A ride through the Chartreuse - Placette, Mille Martyrs, Porte

[maxn]

Yesterday morning I set off on a ride with a Fast Guy from Work (I guess that makes me the Slow Guy from Work) over a bunch of cols. First was Placette: easy grades, nice pavement, good surfaces. It's the standard warmup for many Chartreuse rides from this part of the valley. At the col, it was up to a small hamlet called L'Ayat, then a beautiful descent through gorges to Voiron (where Chartreuse is made, and Bonnat for the chocophiles ). From there, on to Mille Martyrs, a beautiful descent through Miribel, across the plains and then up towards Porte. Before Porte, however, we roll through a gorge that neither of us remembers as being very hard, but this time it is kicking my ass. Lots of extended sections of ten percent -- how could I not remember this?! Next: Porte proper. The last few km of Porte really ground me down. FGfW is long gone, turning the small cogs. My memory was playing evil tricks on me and every bend looked like the penultimate, but in every case (except one!) I was greeted with another long sweeping turn of climbing. Eventually the col appeared, glorius and sun drenched. Then it was descent time again, with a little bit more climbing up to Quaix, and then home. All told it was 102km, 2300m of climbing. Video below
http://youtu.be/fNbE_JBmoBY?hd=1

[BumbleBeeDave]

Nice to get a sneak peak! I will be starting my trip in July in Grenoble with the Col de Lautaret and Col de Telegraph.

BBD

[thinpin]

Im really envious of the sheer variety of riding and the concentration of roads on your doorstep. Lovely video again, a nice start to my day.

[HenryA]

Wonderful looking riding.
Thanks for sharing.

[maxn]

thanks!
Dave, did you decide to go with a tour or DIY? What else is on the menu besides Lautaret and Telegraphe? There's a pretty big col in between those two :)

[jghall]

Envious, sure beats the scenery o my rides. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like a good time comig Dave.

[tiretrax]

Im really envious of the sheer variety of riding and the concentration of roads on your doorstep. Lovely video again, a nice start to my day.

AGREED!

Some of those road surfaces looked a little sketchy - time to get the tour to pass by and get them repaved.

[tiretrax]

thanks!
Dave, did you decide to go with a tour or DIY? What else is on the menu besides Lautaret and Telegraphe? There's a pretty big col in between those two :)

Please post details, BBD.

[maxn]

I think the camera emphasizes the badness.. they don't feel bad in person. I could be wrong, but I think the Dauphine went over Mille Martyrs last year at some point. That does happen to coincide with some of the best pavement :) Don't remember the last time the Tour went over col de Porte (velotel?) but I don't think it was that long ago.