Today the weather looked like it might get sketchy with the possibility of rain, so we decided to use our rental Renault Kangoo (I have been mistakenly calling our Renault a Kangaroo, the model is actually called a Kangoo & the French word for Kangaroo is Kangourou. My bad.) to drive over the Col de la Croix de Fer to St-Michelle-de-Maurienne and start our ride from there. The plan was to ride the Col du Galibier via the Col du Telegraphe, the thought being that even if it did start to rain we would be warm while we were climbing the two cols and that if the weather was really bad when we reached the top of the Col du Galibier at 2,674 meters (8,678 feet) we could beat a hasty retreat by car. It is no big deal climbing in the cold as the exertion of climbing keeps one warm, but descending in the cold is an extremely different proposition as your body is no longer producing that much heat and a speedy descent creates quite the wind-chill factor. Factor in the wetness factor and things can get miserably cold.
It was pouring rain as we drove over the Col de la Croix de Fer, but that did not seem to be stopping dozens of hardy souls from starting a Saturday ride up the col. We drove out of the rain on the far side of the col and into La Maurienne Valley. Once again, it looked like Team
Clydesdale had caught a break as the weather looked good for our climb. I even put on sun screen. Both of today's col featured kilometer markers like the one pictured to the right that tell you just how far you are from the top of the respective col and what the average road grade is for the next kilometer of climbing. The Col du Telegraphe was a fabulous climb with fantastic views of the valley below and the switch backs of the road we had just come up. After we summited we dropped down into the town of Valloire in the saddle between the two cols and had lunch. As we started up the Col du Galibier it began to rain lightly, and we would have percipitation all the way to the top. As we climbed the temperature dropped, and we knew it would get colder as the weather forecast for tomorrow was calling for snow and today had been chillier than yesterday from the get go. So that, coupled with the fact that the Col du Galibier is about 600 meters higher than the Col de la Croix de Fer suggested that we might get snowed on. About five kilometer from the top we road into the white. At first it was just a combination
of fog and mist, but with about three kilometers to go it turned into a foggy white light snowfall. We saw riders coming down and they looked like they were suffering. One English speaking rider declared he could not feel his hands. Team Clydesdale opted for a mountain top finish and at the top of the Col du Galibier we loaded the bikes into the car and headed down the other side and back to our lodge. We were done after just under 22 miles of riding and 6,963 feet of climbing. Pictured at left Hank disappearing into the gloom toward the summit. The view from the summit itself was very much like what I imagine the view of the inside of a Clorox bottle would be if it was illuminated. It was rather like being in a very big, very cold, very wet, white room. But we got our ride in, so I count the day as a triumph.
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