Day 9 -The Col de Parquetout and the Col du Noyer

Today Team Clydesdale decided it was time to start trying to ride some of the cols that this year's Tour de France will ride this July. Our goal for the day was to ride the Col du Noyer which will be featured on the 10th Stage of this year's TDF on 14th of July. The tour riders will cover 179 kilometers between Chambéry and Gap. It is a medium climbing day with the biggest climb being the Col du Noyer. The word 'noyer' is French for 'walnut tree' and we decided to crack the nut (la noix) before the tour does (the word 'noyer' is also the French verb for to drown and, yes, we were hoping not to drown in our attempt to ride the col.)

But first we had to get to the area of the Col du Noyer which is a fair distance to the south east from our lodge. We decided to ride part way there and knock off the little known, but extremely steep Col de Parquetout enroute. Then we would have Ki meet us with the Renault and we would drive to the town of Corps for lunch. From Corps we would drive to the town of La Motte and begin the approach to the Col du Noyer.

The Col de Parquetout begins just past the town of Entraigues at the bottom of the south side of the Col d'Ornan, so we rode the three kilometers from our lodge on the north side of the col and descended to the bottom of the Parquetout. The Parquetout is only a seven kilometer

climb, but the average grade is well over ten percent. The TDF will not be going over it any time soon as it is an extremely narrow one lane road that winds up through the forrest. It is the site of a local bicycle hill climb event whose organizers have thoughtfully painted the percent of the road grade every 100 yards or so on the pavement so you can look down and read 16% or 12.5%. It is one of the few climbs I have been on where I have been happy to see that a stretch of the grade was rated at 10% as that seemed like a bit of a break after a lengthy 16% grade.

Ki passed us in the Renault near the top and eventually Team Clydesdale triumphed and made our way to the top. Hank hopped into the car with Ki and I rode down the backside of the col to the first town where I joined them for a quick ride to Corps and lunch.

After lunch we drove to La Motte and began a beautiful ride that had been recommended to us by Helyn, one of the owners of the King of the Mountain lodge, that served as our approach on to the Col du Noyer. We had a gentle climb through a curving valley with a wild river below us and some beautiful

cliffs above us that eventually took us to a point that joined the 2010 TDF 10th Stage route and the climb up the Col du Noyer.

This is where the trouble started for Team Clydesdale. Nothing comes easily for us when it comes to climbing. Just past the junction of the beautiful backwater country road we had just ridden and the main route, the main route was closed for bridge repair, probably in preparation for the upcoming TDF stage. Ki had to turn back with the Renault and drive a circuitous route to find the other side of the Col du Noyer. The plan was she would meet us at the top. Hank and I began the 17 kilometer climb by bike up the col. Things went swimmingly for a while. We didn't drown and it was a mellow climb. Then we came into the town of Saint Etienne and things went south in a hurry. There was an enormous horse loose on the bridge coming into town. Then, in the town, we ran into yet more road work being done. Rather than take the detour we rode through the construction zone and almost immediately came upon a sign for the Col du Noyer that pointed up an extremely narrow, extremely steep street. Up we went through the steeply curving back streets of Saint Etienne wondering if this could possibly be the right road. It seemed unlikely that the TDF was coming up this way.

We came upon a woman at the top of her driveway and I asked her if this was 'la bonne route' (the right way) up the Col du Noyer. She assured us it was and asked us if we had seen 'un cheval' (a horse.) We had, in fact, just seen a fellow clydesdalesque animal and in my broken French I told her where it was. It seems it was her son's horse and it had run off. Back on our bikes we continued to climb up a paved road that was as steep as the Parquetout climb of the morning in places, but with the occasional pothole and a fair bit of sandy gravel. We immediately saw a large sign indicating that this was the way to the Col du Noyer, but clearly the TDF was not coming up this cowpath. We had stumbled onto a back way up the col. 2.5 kilometers from the top of the col we popped out onto the main route - la bonne route - and from there it was an easy spin to the top.

We had cut 3 miles or so off the route so if Lance is behind at that stage of the TDF we can show him a short cut. We had about 7,600 feet of climbing in two rides that totaled about 36 miles. Below is a picture of Hank being melodramatic about the difficulty of the day.