Route de la Soif,

[velotel]

road of thirst in english, the Grand Traverse for me because that’s what it is, a grand traverse below a narrow, angular ridge of sharp summits and crazy steep avalanche terrain. First rode it 5 years ago after having looked at it whenever I rode the Col de l’Arpettaz. I’d look out at the mountain road and feel this powerful temptation to follow it into a huge, tilted basin and up onto a ridge on the far side. I’d also seen what I thought was the other end, a couple hundred meters of rocky road above the Col des Aravis. What I couldn’t see was the long section between the two ends, or even if they were connected. Also no idea if it was doable with a road bike. Couldn’t find any info on it at all so had to find out for myself.

Don’t remember why I decided to do Aravis to Arpettaz. Maybe to save my legs for the unknown; the climb to Arpettaz is gorgeous but a leg-cruncher, at least for me, the climb to Aravis easy. Parked in the valley near Ugine and rode the north side balcony road above the Gorge d’Arly from Ugine to Flumet then the road to Col des Aravis. Had a coffee and tarte at a restaurant on the col before attacking the track. Rough bastard, embedded rocks, loose stones, sharp-edged gravel, dirt. My tires were 700x25s, climbing gear a 34/27, bike an Eriksen, Campy Record all the way, pure road bike. A hundred meters into the climb I was thinking if the entire distance is like this, there’s no way I’m going all the way. Brutal plus I was at the limit with my gearing. Forty meters later the surface smoothed, the grade eased, road did a lazy curve to the left into the woods, and I was flying thinking if it’s like this all the way could be one sweet day.

Exited the trees into a climbing curve to the right and my brain popped. Filling my eyes was this mass of ice and snow and rock, Mont Blanc, the Aiguille du Midi, and the chain of rock spires and vertical faces above the Chamonix valley. Then I glanced to the right and smiled. Somebody had placed a wooden bench on a flat spot, a couch planted in front this magnificent view.

Sat on the bench, ate my sandwich, stared at summits and valleys stretching into the distance. Then into the unknown. I don’t remember it as being all that hard. I mean it was definitely hard and no doubt forced me to push my limits a bit but I don’t remember that. What I do remember was riding in a cloud of wonder and feeling way out there on the edge. As in if anything happened I’d have a hard time getting back to civilization because there was no one there. In some three hours of riding, taking pictures, and just hanging out and looking I didn’t see another soul. No cars, no hikers, nothing but scattered cows. An astounding day.

I’ve ridden it maybe a dozen times since, in both directions. Always sublime, and different every time. Also never easy. Even seems to be getting harder though I now have another Eriksen with a geometry ever so subtly tweaked for dirt and gravel, with a 30/32 for my climbing gear and wearing 700x37 tubeless tires! A 34/27 and 700x25s, no way, I’d die. At least I haven’t gone electric. Still just grinding it out on my own.

Which is what I did Sunday, ground it out. Got to Aravis with a howling wind out of the south pushing me hard. Gotta love a good tailwind but I was pretty sure it would flip into a howling headwind on the traverse. It did, at times. The terrain is so complex that I pretty much got it all, headwinds, tailwinds, sidewinds, and pockets of no wind at all. I also got slammed by a gust in the final approach to the highest point of the ride. I was in this steep pitch, the surface loose gravel and rock, picking my line, in a low crouch to shift weight between the front and rear wheels, the wind angling in hard from my left making an already steep climb even steeper. Then a blast of air came within a whisker of knocking me down. Ten meters further another blast tried to remove the whisker, drove me off the road, across a shallow depression, and into a meadow where I hooked left to get back on the road.

As excellent as the riding itself is –a damned rocky piece of work to be honest - it’s the views and a wonderful sense of isolation and the sheer wildness of the place that I love so much. It’s also a place that changes constantly. A couple of times I rode it with maybe 75% of the 15 K packed relatively smooth by a combination of traffic and just enough humidity. I flew. I’ve also ridden it when conditions sucked with loose rock and sheep **** from flocks being moved to lower pastures. A lot of sheep. Cows raise havoc with the road too. Given that the traverse is only maybe 25% of the total distance in a loop, the perfect bike is probably something like a Moots Baxter wearing really fat rubber. Super good for the pavement too because the roads off the Arpettaz are perfect rustic asphalt, as in generously endowed with large diameter gravel, cracks, patches, lumps, and sand and gravel washed off the slopes. Asphalt fat-tired road bikes eat up.

The view that dominates is the huge panorama anchored around Mont Blanc. Impressive for sure, I mean the mountain is right friggin there, but it’s also distant and somewhat static. But the views on the plateau itself, pure magic, a visual abundance shifting and expanding, one moment bushes growing in a shallow drainage, the next some crag of dark rock looming overhead, a little further along an old house or barn silhouetted against the sky, then maybe a small glen tucked under a shoulder of a ridge with a brilliant splash of yellow leaves in the fall. Days with clouds swirling across the heights, shrouding the cliffs in greys with momentary flashes of color exploding in the greyness when rays of sun slash through, those are the best in a lot of respects. Then again hard to argue against a silver dollar day without a cloud in sight.

Aravis to Arpettaz, I do that more often than the other. Both are spectacular but I like the way the ride unfolds from Aravis south. It’s like one of those flash mob scenes where in a plaza in some city one person starts playing an instrument then more and more musicians and singers appear steadily building up to some superb grand finale. That’s kind of the Grand Traverse. Kicks off with this somewhat anodyne track heading away from Aravis up into a forest. Just another dirt and rock forest road until it exits the woods into the Mont Blanc mega-scene and with that the tempo starts to steadily intensify through two steep-walled basins. One moment the riding is fast and easy then abruptly becoming hard and edgy, then shifting again and you’re going fast around a blind bend around a rock promontory and into a sort of glen with a hard climb out the other side.

Inside those basins you’ve got no idea where you are or where the road’s going but it doesn’t matter because you’ve figured out that in a moment another singer, another musician is going to appear, changing the tempo, totally capturing your attention again. So you just ride what you see and wait to see where it takes you.

It’s in the climb up out of the second basin where the crescendo comes on strong leading up to the grand finale, all the disparate threads flowing together, the tempo ramping up into a crashing sea of chords soaring higher and higher until all of a sudden it’s absolute silence and you’re standing and staring into the distance at the Col de l’Arpettaz and Mont Charmin silhouetted against the sky. Between you and the Arpettaz a long, narrow plateau descending through fields of rocks and grasses under a wall of cliffs and avalanche chutes.

I love that view. Always fills me with this incredible sense of peace and paradoxically excitement energizing tired muscles. The descent could be a ripper on a bike wearing seriously fat tires but I need to stop too often to take in the views so why rush between stops. I mean who knows when or even if I’ll ever be there again so I stop and look. Besides, the faster I go, the sooner it’s over, so why go fast.

Those views, from one end to the other, in both directions, the sense of magic, and the sheer joy of riding this road where, outside of hikers near the Aravis, you’ll probably not see another person are what for me make this a have-to ride. But like I’ve said, it’s a rough bugger, 15 K of fierce, physical riding. With an insane reward at the end, if you’ve done it north to south, the plunge off the Arpettaz, by either road, they’re both intense and stunning, about as close to technical downhills as I’ve ever found on pavement. I really have to admit that the biggest reason why I do north to south is just so I can wrap it up with either of those totally insane descents.

[tv_vt]

God, what a beautiful area you live in, Hank. Great photos. You need to post a little map showing the route of these rides. I might go through your narrative with my Michelin maps to try to figure out where this is. Gorgeous.

[572cv]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

God, what a beautiful area you live in, Hank. Great photos. You need to post a little map showing the route of these rides. I might go through your narrative with my Michelin maps to try to figure out where this is. Gorgeous.

It is a truly beautiful area, tv. It’s a great exercise to use the Michelin maps, but you might or might not have enough resolution to see these roads. If you use ViaMichelin, first search for Ugine. Then blow it up enough to see the ‘suburb’ of Mt. Dessous at the upper left. You will see the route for the col de l’arpettaz heading north easterly, with a green line and twenty something switchbacks. At the top, where col de l’arpettaz is marked, blow up the map again till the route de la soif connection shows up. This goes all the way across and hits the D909 just south of the col de l’aravis. Maybe one of these days I might be fit enough and have enough time to do more than just look at it from the arpettaz. Thanks for the reminder and the memories, Hank! Inspiring as always.

[tv_vt]

I see it! Thanks to a fellow Vermonter.

[clyde the point]

A flipping mazing.

[efixler]

!!! jealous !!!

[yarg]

I remember this ride well, spectacular! Thanks for letting me relive it. Best week of riding I could dream of. Glad to read another ride post from you Hank, been too long.

[velotel]

Originally Posted by 572cv

It is a truly beautiful area, tv. It’s a great exercise to use the Michelin maps, but you might or might not have enough resolution to see these roads. If you use ViaMichelin, first search for Ugine. Then blow it up enough to see the ‘suburb’ of Mt. Dessous at the upper left. You will see the route for the col de l’arpettaz heading north easterly, with a green line and twenty something switchbacks. At the top, where col de l’arpettaz is marked, blow up the map again till the route de la soif connection shows up. This goes all the way across and hits the D909 just south of the col de l’aravis. Maybe one of these days I might be fit enough and have enough time to do more than just look at it from the arpettaz. Thanks for the reminder and the memories, Hank! Inspiring as always.

Just let me know when you're ready, we'll do it, two Eriksen stonerbikes on the GT! Perfect. If by chance you're ever on Facebook, there's a group there called gravel bike france. Lots and lots of very interesting rides, mostly just photos of them, seems to be more members of that group in the west and south, some in the massif centrale, lots of vineyard rides. Good stuff. Check it out if you can. Cheers

[velotel]

Originally Posted by yarg

I remember this ride well, spectacular! Thanks for letting me relive it. Best week of riding I could dream of. Glad to read another ride post from you Hank, been too long.

Haven't done any big rides in a long time, too much work at the house, hopefully next year will be calmer. Also seems to be less interest in my rides. Time moving on. Cheers

[pitonpat]

Originally Posted by velotel

Haven't done any big rides in a long time, too much work at the house, hopefully next year will be calmer. Also seems to be less interest in my rides. Time moving on. Cheers

Oh, I think the interest is there! Perhaps we’ve become too accustomed to your excellent posts...

I not only enjoy your writers ‘voice’ and the cycling details, but I also thoroughly enjoy the photos. As a climber I appreciate seeing the mountains among which you live, and as a home builder I enjoy seeing the architecture and construction details. Having climbed in the Haute Savoie, I have always appreciated the chalet details such as the characteristic chimney profiles- sort like a mini house with their sloping sides and the snow stops to hold snow on the roof! Lots of character there.

Many thanks!

[doomridesout]

I'll cast my vote for being interested in Hank's ride reports. Content that keeps me coming back here, much more than the 1000th "What tires" thread.

Keep 'em coming- but I'm sure there's an off-season for these stunning alpine routes sometime, right?

[thwart]

Originally Posted by doomridesout

I'll cast my vote for being interested in Hank's ride reports. Content that keeps me coming back here, much more than the 1000th "What tires" thread.

This.

As mentioned above, absolutely amazing views and pics.

[onsight512]

Originally Posted by thwart

This.

As mentioned above, absolutely amazing views and pics.

Yup. And here's hoping he does a second book.

[Black Dog]

The interst is still here. Keep them coming.

[weisan]

Don't judge interest by number of people who respond to your thread, we have a lot more regular lurkers here than posters. Besides...you just do what you do, why do you care...