Mont Bisanne

[velotel]

Sunday, a good day for a spin. Nothing long, my wife's birthday so... Thought I'd revisit the road to Crest-Voland, the south-side Gorge d'Arly balcony road. Rode it last November. Steep rascal, at times shockingly so. Also cold then with ice on the road up higher and snow on either side. No snow now. Been a hot summer.

Headed up, discovered my memory hadn't failed, this puppy's steep! Double-digits for sure. But today's a good day, riding well, won't say easily but well. Maybe 8, 9 K up the road get to a junction, small road to the right. Looks interesting, worth checking out, discover where it goes. Spur of the moment call, I swing right. I'd told my wife I'd be back around 1:00. Both of us knew I wouldn't be, just roughly defining an acceptable time range. Checked the time, looking good.

Up the unknown road, steep enough but consistent, no ramps of pain, probably high single-digit for a long, long time. One-laner, at times laner-and-a-half, barely. A forest road, not a regular road, but a paved forest road. Usually they're unpaved. Rustic pavement, asphalt generously laced with fat gravel. Thick forest with sporadic views through the timber across the valley below. The only sounds my tires rolling over the coarse blacktop, the chain rolling over the cogs. No idea where this is taking me, other than up. Started thinking it might tie into one of the roads up Mont Bisanne, the mountain whose slopes the road is wandering up. Then it headed off in the opposite direction. Okay with me, didn't have time to summit Bisanne anyway. I'm settled in my 34/23, spinning a comfortable pace, on and on. Almost hypnotic. Strong riders would fly up this.

Road bends left, lot of light up ahead. Seems to be curving around the end of the ridge that forms Mont Bisanne, and still climbing. Southerly exposure, forest thinner, views over the valley more frequent. Keep expecting to arrive at a dead end but no, the road keeps going. Still up. Big view to the right, way below the valley to Beaufort, the valley on the opposite side of Mont Bisanne. This is turning out to be one wonderfully crazy ride.

Ah, end of the pavement, dirt and rock chemin now, maybe this is the end. Nope, just a short, rude ramp that for whatever reason lost its coat of asphalt. Road turns black again immediately after. Another rock and dirt ramp, shorter, easier. Back on rustic pavement. Grade's gone limp, moving down the cogs, contemplating moving to the big ring. Around a bend to the left and slam on the brakes. Right in front of me, Mont Blanc in full glory. Wasn't expecting this. Plus the road's starting to drop. Check the time, past noon, my rough deadline for heading back to the car. I'm sure if I keep going I can drop down this back side and hook up with a road that will take me back across the slopes to the Col de Forlaz and from there down to the car. I'd bet money on it but still an unknown which could mean more time. Turn around and it's all downhill back to the car. The temptation to press on strong but, not today. Turn around, do the plunge.

From the time I turned onto this forest road I've seen a grand total of one car. Or one moving car. Saw maybe three parked at trail heads. Chances good the road will be clean going down too but, road's tight, asphalt rustic, letting the bike roll totally free didn't seem real smart. At least not when the turns are blind. Brake pads floating on the rims, dialing in speed like a saxophone working the scales, instant acceleration when the brakes are released, always a sign of steep grades. Unlike form, gravity never lies. Getting to the bottom took less than 30 minutes. A good one, not one of the best I'vee done but good, very good in fact. I think a better up than down because I have this suspicion dropping off the other side could verge on insanity. As in fast and furious and screamingly good fun. To be discovered, another day.

Some shots from the day. And if you enjoy my ride posts, check out my book at velodogs-publishing.com

(What a pain changing all the apostrophes, bummer the problem persists)

[AJosiahK]

Awesome ride! Love those kinds of adventures.

[weisan]

Great report as usual, velo pal.

Can you elaborate more on the issue you are having, love to help if I can?

"What a pain changing all the apostrophes, bummer the problem persists)"

[thwart]

All is good with the world. Got my walk in, I have my coffee, and now I have my French Alps photos. Thanks again, another great post.

Originally Posted by weisan

Can you elaborate more on the issue you are having, love to help if I can?

"What a pain changing all the apostrophes, bummer the problem persists)"

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showth...35#post1796735

[soulspinner]

Paradise on a bike. Thanks Hank!

[cdn_bacon]

I need to get lost there.

thanks for sharing!

[velotel]

You're welcome, nice it was appreciated. After all these years riding here and I'm still finding new places!

[Keith A]

Originally Posted by velotel

...

(What a pain changing all the apostrophes, bummer the problem persists)

I sorry that this problem is still around. I've been promised by our website hosting company that they have escalated the problem and are working to resolve this. I ping them every couple of days to let them know it's not fixed yet.

BTW, which apostrophe doesn't work for you? The standard one typed in from the keyboard is okay for me.

[choke]

That road looks so nice.

[velotel]

Originally Posted by Keith A

I sorry that this problem is still around. I've been promised by our website hosting company that they have escalated the problem and are working to resolve this. I ping them every couple of days to let them know it's not fixed yet.

BTW, which apostrophe doesn't work for you? The standard one typed in from the keyboard is okay for me.

The problem seems to be pasting text in from Word, which is what I use. Then I go through the text and type the apostrophe with the keyboard and that works fine. So from my perspective the problem is linked to the translation between whatever drives Word and whatever translates the text from Word into text for the forum.

[bewheels]

Originally Posted by velotel

The problem seems to be pasting text in from Word, which is what I use. Then I go through the text and type the apostrophe with the keyboard and that works fine. So from my perspective the problem is linked to the translation between whatever drives Word and whatever translates the text from Word into text for the forum.

I assume the admin will chime in, but copying and pasting from Word brings across all kinds of nasty Word formatting that many forum text editors can not clean up. There are workarounds such as pasting into a simple text text editor then copy/pasting from there.

Great post. Nice living...well desirved.

[Keith A]

bewheels is correct, when you paste from MS Word, there is formatting information in addition to the text itself. Two solutions I have until we get this solved properly:
o Use Chrome as your browser as this gives you the option to "Paste as plain text". This option is visible when you do a right mouse button click inside of the window where you enter the text. You can also do Ctrl+Shift+V.
o Paste your text into "Notepad" first and then copy from there an paste into the forum editor. This will strip out any special formatting information.

[velotel]

Originally Posted by Keith A

bewheels is correct, when you paste from MS Word, there is formatting information in addition to the text itself. Two solutions I have until we get this solved properly:
o Use Chrome as your browser as this gives you the option to "Paste as plain text". This option is visible when you do a right mouse button click inside of the window where you enter the text. You can also do Ctrl+Shift+V.
o Paste your text into "Notepad" first and then copy from there an paste into the forum editor. This will strip out any special formatting information.

Thanks, will do

[fkelly]

Brake pads floating on the rims, dialing in speed like a saxophone working the scales, instant acceleration when the brakes are released, always a sign of steep grades. Unlike form, gravity never lies.

Great writing.

[in_version]

Awesome words and pictures. Thanks!