velotel
09-30-2013, 04:53 PM
Wednesday, three days after riding the Col du Petit St Bernard, had some time, overcast but not threatening, good for a ride, something easy, but interesting. To give the legs a spin after Saturday’s effort. Lately I’ve been into going astray a bit from my immediate environs, Col du Joly in Savoie with Maxn, down to the Drôme, over into Italy via the Petit St B. Another outing in Savoie could be good, something I hadn’t ridden, like the Col de l’Epine for example. A low col in a lovely setting. Drove up through Albertville and on to Ugine. Looked up and could see the Col de l’Arpettaz. Or where it is at least. Ridden it twice but not in a long time. Hard puppy. Sustained steep. Seriously tantalizing. Yea, why not. Besides, I’d never ridden down the side I always climb. My memory of it was that the road is rough old cob and probably no fun going down. Then again I could be wrong on that. Only one way to know.
Parked part way between Albertville and Ugine for some warm-up time before the climb. One of those climbs with no transition to speak of. Flat valley, turn right, go up. This was my third time heading up and I have yet to repeat the first few Ks. Whoever is in charge of signage for the col is not real lavish. I spotted one sign for the col at a round-about, took the direction, didn’t see another sign. As soon as I saw the road wasn’t going in the good direction, turned left onto another road that I knew would, at some point, cross the road to the col. Got to an intersection with a road that looked to me like maybe the good road, took it. That worked. Maybe a couple of Ks further along passed a sign for the col.
An odd start to the climb in some respects. The road’s a definite climb but lined with houses, a regular subdivision, french style. I imagine they have some days in the winter when getting home after work can be tricky. Ugine can get a good bit of snow. The housing thinned out into a mix of farms and homes for people who work elsewhere. Then it was just farms and old farm buildings transformed into homes. Narrow road, a car and half, max, with a bit of maneuvering. Mostly stays like that all the way to the col. I say mostly because lots of sections pretty much eliminate the half a car bit. Surface seemed better than I remembered. A lot better in fact. Not buffed by any stretch but really rather smooth. Started thinking coming down could be sweet.
The first five or six Ks were out in the open and the sun was coming down strong. Stopping to take some pics was instant heat city. Thankfully the grades there are pretty moderate and as soon as I started moving again I’d cool off. Kind of surprised myself too as I was feeling rather good and carrying an easy, fast pace. Normally fast is a relative term but since no one else was there, I was automatically the standard. Thus I can safely say I was moving up the mountain at a pretty good clip. That was a treat. Hadn’t even moved onto my 27 cog.
Yet. That changed at around the 5 K marker. Swung through a switchback to the left and right into a major ramp. A ramp that lasted for some 11 K. Sustained high single-digit grades with sections that bumped up into double digits. The road is in the forest by then and shade, sometimes deep shade, is the rule for a good eight or nine Ks of sustained switchbacks. There are over 30 of them. Not sure I’ve ever ridden a col with so many. Fun switchbacks, round ones, sometimes flatter than the traverses, sometimes steeper. For me this is the perfect stage for a strong climber to shine on. It’s steep all the way but the grades are always shifting and the road builders never heard of the word straight. Come around a bend or a switchback into a steep puppy of a ramp and just surge into it, full power all the way because it’s short then the road eases off a touch and you can spin and ride the momentum up the next section. Note that when I say the grade eases off, I’m talking something like dropping from maybe 11 or 12% down to 9 or maybe even 8%.
And the whole time you’re riding in this magnificent forest, deciduous, big trees creating a huge shade umbrella. So much shade that there’s not much growing under them. The ground is a carpet of dead leaves that cover everything, even boulders. It’s pretty impressive how far you can see down through the forest between the trunks. There’s nothing at all to block the view. The leaves were just barely starting to turn and I don’t know if these are leaves that go all psychedelic in the autumn or not. I suspect not. I think they just kind of go brown with splashes of yellows and reds from time to time. But if they do go all wild in the color department, riding through that could be something else. Kind of like riding single-tracks in Colorado through an aspen forest when they’ve turned all golden. I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. Oh well. If elves exist, this is the forest I’d expect to see them in.
Road finally leaves the forest to swing up through fields swept clean by avalanches roaring off the mountain soaring overhead. Big views out over the valley. Grades finally slack off a tad for the final romp to the col where there’s a refuge/bar/restaurant. If the day is clear keep on going for another K or two and you’ll get a fine view of Mont Blanc filling up the horizon. I didn’t bother, sky was too thick.
Now to find out what kind of downhill that road serves up. Like I said, the road must have been worked on because it was in better shape than I remembered. The last few Ks were a bit rougher but no big deal. Figured I’d start off with a generous dose of caution and see what happened. What happened is that I have totally changed my opinion on riding down this side of the Arpettaz. In fact I have to apologize to the col because I’ve even said that it’s probably not a fun descent, better to go off the other side. Wrong, big time. I have to say that this is simply the best, most entertaining downhill I’ve ever done. Period.
I should clarify that. I like downhills that demand lots of attention and skill. I like speed but it’s not pure speed I seek but speed relative to the surroundings. The plunge off of Arpettaz had all that in spades. About twenty-five minutes, that’s how long it took me going down. Average speed around 40 kph. Nothing spectacular as a number. But on the bike, totally spectacular. As engrossing a descent as I’ve ever done. I was afraid all those switchbacks would be a drag. Having to slow down so much that going around would be a slow balance move around the curve. Not at all. They’re round, tight but wonderfully round. The speed they can be taken at is impressive. These were scalpel turns, turns that demand a fine line like a surgeon’s arc. Coming in fast, hitting the brakes, dumping speed, letting go of the front brake, feathering the back, looking for the perfect match of speed and arc, leaning in deep, letting go, carving through, taking all the road, flying out the exit. Time after time after time. I remember one place where there was a roll just before the switchback where the road plunges down then flattens out into the turn. Riding through that was like being on a roller coaster. I was literally laughing out loud as I carved through the bend.
And the entertainment never stopped. The intensity gage was in the red zone right down into the houses. Unreal, twenty-five minutes that was over in a flash and simultaneously went on and on. The perfect descent. The only potential negatives are the tightness of the road that can be dicey with a car coming up and that if you blow a line and head for the shoulder, there isn’t one. You’re either on the road or you’re screwed. I loved it. If somebody had offered to haul me back to the top to do it again, I would have been all over the offer.
There it is, Col de l’Arpettaz. If you love going up, this is one you have to do. Forget the big name climbs if you have to make a choice; do this one. And if you love going down and you’ve got the technical skills and hunger to use them, this is the one. The only other descent that is at all similar that I know of is off Col du Joly. Maxn posted a video of that descent after we rode it recently. That’s a good one but compared the Arpettaz, a stroll in the park. South side of Galibier is a good one too but in truth it’s easy, not nearly as challenging as the drop of Joly. Just hold on and go and enjoy the views. Oddly enough one drop that is almost as entertaining as Arpettaz, though not nearly so long, is off the col above my house, the Col du Coq. That’s a good one, but not like the Arpettaz. In fact I’m going to way out on the limb of massive exaggerations and say that for anyone who loves technical, high speed descents on a bike, it’s worth the cost of the trip over to ride the Arpettaz. Up and down.
Having said that, I know there's one member here from Vermont with a 2CV who is going to be kicking his butt for not having ridden it while here this summer. Or maybe wanting to kick mine for not having posted this before he came over. Sorry about that.
Some shots, including one that shows what a snake of a road it is, a screen capture from ridewithgps.
Cheers
Parked part way between Albertville and Ugine for some warm-up time before the climb. One of those climbs with no transition to speak of. Flat valley, turn right, go up. This was my third time heading up and I have yet to repeat the first few Ks. Whoever is in charge of signage for the col is not real lavish. I spotted one sign for the col at a round-about, took the direction, didn’t see another sign. As soon as I saw the road wasn’t going in the good direction, turned left onto another road that I knew would, at some point, cross the road to the col. Got to an intersection with a road that looked to me like maybe the good road, took it. That worked. Maybe a couple of Ks further along passed a sign for the col.
An odd start to the climb in some respects. The road’s a definite climb but lined with houses, a regular subdivision, french style. I imagine they have some days in the winter when getting home after work can be tricky. Ugine can get a good bit of snow. The housing thinned out into a mix of farms and homes for people who work elsewhere. Then it was just farms and old farm buildings transformed into homes. Narrow road, a car and half, max, with a bit of maneuvering. Mostly stays like that all the way to the col. I say mostly because lots of sections pretty much eliminate the half a car bit. Surface seemed better than I remembered. A lot better in fact. Not buffed by any stretch but really rather smooth. Started thinking coming down could be sweet.
The first five or six Ks were out in the open and the sun was coming down strong. Stopping to take some pics was instant heat city. Thankfully the grades there are pretty moderate and as soon as I started moving again I’d cool off. Kind of surprised myself too as I was feeling rather good and carrying an easy, fast pace. Normally fast is a relative term but since no one else was there, I was automatically the standard. Thus I can safely say I was moving up the mountain at a pretty good clip. That was a treat. Hadn’t even moved onto my 27 cog.
Yet. That changed at around the 5 K marker. Swung through a switchback to the left and right into a major ramp. A ramp that lasted for some 11 K. Sustained high single-digit grades with sections that bumped up into double digits. The road is in the forest by then and shade, sometimes deep shade, is the rule for a good eight or nine Ks of sustained switchbacks. There are over 30 of them. Not sure I’ve ever ridden a col with so many. Fun switchbacks, round ones, sometimes flatter than the traverses, sometimes steeper. For me this is the perfect stage for a strong climber to shine on. It’s steep all the way but the grades are always shifting and the road builders never heard of the word straight. Come around a bend or a switchback into a steep puppy of a ramp and just surge into it, full power all the way because it’s short then the road eases off a touch and you can spin and ride the momentum up the next section. Note that when I say the grade eases off, I’m talking something like dropping from maybe 11 or 12% down to 9 or maybe even 8%.
And the whole time you’re riding in this magnificent forest, deciduous, big trees creating a huge shade umbrella. So much shade that there’s not much growing under them. The ground is a carpet of dead leaves that cover everything, even boulders. It’s pretty impressive how far you can see down through the forest between the trunks. There’s nothing at all to block the view. The leaves were just barely starting to turn and I don’t know if these are leaves that go all psychedelic in the autumn or not. I suspect not. I think they just kind of go brown with splashes of yellows and reds from time to time. But if they do go all wild in the color department, riding through that could be something else. Kind of like riding single-tracks in Colorado through an aspen forest when they’ve turned all golden. I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. Oh well. If elves exist, this is the forest I’d expect to see them in.
Road finally leaves the forest to swing up through fields swept clean by avalanches roaring off the mountain soaring overhead. Big views out over the valley. Grades finally slack off a tad for the final romp to the col where there’s a refuge/bar/restaurant. If the day is clear keep on going for another K or two and you’ll get a fine view of Mont Blanc filling up the horizon. I didn’t bother, sky was too thick.
Now to find out what kind of downhill that road serves up. Like I said, the road must have been worked on because it was in better shape than I remembered. The last few Ks were a bit rougher but no big deal. Figured I’d start off with a generous dose of caution and see what happened. What happened is that I have totally changed my opinion on riding down this side of the Arpettaz. In fact I have to apologize to the col because I’ve even said that it’s probably not a fun descent, better to go off the other side. Wrong, big time. I have to say that this is simply the best, most entertaining downhill I’ve ever done. Period.
I should clarify that. I like downhills that demand lots of attention and skill. I like speed but it’s not pure speed I seek but speed relative to the surroundings. The plunge off of Arpettaz had all that in spades. About twenty-five minutes, that’s how long it took me going down. Average speed around 40 kph. Nothing spectacular as a number. But on the bike, totally spectacular. As engrossing a descent as I’ve ever done. I was afraid all those switchbacks would be a drag. Having to slow down so much that going around would be a slow balance move around the curve. Not at all. They’re round, tight but wonderfully round. The speed they can be taken at is impressive. These were scalpel turns, turns that demand a fine line like a surgeon’s arc. Coming in fast, hitting the brakes, dumping speed, letting go of the front brake, feathering the back, looking for the perfect match of speed and arc, leaning in deep, letting go, carving through, taking all the road, flying out the exit. Time after time after time. I remember one place where there was a roll just before the switchback where the road plunges down then flattens out into the turn. Riding through that was like being on a roller coaster. I was literally laughing out loud as I carved through the bend.
And the entertainment never stopped. The intensity gage was in the red zone right down into the houses. Unreal, twenty-five minutes that was over in a flash and simultaneously went on and on. The perfect descent. The only potential negatives are the tightness of the road that can be dicey with a car coming up and that if you blow a line and head for the shoulder, there isn’t one. You’re either on the road or you’re screwed. I loved it. If somebody had offered to haul me back to the top to do it again, I would have been all over the offer.
There it is, Col de l’Arpettaz. If you love going up, this is one you have to do. Forget the big name climbs if you have to make a choice; do this one. And if you love going down and you’ve got the technical skills and hunger to use them, this is the one. The only other descent that is at all similar that I know of is off Col du Joly. Maxn posted a video of that descent after we rode it recently. That’s a good one but compared the Arpettaz, a stroll in the park. South side of Galibier is a good one too but in truth it’s easy, not nearly as challenging as the drop of Joly. Just hold on and go and enjoy the views. Oddly enough one drop that is almost as entertaining as Arpettaz, though not nearly so long, is off the col above my house, the Col du Coq. That’s a good one, but not like the Arpettaz. In fact I’m going to way out on the limb of massive exaggerations and say that for anyone who loves technical, high speed descents on a bike, it’s worth the cost of the trip over to ride the Arpettaz. Up and down.
Having said that, I know there's one member here from Vermont with a 2CV who is going to be kicking his butt for not having ridden it while here this summer. Or maybe wanting to kick mine for not having posted this before he came over. Sorry about that.
Some shots, including one that shows what a snake of a road it is, a screen capture from ridewithgps.
Cheers