12/8 ride photos

[maxn]

went up le Mont Saint Martin (http://www.climbbybike.com/fr/ascension.asp?Col=Mont-Saint-Martin&qryMountainID=6990) today: IMO one of the tougher local climbs. It's short, but very close to 10% over the whole thing, and about six hundred meters of gain. I had been racing the sun the whole way up and got to the town just as the last rays of light were illuminating the snowy peaks of the Chartreuse. An old lady warned me that several cyclists had had close-encounters-of-the-car-kind on the descent recently, so I took it slow on the way down.

This is the climb from the valley floor (in the middle, with the houses):
http://maxnanao.com/IMG_3061.jpg

and in the village
http://maxnanao.com/SMpano.jpg

[Steve in SLO]

Beautiful!
You have to tell us how it is to ride in an area that is both breathtaking and in which gravity is reversed.

[maxn]

it's the only way i can get up that climb

[velotel]

Nice escape from work and in the famous words of Zorba the Greek the complete catastrophe (wife, kids)! Okay, you win, looks like I'll have to traverse Grenoble one day to ride that damn thing you've been telling me about for so long. Sounds like some conditioning might be in order before. Really was a treat that day after the rains and, at least here, some snow. Snow didn't stick. Fine by me. Still cold but gorgeous. That profile looks like a hard one though I'm not so sure those profiles which originally came from an italian or maybe it was swiss site are all that accurate. What did your little computer gizmo tell you for the grades? Cheers

[maxn]

yeah we should definitely ride it together! GPS agrees with the climbbybike profile. Whatever it works out to be, it feels a lot harder than anything nearby, including Montaud. I guess it's a bit like the upper part of Charmette, from le Gua in terms of steepness, but Mont Saint Martin has switchbacks: 21 of them! It also has great views of the valley. Here's one looking Westish during a storm (no, I was not on my bike)
http://maxnanao.com/storm_moirans.jpg