is getting to me today.
It more or less is descending and I am happy to arrive at the medieval village of Bonneval just after 3 pm. I rode 81 km and climbed 1,614m and only descended 402 m. No wonder I found it hard today.
The hotel is just perfect with lots of happy trampers, walking the mountain trails. A perfect place to have a break before I tackle one of the highest cols of the French alps, the Col l' Iseran at 2,762 m.
2 comments:
Love your posts Willem!
Thank you Micheal,
I just love riding my bike, long may it last !
Post a Comment