Le Col du Calibier via le Col du Lautaret

Just over a year ago, on June 19th, 2010, Hank Brandjten and I rode the Col du Galibier from the north side.  We had Hank's wife Ki drop us at the bottom of the Col du Telegraphe and she went up with us as a support car.  We had a lovely lunch in Valloire in the saddle at the top of le Col du Telegraphe, then Hank and I started up le Col du Galibier where things started to get cold and white.  Climbing up in a snow storm is no problem, but descending in a snow storm is not much fun.

So Hank and I were cheated out of our descent down the south side of the Col du Galibier.  We wisely loaded the bikes into our car on top and Ki drove us home to the King of the Mountains Lodge down the south side of the Col du Galibier and then down from the Col du Lauteret.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the French Alps and there was no chance of any snow on top of the Galibier, so I decided to ride from the KOM Lodge to the top of the Col du Galibier from the south side. It was my eighth day in France and my eighth day in a row of hard riding.  The route started out the same way as my last two days of riding did with a descent from the KOM Lodge down to Bourg  d'Oisans and a ride up the Romanche River Valley.

After the first bit of climbing along the river I came to the first of many tunnels on the route up through La Grave to the Col du Lautaret.  I had passed through the same tunnel twice already on the last two days of riding and I was getting used to it.  The signage with the bike with a red slash through it in the photo would make one think that no bicycles are allowed in the tunnel, but actually it means that the bicycle lane is ending.  There is another sign just beyond it telling motorist to keep a meter and a half between themselves and cyclist when the motorist have an opportunity to pass - even in the tunnels.  The safe passing signs are fairly common and by and large the drivers are much better at sharing the road with bicyclist than American drivers are.

Legally you need a tail light on your bicycle in the tunnels.  I have both a small head light and a tail light on my bike.  Alberto Contador and his team got stopped by the Gendarmes within the last week or so for not having tail lights when they were previewing the Tour de France course.  Contador's team tried to argue that the headlights from their support cars were enough, but the gendarmes made them load their bicycles on their cars to pass through the many tunnels.  Two of the tunnels are 700 meters long.  I have no idea what the gendarmerie would have done had it been a French team without tail lights for their bikes.

As always there were some beautiful views along the way.

Soon I had passed the spots where I had turned off the road on the last few days.  This route over the Col du Lauteret is the main route between Grenoble and Briançon, through Bourg d'Oisnans and Le Grave, and I was making the fairly gentle ascent along the river up to Le Grave.  

There were several flashing signs letting drivers know that the two cols were 'OUVERT' - meaning 'OPEN.'  The Colorado Department of Transportation, CDOT, would do well to copy this system for Independence Pass.

This sign's flashing message about the pass being open alternated with an admonition to drivers and bicyclist to 'PARTEGEONS' - 'SHARE' the road

I had lunch in Le Grave.  The view below was from the patio of the restaurant on the main road in the middle of town.

Here is the view back on Le Grave from further up the pass.

Another neon sign above Le Grave saying both passes are open.

And the road keeps climbing.  Notice how the terrain is getting more Alpine.

Looking back down the pass

Finally, after 30 miles of climbing I came to the top of the Col du Lauteret.  

The last time I was here it was snowing.  Yesterday it was beautiful. I didn't even need my jacket for the descent.  From here if you go straight on the main road you drop down into Briançon.  But a left turn off of the top of the col takes you up le Col de Galibier.

Notice all the motorcycles coming off of the Galibier.

It's another five and a half miles of climbing to the top of the Galibier.  

The view back down to the buildings on top of theCol du Lauraret

One of the big last switchbacks reminded me of the big bend at the top of Independence Pass, but there was still lots of climbing to be done.

The big bend on the Galibier

Still climbing.  It's hard to see, but the little dip in the ridge line in the bellow photo is the top.  There are several switchbacks below it.

And finally I made it.

They say that the camera puts on five pounds.  As Hank says there must have been a lot of cameras up there.

On the descent I stopped for half of a sandwich at the top of the col du Lauteret.  A big herd of sheep had come down to the col.

It was 72 miles round trip from the KOM Lodge to the top of the Galibier with 8,200 feet of climbing.  I had a bit of an adventure on the way back that I will try to blog about latter.  No big deal, though, really.  It was a fun ride!  Ciao.

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.

Climbathon

Loyal readers of this blog (there may be as many of ten of you) will recall that last year one of the themes of the blog was Hannibal's elephants.  In 218 BC during the Second Punic War Hannibal crossed the Alps with 37 war elephants.  As Hank and I were (and are) both larger cyclist (AKA clydesdales) we felt a certain affinity to Hannibal's elephant as we pedaled are way over the high cols of the French Alps.

Let's review what we know about elephants (aside from the fact that they are large):

1) Elephants are afraid of mice.

2) Elephants never forget.

3) Elephants like peanuts.

Let's take these points one at a time:  1) Elephants are afraid of mice.  I am not afraid of mice, but I do dislike them.  I trap them occasionally at my house and not humanely.

2) Elephants never forget.  I have a pretty good memory.  This morning I was thinking of the last day of riding I had with Hank here last year - June 29th, 2010.  It was a great day with incredible climbs on both sides of the Romanche River Valley that Bourg d'Oisans lies in.  But what I ws really remembering was the incredible descents we made down from Alpe d'Huez over the Col de la Sarenne and down from Le Deux Alpes on the shelf road through Le Travers.

Ever since Hank and I made those descents last year I have wanted to do the same route in the opposite direction.  The incredible descents become incredible climbs and vice a versa.  So today I did just that.

I got a late start.  The rain days got me in the mode of having a nap after breakfast.  Dinner at the KOM Lodge isn't served until 8:00 PM and, as I have mentioned before, there is still day light even later than that so leaving at 11:00 AM (which is what I did) still gives me nine hours of ride time.  So at the crack of 11:00 I was out the door and descending the Col d'Ornan into Bourg d'Oisans.  And did I immediately ride up the Romanche Valley to the bottom of the sneaky back road up to le Deux Alpes?  Nope, I stopped in Bourg d'Oisans for a lasagna lunch, because I knew I would be needing a lot of fuel for the big climbs ahead.

The back road up to Le Deux Alpes was as phenomenal as I remembered for descending it.  It started out as a beautiful series of switchbacks on a one lane road up through the forest.

Then, as often happens here, I popped out on a shelf road with great views of the valley and the road ahead.

Eventually I came to the main road up le Deux Alpes about six kilometers below the resort.  Like Alpe d'Huez, the switchbacks are numbered and I was five switchback corners from last corner before the ski resort.  I took a break in le Deux Alpes, then dropped down the main road, the same road Hank had been so keen on riding up last June.

I love the way French signage tells you you are leaving a town.

In the valley at the bottom you come out on the main road between Bourg d'Oisans and Le Grave.  If you take a right you immediately cross a damn and are at the foot of the climb up towards the Col de la Sarenne, which the sneaky back way up to the ski station at Alpe d'Huez.

The climbing was quite steep right away.  But I love these quiet, beautiful, back roads.

Once again, I climbed through a forest passing through some tiny hamlets, and then the ride became more Alpine and I could see the switchbacks above me.  I passed the house next to the huge rock that Hank and I had noticed the year before.

Hank and I didn't miss much - especially the obvious.

The switchbacks were incredible.  I used my elephantine memory to remember that last year from the top I had compared them to descending into an abyss.  But now I was climbing up out of the abyss.

And finally I could see the last switchbacks at the top of the col.

Not the best photograph I have every taken.

On top the road rolled though high meadows.  Several ski lifts came into sight as well as some enormous herds of sheep.

As I came into the ski station of Alpe d"Huez I once again saw the scariest airport I have ever personally set eyes upon.

That is one short runway off of a cliff.

And just like that I was in Alpe d'Huez.  I now had the classic 21 hairpin turn descent from Alpe d'Huez  to Bourg d'Oisans before me.  It was great fun.  There was one climb left, back up the Col d'Ornan to my home away from home, the King of the Mountains Lodge.

The bottom of the climb up the Col d'Ornan

It was a great day.  52.5 miles of riding and about 8,100 feet of climbing and all of it had been fun.  Here is the Garmin Map of my route:

Bottom Left KOM Lodge / Bottom Right the road up le Deux Alpes / Top Right  Col de la Sarenne / Top Left Alpe d'Huez

3) Elephants love peanuts.  I love peanuts.  And the funny thing is that the French use the same word for peanuts as the Mexicans and Spanish do: cacahouètes (French) / cacahuates (Spanish).  So when I go into the little Mini-Casino Supermarket in Bourg d'Oisans I know what to look for.  The word come from the Nahuatl (Aztec) language as do other words that have made it into English and other languages, like chocolate and coyote.

This year I am going to make it over the cols and into Italy.  Now some may consider it cheating, but I will be flying from Lyon to Milan on Swiss Air next Sunday.  But I think I have already done enough climbing to prove I could have done it like Hannibal did.

Return to Villard Reymond

It is still the same day here in France as it was when I made my last post (Tower of Babel) and guess what, around 3:00 PM:

'Dissipation de nuages'  - The clouds started to clear

And so I was able to squeeze in another late afternoon ride.  I decided to ride half way down the Col d'Ornan from my base at the KOM Lodge in Le Rivier d'Ornan, turn right at La Palud, and head back up toward Villard Reymond and the top of the Col du Soulor.  This is the reverse of the end of the ride I did on day two.  Click on the map below and hopefully it will enlarge and you will get a view of the route.

I wrote postcards until about 3:30 PM while waiting for the road to dry then I hopped on my bike for what turned out to be a beautiful ride.  What had been a fun ten kilometer descent on Monday turned into a fantastic 10 kilometer climb on a single lane with multiple switchbacks up to a shelf road that ran along a shale cliff face.  Once again there were helpful kilometer markers that tell you how many kilometers it is to Villard Reymond and how steep the next kilometer would be.

It was a fun climb, not as steep as the climb up the Col de Parquetout, so I could just sit and spin up it. The pavement was great for a small road to a remote village.  Along the shale cliff there was some small rock fall on the roadway.  I saw a small pine tree growing right out of the rock face that I quite liked.

On my way up I was listening to my ipod and for my friends that share my love of Spanish rock I recommend Jarabe de Palo's new CD (or album or download or whatever term they are now using to designate a new collection of music) '¿Y Ahora Que Hacemos?'.  It's really good.

The weather was mixed, I had some sun and some fog, but no rain.  Near the top of the Col I came out of some mist and into Villard Reymond.


The old school house has been turned into a cafe.

I stopped in and had a delicious blueberry tart with some carmel ice cream.  Then I finished the ride up to the top of the Col du Soulor.  The clouds had broken up and I could see the town of Huez and Alpe d'Huez across the way.

And just off the top of the col above Villard Reymond was one of the shortest rope tows I had ever seen, especially giventhe fact  I was near the top of the French Alps.

From the top of the col I descended all the way back down to the road up the Col d'Ornan and I was enjoying the ride so much I decided to drop on down into Bourg d'Oisans to buy some more postcards.  Then I road back up the Col d'Ornan just in time for a shower and dinner.  All told I rode about 27 miles and climbed about 4.300 feet.  Another rain day saved by a change in the weather.

Tower of Babel

Today is my fifth day in France and I had grand plans for a great ride, but I am going to have to wait for a day.  Why?  Because:

Il Pleut

It's raining, and it's not just that 'il pleut'.  It's raining buckets.  It's raining cats and dogs.  Or as the French would say:

Il pleut des grenouilles / des cordes / des hallebardes / des clous / à seaux / comme vache qui pisse
it's raining frogs / ropes / halberds / nails / buckets / like a pissing cow


It is 11:30 in the morning here and it is pouring rain, but they have daylight forever here at this time of year.  Guy and Helyn serve a family style dinner here at the KOM Lodge around 8:00 PM, but it is still light out until after 9:00 PM.  So if it stops raining I might get a ride in this afternoon, but it will not be the grand tour I was thinking of last night when we thought the weather would be good here today.  French meteorologists are about as accurate as Colorado meteorologists when it comes to guessing at future weather condition.  (If meteorologists study the weather who studies meteors?)


So I might get a ride in later and if I do I will blog about it, but in the meantime I would like to write about speaking French with the French and with other cyclists on the road.


One of the things I really enjoy about being here is brushing off my college French and speaking with the locals.  It's fun.  I had to take four semesters of French at the University of Colorado when I got my degree is Spanish and I really enjoyed it.  I speak enough French to get by and I reviewed it before I came over.  


The French get an undeserved rap from most Americans for being rude or uncivil.  That has never been my experience with them here.  They are delighted that I am trying to speak French.  They are helpful and unfailingly pleasant.  And it is much more fun to speak the language on a rudimentary level - exchanging pleasantries, politely ordering something to eat or drink in a cafe or asking how much you owe for same, or getting help with road directions - than it is try to speak about something more complicated - like US politics or literature.


The French like to know where you come from.  If they have been to the US they like to talk about where they were there and what they did.  The other day in the cafe I stopped in on my way up the Col de la Croix de Fer I conversed for about ten minutes in mixed English and French with a gentleman who had lived for three years in Wyoming.  I got to hear all about his cowboy hat in French.  It had shrunk and he was trying to figure out how to stretch the band out.  It was not a Stetson, but he really liked it.  The French also want to know what you think of their Alps and if you think the road climbs are hard.


The French are like the Mexicans in that they always respond to the greeting 'Bonjour' in kind, with a reply of 'Bonjour.'  I remember being in Mexico once and when a man failed to respond to the greeting 'Buenos días' the Mexican I was with seriously postulated that perhaps the man was deaf.  It's the same way here.  People never fail to greet each other.  Around dusk 'Bonjour' becomes 'Bonsoir.'  The French make no special discrimination of the afternoon, there is no 'Buenas tardes' or 'Good afternoon'.  It's just 'Bonjour' until around 6 PM.


Speaking with other cyclists is even more fun because there is so much bike tourism here that you never know what country they are from until the conversation gets rolling.  You start speaking in French and they start speaking in French, and then you figure out that they are French or English or Dutch or whatever.  Sometimes the conversation switches to English.  Sometimes it is a mix of French and English.  


Two days ago at the bottom of the Col d'Ornan I spoke with three very fit riders who were dressed head to toe in immaculate white kit from Lance Armstrong's bike shop in Austin, Texas.  The white jerseys and shorts had the Texas star and the name of the shop, 'Mellow Johnny's, Lance's Tour de France teammates play on the French words 'maillot juane' or 'yellow jersey.'

The same jersey from the Mellow Johnny's webpage

I asked them in English if they were from Austin.  No they said.  They were from London.  They were just big Lance Armstrong fans.  It's good to know Lance still has fans.