A bunch of cols in one day

[maxn]

I'm not much of a long distance rider -- my longer rides end up being 80-90km, but Inspired by the "big birthday ride" concept of velotel, I decided to push things a bit further, and formulated a plan for a big (for me) ride through the Chartreuse. The plan was to go over some of the well known cols like Col de Porte and Granier, then back along the plateau. I spent a little time on Strava and even stole velotels (No he's not on Strava, but his son is! ) uber secret tiny road route near the Cirque de St. Meme. Judging from the other roads I've been, this one would be a worthwhile alternative to the bottom of the valley slog from St. Pierre d'Entremont to Entremont le Vieux. I convinced a coworker to come with me, who has done an impressive list of Brevets, the marmotte etc and planned on deferring to his pace to avoid bonking a long way from home. On this last point, I was actually a little nervous, so we started off the day climbing the Col de Porte about as slowly as is possible. The flip side was that the legs felt 100% solid at the top. Then it was a descent to St. Hughes, then onto the climb to Cucheron then into the next valley. Feeling good, laughing at the forecasters for being wrong *again*, we started into the velotel detour. I had mentioned that we should try it to my work friend, and something was lost in the translation, because he told me that he knew the road. However, when I started up the hill, I was surprised to hear him ask if I knew where the road went! I was pretty sure I had it right, but asked a farmer (in French) at the side of the road whether the road did actually go to Entremont le Vieux. He responded (in English): "Best road!", then smiled broadly, pointed up the hill and gave us a big thumbs up. Stupid xenophobic velohating French :) The road is spectacular and at times clings to the side of hillsides with majestic views towards Granier and Cucheron, not to mention across the valley towards Clusaz. During the descent, a huge -- maybe 6 ft wingspan bird of prey took off from a low hanging branch and glided down the road in front of me for a while before peeling off into the canopy. I was pretty excited to catch this on the GoPro, but on that super wide angle lens it looks like a sparrow. From Entremont we pedaled slowly up to Granier, which the tour will hit this year, but from a different side, down the descent that velotel and I did a few weeks back, and onto the plateau. I had never ridden there before, and I gotta say that the plateau is about as good as it gets. Forget his proximity to mythic climbs like Huez; you should all hate velotel for having this as his backyard ride. There are plenty of short climbs, followed by descents in between fields, all the while you are surrounded by huge limestone cliffs to your right, and snow capped mountains to the left. It did finally start raining on us here, but it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, the gopro battery ran out of steam at this point. From the plateau it was down to the valley and then a mercifully downhill/flat ride home, after 126 km, 4+ cols and 10,200 feet of climbing.

video here:
http://youtu.be/vW5CpLQHbY0?hd=1

p.s. same weirdness as other videos with playback speed sometimes... no idea why.

[velotel]

Nice birthday ride. You hit some steep grades along the way. I love that little road out of the cirque across the hills. Bloody hard climb at the beginning though. I think the guy you asked lives up on the first col, unmarked as I recall, the old farm house on the right. That descent to Entremont le Vieux is good fun and fast except for the blind turns. And speaking of downhills, your battery would have lasted longer if you hadn't done the descents in slo-mo! And what a turkey for not stopping at the house! You think I'd put out balloons for a kid's party! No way, no kids here, well, sometimes me, and sometimes Mat when he's here. Then again you saved me a bottle of champagne because if you'd stopped and said it was your b-day, would have been mandatory drinking some bubbly. Just what you would have needed for the final run home.

And now you've seen the plateau road! It truly is awesome. I don't know of a better road. Getting to it isn't easy, none of the 5 roads up are easy. Every one of them has grades over 10%; one has a 3 K section up in the low teens as I recall. But what a glorious place to ride, especially in the evening. I've forgotten how clear it was that day, was Mt Blanc visible?

Oh yea, happy b-day too.

[MadRocketSci]

you guys are killing me as i sit day after day in front of this computer....

[MattTuck]

awesome video as always! thanks for sharing. Since I've been riding more hills lately, my jealousy of your rides has turned into sympathy as I feel your pain grinding up those hills!

[tiretrax]

Happy Birthday, Max. I've been doing that for a few years now - I wish my birthday were in May or June, even July, rather than December!

Keep posting, please!

[MattTuck]

Happy Birthday, Max. I've been doing that for a few years now - I wish my birthday were in May or June, even July, rather than December!

Keep posting, please!

yeah, I'm in February... Maybe I can do a half birthday ride.

[maxn]

thanks guys

on that first part of the climb near the cirque, I think what my friend was actually asking me ( in a very subtle way) was whether we were climbing that steep part for nothing and would we have to turn around.

yeah, I know we should have stopped but with all the events you guys attend, I figured it was some kind of tuxedo event and you might not appreciate two mud spattered, sweat soaked heathens invading. OK, maybe not tuxedos, but I figured it was something like that!

plateau: Did you know there is pretty spectacular rock climbing up there too? I didn't make the connection, but we've been to col de Marcieu several times to hike to Aulp de Seuil, which is my favorite hike within 200 km, and have also climbed up there. There are a few steep overhanging routes on excellent rock.

Mont Blanc was not visible as that's when we hit the rain.

[572cv]

Happy Birthday Maxn, and thanks for the mouthwatering route. After having been in the Vercors last fall, we want to come back to the general area and the Chartreuse looks wonderful. We have some favorite rides around here that hit 18% ( and one that is 24 or so but one really has to want to brave it ), so a few steep pitches are fine as long as we can go slowly enough....I hope I can gather my buds from our last few trips and find a good house to rent for a week or so towards the end of September, and make a number of these rides.

You and Velotel are a lifeline for my French cycling habit...

[maxn]

Finding a house/bite isn't hard-- I must have passed at least a dozen on that ride alone. The hard part is choosing where!

[thinpin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5i1cJIwE7M

[maxn]

thinpin :)


also, "GITES", not bites. Stupid autocorrect.

http://www.gites-de-france.com/

Gites are like B and B's but without the potpourri baskets, and make great bases for cycling. also, they are everywhere.