velotel
05-11-2014, 04:08 PM
Col de Romeyère, Col du Mont Noir, Gorges du Nant, all on the northwestern flank of the Vercors. Been three years at least since my last visit. Wasn’t the leading the candidate for the day’s ride during my drive down to collect Maxn. I was leaning more towards La Bérarde near Bourg d’Oisans. By the time I got to his place, Romeyère was dominating my thoughts. Less car time. I knew Maxn was up for either but when I suggested Romeyère, he was all for it. He liked the idea of less car time too.
Off to near the village of Saint Gervais. Parked along a small road in the walnut orchards about halfway between Cognin les Gorges, the bottom end of the Gorges du Nant, and Saint Gervais, the start of the climb to Romeyère. One laner roads, soft views, no traffic, all in all a wonderful calmness. There are also some beautifully redone old farm houses scattered the orchards. One in particular I love. Rock and wood, large vegetable garden, a semi-open barn separated from the house by a small court paved in stones and richly decorated with flowers, surrounded on three sides by walnut trees. I make a point of riding by it whenever I’m there. Maxn agreed, gorgeous home.
High above the ramparts of the Vercors plateau, a mass of vertical rock and tree-saturated slopes not far off vertical. Easy riding, flat roads, consistently wide enough for one car. I know the area well and we zigged from road to road through junctions and past small farms slowing just enough to make sure no car was coming in from the blind side. Into Saint Gervais, not much more than a big hamlet except there’s a church so it’s instantly upgraded into a village. Angle right at a junction and the climb is joined. Road’s widened enough that in lots of places two cars can shuffle by each other with minimal maneuvering.
Curl through a switchback to the right around a field with a small herd of sheep munching their way through the new grass. Road’s climbing fast and we’re already looking down over the village at the valley beyond. A convoluted landscape under a carpet of deciduous trees. The road’s serving up views with every bend. Fantastic road, good pavement, steady grades, sometimes maybe a generous car and a half wide, most of the time narrower. For some reason a bit of traffic. Like we met or were passed by maybe twenty cars. That was during 13 K and almost 900 vertical meters of climbing. For me that was a lot; every time I’ve ridden the col in the past I’d see maybe half a dozen cars, if that. But it was a Sunday and a fine day. One of the cars that went by us was a large motor home who ripped by and left little room between him and Maxn and I, and not for lack of room to his left since he happed to go by on a wider section of the road. Maxn and I both wondered if he was really going to be able to get through the tunnel with that rig. Some time later we had a good laugh when we met him coming back down. A dumb driver getting his just deserts.
Right after that we came around the bend where we could see the road sliced into the rock wall high above and next to the waterfall crashing down out of a narrow slot in the rocks. Maxn whips out his iphone to take a picture and mutters something about sending it to Instagram so Mat, my son, will see it. My son’s in Colorado, we’re in canyon on the flank of the Vercors massif and Maxn’s talking about my son seeing where we are. We’re talking a major generation/technology gap here. Then he mutters something about no data linkage where we are and I’m thinking he’ll be lucky if he even has a phone connection.
We ride over the small bridge just in front of the waterfall crashing down fully charged with water and the road ramps. I’m having a fine time because for once I’m riding shoulder to shoulder with Maxn and holding his pace without feeling like I’m about to explode. Granted, he wasn’t pedal to the medal and still had some acceleration at hand if he wanted whereas I was pretty much topped out but still, there we were rolling at a good pace up what’s a pretty sustained and fairly steep climb and I was comfortably hanging with him. Sweet. We surged up the ramp then the road eased a wee bit and we were in a thick forest of green. Kept thinking what a great ride this and why had I forgotten what a great ride it is. Then I hear Maxn saying my son posted a comment to the photo or maybe photos he’d sent to Instagram. Un-friggin-real! My son is 8 times zones to the west of us and is seeing his dad in real time doing a climb he knows well. A crazy world indeed.
We get to the tunnel, the one the signs down at the bottom are referring to with the warning that cyclists are required to have lights. It’s a long one and as I recall from driving through years and years ago, it makes a couple of bends and is totally black inside. Without a light there’s no way anyone even on foot is going to get very far inside. At least not without keeping a hand on one wall all the way through. Neither Maxn nor I have lights. No need. The road carved into the face of the cliff might be closed because part of the cliff departed but it’s still perfectly ridable. Or at least it used to be last time I was here, three years ago as I recall. Oops, the road departments pushed up a hump of dirt and rock at the start. Oh well, we hoof it over and jump back on the bikes and head off. This used to be one of my absolute favorite sections of road that I’d ever ridden. Super narrow roadway carved into a wall of rock, low rock wall on the outside and beyond that huge air. Plus to keep everything really interesting steep grade, maybe 9%.
Lot of rock fall since my last visit. Nothing major, just small stuff plus a lot of branches and junk from the forest above the cliff. Last time I rode it there was a pretty clear trail left by the passage of mountain bikers but this time the line’s a bit vague. Looks like Maxn and I are in for a bit of technical single-tracking on road bikes. Cool! This’ll be fun. It is. Turns out most of the distance is smooth, easy going, even the passage where part of the roadway fell into the depths below. I have to admit I’m loving this. Challenging riding on this crazy road in a cliff and a majestic view to our left. Hit a section with a lot of rock fall that carried parts of a tree down with it that forces us to put feet to ground. Walk the bike over then back in the saddle and heading to the end. Come up here with a few people with rakes and shovels and I bet we could clear the track in a couple of hours easy!
Get to the other end where the tunnel pops out of the rock, walk past the fencing closing access to the cliff road. Some people sitting having a picnic and enjoy the views stare at us like aliens then one asks if I’m not afraid of getting a flat. I say no way. Then I hear Maxn behind me say he’s got a flat. Hmmm, now what, he’s got tubless tires and I guess they’re hard to fix on the road. Tells me it’s just a slow leak and hopefully the junk he puts inside to stop leaks will fill the hole so we head off. Maxn rolls off flying up the road, turns around, comes back down really fast, turns around heads up again hard and fast. Tells me he’s hoping the speed will loosen up the junk inside and get to the hole. Must have worked because the tire seems to be holding so off we head to the col.
Complete scenery change. The world of vertical planes behind us, replaced by a broad valley heading into the Vercors. Road’s widened, but still climbing, almost a K of straight at over 9%. Followed by 3 K of easy, fast rolling to the col, a wide saddle between some Vercor cliffs to the left and the slopes of Mont Noir to the right. At the col a road angles to the right, the road to the Col du Mont Noir, 5 K and 350 vertical meters away. Pavement a bit primitive, thickly laced with fat gravel and seemingly laid right over the old dirt road. Told Maxn that as I remember it, it’s pretty hard climb but at least not for all 5 K. The rough blacktop makes it harder than it probably would be otherwise but still there are some sections apparently hitting 10% and even more floating around 9%. I’ve seen a few profiles of the climb and none of them are marching to the same band.
Views are excellent, across a broad valley to the long line of summits defining the Vercors summit ridgeline. We stop at one point to check out the views and immediately hear a cuckoo singing. In all the years of hearing cuckoos I have yet to actually see one. Might have just barely seen one flying away but wasn’t sure. A good road, lots of weaving in a beautiful forest of beech trees (at least I think that’s what they are). And all of a sudden we’re on the col, which really isn’t a col to my thinking, just a shoulder on the mountain where we change exposures.
Now down, for almost 1200 sustained going down meters on what is one of the most enjoyable descents I’ve ever done. A sentiment I believe Maxn agrees with. And once again I’d totally forgotten what a stunningly good downhill it is. Starts off slow enough on low angle grades that we took slow due to lots of sandy gravel on the road. That lasted until the junction with the road to Presles. From there down the road was mostly pretty clean. And fast. It’s never super steep; I think the steepest grades are around 8,5%, most of the time the grades are in the mid 7s. Which are perfect because the road is tight, I don’t remember seeing anywhere wide enough for two cars to pass without some maneuvering. Which means always having to enter the blind turns, and most of them are blind, with fingers floating the brake pads on the rims just in case. Plus the road doesn’t know what straight is. Or at least not until down in the gorge. A wonderful dance on the edge of full-on speed and precision carving.
We came flying out of the forest carrying a pretty good head of steam and all of a sudden there’s this wonderful curve with a big view of the upper cirque. I look back hard to the left and can see where we came around a rock point and started the plunge into the cirque which then dives into the Gorges du Nant. Behind me I can hear Maxn’s tires from time to time spitting gravel as we carve through a bend. The lighting is superb and part of me is screaming why didn’t I bring my camera and the rest of me is celebrating that I didn’t bring my camera. The descent is simply too luscious for stopping but if I had a camera I’d have to stop because the lighting and the views are too luscious to ignore. We meet a couple of cars coming up and diving down past them really is a bit of threading the needle because there’s not much room left even when they’re hugging the right edge. Which the drivers are reluctant to do because the hillside’s steep and there’s nothing to keep them from rolling down if they go off the road.
Through some sweet, round switchbacks, one of them with a house inside the curve and an old guy working in the garden. I shout out hello as we blow past and start the final descent into the gorge through some sharp, narrow, and totally blind turns on a steep hillside in a forest. Meeting a car in some of those turns could be tricky. We don’t. Hit a junction, turn left, and we’re in the gorge. Road goes almost straight, just some little wiggles back and forth and I’ve totally released the bike and it’s going gang busters down the hill. Then it’s on the brakes hard for a hard turn to the right and we enter the cliff section where the road’s carved out of the limestone. Fabulous. That ends with a tunnel and sharp turn to the right and then it’s down the final slopes. Some switchbacks, some wiggly straights, some nice back and forth bankers, all very fast. Outrageously fast at times.
Then it’s done, just like that. A right turn out of the forest onto a flat field on the edge of Cognin les Gorges. We turn right and start the return to the car via more one-laners through groves of walnut trees. Beautiful, just absolutely beautiful. One of the best loops the region has to offer, no question about it. And somehow I’d managed to forget about it for a few years! But only because there are so many outrageous rides to in the region. But still, this really is one of the best.
A few pics but none from this particular ride since I did it without a camera. Picked out a few from past rides so some seasonal changes. Just to give you an idea of what’s on offer. Included are some shots of the cliff road on the way to Romeyère before the rock fall that closed it.
Off to near the village of Saint Gervais. Parked along a small road in the walnut orchards about halfway between Cognin les Gorges, the bottom end of the Gorges du Nant, and Saint Gervais, the start of the climb to Romeyère. One laner roads, soft views, no traffic, all in all a wonderful calmness. There are also some beautifully redone old farm houses scattered the orchards. One in particular I love. Rock and wood, large vegetable garden, a semi-open barn separated from the house by a small court paved in stones and richly decorated with flowers, surrounded on three sides by walnut trees. I make a point of riding by it whenever I’m there. Maxn agreed, gorgeous home.
High above the ramparts of the Vercors plateau, a mass of vertical rock and tree-saturated slopes not far off vertical. Easy riding, flat roads, consistently wide enough for one car. I know the area well and we zigged from road to road through junctions and past small farms slowing just enough to make sure no car was coming in from the blind side. Into Saint Gervais, not much more than a big hamlet except there’s a church so it’s instantly upgraded into a village. Angle right at a junction and the climb is joined. Road’s widened enough that in lots of places two cars can shuffle by each other with minimal maneuvering.
Curl through a switchback to the right around a field with a small herd of sheep munching their way through the new grass. Road’s climbing fast and we’re already looking down over the village at the valley beyond. A convoluted landscape under a carpet of deciduous trees. The road’s serving up views with every bend. Fantastic road, good pavement, steady grades, sometimes maybe a generous car and a half wide, most of the time narrower. For some reason a bit of traffic. Like we met or were passed by maybe twenty cars. That was during 13 K and almost 900 vertical meters of climbing. For me that was a lot; every time I’ve ridden the col in the past I’d see maybe half a dozen cars, if that. But it was a Sunday and a fine day. One of the cars that went by us was a large motor home who ripped by and left little room between him and Maxn and I, and not for lack of room to his left since he happed to go by on a wider section of the road. Maxn and I both wondered if he was really going to be able to get through the tunnel with that rig. Some time later we had a good laugh when we met him coming back down. A dumb driver getting his just deserts.
Right after that we came around the bend where we could see the road sliced into the rock wall high above and next to the waterfall crashing down out of a narrow slot in the rocks. Maxn whips out his iphone to take a picture and mutters something about sending it to Instagram so Mat, my son, will see it. My son’s in Colorado, we’re in canyon on the flank of the Vercors massif and Maxn’s talking about my son seeing where we are. We’re talking a major generation/technology gap here. Then he mutters something about no data linkage where we are and I’m thinking he’ll be lucky if he even has a phone connection.
We ride over the small bridge just in front of the waterfall crashing down fully charged with water and the road ramps. I’m having a fine time because for once I’m riding shoulder to shoulder with Maxn and holding his pace without feeling like I’m about to explode. Granted, he wasn’t pedal to the medal and still had some acceleration at hand if he wanted whereas I was pretty much topped out but still, there we were rolling at a good pace up what’s a pretty sustained and fairly steep climb and I was comfortably hanging with him. Sweet. We surged up the ramp then the road eased a wee bit and we were in a thick forest of green. Kept thinking what a great ride this and why had I forgotten what a great ride it is. Then I hear Maxn saying my son posted a comment to the photo or maybe photos he’d sent to Instagram. Un-friggin-real! My son is 8 times zones to the west of us and is seeing his dad in real time doing a climb he knows well. A crazy world indeed.
We get to the tunnel, the one the signs down at the bottom are referring to with the warning that cyclists are required to have lights. It’s a long one and as I recall from driving through years and years ago, it makes a couple of bends and is totally black inside. Without a light there’s no way anyone even on foot is going to get very far inside. At least not without keeping a hand on one wall all the way through. Neither Maxn nor I have lights. No need. The road carved into the face of the cliff might be closed because part of the cliff departed but it’s still perfectly ridable. Or at least it used to be last time I was here, three years ago as I recall. Oops, the road departments pushed up a hump of dirt and rock at the start. Oh well, we hoof it over and jump back on the bikes and head off. This used to be one of my absolute favorite sections of road that I’d ever ridden. Super narrow roadway carved into a wall of rock, low rock wall on the outside and beyond that huge air. Plus to keep everything really interesting steep grade, maybe 9%.
Lot of rock fall since my last visit. Nothing major, just small stuff plus a lot of branches and junk from the forest above the cliff. Last time I rode it there was a pretty clear trail left by the passage of mountain bikers but this time the line’s a bit vague. Looks like Maxn and I are in for a bit of technical single-tracking on road bikes. Cool! This’ll be fun. It is. Turns out most of the distance is smooth, easy going, even the passage where part of the roadway fell into the depths below. I have to admit I’m loving this. Challenging riding on this crazy road in a cliff and a majestic view to our left. Hit a section with a lot of rock fall that carried parts of a tree down with it that forces us to put feet to ground. Walk the bike over then back in the saddle and heading to the end. Come up here with a few people with rakes and shovels and I bet we could clear the track in a couple of hours easy!
Get to the other end where the tunnel pops out of the rock, walk past the fencing closing access to the cliff road. Some people sitting having a picnic and enjoy the views stare at us like aliens then one asks if I’m not afraid of getting a flat. I say no way. Then I hear Maxn behind me say he’s got a flat. Hmmm, now what, he’s got tubless tires and I guess they’re hard to fix on the road. Tells me it’s just a slow leak and hopefully the junk he puts inside to stop leaks will fill the hole so we head off. Maxn rolls off flying up the road, turns around, comes back down really fast, turns around heads up again hard and fast. Tells me he’s hoping the speed will loosen up the junk inside and get to the hole. Must have worked because the tire seems to be holding so off we head to the col.
Complete scenery change. The world of vertical planes behind us, replaced by a broad valley heading into the Vercors. Road’s widened, but still climbing, almost a K of straight at over 9%. Followed by 3 K of easy, fast rolling to the col, a wide saddle between some Vercor cliffs to the left and the slopes of Mont Noir to the right. At the col a road angles to the right, the road to the Col du Mont Noir, 5 K and 350 vertical meters away. Pavement a bit primitive, thickly laced with fat gravel and seemingly laid right over the old dirt road. Told Maxn that as I remember it, it’s pretty hard climb but at least not for all 5 K. The rough blacktop makes it harder than it probably would be otherwise but still there are some sections apparently hitting 10% and even more floating around 9%. I’ve seen a few profiles of the climb and none of them are marching to the same band.
Views are excellent, across a broad valley to the long line of summits defining the Vercors summit ridgeline. We stop at one point to check out the views and immediately hear a cuckoo singing. In all the years of hearing cuckoos I have yet to actually see one. Might have just barely seen one flying away but wasn’t sure. A good road, lots of weaving in a beautiful forest of beech trees (at least I think that’s what they are). And all of a sudden we’re on the col, which really isn’t a col to my thinking, just a shoulder on the mountain where we change exposures.
Now down, for almost 1200 sustained going down meters on what is one of the most enjoyable descents I’ve ever done. A sentiment I believe Maxn agrees with. And once again I’d totally forgotten what a stunningly good downhill it is. Starts off slow enough on low angle grades that we took slow due to lots of sandy gravel on the road. That lasted until the junction with the road to Presles. From there down the road was mostly pretty clean. And fast. It’s never super steep; I think the steepest grades are around 8,5%, most of the time the grades are in the mid 7s. Which are perfect because the road is tight, I don’t remember seeing anywhere wide enough for two cars to pass without some maneuvering. Which means always having to enter the blind turns, and most of them are blind, with fingers floating the brake pads on the rims just in case. Plus the road doesn’t know what straight is. Or at least not until down in the gorge. A wonderful dance on the edge of full-on speed and precision carving.
We came flying out of the forest carrying a pretty good head of steam and all of a sudden there’s this wonderful curve with a big view of the upper cirque. I look back hard to the left and can see where we came around a rock point and started the plunge into the cirque which then dives into the Gorges du Nant. Behind me I can hear Maxn’s tires from time to time spitting gravel as we carve through a bend. The lighting is superb and part of me is screaming why didn’t I bring my camera and the rest of me is celebrating that I didn’t bring my camera. The descent is simply too luscious for stopping but if I had a camera I’d have to stop because the lighting and the views are too luscious to ignore. We meet a couple of cars coming up and diving down past them really is a bit of threading the needle because there’s not much room left even when they’re hugging the right edge. Which the drivers are reluctant to do because the hillside’s steep and there’s nothing to keep them from rolling down if they go off the road.
Through some sweet, round switchbacks, one of them with a house inside the curve and an old guy working in the garden. I shout out hello as we blow past and start the final descent into the gorge through some sharp, narrow, and totally blind turns on a steep hillside in a forest. Meeting a car in some of those turns could be tricky. We don’t. Hit a junction, turn left, and we’re in the gorge. Road goes almost straight, just some little wiggles back and forth and I’ve totally released the bike and it’s going gang busters down the hill. Then it’s on the brakes hard for a hard turn to the right and we enter the cliff section where the road’s carved out of the limestone. Fabulous. That ends with a tunnel and sharp turn to the right and then it’s down the final slopes. Some switchbacks, some wiggly straights, some nice back and forth bankers, all very fast. Outrageously fast at times.
Then it’s done, just like that. A right turn out of the forest onto a flat field on the edge of Cognin les Gorges. We turn right and start the return to the car via more one-laners through groves of walnut trees. Beautiful, just absolutely beautiful. One of the best loops the region has to offer, no question about it. And somehow I’d managed to forget about it for a few years! But only because there are so many outrageous rides to in the region. But still, this really is one of the best.
A few pics but none from this particular ride since I did it without a camera. Picked out a few from past rides so some seasonal changes. Just to give you an idea of what’s on offer. Included are some shots of the cliff road on the way to Romeyère before the rock fall that closed it.