maxn
11-25-2011, 05:54 AM
It's been more than a year since I rode Izoard, but since people seem to like the videos, I thought I would post up a ride report.
We were renting a chalet in Monetier-les-bains ( just at the start of the climb to Lautaret and Galibier) for two weeks, and I had big plans for the cols. I had ridden Galibier from the "easy" side the day before and had stumbled upon a gub'mint sponsored road closure of Galibier totally by accident. When I hit Lautaret they were setting up for something, and I noticed that they were starting to turn cars around: Car-free Galibier -- wooo! Cars aren't usually an issue anyway, but it meant that much less diesel to be sucking on the way up. Anyway, when I got to the col they had just finished setting up a feed station with food, pastries, coffee, tea etc. One of the guys explained to me that they were shutting down 5 cols over five days, and I had chosen the right day to ride up Galibier. I asked one of them what the next col was, and they responded that it was Izoard! I had been planning on riding Izoard as well, so after a cold descent back to Monetier, I got on the phone with a riding buddy back in Grenoble and he was out the door and on a bus in thirty minutes. The next morning we got an early start despite some ominous clouds moving in from the West. Unfortunately, right outside of Briancon, the rain started. We contemplated turning around, because it was also COLD, but pressed on because well… Izoard! Anyway, the rain got stronger and the temperature dropped but we eventually made it to the col, where the feed station was in full swing. After a few minutes, we realized that we were in for a very cold descent. The organizers were handing out newspapers to stick under our jerseys, which we gratefully accepted. However, after just two switchbacks we were shivering so much that we were having trouble hanging into our handlebars! Happily, there is a small hotel restaurant called the "Gîte Refuge Napoleon" just under the col, which we ducked into, looking like wet and frozen rats. The waitress took one look at us and sat us in front of the radiator … and then offered to put our jerseys in her dryer and let us borrow T-shirts and fleeces! It doesn't get any more cyclist friendly than that. We spent the next hour spending all of our emergency/booting bills on hot chocolates and tea. Eventually, we got up enough courage to do the full descent, which was pretty slow because of the rain and shivering. It was a bit of an epic, but good fun.
http://youtu.be/SpJwhBHLfI0?hd=1
gear -- me on a replica MXL (bought off the Serotta forums classifieds before I moved to France!), my friend on a Merlin Cyrene
We were renting a chalet in Monetier-les-bains ( just at the start of the climb to Lautaret and Galibier) for two weeks, and I had big plans for the cols. I had ridden Galibier from the "easy" side the day before and had stumbled upon a gub'mint sponsored road closure of Galibier totally by accident. When I hit Lautaret they were setting up for something, and I noticed that they were starting to turn cars around: Car-free Galibier -- wooo! Cars aren't usually an issue anyway, but it meant that much less diesel to be sucking on the way up. Anyway, when I got to the col they had just finished setting up a feed station with food, pastries, coffee, tea etc. One of the guys explained to me that they were shutting down 5 cols over five days, and I had chosen the right day to ride up Galibier. I asked one of them what the next col was, and they responded that it was Izoard! I had been planning on riding Izoard as well, so after a cold descent back to Monetier, I got on the phone with a riding buddy back in Grenoble and he was out the door and on a bus in thirty minutes. The next morning we got an early start despite some ominous clouds moving in from the West. Unfortunately, right outside of Briancon, the rain started. We contemplated turning around, because it was also COLD, but pressed on because well… Izoard! Anyway, the rain got stronger and the temperature dropped but we eventually made it to the col, where the feed station was in full swing. After a few minutes, we realized that we were in for a very cold descent. The organizers were handing out newspapers to stick under our jerseys, which we gratefully accepted. However, after just two switchbacks we were shivering so much that we were having trouble hanging into our handlebars! Happily, there is a small hotel restaurant called the "Gîte Refuge Napoleon" just under the col, which we ducked into, looking like wet and frozen rats. The waitress took one look at us and sat us in front of the radiator … and then offered to put our jerseys in her dryer and let us borrow T-shirts and fleeces! It doesn't get any more cyclist friendly than that. We spent the next hour spending all of our emergency/booting bills on hot chocolates and tea. Eventually, we got up enough courage to do the full descent, which was pretty slow because of the rain and shivering. It was a bit of an epic, but good fun.
http://youtu.be/SpJwhBHLfI0?hd=1
gear -- me on a replica MXL (bought off the Serotta forums classifieds before I moved to France!), my friend on a Merlin Cyrene