| I decided to take a cycling holiday
this summer and ride through France, loosely following the Route Des
Grandes Alpes, a 700km route running from Thonon-Les-Bains near Geneva
to Menton on the Cote D’Azur near Nice. The route goes over 18 cols
including many of the most famous Tour mountains including the Galibier,
the Izoard and the Colombiere. I had a flight booked out of Nice 10 days
after I landed in Geneva and had planned to try and ride as many
mountains as possible with a couple of ‘rest’ days pencilled in just in
case. I wanted to travel as lightly as possible so packed the absolute
minimum into a small day-pack and would stay in hotels and bed and
breakfasts.
 When
I flew into Geneva the weather had turned and whereas the week before it
was about 35 degrees, it was now about 15 degrees with really heavy
showers. On my first day of riding I went over the three cols Colombiere,
Aravis and Saises (the last two featured in Landis’ ‘comeback’ stage in
this years’ tour after which he failed the test) and suffered badly in
the cold and wet (it was 4 degrees and mist-shrouded over the summits).
I hadn’t realised how profound the temperature drop would be as I
climbed and I now know that for each 1000 metres of elevation gain, the
temperature drops by 6 degrees. Without a crowd handing up copies of
L’Equipe to stuff up my jersey, the descents were a shivering torture
and I was soon desperate to get climbing again. On that first day I only
travelled 70k but was climbing for three hours (2645m) and I was a
little worried about finishing the route in time! I decided to deviate
from the main route the next day as the weather was terrible and I would
have had to go over the Iseran, a 2770m monster and it would have been
close to freezing up there. I cheated a bit and went down the valley
from Beaufort to Bourg d’Oisans over the Glandon (an absolute bugger of
a climb which forced me to stop and have a breather for the first and
last time on the whole ride).
Bourg d’Oisans is at the base of Alpe d’Huez and I
spent a couple of days there as it is a fantastic base from which to
ride some monster climbs. It was a relief to dump my pack and ride
unencumbered for a couple of days and the weather had changed completely
as I was now much further south. I loved cycling up Alpe d’Huez and
managed the 13k in 55 mins which was OK but the best thing about it is
it is an absolutely wonderful descent, very fast, flowing and safe. It’s
an easy climb on it’s own but I wouldn’t fancy it at the end of a 150k
stage. On my second rest day I rode over a couple of smaller, beautiful
cols nearby and prepared myself for the hardest day of the trip.
I had to get to Briancon and could have gone over
the Lautaret but I really wanted to do the ‘daddy’ of the Tour
mountains, the Galibier. This meant that I had to ride over the Croix de
Fer, the Mollard, the Telegraph and the Galibier, completing 170k and
4300m of climbing. It was going to be a long day. It turned out to be
the best days cycling I’ve ever had and I actually enjoyed every minute
of it (and there were plenty of minutes as it took me over 8 hours). The
Galibier was busy with cyclists of all shapes and sizes trying to get to
the top of the seemingly endless climb. Whilst only one chap overtook me
on the ascent, I was descending very carefully from the top when an old
lady on a shopper overtook me. She was wearing a nice blue headscarf
under her helmet. It could have been an hallucination bought on by the
oxygen debt but I swear she was going about 70km/h!
 The
next day was another ‘biggie’ over the Izoard (stunning and busy) and
the Vars (stunning and quiet), two lovely climbs over 2000m. As I was
descending from the Izoard there was a stream of triathlon loons going
up it as part of an ironman event. I would have thought that the last
thing you need in a triathlon is a 20k climb but the French seem to like
their very hard sports. The next day was my second planned rest day in
the lovely town of Barcelonette in the Ubbaye valley, another wonderful
place for cycling. As the weather was gorgeous and the riding superb I
rode a 160k route over three cols the next day and felt like I was
flying over the deserted roads. I was searching out the best climbs by
this time in the ride and my climbing had improved immeasurably.
Undoubtedly I was fitter than at the beginning but the weather was
perfect and I also knew what to expect in terms of gradient and
duration.
My last really big day on the route involved going
over the Col de La Bonnette, a 30k climb over highest paved road in
Europe at 2800m. At the top was a sign to Nice 100k to the south. After
a couple more days weaving through the very beautiful southern Alps I
was speeding into Menton at the end of my journey, ahead of schedule.
This meant that I had another day to ride the hills around Nice, working
on my absurd cyclists’ tan and sipping espresso in little cafes watching
the world go by (more often than not on a very expensive road bike).
By the end of the trip I had ridden 1100k in 10
days with 22000m of climbing over the following cols:-
|
Colombiere |
1613m |
Izoard |
2360m |
|
Aravis |
1486m |
Vars |
2108m |
|
Saises |
1650m |
Cayolle |
2326m |
|
Glandon |
1924m |
Champs |
2087m |
|
Alp D’Huez |
1830m |
Allos |
2247m |
|
Ornon |
1367m |
Bonette |
2800m |
|
Croix De
Fer |
2068m |
St Martin |
1500m |
|
Mollard |
1630m |
Turin |
1604m |
|
Telegraph |
1566m |
Castillion |
706m |
|
Galibier |
2645m |
Vence |
970m |
|
Lautaret |
2057m |
|
|
It was an absolutely fantastic trip and even
though I tried the Landis diet of beer and whiskey to boost performance,
I generally found croissants, croque monsieurs and coffee more
effective. Where next? How far is it from London to Rome? |
