Squadra di Vecchi Tori

Plateau de Bielle:

Short post tonight.

Rode Galibier before lunch – cruisey pace – another epic climb.

Tshirt bought.

Watched what I thought was one of the most exciting stages of the Tour I have ever seen, ensconced in a small pizzeria in the local village just above our hotel. A noisy boisterous crowd fueled by tap beer and a nice light red supporting Cadel and any rider who wanted to dish out some pain to Contador.

All in all a very satisfying day and a lot of anticipation in store for the time trial tomorrow in Grenoble.

We will be on the sidelines cheering.

Kiwicyclist

So as mentioned yesterday 5 of us made the back route down to the valley above Borg D’Oisans via the Col de Sarenne on a descent of truly breathtaking proportions.

The road itself winds up behind Alp D’Huez and then skirts around the edge of a large open valley before turning on itself and heading up the other side to the top of the Col which nestles between two peaks.  In contrast to the climb up Alp D’Huez the scenery gives way to open alpine pasture overlooked by majestic grey peaks with mountain sides visible on all sides.

Apart from the dramatic scenery the road itself provided its own elements of drama – it was a rough maze of patchwork repairs covered in a light layer of gravel.  Every 400 or so meters we would have to negotiate a V shaped cobbled culvert with either water or gravel in the bottom inserted in the road for storm runoff.  At one point the road turned completely to gravel as we reached the apex of the road before negotiating a series of switchbacks to make the summit.

By now the sun had burnt through the clouds and we were surrounded by a deep blue sky.  Mark headed off ahead of me to the summit as I negotiated the final 3 kilometres at a slow pace  – legs straining to maintain a rhythm, back aching from the weight of my pack, head down watching my shadow on the road and a small bead of sweat that would form and reform on the tip of my cap, swaying from side to side to the rocking of my pedalling before dropping to the roadside.

We met up again at the summit for a quick breather and some food – by now the afternoon had moved on and it was getting on towards 2.30 and we still had a long way to go.

A few meters beyond the crest of the road and the descent started down into the next valley.  This is where the epic part of the ride came in.  The road dropped down through a series of around 16 or so switchbacks almost to the valley floor with steep drop offs on either side and pitches in places of about 12 percent.  Because the road surface was so potted, patched and covered with a light dusting of gravel we had to be constantly on the brakes as we went down and the descent took a  considerable time – around 45mins or so – we had to stop several times to relieve the cramp in our hands and wrists and to cool the rims.  During the descent we encountered only one or two cars and a number or riders including about 8 of the Skil Shimano pro team who looked like they were using the climb as a training ride.

Once we regrouped just after stopping at the roadside above we passed through a series of villages – le Perron, Clavans and Mizeon where we stopped to chat to a group of Welsh cyclists and a young english woman (seen to the left in the shot below) who was chatting with them accompanied by case holding a bass or other string instrument – it was quite surreal.

We made a quick final descent down to the valley and started the long drag back up the valley stopping finally at La Grave at a small cafe with a TV.  By this stage in the afternoon it was several hours since we had last eaten and I had succumb to a bad hunger flat 20mins prior by getting off the bike and desparately rummaging through my pack to discover a mars bar that got me through to the last cafe.

Mark had reached it first and I recognised his bike leaning outside – by this time he was almost beyond speech and I received only a grunt and a far off stare when I asked if he wanted something to eat.  The woman running the bar produced two bagettes as long as my forearm filled with ham, cheese and salad that in my case took half an hour to consume, washed down with a badly needed series of Heinekens, 2 coffees and a litre of water. 

In the meantime we enjoyed watching the final 30ks of the stage over the Galibier taking place 10ks up the road from where we sitting.  At one point I had trouble concentrating on the race coverage as there was an outstanding poster just to the left above the TV as pictured below:

The chaos part of the ride came as we made our way up the remaining 10ks to crest the Col de Lauteret – by this time it was around 6pm and literally tens of thousands of cyclists, pedestrians, and motor vehicles were trying to get down off the Galibier down in the direction of Alp D’Huez while we were trying to travel up against the flow.  It was like salmon strugging upstream – the closer we got to the summit the more out of control and dangerous it became – bike riders descending at speed directly in our path prompting me to yell and swear at them to avoid a collision.  Several times the crush became so bad that we had to get off and walk as the safest option. 

An example of the French attitude to driving off a mountain after a bike race features in the pics below.

and it got worse further up:

We finally made the summit to encounter total gridlock which was hilarious in its own way.

Through all of this chaos I noticed that at the top the gendarmes had blocked the roads to all descending traffic to allow team cars and buses and other vehicles associated with the Tour to come through with priority access.  Nice to see some efficiency working in amongst all the chaos we had just encountered.

We finally managed to descend back down the valley at speed following motorbikes and skirting around a long convoy of traffic.

An adrenalin filled finish to a day of truly epic proportions.

Kiwicyclist

How do you properly describe one of the most significant, incredibly epic, awe inspiring, exhausting, exhilarating days of your (cycling) life?  Every cliche in the book would not do it justice.  The following statistics would not come close – 3140 meters of climbing, 8.23 hrs of riding, 131 ks covered, 65 minutes or close to it up Alp D’Huez.  

Huge fucking day on the bike.

 – that would do.

I’m typing this up at 10pm after returning back to our hotel in Sierre Chevalier at 7.30pm, an empty tired shell full after a 3 course feast washed down with a number of well earned beers.  My knees ache, I feel raw, dehydrated and on an absolute high.

We headed out this morning at 8.30 to climb the Col de Lauratet which is 15 odd ks up the valley from our front door before decending for 40ks down to le Bourg d’Oisans at the base of Alp D’Huez.  It is a long slow drag up at around 4 -5% with the fun part closer to the top of the climb when we headed through some of the avalanche tunnels.  

When I stopped to put on knee and armwarmers and a vest a curious group of Frenchmen came over to inspect the bike. One of them started pointing at my Garmin and asked me in French if it worked by satellite which I confirmed “oui par satellite” and we proceeded to have an animated discussion about the model number, different readings availablenand cost back in Australia – in my case in broken French and sign language – I think I lost him when I tried to explain why I didn’t use the height percentage reading (as I have said before it is too mentally challenging) but there were lots of gallic nods and gesticulations – they seemed to be quite impressed.

As I posted up on twitter earlier today we stopped for about half an hour further down the road in La Grave (famous for its extreme skiing) which is 10 ks into the descent as the weather turned and rain came over from the direction we were heading in – and it was freezing.

Some views from the Col de Lauratet and a few Ks past the summit towards La Grave:

The descent is pretty manageable with the only tricky part negotiating a number of long very dark tunnels with bike and road traffic in both directions making it a bit treacherous.  As you head closer in towards Bourg d’Oisans you skirt around the edge of a lake filled with grey glacial water and cross a hydro dam before heading up again for a number of ks along a steep sided valley covered in forest. 

In the gorge – the heavy metal horns thing is catching on with the group (I feel so proud):

Borg d’Oisans itself sits at the base of Alp D’Huez and the infamous first ramp started almost immediately out of the town.  “Bang” it hits you straight away and is a challenging slog for the first 5 or so kilometers.

I decided to push on alone as I knew some of the stronger climbers in our group would overtake me and managed to get up to turn 9 without stopping for a short breather and a photo as per below.  The views are incredible and there was a constant stream of riders tackling the climb as well as campervans and cars lining the route on the upper slopes. 

While tapping away in a steady rhythm on the pedals I saw two riders snap chains during the climb – “poor bastards” I thought as it brought back memories of my trip up Mt Ventoux a few days earlier.

What I thought was pretty cool about the climb apart from the spectacular views across the valley were the markers with the different names of famous riders as you can see from the shot above. 

Oh, and I should mention the Dutch.  Boy can those guys party.  Further up the climb I bumped into these guys below and had to stop and take some shots – they were already pretty smashed, had the doof doof music blaring and were making a huge roar when anyone wearing rabobank kit came by.  One of them came up and offered me a beer when I stopped and babbled something incomprehensible in my ear which probably was something like ‘Ya dude, ve like to party much no?”

Dig the older guy rocking the clogs – legend

Further up the climb I rounded the infamous Dutch corner – how did I know you ask? Apart from the fact that I could hear it from several turns below and the 20 ft section of road painted orange, there was was a 2 story scaffolding construction set up as DJ box covered in taupaulin – with a DJ spinning discs on twin turntables!  Look for it on TV tomorrow – it is completely mental.

The final part of the climb levels out a bit and we all completed it in grey skies and gently falling drizzle –  I like to think of the conditions when Armstrong attacked up the climb in the rain but in reality it was mild and slightly refreshing in comparison.  It was mayhem in the village at the top with huge crowds of riders getting photos taken and buying souvenirs.

Jarrod (part of our group)’s ghetto video arrangements for the descent below.

By now we had completed around 70 ks of riding and had to retrace our way back up the valley to Col de Lauratet – a long steady climb of around 40ks on tired legs.   Both Poz via email and someone else up on the hill suggested an alternative route home which would avoid part of the climb and bring us out further up the valley – by going over the top and climbing and then descending the Col de Sarenne which is what 5 of our group managed to do.

View above airport Alp D’Huez on route to the Col de Sarenne.

And that is where the “epic’ part of our day started. (to be updated in the morning when the computer is recharged).

Kiwicyclist

A very interesting and somewhat enjoyable day following the Tour across into Italy today up to Sestriere to watch the stage pass by.

There was some debate over breakfast over where to ride to as the options around here are almost overwhelming. However after enduring almost undrinkable coffee for the past week the prospect of getting over the border to get a caffeine fix won us all over.

Our route from the hotel took us down the valley back to Briancon for about 16ks fully kitted up in winter gear. My temperature gauge said it was 12 degrees and it felt somewhat colder – a relatively miserable start to the day in my case after a restless night. The 2 star hotel we are in is something else and has the kind of beds where the springs are so stuffed my feet were probably close to my nose due to the sag in the middle. To top it off breakfast was on the “lean” side so many of us had half full tanks.

The climb itself consisted of an ascent of about 9 ks up to Montegenvre a descent down into the valley on the Italian side and a further 11 ks up to Sestriere.

In comparison to the other big climbs we have been doing this should have been easy however I found it harder work than I should have in the cold thin air. Our hotel is already quite high at 1500 odd meters so easier climbs require quite a lot more effort.

Cresting Montegenvre we sailed through the unmanned border crossing and descended down into the valley at speed entering a series of tunnels with strong winds buffeting us as we went down. Like my descent off Ventou my bike was bumped around and I found it completely nerve wracking.

Part way up the Sestriere climb which I was by now doing on my own I bumped into Will Watson from Melbourne who was also across to watch the stage with girlfriend Britt. Will had successfully completed the Etape the previous week and Alpe D’huez a few days ago.

We found Britt and the rest of the group at Sestriere and camped in a cafe downing as many espressos as we could watching the first English commentary of the Tour we have seen so far.

Tandem recumbent.  WTF?

I wandered outside with Mark to watch the Tour come through and managed to get on Tv apparently. The urge to do something juvenile when the peleton comes through is almost overwhelming and I can understand the annoying idiots doing the run next to the riders. In our case we had the best view possible and could have reached out and touched the riders as they came through if we felt so inclined. Will and I settled for making heavy metal horn signs for HMC James back in Melbourne -I hope he saw it as I copped plenty of twitter abuse as a result.

Front runners coming through.  Note metal horns right.

Caught the bus back to the hotel and saw a rider who had come off – he seemed ok but his carbon Wilier was snapped in three places. Nasty.
Big day of riding coming up tomorrow -Alp D’Huez which will be a round trip of around 130 ks. The roads back from the Col Lauretet will be closed by the time we get back so we will find a cafe and catch the queen stage of the Tour on TV.
Kiwicyclist

Busy day of travel today from a rain soaked Avignon across and into the Alps via Gap where we stopped mid morning to catch the stage finish.

Not a whole lot to report on today as it was a non riding day for us. Interesting however to wander around the finish area and media compound. We spotted Matt Keenan setting up in the commentary booth and bumped into Phil Anderson’s tour group sheltering in the rain while we were hunting for umbrellas and warm clothing in a huge kmart type store.
We managed to watch a fair bit of the stage over lunch in chain restaurant called “flunch”. Funnily enough it did not stock meals called flandwiches served by flaitresses although I was highly tempted to ask.
I had a savory crepe which consisted of ham,cheese and an egg lightly grilled called a “complete” which was delicious.
We caught the final move of the race at the barriers at 450 meters to the finish with Thor sitting at 3rd wheel looking poised for the win. Cadel came through not long after and looked very strong – a good sign for the next few days.
We arrived lateish into Sierre Chevalier and have some big HC climbs planned for the next few days.
The Alps look huge from the valley we are in and there is a fair amount of snow on the peaks. It promises to be an interesting couple of days.

Kiwicyclist

As mentioned in yesterday’s post today we tackled the monster of Provence – Mt Ventou in a 95K circuit that took us down through a gorge just past the village of Sault called the Gorge de la Nesque and starting and finishing in the village of Bedoin – the same way up as featured in the Tour a few years ago.

As you can see from the pictures we encountered almost perfect conditions, blue skies and not too much wind.

We set off mid morning from Bedoin with a plan of meeting as a group at the small ski station 6 ks  below the summit once everyone had completed the climb to regroup for the rest of the circuit.  Our start was slightly marred by a fairly long walk in cleats through the main street of Bedoin which had been converted to an extensive Monday morning market crammed full of local townspeople going about their business. 

Despite this being a rest day for the Tour there were many bike riders tackling the climb.  My day almost ended in fairly dramatic fashion quite early into the climb at about the 5k (of 22) mark about 20mins out of Bedoin when the chain skipped, clunked and then snapped, unravelling through the derailleur and spilling onto the road.  Mark and I then spent the next 20 minutes trying to instal the wippermann connector link I carry with me which was a four handed job and something of a comedy of errors with 5 minutes wasted searching for one half of the link in the roadside debris after we dropped it on the first attempt.  Finally we got going again and thankfully the chain worked fine.

The climb in comparison to my ride up the Plateau de Beille was far more comfortable and I attributed this to having had a rest day but also a more consistent gradient and far more temperate conditions to climb in – in addition I did not look at the profile screen on my Garmin that shows the gradient and will not use it on any of the other climbs I do – it is too demoralising and a better strategy to ride by feel.

We made steady progress in 22 odd degrees with a cooling breeze keeping most of the sweat out of our eyes.  Again we climbed euro style with helmets slung over the bars, gloves tucked away and sunglasses perched on our caps.

We made up good time arriving at the turnoff village and emerging into the final 6 kilometres of the climb for which Ventou is rightly famous – others can describe the scene more eloquently than I can but it is a barren, bright pile of pale rock punctuated by a finger of the road marked with ski poles heading up to the observation tower.  The tower itself appears deceivingly and cruelly close despite the fact that it is 6 kilometers in the distance.

By now the gradient had increased and many riders were pedalling squares with a headwind around some corners and a tailw ind around others – the temperature was also considerably lower – 14 degrees according to my Garmin and by now both of us were wearing armwarmers to provide some protection from the wind.

My legs were feeling pretty good and with 3 ks to go I said to Mark I wanted to have a crack at it – big mistake – I had pushed my cadence up to around the mid 80s and realised about 400 meters on that my breathing did not feel right – the readings on the monitor suggested I had overcooked it considerably and I felt like I was hyperventilating in the thin air – not pleasant and not smart.

Mark caught me up soon after and we completed the climb together arriving up the final steep ramp to the observation tower side by side buzzing with a huge sense of achievement.  Ventou completed – 2 hrs 15mins which included a 20min stop for the chain mechanical – 22 ks and around 1970 metres of climbing.

The temperature at the top was pretty cold – cold enough that our breath fogged as it came out so we quickly put on warm kit, stopped for the photos and headed quickly back down to our meeting point. 

And this is when my next bit of drama occurred – as I was descending around one of the bends my front wheel got caught by a cross wind and the whole front end of bike was pushed sideways moving me across the road around what felt like a meter – we thought later the wind speed was around 70ks but it was certainly blowing and hard – I nearly shat myself.   Then around a kilometer further down the hill my front tire made a familiar hiss and quickly flatted while decending at speed – exactly the same scenario as 2 days ago although somewhat errierily I stopped directly opposite the Simpson Memorial featured in the shot above, taken just after I changed my tire with my only spare tube. 

My now tentative descent continued and I was on my own and running quite late to meet everyone when again the front tire flatted this time requiring the tire to be patched before I could continue.

So a day of drama.

Fortunately I managed to meet our group and we continued on to the village of Sault down a the roughest road we have encountered in the entire trip – by rough I mean a piece of road with a similar gradient to the Kinglake climb but with patches all over the place that could easily throw you off your line.

However it was worth it as we came across some lavender fields just above the village that were stunning and provided an excellent photo op. 

We finished the loop by going through the Gorge de la Nesques which is accessed after a relatively steady and easy climb for several Ks out of Sault.  As you can see from some of the pictures below the Gorge is dramatic in every way – the road continues high up through the cliffs with drop-offs of several hundred feet on one side at the highest part of the gorge – and the best part – most of it is downhill for at least 18ks and not too technical. 

I have Poz to thank for his excellent recommendation to do this extra part of the ride – it is stunning in every sense and the entire day was an incredible highlight to our trip so far.  A total contrast to days spent chasing the Tour worrying about completing climbs and getting back to the bus in time before the road closes.

As as for Ventou – in the words of a famous Kiwi who first climbed Everest –

“We knocked the bastard off”.

Kiwicyclist