Shorter route today. Having challenged myself a bit yesterday with the “Day 4" Col de la Loze route, I still had my “Day 3" route left for today. Another long day coming up tomorrow so I decided to pass on the Alpe D’Huez side trip and just do the loop around Glandon, Croix de Fer and Mollard, so an easier day of about 70km and 2,000m of climbing.
Had a bit of a lie in, setting off just after 7:00 and got rained on as I rode down the valley to the start of the climb, hard enough to cape up for about 15 mins before it eased off. More spots of rain on the climb but never heavy.
Nice steady climb of about 20km and 1,500m of vertical, which opened out and steepened into some big switchbacks near the top, with lovely views of the mountains.
Got to the summit okay and at this point the longer route would have taken me down off the mountain on the other side, but from the Glandon you can also see, across and along the ridge, the Col de la Croix de Fer which I was headed for next.
There’s a small drop down and then about 3km climbing gently to the Croix de Fer, where I stopped briefly for another photo and then dropped down to a village for a coffee and another pain au chocolat.
Further on down the descent, which leads back to St Jean de Maurienne, there’s a right turn onto the climb of the Col du Mollard, about 500m of ascent which I took very easy. Stopped at a snack kiosk at the top for sausage frites and a relax in the shade.
Really enjoyed the descent. Great road surface, nicely linked turns I was able to lean in and out of confidently, dropping into the hairpins, and very soon I was back in St Jean de Maurienne.
Spent a lot of the Glandon climb today musing on how time passes on these rides. Especially how the descents can feel longer than the climbs, which is clearly not true — I average close to 10kph climbing and 40kph descending. I don’t ever ride with music, so the long climbs (over 2h for me to ascend 1,500m) are a chance to just let my mind wander. Aside from enjoying the scenery and keeping eating and drinking, every climb is just the journey from one km marker to the next, repeated, and every kilometer is just one pedal stroke, repeated.
It’s impossible to force your way to the top of one of these big climbs, but the mountain also doesn’t mind you being there and the repetition of that process of ticking off the kms does eventually get you to the top.
Descents are very different, requiring sharp focus and concentration in order to stay safe and under control. There’s also real skill in descending and cornering well, which I’m constantly working to improve, and every section of every descent brings a new combination of steepness of slope, tightness of bends, straight or meandering lines between hairpins, good or bad or variable road surface. So much to take in that I think the descents create more intense and specific memories.
