A mini-Italian Journey

[maxn]

The plan: straddle the Franco-Italian border and hit some new cols. The weather was glorious, and there were throngs of people out riding. From la Vachette (just North of Briancon) The road is flat with a little rolling terrain until you reach the relatively mild climb up to the Col de l'Echelle. Once you arrive at the top of the col, you find yourself in yet a beautiful alpine valley. People were just arriving to park their cars and set off on hikes. Also, somewhat inexplicably, there were a lot of people out on sun chairs, tanning! It seemed like an unlikely place to get a tan. Anyway, on to the end of the col, where a beautiful Italian cycliste on a Masi was just arriving at the summit (see video below), and whispered a slightly out of breath "Ciao" to me. From there, it was descending time, which was beautiful, if a little slow. The climb from this side looks much better than from the "French" side -- must do it at some point. The only issue with the descent was the depth and size of the rain gutters. They were long and ramp like, and I managed to inadvertently catch some air off the last one. I could immediately tell that I was in Italy by the steepness of the descent and total lack of switchbacks. I continued on the road towards Oulx, which is also downhill. So much downhill in fact that I was beginning to think that I was going to have to pay for it pretty soon. And so I did, riding up the road towards Sestriere and Cesana, sucking diesel through the tunnels. I was sorely tempted to stop at a roadside pizzeria which had fired up its delicious smelling wood fired pizza oven, but wanted to get off the SS24 ASAP. In Cesara, I asked for directions to the nearest fountain, and got stuck behind a mini convoy of the Guardi di Finanza who were also lost (but not looking for water). After filling up, I gave the col de Montgenevre all I had, which was not much at this point, ate some food, and then started my descent. I got stuck behind a truck, which was pretty terrible since it was kicking up huge clouds of dust, but driving just fast enough to make it dangerous to pass. Check out how close he/she got to that semi coming up the road, too.


http://youtu.be/I1qD3GpR5Tc?hd=1
(http://youtu.be/I1qD3GpR5Tc?hd=1)


p.s. re video… the speed up thing seems to be getting worse. Hope it does not distract too much! It is not on purpose and I have in fact spent significant effort trying to track down the problem.

[velotel]

Cool! The italian side looks sweet. Has to be a lot of vertical compared to the french side, which isn't much, 435 meters according to Atlas des Cols des Alpes, which also notes a K at 9% not far before the summit. Not sure his figures are correct since he's rarely in agreement with other profiles. Looks like something I'll have to do next time I'm in Monetier les Bains, only I'll pass on the return via Montgenevre;just turn around and climb the italian side. Every time I've driven Montgenevre there's always been lots of traffic.

[AgilisMerlin]

phat bass line :eek: aimless butterfly

nice day

[maxn]

Going counter-clockwise might be a better way to do it: Montgenevre from the French side does not have tunnels, you do the tunnels downhill on the leg to Oulx, the section from Oulx to Bardoneccia seems quiet, and you get the full value col de l'Echelle experience. ~400 from Bardoneccia to the col sounds about right. Nothing extreme, but very beautiful. You would hardly notice the montée from the French side after all your recent riding.

Out and back, like you suggest would also be a good way to do it. Hard to beat the Nevache valley -- certainly nicer than the SS35 or SS24!