High Cols of the Tour De France

Sorry for the hiatus on the communication front. No wifi... At least none that was free. Hope you're all doing well and here are my latest adventures. For those of you that wrote emails i will respond asap.

June 2, 2011

This morning I woke up to much needed warmth and an attack of the slugs. The warmth was nice to feel again (apparently snow was falling in some regions of France... The cold was a pretty freak thing I think) but the slugs were uncalled for. There was probably close to ten of them in various sizes hanging out on whatever was under my vestibule. After flicking them back to the dirt I attempted to dry out what I could and get ready to make some ground again. I set out from Bonlieu to St. Claude which was only about 40 km. The first 20km was moderate climbing and flats and then the road dropped... Literally. Just after a town called Château des Prés I went on the suggested route de rocheblanche. The road dived for nearly 3km straight and was filled with hairpin turns. I stopped a couple times on the way down to let my rims cool down from the braking and my hands rest. Once at the bottom I took in my surroundings. The area was heavily wooded, there was a small river running nearby and a little one lane bridge to top it off. The road then began a climb up the other side that was thankfully nowhere as steep as the descent. My route took me through the rest of the day rising and dropping along the river into St. Claude which was in an amazing mountain setting but lacked character. I went to the municipal campground and went through my usual motions. That evening I had dinner with a father/son biking duo from  Melbourne, Australia who I had met earlier that day morning at the campground in Bonlieu... They were doing the same route as me. We had dinner at the campground restaurant and shared stories of the previous route and mishaps (Paul had the same misfortune of ordering the beef dish i did in Verdun) as well as having a couple laughs over several design flaws in our tour book. It's always nice to meet people and have regular conversation once in a while. Thanks Paul and James. 

After dinner which was sloshed down by a couple of beers I went out like a light. 

June 3, 2011

Today I ended up getting a late start when I should have had an early one... But i was granted with another short day and good weather. After heading into town and buying stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner and getting all packed up I hit the road by noon. The first 25km of the ride was an unrelenting climb from St. Claude (elev: 400m) to La Pesse (elev: 1200). I locked into my gears and kept a steady pace  throughout. The road snaked along a mountainside for the first 10km before dropping into back roads that worked their way through small hilltop towns. After La Pesse the road was one of the most beautiful I've been on yet. It was wide enough for a car and a half and it was along a heavily forested hillside. The right side of the road was a sheer drop with retaining wall keeping the road in place. The only life I saw were a couple cars and 4 hikers or so. After rolling along the road for a while it began to drop and didn't stop all the way to the 40th km where I stopped at Champfromier. The route continues on to Bellegarde but there is no camping there. The small alpine campground did the trick for the evening.

June 4, 2011 
 
Today was about distance. I got a decent start time... But after going to the bakery and the epicerie (a small supermarket) I found myself on the road by 10:30. Gotta have my fresh baking! 
The road swooped into Bellegarde  quickly which was 15km from my camping stop. I stopped at the tourist office to see what I could get in terms of maps as well see what kind of camping was on the way to Grenoble. The  tourist office ended up giving me a map that was a pretty much a
Substitute for a michelin map of the whole alps region. I also got them to point me to the nearest bikeshop. I bought another spare tire after using my last one in Nozeroy and got some chain lube (I've been mooching off other bikers since the start of the trip). I also got the shop owner to draw out a route that would be optimal for a bike ride to Grenoble. Getting out of the city was easy and the scenery wasn't great... But after breaking the city beat I again realized why I'm enjoying this part of France so much. The valley opened wide and after climbing for a short bit i rolled through small towns along the bottom of the Jura mountains (they are called mountains, but they mostly really tall hills - if you're picturing the Rockies you're way off - the hills around Bragg Creek are probably the most comparable - but these are bigger). Ok, so my route then took me down into the Rhone River valley where I rode along the highway in and out of bikepaths and lanes. I then came upon lac du bourget and I could not have asked for a better day to me beside this lake. It runs for about 15 or so kms I believe and the road rides along the east side of the lake with a cliff on the left and the lake just a few feet to the right. The lake was glass and the day was in the high 20's. All I could think about was waterskiing on lake Koocanusa in Montana. It was a perfect day and the north end of the lake wasn't that busy... Most people were just floating or trolling, at least they weren't tubing to ruin the water on such a perfect day. I really wanted someone to ask me onto their boat, but i didn't think my chances were good for that. Towards the south end of the lake it became increasingly touristy as i hit Aix-les-Bains. I pulled off my route to check out the town. I was considering stopping for the day and enjoying the water. After stopping and taking in the views i realized staying there wouldn't be all it cracked up to be. The north end of the lake was clean and crisp while the south end was overrun with boats and people. If i was going to enjoy the lake i knew I'd missed my chance. There was just a concrete boardwalk running north and south for kilometers which wasn't appealing for swimming or hanging out in the sun. I decided to move on and cover more ground (the French Riviera would come soon enough). The rest of the day  I got spoiled with bikepaths and lanes running in between Aix-les-Bains and Chambéry. I stopped again in the tourist office here and inquired about close by campgrounds. The one I chose was in Les Marches and only 15km away. I got back onto the bikepaths and started heading out. I realized that rolling in from the west was a nasty looking thunderstorm so I had to hoof it. I got turned around close to Les Marches and ended up in a town 4km south of my destination. With the storm right on my back tire I got to camp in time to get set up before the rain hit. I had picked up food earlier so I was good for dinner. The lighting and thunder went for an hour or so. The thunder was making really weird noises though... It wasn't the kind that rolled and rolled. It seemed to pop like a huge kernel of popcorn and then that would be it. Weird country this France :)

I managed to cover about 115km today (new PB!). It felt good as well. I think im in good enough shape now to cover the high cols around Grenoble. But I'm gonna take that one peddle at a time in granny gear. 

June 5, 2011

When I awoke this morning the rain had stopped but the clouds were still grey and hanging low. I got all my stuff together and then it started raining again. I waited a couple minutes and did a double check of everything and then decided to go for it. I only had another 50km to Grenoble so I figured I could make it. The rain came and went throughout the ride so I took shelter a couple times and drug out the ride. 
When I made it to the Grenoble tourist office it was noon so I grabbed maps for the city and set out for the suburb of Seyssins where my campground was. After setting up I decided to head back into Grenoble and check out the Musée de Grenoble. It was the first Sunday of the month so that meant all the national museums offered free entry. I toured the museum which featured works from the past and present. I enjoyed some of the more modern works because that's something i haven't seen here yet. 
After the museum I picked up food from a shop and headed back to the campground. I met a couple from Belgium that evening who I shared some wine (a box of wine) with. They were touring France by RV for 6 weeks. 
I went to bed early because i had a big day ahead of me.

June 6, 2011

Today I left Grenoble for Le Bourg D'Oisans which was a 50km ride gaining a modest 500m in elevation. The goal of this ride was to get into the heart of the mountains so I could begin tackling the 'high cols of the tour de france' ride set out in my guide. The ride was along busy highways for the most part which Isnt always fun... But it was manageable. When I was 20km into the trip I took my first tumble to make the day eventful. There was an old set of train tracks that lazily curved over the road and I didn't approach them at a sharp enough angle. My tire slipped into the track and the next thing I knew I was ejected from my pedals landing on the pavement elbows and knees abound. I was only traveling about 20km/hr at that point so I was able to walk/ride away with only scrapes wherever my body met the pavement. My bike also received a couple of cosmetic adjustments that were mostly minor. After brushing over and taking a minute I set back on my course. Upon arrival I went to a campsite and quickly set up. The real goal for the day was conquering the legendary Alpe d'Huez. For anyone who doesn't know Alpe d'Huez is a 13.8km climb to the the summit which is at an elevation of 1860m. The average gradient throughout is 8.5% that is carries throughout 21 numbered hairpin turn to the summit. It is one of the most famous climbs for two-wheelers in the world and is usually showcased in the tour de France. The record to the top is 36min and 50secs; not
The easiest feat. The ride up was very tough, but i couldn't help but smile the whole way up. As tough as the climb is, it's just cool to be there. I made 3 quick stops on the way up to take pictures or a quick breather, but I was trying my best to do it in one shot. I made it to the top after an hour and a half of climbing and average about 10km/hr. It felt good to make the legendary climb... Try to catch it in mid-July on tv to see the best in the world tackle it. 
After hanging around for a bit I hit the descent which I can tell you from experience goes much faster than the way up. The hairpin turns keep you on guard.

I had noticed from a flyer In town that there was an organized climb of d'Huez on June 9. The campgrounds were nearly full and bikers were everywhere. I was briefed that night by a man from the Netherlands. It was a fundraiser for cancer where people would raise money to climb the mountain a certain number of times in a day, where the maximum was 6. He was going to climb 4 times on Thursday. One was enough for me. 

June 7, 2011

I'm unsure how exactly i feel about today... It was filled with both accomplishment, old annoyances and a questionable decisions.
I started off the day good and got my self ready to hit the road by 11am after breakfast and some errands. The ride today was a very challenging one that would require me to ride from 720m to 2057m over 40km which was at the Col du Lautaret. Then from that point I would go to the Col du Galibier which peaked at 2645m at km 49 then descend to the mountain town of Valloire which was at 1400m. The col du Galibier was the first ever climb in the alps to be introduced in the tour way back and it will be the highest pedalling i will be doing on my tour... I think. The ride started fine and then 13km into the ride I heard the familiar sound of spoke breaking. Since it was early in the ride I decided i would hoof it back, get it fixed and set out again. Once I got back and got fixed up it was 2:30. I figured i could still tackle the ride. 
After a couple adjustments at the bottom of the climb I had lost another half hour. I made it up to the Col du Lautaret without much trouble other than the slow pace that comes along with climbing a mountain pass. At this point the day was started to get pretty cool and it was raining lightly. I only had a hard 9km climb and I would be on the descent which would go quick. The ride up was one of the hardest I've done yet. I was right up in the clouds which started spitting more and more rain. The terrain was amazing but the day was slowly starting to get darker and colder. Since i was working hard at this point it was easy to stay warm. 
After what seemed like forever to reach the summit at Galibier i finally made it. It was a great feeling to do something like that! 
Thankfully there were some people in a van who had quickly stopped at the top so i got them to take my picture with the elevation sign in the background. 

It was at this point i realized i could have trouble. The rain was really starting to come down and it was really cold. To put it in perspective there was still a snowplow and banks of snow along the side of the road. I threw on a set of long gloves and some clothes to try to stay warm and set out for Valloire. The roads were wet so I had to be careful not to slide out, but my body temperature was dropping quickly and I needed shelter. After a couple kms my extremities were numb but my core was warm so I hoped it would stay that way. About halfway to my destination I really started shaking in my saddle and everything other than under my coat was soaked. I stopped at a B&B to grab some quick warmth and check on vacancy. They were full up but I was suggested a couple hotels in town. I continued my descent only getting colder. Thankfully from that point it was only 7km to town and I managed to find a hotel with bike storage. It was still raining and i was not camping this night. I got in the shower asap and got some food in me. The hotel smells funky and it's older... But I'm not complaining. 
 I gave myself enough time for the day but did not count on that kind of weather.
It's nice to be inside and warm. 

Looking back, the best decision would have been to have stopped at a campground near the 30km mark and stretched the day into two. But, this is all a part of the trip and being exposed to the elements.

June 8, 2011

Today I awoke to rain get again. I took my time with breakfast and getting packed up then hit the road. The rain kept coming but I figured I would be fine during the day. I didnt have any major descents except one a couple minutes into the ride. My ride was about 55km and took me over col du telegraph and into a valley for the majority of my day. I picked up supplies at a market in town and then set out on a climb that would take me almost up to another col which I will summit tomorrow morning. The climb up was very hard but was only about 14km. My legs are feeling it. I also passed the 2000km mark on my trip!
No campgrounds in this town so I splurged again. I got a place for 60€ that could sleep 6 and it had a small kitchen. I made myself some warm food which was great. Tomorrow I'm back to Grenoble and then i head south from there to the Mediterranean! I hope it's warm there cause it sure isn't up at 2000m.