Le Freney Balcony

Today was my seventh day in France and I got out for my seventh big ride in the row.  To say there is no rest for the wicked would be a bit of an exaggeration, because once again I got up around 8:00 AM for breakfast then promptly went back to sleep until about 11:00 AM.  Part of my problem is that I am up until all hours writing this blog, but even when I go up to bed I wind up being unable to sleep and I usually read until around 2:00 in the morning.

To be honest I don't see this as being that big a deal, because 1) I am riding a lot and I need to recover and 2) Even if I don't leave the King of the Mountain Lodge until late in the morning I still have eight hours of daylight to ride in.

Today I had my eye on riding Le Freney Balcony also known as the Le Garde shelf road.  This is the only sneaky way up on to the main Alpe d'Huez route that I had not ridden before.  The road is clearly visible from Bourg d'Oisans, it is a big gash all the way across the cliff-like hillside.  So as I sat on the patio in front of a restaurant in Bourg d'Oisans I could clearly see my destination.  Once again I am going to crib a map from another website (a map that I have cribbed before) that shows the various routes up Alpe d'Huez.

Once again if you click on the map it should show a larger version.  The Freney Balcony is the only road bike route onto the Alpe d'Huez road that is not highlighted on the map.  It is route D221A, at the bottom of the map, roughly paralleling the green route which shows the Col de la Sarenne route I did yesterday (minus my side trip up to Le Deux Alpes on the south side of the valley.)

After lunch I road up the Romanche River Valley on that same green route (on the cribbed map) that  I had followed the day before, passing through some tunnels and by the turn off I had made to the right up through le Travers to Le Deux Alpes. This is the main route between Bourg d'Oisans and Le Grave and beyond that to Briançon.  In the small village at the bottom of the road up to the Freney Balcony and the ski station of Auris I made a right hand onto the route - D221A.  The climbing was immediately steep and relentless.  So much for this being any sort of a rest day.  But I felt good.

Above is a photo of one of the lower switchbacks.  

It was a hot day, and after a fair bit of sweating I could look across the valley and see the Travers shelf road I was on yesterday (Above.)  The climbing eventually got easier and I was soon confronted with a choice:

Should I just ride across le Freney Balcony AKA La Garde shelf road to the Alpe d'Huez road or should I ride up to the ski station at Auris?  As my buddy Hank would say, "When was I going to be there again?"  Besides, the sign said it was only five kilometers.  The sign lied.

The first switchback on the way up to Auis

I think what the sign should have said would have been '5 Kilometers to the next sign that says it is now 5 Kilometers to Auris.'  But eventually I got there.

If you are wondering what the ski station of Auris is like in the summer, think what Aspen Highlands or Bachelor's Gulch are like in the summer.  Quiet.  Auris is kind of like Bachelor's Gulch in that it is another base area for the Alpe d'Huez ski area.  The general store was open though, and I had a 7-Up and a nice chat with the owners.  

My faithful steed at the ready in Auris

I am guessing Auris is at about the same elevation as Le Deux Alpes, because I could see Le Deux Alpes across the valley from the upper parking lot - the end of the paved climbing.

From Auris I dropped back down to the Ferney Balcony.  This is yet another tiny one lane shelf road which is perched on top of an absolute cliff.  There are a few tunnels and avalanche sheds.

You would not want to fall off of this thing.

World's smallest avalanche shed.

Eventually I popped out in the small town of Le Garde, which is about five turns up from the bottom of the Alpe d'Huez climb.  It sounds like you would be close to the bottom, but these are some of the biggest switchbacks.  From there I descended into town for a well-earned gelato before the obligatory climb back up the three quarters of the Col d'Ornan and home.  It had been a surprisingly big day with about 5,400 feet of climbing over about 42 miles of riding.