velotel
08-11-2016, 07:15 AM
Pushed my bike too. Haven’t done that since way back in the stone age or so. The legs let the team down. The rest of me was fine for riding, even yelling and cheering the legs to get back to work but they refused. Just plodded along up the hill.
Can’t blame them. Dirt and rock chemin climbing up the mountain via double-digit grades and me with a 34/29 for my low gear. The worst was the gravel on the road after a month of mostly hot and dry weather and cars attempting to drive up the road and chewing up the surface. So I pushed the bike for maybe a total of half a K out of 10K of bloody hard going. Not all in one stretch, I’d ride where I could and when the gravel and steepness was too much, I’d walk. Views were so amazing that being there on such a glorious day was a privilege whether on the bike or not.
You won’t find Col du Fréjus on lists of have-to-do-rides. Probably not on any mountain bike lists either, too tame for them. But for fat-tired road bikes, this is a great one. Just make sure your damn gears are low enough for your legs!
Col du Fréjus, it’s up above the Valfréjus ski area which is on the mountain the Tunnel du Fréjus goes through into Italy. That’s why the name might have rung a bell. The road to Valfréjus isn’t anything special. Around 500 vertical meters in 10 K or so from where I parked. Pleasant climb. K posts even have the grades on them. One of the early ones showed 7%. The road was almost flat. I thought oh man the last part of the K is going to be a wall of pain. And there’s the next K post, showing 7%. The road’s still flat. Apparently it’s not just the road that gets high.
Valfréjus, small ski station, apartments clustered around the base of the lifts. Some sort of festival going on. Heavy people wandering around looking semi-dazed, or maybe just bored. I cruise through, looking for the road to Fréjus. Spot a sign showing the way. I’m off, no idea what’s ahead, other than a whole lot of climbing. The col’s at 2550 meters, Valfréjus 1500 meters.
Onto the chemin, sort of the equivalent of an american jeep road, only normal cars can go up the road with a bit of care. From blacktop to dirt, from noise and clutter to silence and calm. Surface is dirt and ever so slightly damp. Perfect for traction. In a thick forest of tall conifers. To the right an unseen creek crashing over rocks. Start thinking that if this is the way it’s going to be, I could fall in love.
Grade steepens but not enough to make me start looking down to see if I’m on my biggest cog. A forest of silence, air still, the road a wandering ribbon of dirt and small stones. I’m in the zone, steady rhythm, breathing and pedal strokes harmonized, from time to time pebbles spurting out from under a tire. Into a switchback, then another, a small series of elongated stackbacks in the trees, rock wall supports. Definitely working the legs but feels good, just steady, hard effort surrounded by the quiet sighing of trees.
Road exits the forest and slides in next to the creek surging over boulders and slabs of smooth rock. Up ahead a bowl of light. Also the end of the smooth going. Around a rock outcrop and into the basin, past a parking full of cars, old cabins scattered around the hillside along with squat, concrete buildings built at the end of the 1800’s by the army for defense. One is particularly large, three, four stories tall, rows of empty windows, somebody’s transformed part of it for making cheese. Lots of hikers and picnickers scattered around.
The climbing turns fierce, steep grades and loose gravel and I’m thinking if it’s like this to the top, going to be a bitch climb. But it won’t be of course. For sure there will be easier sections. So on I went. Just as well I didn’t know what lay ahead. Ignorance was bliss.
That first K away from the basin’s floor about wiped me out. I think I stopped 3 times to rest. According to the map generated by ridewithgps most of that K was 12% and steeper. No idea if those numbers are accurate. Felt like 20%.
Anyway, I got up it, with stops. Not sure about this but I think that with a 32 cog combined with my 34 ring I would have been able to ride that K non-stop. Maybe. The loose gravel was the killer. Either had to be seated on the nose of the saddle (that’s how steep it was) or in a low crouch with my butt floating over the saddle’s nose. The effort drained me.
Get to a switchback to the left with a double-track heading off to the right and disappearing over a swell into a vast, rolling basin of fields under rock summits. That double-track is tempting. Flattish and smooth, yes! Meanwhile the road to the col angles up and across a big slope of grasses and wildflowers and pockets of trees. Turns out to be good steep, not desperate steep. Rode it all the way, near the limit but not too much. Stopped anyway. For the views, not for survival. Just magnificent! A vast basin/valley, the only trees on north-facing slopes, a ring of high peaks and ridges above. Keep riding over remnants of asphalt. Can’t believe once upon a time this puppy was paved.
Thought the road was going to cut back to the right towards the basin the double-track had headed to. Instead it keeps angling left up onto a round ridge with views back down to Valfréjus and the Maurienne Valley. The road swings right and past a cluster of stone cabins sliding into ruins then straight up the mountain. The gravel worse than ever, the grades the steepest yet. Walk the bike time. Lasted for a few hundred meters. According to figures generated by ridewithgps, the grades were 15%, 16%, sustained.
Looked up and saw the road slicing across a cliff face and up into a slot into another basin entirely. Across the cliff face looked steep and I was starting to wonder if I was going to push the bike clear to the col. Turned out to be easier than it looked. Not only did I ride it, I even contemplated moving down one cog for a moment part way along. From below I’d been wondering what the heck that was along the road, some sort of strange row of tall posts. A kind of cable fence to keep people from going off the road and down the cliff. Which kind of amazed me. I mean can’t believe many vehicles get up here. Got to the slot and realized it wasn’t for cars but for skiers. Just beyond the slot in the basin was the base of a ski lift, part of the Valfréjus ski area. Apparently randonnée skiers use the road to access the slopes in the valley I’d ridden up out of.
And there was the col up on the skyline, or I assumed that’s where the col was. I was now above tree line, nothing but grasses and a few shrubs. The road reared up, looked like maybe the steepest pitch yet. Generously layered with gravel. Back into walking mode for another 100 meters or so. Back on the bike, barely, then picking up a bit of pace.
Up here nothing but minerals covered by a thin veneer of flowers and grasses. Spotted plants that looked like they’d already been hit by a frost. And it’s early August. The only wildlife I saw was a young marmot who scurried across the road just in front of me. I was heading to a junction with some road coming in from the left, from up on the ridge where the lift went. Several groups of hikers on it. Joined the other road and life got easier. Then another junction with a road climbing to the left and a double-track fading right then straight across the slopes towards the horizon. A sign saying Col du Fréjus pointed that way, the easy way. I liked that. Flat, no gravel, smooth flowing onto the col. Fantastic finish.
Some hikers up ahead hear me coming, glance back, and for a moment have this deer in the headlights look about them. Then jump to the side, leaving one track for me. The col’s a broad, gentle saddle on a round ridge covered with grasses and flowers. The italian side drops precipitously. In the distance the Bardonecchia ski slopes. Brilliant blue sky, the only clouds far away on the italian horizon and way to the north in France. Panorama is enormous. Across the Bardonecchia valley is a long, high ridge of summits on which is one of Italy’s famous military chemins, one I’ve been wanting to ride for a long time. Soon maybe.
Can’t remember the last time I arrived on a col so wasted from the effort. Lean the bike against the sign announcing the col and giving a bit of history, in italian and french, then flop down in the grass. Paradise. Can’t hardly believe how gorgeous it is up here. Pull out my sandwich, eat while watching some hikers on the trail ready to drop into Italy. From the col into Italy it’s a pure single-track. The hikers stay there for a long time then suddenly disappear. As if they jumped off the mountain.
Ride out to where they’d been and come to an abrupt stop. The trail passes a rock outcropping then drops down through a small cliff and pretty much straight down this crazy steep slope of grasses and talus. Definitely not ridable. Just walking down it looks like a challenge. Somewhere down below, and probably not all that far below, there’s a dirt road to Bardonecchia. That could be a fine adventure. Carry some clothes for the evening and a credit card, drop down into Bardonecchia. Excellent!
Linger time over, head back. Kind of worried about the descent on all that gravel. Could be tricky. It isn’t. Just a question of anticipating and keeping the speed under control. Well I’ll be go to hell! Finally, some mountain bikers, full suspension, fat tires, a guy and gal, both sitting and spinning their feet at a crazy pace. Has to be super low gearing the way they’re spinning and barely moving up the grade I walked up. They’re both staring at my bike as we cross like it’s some sort of UFO. Or maybe it’s me they’re staring at like I’m some extraterrestrial out of the past with my white hair and friggin road bike of all things way the hell and gone up here!
Hit the bottom of the basin and the end of the super steep grades and gravel. Into the forest. Sweet riding, the surface that perfect mix of dirt and humidity for ultimate traction. I even pass two cars going down. One of the drivers didn’t even see me until all of a sudden I was next to his window and diving into a turn to the left. Turns out the road in the forest is steeper than I’d thought coming up. Nothing like going down to see if something’s steep or not. Back to the ski area, back to civilization, down the road to Modane. An okay descent, wide roadway, round turns, hang on and go, kind of an anticlimax after where I’d been.
Back to the car, stop, stand there straddling the top tube for a minute or maybe more. Just amazing where I was. Okay, two hours of driving, sit back, relax. What a day! Never would have seen all that without the new bike, the Stoner Bike, pure sweetness, fat tires rule. Some pics
Can’t blame them. Dirt and rock chemin climbing up the mountain via double-digit grades and me with a 34/29 for my low gear. The worst was the gravel on the road after a month of mostly hot and dry weather and cars attempting to drive up the road and chewing up the surface. So I pushed the bike for maybe a total of half a K out of 10K of bloody hard going. Not all in one stretch, I’d ride where I could and when the gravel and steepness was too much, I’d walk. Views were so amazing that being there on such a glorious day was a privilege whether on the bike or not.
You won’t find Col du Fréjus on lists of have-to-do-rides. Probably not on any mountain bike lists either, too tame for them. But for fat-tired road bikes, this is a great one. Just make sure your damn gears are low enough for your legs!
Col du Fréjus, it’s up above the Valfréjus ski area which is on the mountain the Tunnel du Fréjus goes through into Italy. That’s why the name might have rung a bell. The road to Valfréjus isn’t anything special. Around 500 vertical meters in 10 K or so from where I parked. Pleasant climb. K posts even have the grades on them. One of the early ones showed 7%. The road was almost flat. I thought oh man the last part of the K is going to be a wall of pain. And there’s the next K post, showing 7%. The road’s still flat. Apparently it’s not just the road that gets high.
Valfréjus, small ski station, apartments clustered around the base of the lifts. Some sort of festival going on. Heavy people wandering around looking semi-dazed, or maybe just bored. I cruise through, looking for the road to Fréjus. Spot a sign showing the way. I’m off, no idea what’s ahead, other than a whole lot of climbing. The col’s at 2550 meters, Valfréjus 1500 meters.
Onto the chemin, sort of the equivalent of an american jeep road, only normal cars can go up the road with a bit of care. From blacktop to dirt, from noise and clutter to silence and calm. Surface is dirt and ever so slightly damp. Perfect for traction. In a thick forest of tall conifers. To the right an unseen creek crashing over rocks. Start thinking that if this is the way it’s going to be, I could fall in love.
Grade steepens but not enough to make me start looking down to see if I’m on my biggest cog. A forest of silence, air still, the road a wandering ribbon of dirt and small stones. I’m in the zone, steady rhythm, breathing and pedal strokes harmonized, from time to time pebbles spurting out from under a tire. Into a switchback, then another, a small series of elongated stackbacks in the trees, rock wall supports. Definitely working the legs but feels good, just steady, hard effort surrounded by the quiet sighing of trees.
Road exits the forest and slides in next to the creek surging over boulders and slabs of smooth rock. Up ahead a bowl of light. Also the end of the smooth going. Around a rock outcrop and into the basin, past a parking full of cars, old cabins scattered around the hillside along with squat, concrete buildings built at the end of the 1800’s by the army for defense. One is particularly large, three, four stories tall, rows of empty windows, somebody’s transformed part of it for making cheese. Lots of hikers and picnickers scattered around.
The climbing turns fierce, steep grades and loose gravel and I’m thinking if it’s like this to the top, going to be a bitch climb. But it won’t be of course. For sure there will be easier sections. So on I went. Just as well I didn’t know what lay ahead. Ignorance was bliss.
That first K away from the basin’s floor about wiped me out. I think I stopped 3 times to rest. According to the map generated by ridewithgps most of that K was 12% and steeper. No idea if those numbers are accurate. Felt like 20%.
Anyway, I got up it, with stops. Not sure about this but I think that with a 32 cog combined with my 34 ring I would have been able to ride that K non-stop. Maybe. The loose gravel was the killer. Either had to be seated on the nose of the saddle (that’s how steep it was) or in a low crouch with my butt floating over the saddle’s nose. The effort drained me.
Get to a switchback to the left with a double-track heading off to the right and disappearing over a swell into a vast, rolling basin of fields under rock summits. That double-track is tempting. Flattish and smooth, yes! Meanwhile the road to the col angles up and across a big slope of grasses and wildflowers and pockets of trees. Turns out to be good steep, not desperate steep. Rode it all the way, near the limit but not too much. Stopped anyway. For the views, not for survival. Just magnificent! A vast basin/valley, the only trees on north-facing slopes, a ring of high peaks and ridges above. Keep riding over remnants of asphalt. Can’t believe once upon a time this puppy was paved.
Thought the road was going to cut back to the right towards the basin the double-track had headed to. Instead it keeps angling left up onto a round ridge with views back down to Valfréjus and the Maurienne Valley. The road swings right and past a cluster of stone cabins sliding into ruins then straight up the mountain. The gravel worse than ever, the grades the steepest yet. Walk the bike time. Lasted for a few hundred meters. According to figures generated by ridewithgps, the grades were 15%, 16%, sustained.
Looked up and saw the road slicing across a cliff face and up into a slot into another basin entirely. Across the cliff face looked steep and I was starting to wonder if I was going to push the bike clear to the col. Turned out to be easier than it looked. Not only did I ride it, I even contemplated moving down one cog for a moment part way along. From below I’d been wondering what the heck that was along the road, some sort of strange row of tall posts. A kind of cable fence to keep people from going off the road and down the cliff. Which kind of amazed me. I mean can’t believe many vehicles get up here. Got to the slot and realized it wasn’t for cars but for skiers. Just beyond the slot in the basin was the base of a ski lift, part of the Valfréjus ski area. Apparently randonnée skiers use the road to access the slopes in the valley I’d ridden up out of.
And there was the col up on the skyline, or I assumed that’s where the col was. I was now above tree line, nothing but grasses and a few shrubs. The road reared up, looked like maybe the steepest pitch yet. Generously layered with gravel. Back into walking mode for another 100 meters or so. Back on the bike, barely, then picking up a bit of pace.
Up here nothing but minerals covered by a thin veneer of flowers and grasses. Spotted plants that looked like they’d already been hit by a frost. And it’s early August. The only wildlife I saw was a young marmot who scurried across the road just in front of me. I was heading to a junction with some road coming in from the left, from up on the ridge where the lift went. Several groups of hikers on it. Joined the other road and life got easier. Then another junction with a road climbing to the left and a double-track fading right then straight across the slopes towards the horizon. A sign saying Col du Fréjus pointed that way, the easy way. I liked that. Flat, no gravel, smooth flowing onto the col. Fantastic finish.
Some hikers up ahead hear me coming, glance back, and for a moment have this deer in the headlights look about them. Then jump to the side, leaving one track for me. The col’s a broad, gentle saddle on a round ridge covered with grasses and flowers. The italian side drops precipitously. In the distance the Bardonecchia ski slopes. Brilliant blue sky, the only clouds far away on the italian horizon and way to the north in France. Panorama is enormous. Across the Bardonecchia valley is a long, high ridge of summits on which is one of Italy’s famous military chemins, one I’ve been wanting to ride for a long time. Soon maybe.
Can’t remember the last time I arrived on a col so wasted from the effort. Lean the bike against the sign announcing the col and giving a bit of history, in italian and french, then flop down in the grass. Paradise. Can’t hardly believe how gorgeous it is up here. Pull out my sandwich, eat while watching some hikers on the trail ready to drop into Italy. From the col into Italy it’s a pure single-track. The hikers stay there for a long time then suddenly disappear. As if they jumped off the mountain.
Ride out to where they’d been and come to an abrupt stop. The trail passes a rock outcropping then drops down through a small cliff and pretty much straight down this crazy steep slope of grasses and talus. Definitely not ridable. Just walking down it looks like a challenge. Somewhere down below, and probably not all that far below, there’s a dirt road to Bardonecchia. That could be a fine adventure. Carry some clothes for the evening and a credit card, drop down into Bardonecchia. Excellent!
Linger time over, head back. Kind of worried about the descent on all that gravel. Could be tricky. It isn’t. Just a question of anticipating and keeping the speed under control. Well I’ll be go to hell! Finally, some mountain bikers, full suspension, fat tires, a guy and gal, both sitting and spinning their feet at a crazy pace. Has to be super low gearing the way they’re spinning and barely moving up the grade I walked up. They’re both staring at my bike as we cross like it’s some sort of UFO. Or maybe it’s me they’re staring at like I’m some extraterrestrial out of the past with my white hair and friggin road bike of all things way the hell and gone up here!
Hit the bottom of the basin and the end of the super steep grades and gravel. Into the forest. Sweet riding, the surface that perfect mix of dirt and humidity for ultimate traction. I even pass two cars going down. One of the drivers didn’t even see me until all of a sudden I was next to his window and diving into a turn to the left. Turns out the road in the forest is steeper than I’d thought coming up. Nothing like going down to see if something’s steep or not. Back to the ski area, back to civilization, down the road to Modane. An okay descent, wide roadway, round turns, hang on and go, kind of an anticlimax after where I’d been.
Back to the car, stop, stand there straddling the top tube for a minute or maybe more. Just amazing where I was. Okay, two hours of driving, sit back, relax. What a day! Never would have seen all that without the new bike, the Stoner Bike, pure sweetness, fat tires rule. Some pics