2012 Day 13 in France - The North Side of le Col du Glandon

Day 13 and my days in the Alpe d'Huez area are coming to an end.  I have two days of real riding left here so I decided to rent a van and go a little farther away to start my ride.  I have driven up the north side of le Col du Glandon, but I had never ridden it.  It looked awesome when I drove it so I decided to park my van at the top, descend it, then ride back up.  One advantage of this approach is that if it starts to rain you are warm because you are climbing and you can just load the bike into the van and avoid a freezing descent.

My rental van.  The easy way to the top of the Glandon.  Somehow I got the biggest vehicle in their fleet.  I did like the nod to Colorado Rockies Baseball All-Star Carlos Gonzales on the side of the van: 'CarGo!'

Before I descended I had lunch at the Chalet at the top of the Glandon

Then I rode back over the summit to start the descent.

It's all down hill from here!  At least until I turn around and ride back up it.

There was still plenty of paint on the road from this year's TDF.  And, evidently, someone really likes Alice.  I snapped some photo's of this - Alice Je T-Aime' - for Guy and Helyn back at the KOM Lodge, because, of course, their baby girl is name Alice.  Everybody loves Alice!

The view from the bottom.  19 Kilometers back to the van.

The col is still open.

I stopped at a bridge that the Germans evidently blew up during the Second World War.  No wonder the French around these parts love them so much.

The road keeps climbing so I have to keep climbing, too.

 More paint on the road from this year's TDF.

The view back down the col from close to the top.

I finally get back to the top.  The last three Kilometers are steep.

As you can see from the above photo it clouded up on top later in the day.  It was raining a bit when I hit the summit, but I just put the bike in the van and drove home.  I love it when a plan comes together.   Another great day on the bike.  I really enjoyed riding the col both ways.  It wasn't a long ride, around 27 miles, but a fun 4,775 foot descent then climb back up from the valley bottom.

Landscape Art at the top of the col for the TDF.