2012 Day 2 France - La Berarde

The area around Bourg D'Oisans is a recreational paradise. There are the two huge ski stations (station being the French for a ski area,) Alpe d'Huez, and a little ways up the road towards La Grave (a famous ski area in its own right) you have Les Deux Alpes ski station.  Every col (col being the French term for a mountain pass) seems to have ski lifts at the top of it.  In the summer the ski stations are very popular destinations for road cyclists like myself that ride up the long access roads and mountain bikes that use the ski lifts for downhill runs or ride on the many trails.  But there is much more to the area than that.  The region to the south of Bourg d'Oisans is a the huge Ecrins National Park, the largest national park in France.  There are all sorts of camping areas in the region and hiking is an extremely popular activity.       In the heart of le Parc National de Ecrins is the small alpine village of Le Bernarde.  It is a jumping off point for hikers, but it is a classic bike climb up from Bourg d'Oisans.

I did this ride two years ago when I was here with Hank and Ki Brandjten.  It is about a 27 mile ride from  the King of the Mountain Lodge to the hamlet of La Bernarde, the last 15 miles or so before one gets to La Bernade are up a beautiful mountain valley with quite a bit of climbing.  In the photo below you can see beginning of the switchbacks in the climb up to St. Christophe en Oisans, which is about the half way point on the road up to Le Bernarde.

I has some real excitement on my descent in these switchbacks when I came back down.  I was going about 40 mph when my front tire went fat.  Fortunately it didn't go totally flat right away and I was able to come to a stop just as the air stopped hissing out of it.  It seems like I have had a lot of practice changing flats lately.

Memory, as we all know, is a funny thing.  I remember the ride up to La Berarde with Hank as a pretty mellow affair, almost as a recovery day on the bike.  Such is not the case.  In the 54 miles or so of riding from the lodge and back I put in over a mile of climbing.  But it was a beautiful ride up to the town and a fun day on the bike. As always. it was more fun when I had Hank grinding up the hill with me.

Above the church at La Berrade.  Below the town itself.  No traffic is allowed on the main street, but there were plenty of hikers walking about in town.

2012 Day 1 in Francc

Je suis arrivé.  I have arrived back in France.  For the third year in a row I am back at the King of the Mountain Lodge and ready to begin another European bike safari.  My flights from Denver to Geneva went off without a hitch, but one again my internal clock is a little bit messed up my having to get up at 5:00 AM on Wednesday to catch my flight to Washington, Dulles, and then missing that night's sleep on my overnight flight across the Atlantic to Geneva which shortened that night by seven hours and put me in Switzerland at about 7:30 AM on Thursday.

Greg from The King of the Mountain Lodge picked me up at the Airport and by 11:00 AM I was at the KOM Lodge saying hello to Guy and Helyn and being amazed by how big their baby girl Alice has gotten.  A year makes a big difference - Alice is walking and starting to talk.

My plan for the day was to assemble my bike and in my sleep deprived state and attempt to ride up Alpe d'Huez.  But thankfully, while I was cobbling together my bike. it went from looking like it was going to rain to actually raining, and I thought that perhaps God in his mercy was sending me a message to give it a rest and wait for tomorrow to ride.

So I ignored all of the conventional wisdom of not going to sleep the afternoon you arrive in a new time zone and trying to adjust to local time by staying awake until that evening and around 1:00 I laid down to read for a while and promptly fell asleep while listening to the rain pounding on the skylight of my room.

But there is no true rest for the wicked and God was not granting me a reprieve.  When I woke up around 4:30 PM of that same afternoon the sky was blue and I still had several hours of daylight to get out the door for a ride.  Next stop, Alpe d'Huez!

I knew I would not have enough time to get to the top of the Alpe d'Huez climb and make it back to the KOM Lodge for dinner at 8:00.  I was curious to see how many of the 21 famous virages (switchbacks) of Alpe d'Huez I could ride before I had to turn around with enough time to descend and then ride the 9 or 10 kilometers back up the Col d'Ornan to the KOM Lodge in time for dinner.

The answer to that question was 17.  I took the two photos above from Virage 7, looking back down at the town of Bourg d'Oisnans and some of the lower switchbacks I had ridden up.  There are six more virages above my turnaround point at Virage 7.  Below is the view of the climb above Virage 7 and the town of Huez.  Higher up in the background is the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez where the climb ends.

It was hot during the climb, even after the rain earlier in the afternoon.  Like Colorado, the French Alps have had record heat this summer.  It was also hazy all through the day, during my drive to the lodge from the airport and during my ride, just like it has been hazy as of late in Colorado from the California forest fires.  I have no idea why it was hazy here in France today.

My total distance for my shortened first day ride was about 24 miles with 3,500 feet of climbing on Alpe d'Huez and the Col d'Ornan.  I felt pretty good and I only wish I had gotten out a little earlier and had had time to ride to the top of Alp d'Huez.

But I have almost two weeks of riding still in front of me here at the KOM Lodge, so I should manage to get up Alpe d'Huez several times.  It was a good day 1.

Greetings, again from Italy!

Hello loyal readers, well, I'm in Italy and I would love to blog about it but the photo uploads take so long at this lovely Bormio Hotel that I really can't get it done without staying up all night.

We have a big day riding tomorrow so that is not going to happen.  I will try to catch up on this when I have more time and a better internet connection.

The riding is phenomenal, the gelato is better than the gelato in Boulder, and I am having fun.  Best to all, Chris

Italy

Just a quick note to let everyone know I have arrived safely in Italy.  I am in Pallanza tonight.  Flew in today, built up my bike, and did a 25 mile warm-up ride along lake Magiorre.  Tomorrow my Italian trip begins in earnest.  We will see what I have left in the tank after France.

Happy 4th, of July!

Les Lacets de Monvernier / Le Col du Chaussy / Le Col de la Madeleine

Yesterday was for Hank.  Last June on the next to the last riding day we had in France, Hank and I tried to find and then ride what we (or I) had heard described as the Lacets (laces) of the Col du Chaussy.  Our attempt was unsuccessful because we went up the main route up the col - D77.  We missed the lacets because they are on a side route - D77B - that joins the main route in a meadow just above the Lacets.  Hank and I were very close to the Lacets, but we missed.

The other day Hank sent me a text over Facebook asking me if I was going to try and ride the Lacets this year.  I wrote to him I would, and yesterday was my last chance, so I rented a van and drove over the Col du Glandon to Pontamafrey in the Maurienne Valley.  It took me a while to find them, but I finally did.

The Lacets are in the center of the photo

I parked the van and started what is actually a fairly mellow climb up the stacked laces.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves. 

The Road to Oulles

Yesterday I decided to take it easy before doing a big ride today.  So I rode down the Col d'Ornan into Bourg d'Oisans to have some lunch and mail some postcards.  But by the time I got into town the post office had closed - lots of businesses close in France from about noon until 2:00.  So I just had lunch and headed back up the Col d'Ornan.  About two kilometers up the col there is a side road off to the right that I pass every day.  It's the road to Olles.

I had heard it was a pretty, quiet side road and a steep, but short climb at seven kilometers, and on the spur of the moment I decided to ride up it.  I figured I could ride to Oulles, then drop back down into Bourg d'Oisans to mail my postcards, then ride back up the Col d'Ornan to the King of the Mountains Lodge and call it a day.

I started the climb and a beautiful waterfall came into view.

There was also an excellent view of the I ride I do just about every day that I am here - the road up the Col d'Ornan.

The Oulles road itself started out with several layered switchbacks

After the switchbacks the road became a climbing shelf road.

As I came into Oulles, I found a new creative use for old skis.

Oulles itself is a tiny hamlet with nothing but a very nice water fountain.  One of the nice things about riding in France is the number of public potable water fountains.  Every hamlet seems to have one.

Oulles

After Oulles it was a rocket downhill run back into Bourg d'Oisans to mail my postcards and then a mellow spin back up the Col d'Ornan for a bit of a rest day: 27 miles of riding, 4,300 feet of climbing.

'Le Brouillard' - 'The Fog'

Yesterday, June 29th, was my eleventh day in France and my eleventh day in a row on the bike.  I have been trying to mix some easier days in with the hard efforts and I have been feeling pretty good.  The weather yesterday was completely different from the day before.  Gone were the blue skies and the baking sun.  It was cool and a sort of fog was creeping down the Col d'Ornan.  It seemed like it might rain, but like it probably would not.  I got a late start and rolled into Bourg d'Oisans for lunch.

I had thinking about riding one of the back routes up Alpe d'Huez that Hank and I had done a couple of times last year.  The route is the road up from Allemont to Villard Reculas and from Villard Reculas to Huez on the shelf road that wraps around the mountain.  I see this road every time I come down the Col d'Ornan into town.  Here is a picture I took today of the cliff face and the shelf road above it from the bridge on the valley floor at the bottom of the Col d'Ornan.  You can just make out the shelf road in the picture, but it is clearly visible to the naked eye from town.

And here is how it looked yesterday as I spun back out Bourg d'Oisans after lunch.

I thought to myself I have got to get up into that cloud and see what it's like.   And so I rode up to Allemont and started up the switchbacks to Villard Reculas.  As I started out the air was reasonably clear.

I saw the first deer I have seen in France, a small red doe.  It was nowhere nearly as cooperative as yesterday's posing goats.  It bounded off before I could even get out my camera.  Then as I rode up things started to get foggy.  I could see banks of fog rolling down the mountain and I rode in and out of the white for a while until finally I was engulfed in fog.  I was wondering if it would be wet, but it was just cool, which was fine because I was warm from climbing.

It is a steep climb up, you are actually knocking off about the first fifteen switchbacks on Alpe d'Huez, and finally you come into Villard Reculas.

Villard Recluse sign on right side of the road.

From Villard Reculas the road becomes a one lane shelf road along the cliff face with a bit more climbing into Huez.  Initially the shelf road was totally inside the bank of fog.  I was wondering if the main route up and down Alpe d'Huez was also totally enshrouded in white, but about half way along the shelf road I popped out into the clear and I could see Bourg d'Oisans in the valley below.  Still the fog came down at times, billowing over the road like dry ice off of the stage of a rock concert.   As I came into Huez there was a great view of the some of the lower 'lacets' or laces of Alpe d'Huez.

And from about the same spot you have a nice view of the town of Huez and the town of Alpe d'Huez above it.

I had finally ridden out of the fog bank and it was plenty clear so I decided to ride the last five turns up to Alpe d'Huez.  From there I dropped back down into Bourg d'Oisans where I treated myself to a chocolate eclair and an Orangina before my ride back up to the Col d'Ornan.  Another great day on the bike: 5,400 feet of climbing over 41 miles.  This is the Garmin map readout for the day.