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“Legs, wake up”
“What”
“Wake up !”
“Why, we’ve only just got onto the bike”
“Yes, so wake up, there’s a climb!”
“But there usually about 20km before we hit a climb”
“Arrrgh, wake up, we’re already on a category 2 climb”
“Huh? What straight off the bus and onto a cat 2 climb ?! That’s outrageous, these legs didn’t sign up for that sort of penance !!!”
So that’s how the day started on stage 18. We always knew it would be a tough one but it wasn’t just tough, it was cruel, demented, penitential, sadistic, and a host of other wicked words to describe stage 18 in the Alps; the stage that combined 7 categorised climbs from category 3 to HC, Hors Category, in other words above being able to be categorised because it’s so bad. This is the stage that several thousand amateurs did several days ago called “Etape du Tour”, where amateurs get to participate in a single stage of the Tour de France with closed roads. Clearly that wasn’t tough enough for us so we decided to do 17 stages before this just to set the stage for this crazy stage.
Here they are in order of the day from leaving Gap to he finish:
Km 6.5 – Col Bayard (1 264 m)6.3 kilometre-long climb at 7% – category 2
Km 35.5 – Rampe du Motty2.3 kilometre-long climb at 8.3% – category 3
Km 60.5 – Côte de la Mure2.7 kilometre-long climb at 7.5% – category 3
Km 70.5 – Col de Malissol2 kilometre-long climb at 8.7% – category 3
Km 85.0 – Col de la Morte (1 368 m)3.1 kilometre-long climb at 8.4% – category 2
Km 147.0 – Col du Glandon (1 924 m)21.7 kilometre-long climb at 5.1% – category HC
Km 176.5 – Lacets de Montvernier (782 m)3.4 kilometre-long climb at 8.2% – category 2
The first four climbs were in fact not too bad and I don’t know whether that’s because we are now simply accustomed to such inclines and distances or whether they really were tolerable for most people. The Col de la Morte was also not too bad, it was just long. The descent was great and enjoyable even if it was in a dead heat. We regrouped at the bottom because it was important to make sure the team cycled as an escorted group along a major road. That section seemed to take forever and I’m guessing it’s because we knew that 17km down the line we would reach the lunch stop. When you’re so eager for your destination it seems to take longer to reach it. I wonder if that’s a lesson in life and not just in cycling.
The heat in the middle part of the day up to lunch was intense. So much so that when we reached Allemont for lunch there was a fabulous mountain water fountain in the town square outside the restaurant. We nearly jumped in! Instead some of us ducked our heads and hands and arms and took advantage of the cold cold water to quench our body temperatures. Little did we know what was to come!
Lunch was again a wonderful French restaurant three course lunch, the third course of which I simply couldn’t take. Peasant salad with lardons to begin and then steak/chips for main course. I couldn’t hack the steak and so are only about a third. Several people made steak sandwiches with the baguettes to have at the top of he Col du Glandon since it was tough to accept a steak when we knew the massive Col began right outside the restaurant door !
I was eager to get away as quickly as possible from lunch as I appreciated how much time it would take to climb to the Col du Glandon. It’s a deceiving climb as there are a few ups and downs before you get to the long plateau that then winds its way upwards gradually to the col itself. If you don’t know the area it can also be deceiving as the distance involved is very much greater than at first appears. On the route to Col du Glandon there’s a small cafe/restaurant near the top at which you have to turn left for the Col du Glanskn but go straight ahead for the Col de la Croix de Fer. This means that the route you see from afar looks much further than it actually is. Thank goodness, because it was already much further than I, or any of us, had anticipated in our minds.
The weather deteriorated as we climbed the col, from probably about half way up. There is a point on the climb at which the original road was wiped out in floods a few years ago and so has been replaced by a new road which sadly, or rather tragically, descends to the river bed and back up again so imagine having climbed about 8km from the valley base and you can see where the road used to be in the distance but to get to it you have to descend and ascend again. The little descent was fine but the rod back up again was like hitting a wall! Several riders from other groups had simply stopped in shock and were walking their bikes up part of that stretch. Goodness knows how the professionals will handle this tomorrow.
The further we climbed up the Col du Glandon the worse the weather got. Lightening followed by thunder gave me the amusement of counting the second between the two and guessing how far it was away – just like we did as children in the tent or caravan on holidays 🙂
Talking of which, there was a wonderful Irish family decked in the tricolour on their motorhome and hats and with flags waving, great to see and motivating.
I was fortunate to have my gilet handed to me by one of the support vans which was a godsend as the temperature kept dropping and dropping and he rain became heavier and heavier. I usually enjoy the rain and in some ways did enjoy it this time but I knew hat the consequences of not having something to keep me warm on the top of the Col as well, as on the descent, could be dangerous.
Up and over the Col and I got a man from the French women’s cycle team to take a photo of me by the sign marking the height. Then off to the descent which was treacherous to put it mildly. Narrow roads, rain and wind, motorhomes everywhere, motorhomes coming up hill and down hill, walkers on every side, it was tough keeping hands on the brakes and descending.
After about 45 minute descent, yes 46 minutes, I began to feel some warmth in the air and occasionally you could see steam rising from the road.
This descent was nowhere nearly as fast as many others due to the weather and the incredibly narrow roads. The weather meant the whole group of riders fragmented much more than usual. We had to regroup at the bottom again because one of the sections of route to the finish was closed due to a huge rock partially blocking it. It was so bad that not even the Flechage team (signage team) had been able to get through to put the little yellow and black arrows.
After regrouping, where our wonderful French support team had the chance for a quick beer, we were led fairly slowly at about 20mph all the way to Saint Jean de Maurienne, the finish for the day.
Incredibly, the friends of my parents, Jean-Claude and Odille, who had been there for a couple of hours, were by the roadside and I managed a quick hello and hugs before heading to the bus. It’s been more than 30 years since I’ve seen them both when we were teenagers travelling France and Jean-Claude helped us. They have been friends with my parents ever since.
We’re travelling back to Grenoble to our night stop hotel and the weather is still atrocious. Heavy heavy rain along with thunder and lightning makes us fear what tomorrow’s stage may bring. Our route crosses the professionals route which means we may have to make certain distances by specific times if we are to get round the stage without the roads being closed to us. Hmmm, let’s see what is thrown at us tomorrow on what was expected to be a little easier due to only 138k but still difficult due to the severe category climbs.
I’ve just had a massage on the bus! Yes, our massage team, or soigneurs, set up their massage table on the bus every day and this time my turn came to have my legs and next massaged/pummelled whilst we travel to the hotel in Grenoble. A long transfer from finish to hotel and again he reverse in the morning means there are opportunities to do this while we travel. It is truly wonderful and very necessary after a day in the saddle. Today my neck felt as taut as a coat hanger and my leg muscles were very tense as I’d not massaged them in a few days. I now feel good and ready for bed.
So hats the update for what was expected to be and turned out to be the toughest day of the Alps and the toughest day of the tour.
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