Heading south after three nights in St Jean de Maurienne, and with the panniers loaded up once more this would also be the longest day and the most climbing at nearly 5,000m. Not hugely more than Day 1, but I was still nervous of how fatigued I might be and the unpleasant memory of dragging myself over the Cormet de Roselend in the heat meant I really wanted to save something for the final climb.
Set off just after 6 again to beat the heat. About 10km up the valley and then it’s a right turn onto the Telegraphe climb. Looking up at the valley wall it’s hard to even see through the trees which fold in the mountains the road is going to take you up, but sure enough it found its way and after popping out of the trees at the top for a stunning view back down over the valley, there’s a small pass behind the peak that you dive through to reach the sign for the Col.
There’s a bit of a descent up the adjacent valley into Valloire and leaving Valloire you’re then onto the Galibier climb.
The Galibier is properly spectacular. Most of it is not too steep, and the first half is just following the contours of the left side of the valley upwards, keeping pace with the river as it climbs away. Going up at a good few % but oddly as the whole landscape is tilted upwards it feels almost flat — certainly the steepest false flat I’ve ridden!
Climbing higher, the landscape is suddenly dominated by a huge trianglar peak rising up from the valley floor. The river splits below it and the road follows the left fork until that tributary comes up against the wall behind which the pass is going to climb over. The road crosses the river and returns back down the other side, now climbing steeply away before switching back and forth up the flank of the peak, which connects along a ridge up to the pass.
These last few high kms are meadowy turning gradually to a rocky moonscape at the very top, a steep last km and that’s it - 2,642m, highest for me so far.
The technical top section of the descent I didn’t really enjoy that much, it wasn’t too steep but the bike didn’t feel very settled on the road surface, maybe just me being rusty with the panniers back on, but I took it easy and then enjoyed the run straight down the valley on a smooth wide road freewheeling easily at over 60kph.
This was a big day of climbing, with about half of it done I still had two climbs of around 1,200m each to do, the Izoard and the Col de Vars. Getting hotter now too, and despite my philosophical approach to breaking these long climbs down, it’s still really hard to roll off a long descent, turn a corner and see the sign for 19km to the top of the next climb, and know you’re locked in for the next two hours or more.
That said, the Izoard was lovely. Steady gradient, not too steep, just the last few kms ramped up a bit but the time passed very quickly and I still felt good at the top.
The Col de Vars and I are not friends. What I was expecting was 1,200m or so of climbing at about 5% but the first km went up at 8% which was a real drag, and then the next and the next until I’d done maybe 6km at over 8%, shouting expletives at every km marker I passed. Turns out Vars is more like an 8% climb with a long flat section in the middle which is over very quickly so hardly helps.
So I didn’t enjoy that, partly because it was unexpected but also because it was hot and my tired legs didn’t appreciate having to push up such a steep gradient. Got to the top eventually though of course, and had a nice chat with a French couple who were impressed with how far I’d come, thought I was a bit crazy but had also recently done a marathon in Connemara so we compared notes on Irish weather (wet) and hills (small).
Very very hungry indeed when I got off the descent and into Jausiers. Found a restaurant offering local specialities which I hoped would be rich and calorific. Tried to order a main for my starter followed by another main but the staff were very unconvinced I’d be able to eat both so only took my order for the first course but said I could have more if I was still hungry.
Not that it’s a competition, but happy to say that after this gratin of “ravioles” (kind of potato dumplings) with salad and charcuterie to begin, I was still able to polish off the assiette regionale for mains.
