velotel
01-01-2014, 03:49 PM
Odd weather happening recently. Evening on the last day of 013 was comfortably cold with the beautiful low-angle light of mid-winter. Had an excellent ride on the plateau, watching Mont Blanc and the Alps washed in shades of pink. Later drove down into the valley for dinner and champagne with the mother-in-law. Drove back, started raining during the climb, went through the tunnel and exited into snow falling thick. Did the end-of-the-day-before-going-to-bed dog walk in the snow thinking completing my end-of-the-year-start-of-the-year sandwich in the morning could be less than perfectly pleasant.
Woke up at 4 in the morning to pee, no snow, sky mostly clear. Still clear at 6:15. Looks like I’m good for completing my sandwich. Decide to do a ride up around Chambéry since I have a bottle of wine to give to an old guy there from whom I bought 40 cubic meters of split and dried firewood for a wonderful price. Nice guy. Told me he’d keep what I couldn’t haul off last autumn and I could collect it this spring. Beautiful, dry wood nicely protected from the weather just awaiting my return. Always thought of him as an old guy until I realize he’s around about my age, maybe younger. Damn! He was a furniture maker, has a fine workshop at his house but now he’s retired. Got tired of the work required with wood heat, switched to a pellet stove, thus put a few years worth of firewood up for sale. I bought it all soon as I saw it.
Stopped by his house to give him the bottle. A woman I didn’t know walked down. A friend of the family. Told me the old guy up and died 15 days ago. Just like that, plam! He’s gone. Damn, life can change in a hurry. All the more reason to grab and enjoy ever y ride I can while I can. His house is near the road to Granier. Riding that struck me as a fine call to start off 014. I liked the idea of cruising on its low single-digit grades for a lighter taste of climbing. That was the idea until perversity raised its gnarly old head and before I knew it, I’d turned left onto a narrow road out of Chambéry that climbs in a hurry. I’d driven it a couple of times already, in second gear in my truck with a diesel and relatively low gearing.
Turned out to be as steep as I remembered it being. Climbed 171 vertical meters in 1,7 K, which unless my math has gotten lazy comes out to just about 10% average. Which means that given the easier sections at the bottom and in the middle, there were some long pieces in the teens and I know that just before the top there’s a nice little gift up around 20%. So much for the mellow ride idea. After that it was downhill to join the normal road to Granier. No cyclists at all and not many cars. Big views back over Chambéry with Lake Bourget and the Bauges mountains in the background. Chambéry was only a few klicks away but around me was just farms and fields with scattered suburban homes mixed in. Some pretty nice looking homes I should add, wood, rock, glass, the perfect combo in my opinion.
I’m on my bike, the first of January, riding in tights, two lightweight layers on top with the sleeves rolled up, no gloves, no hat. Also no winter overboots on the shoes. Amazing. But cold in the shade. The road climbs up through a shallow valley until it curls left under high cliffs where the sun hardly touches the ground during the middle of the winter. Saw quite a few spots of ice and snow on the road. Broke out of the shadow zone into the sun and the road was instantly dry.
Long traverse across the mountain into a switchback to the right and another long traverse. Broke free of the trees for some nice views overlooking the valley and the lake in the distance. Hit the section of road that’s carved out of a cliff. Sun still hadn’t hit there yet and the going down side of the road was covered with a nice layer of snow and ice. But the outside line was clear so kept forging on. I wasn’t heading for the col, just to where there’s a tunnel that cuts through the ridge to the other side of the mountain. Decided since it was the first day of the year, I’d turn around there, drop back down to the car, head home to spend the afternoon with the wife.
Didn’t make it to the tunnel. But almost. Road covered with snow and ice and from the sounds coming out of the tunnel when a car went through I suspected there was ice in the tunnel too. Okay, no problem, shoot some pics, add a medium weight Smartwool long-sleeved shirt and a Sugoi wool jersey, and gloves. Still no hat, no windbreaker. Head down. Tip toe through the ice and snow then let the bike roll free. But watching the road surface like the proverbial hawk. Into the long shadow section and slow down. On the way up I’d seen a road heading off with the name of some village I recognized. Had a suspicion that could be a nice option for getting back to the car.
Nice isn’t the word; the road was insanely awesome, simple as that. One laner despite the highway department having rather optimistically painted small lines down the middle. I’m talking so narrow that if I’d met a car, both of us would have had to inch past one another. And get this, the road surface was buff! Not all the time but a significant percentage was.
Kicked in with a long traverse across a broad basin, a slight downhill, just enough that I was on my 50/12 and spinning easy. Hit a short roller coaster section where the road rolled up and over a small ridge. Stayed on the big ring, moved up a couple of cogs, flew over the top and headed down again. Road as narrow as ever. Dropped into a long, broad valley with the road working itself down the slopes via series of round, switchbacks. A completely crazy good road and I had no idea it was there before I spotted the sign back on the road to Granier. And then to really top it all off, I get to an intersection and a stop sign. No indication for direction. Look to the right, look ahead; ahead looks like maybe the call to make so I do. Half a K further on I hit the road I’d been on back at the beginning and in another half K I’m back at the car. Perfect. Sandwich completed with a ride that turned out to be a small gem. Would have been nice to go all the way to the col but even without that I still bagged around 750 – 800 vertical meters of up. Nice start to the year.
Some pics. Happy new year to all
Woke up at 4 in the morning to pee, no snow, sky mostly clear. Still clear at 6:15. Looks like I’m good for completing my sandwich. Decide to do a ride up around Chambéry since I have a bottle of wine to give to an old guy there from whom I bought 40 cubic meters of split and dried firewood for a wonderful price. Nice guy. Told me he’d keep what I couldn’t haul off last autumn and I could collect it this spring. Beautiful, dry wood nicely protected from the weather just awaiting my return. Always thought of him as an old guy until I realize he’s around about my age, maybe younger. Damn! He was a furniture maker, has a fine workshop at his house but now he’s retired. Got tired of the work required with wood heat, switched to a pellet stove, thus put a few years worth of firewood up for sale. I bought it all soon as I saw it.
Stopped by his house to give him the bottle. A woman I didn’t know walked down. A friend of the family. Told me the old guy up and died 15 days ago. Just like that, plam! He’s gone. Damn, life can change in a hurry. All the more reason to grab and enjoy ever y ride I can while I can. His house is near the road to Granier. Riding that struck me as a fine call to start off 014. I liked the idea of cruising on its low single-digit grades for a lighter taste of climbing. That was the idea until perversity raised its gnarly old head and before I knew it, I’d turned left onto a narrow road out of Chambéry that climbs in a hurry. I’d driven it a couple of times already, in second gear in my truck with a diesel and relatively low gearing.
Turned out to be as steep as I remembered it being. Climbed 171 vertical meters in 1,7 K, which unless my math has gotten lazy comes out to just about 10% average. Which means that given the easier sections at the bottom and in the middle, there were some long pieces in the teens and I know that just before the top there’s a nice little gift up around 20%. So much for the mellow ride idea. After that it was downhill to join the normal road to Granier. No cyclists at all and not many cars. Big views back over Chambéry with Lake Bourget and the Bauges mountains in the background. Chambéry was only a few klicks away but around me was just farms and fields with scattered suburban homes mixed in. Some pretty nice looking homes I should add, wood, rock, glass, the perfect combo in my opinion.
I’m on my bike, the first of January, riding in tights, two lightweight layers on top with the sleeves rolled up, no gloves, no hat. Also no winter overboots on the shoes. Amazing. But cold in the shade. The road climbs up through a shallow valley until it curls left under high cliffs where the sun hardly touches the ground during the middle of the winter. Saw quite a few spots of ice and snow on the road. Broke out of the shadow zone into the sun and the road was instantly dry.
Long traverse across the mountain into a switchback to the right and another long traverse. Broke free of the trees for some nice views overlooking the valley and the lake in the distance. Hit the section of road that’s carved out of a cliff. Sun still hadn’t hit there yet and the going down side of the road was covered with a nice layer of snow and ice. But the outside line was clear so kept forging on. I wasn’t heading for the col, just to where there’s a tunnel that cuts through the ridge to the other side of the mountain. Decided since it was the first day of the year, I’d turn around there, drop back down to the car, head home to spend the afternoon with the wife.
Didn’t make it to the tunnel. But almost. Road covered with snow and ice and from the sounds coming out of the tunnel when a car went through I suspected there was ice in the tunnel too. Okay, no problem, shoot some pics, add a medium weight Smartwool long-sleeved shirt and a Sugoi wool jersey, and gloves. Still no hat, no windbreaker. Head down. Tip toe through the ice and snow then let the bike roll free. But watching the road surface like the proverbial hawk. Into the long shadow section and slow down. On the way up I’d seen a road heading off with the name of some village I recognized. Had a suspicion that could be a nice option for getting back to the car.
Nice isn’t the word; the road was insanely awesome, simple as that. One laner despite the highway department having rather optimistically painted small lines down the middle. I’m talking so narrow that if I’d met a car, both of us would have had to inch past one another. And get this, the road surface was buff! Not all the time but a significant percentage was.
Kicked in with a long traverse across a broad basin, a slight downhill, just enough that I was on my 50/12 and spinning easy. Hit a short roller coaster section where the road rolled up and over a small ridge. Stayed on the big ring, moved up a couple of cogs, flew over the top and headed down again. Road as narrow as ever. Dropped into a long, broad valley with the road working itself down the slopes via series of round, switchbacks. A completely crazy good road and I had no idea it was there before I spotted the sign back on the road to Granier. And then to really top it all off, I get to an intersection and a stop sign. No indication for direction. Look to the right, look ahead; ahead looks like maybe the call to make so I do. Half a K further on I hit the road I’d been on back at the beginning and in another half K I’m back at the car. Perfect. Sandwich completed with a ride that turned out to be a small gem. Would have been nice to go all the way to the col but even without that I still bagged around 750 – 800 vertical meters of up. Nice start to the year.
Some pics. Happy new year to all