Monday, July 26, 2010

Stage 9 - Jausiers to Entrevaux (Col de la Bonette)

July 1st, stage 9, and Nice almost within touching distance.  Today was going to be a serious test of endurance and we had given ourselves the best opportunity to survive the day by getting locked at the campsite bar in La Coldamine the night before.  Between the start and finish of todays stage of 150kms lay the highest paved road in Europe: Col de la Bonette (2802m) and the Col de la Couillole (1678m) which didn't even get a mention in our itinerary for some reason.  Given that we had a long and steep road ahead of us we had a 5.30am wakeup, with a 7am departure.  We had some eggs with bacon for breakfast which was perfect hangover (still drunk) fodder.  It made a welcome change from the daily granola munchfest we had become accustomed to.  I think I was almost the last person to leave the campsite, as was now also customary.  Marcel the bag man used to joke that he would have to remember to leave room for my luggage on the truck, as I was always last.  I was happy enough to start a little later than everyone else as I wasn't worried about catching up and enjoyed the few miles of tranquility on my tod.  


The start of the ascent to the Col de la Bonette was only a little down the road, in a southerly direction out of the town of Jausiers. The morning air was brisk which gave me the impetus to drive on to keep warm.  Nonetheless, I knew that in a couple of hours there would be a river of sweat on my brow as the French Summer temperatures soared.
I had grown to love the morning ascents over the preceeding 2 weeks.  Soon I joined up with Simon Hayes of Bicycling Australia and decided that I would chit chat with him and enjoy the countryside instead of burning up the mountain.  Cycling up steep mountains can be somewhat of a counter emotional activity.  On one hand you want to take your time and experience all that the mountain has to offer, but on the other hand you want the suffering to be over as soon as possible.  The only way to achieve the latter is by cycling at the limits of your ability.  Sometimes if the gradients are steep and the distance is long, no respite can be found, even by going slow and its a matter of simply digging deep to find the strength to get you over the top.  It was clear to see quite early on in the ascent to Bonette that the landscape was stunning and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible, stopping to take photos on this our last big climb of Les Dix Alpes.


The col itself is part of the Mercantour National Park which is one of the nine national parks of France in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department.  On the ascent and from the top we could see a wide number of other mountains, some of which we had already traversed including the Grand St. Bernard. 
From Jausiers in the north, the climb is 24,1 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 1589 m. (an average percentage of 6.6%), with the steepest sections at 9%.  The pass has featured in the Tour de France four times (1962, 1964, 1993 and 2008).  I remember in the 2008 stage where the lead rider over the top - John-Lee Augustyn - crashed dramatically on the way down.  He did, however, receive 5,000 Euros for the leader over the highest point of the Tour, also known as the "Souvenir Henri Desgrange".  Words cant really do this mountain justice, so to illustrate the beauty of the Col de la Bonette here are some pictures.
Halfway up Bonette, facing north towards Jausiers
Facing south towards the Cima
Alpine lake not far from the summit
 Getting steeper close to the top
Cime de la Bonette, viewed from the northern ascent from Jausiers. The Col de la Bonette is marked by the gap in the centre of the picture, while the circle road takes a loop up and around the Cime de la Bonette, before joining the col behind the ridge
Famous scene from TdF2008 where the ascenders were on the right of the tv screen and the descenders were on the left...
"Maca" with just a km or so of 15% gradient to go to the top of Col de la Bonette
The summit of the Col de la Bonette at almost 3000m above sea level - air is fairly tight up here
Very fast and dangerous descent!

With around 5kms to go to the summit I decided to make a push for the top.  My legs were full of juice after having taken it easy for most of the climb.  I cannot emphasise how much I enjoyed this Col.  Towards the top the oxygen got very thin and again I got that feeling of being very close to my mate Martin who has gone to the great gig in the sky.  His presence was palpable.  There were scenes of great jubilation on top where the Les Dix Alpes participants gathered for photos and patted each other on the back.  We all enjoyed a lovely descent into Saint Etienne de Tinée, apart from Aussie Thomas who spilled himself en route.  He was not seriously injured thank God, and surprisingly turned out to be the only crash victim of the tour!  Saint Etienne de Tinée is a lovely little town, the directions out of which seemed to be a little confusing.  It took us quite a while to find the correct route towards our next climb.  We formed a train and powered down a few miles towards the town of St. Sauveur sur Tinée where we took a right hander and began a very hot ascent in the direction of Roubion and the Col de la Couillole.  Now, I was expecting a nice gentle hill after Bonette and the first part of the climb was quite scenic as I cycled alone along a road etched into the side of a cliff, overlooking a canyon. There was a village perched way up on top of the hill and I said to myself, surely we're not going up there?
 Roubion

An hour or more later, with 2 empty water bottles and a seriously salt encrusted jersey I arrived at that little village, Roubion.  It was such a pretty little place in such a far flung location but I was too frazzled to really give a shit.  The Garmin on my bike told me that I still had a few hundred metres of climbing and some 20kms to go before the summit so I trudged on, my face stinging thanks to the sweat and the inhumane afternoon heat.  The roads were the worst I had come across since Les Dix Alpes had begun, and did nothing to appease my disgruntled mood.  In stark contrast to the morning's climb, the summit of the Col de la Couillole was probably the least interesting peak of the entire 2 weeks.  I think my face in photo from up there betrays the fact that I was totally shattered, but I was so glad to be out of that hellish valley.  Greg, Annabel, Rune and Pete were there when I arrived and we stayed no more than about 5 mins before we began the descent.
 Summit of Col de la Couillole with Greg & Annabel in the background
Roger, Colly & Pete in Entrevaux

After a coffee stop a few kms down the mountain, Roger, Pete, "The Big Unit" & I embarked on what could be classed one of the greatest and most interesting descents we had undertaken.  The section of most interest was from Beuil via Rigaud on the D28 where we passed gushing rivers, incredible hairpins and grandiose canyons.  Afterwards Pete described it as like being in a computer game.  The face was frenetic and we went from 1634m to 346m in no time.  Back out on the main road to Puget Théniers we noticed a big change in the temperature and the landscape.  Coming back down close to sea level is always going to cause a change in temperate, as you gain almost 10 degrees per 1000m.  This time the change had been dramatic however, and we were truely baking in the heat.  There was much more of a Mediterranean feel to the houses and towns as well.  We stopped to take some photos in the pretty town of Entrevaux with it's castle and then proceeded on to what would be our last campsite of the tour.  After a seriously shoddy shower which I had to run around in to get wet, we sat down for some food and wine with weary limbs.  Like the last day of the Tour de France we just had a processional ride ahead of us on Friday towards the boulevard in Nice.  As we were tucking into our grub some 2 hours after arriving at the campsite, none other than Tim "timmanybeers" ambled slowly in the front gate.  He had taken a wrong turn and ended up climbing a third col and a days total of well over 200 kms.  He was a broken man!  Jaap legged it over to the bar and brought back a stein of beer (one litre) which is promptly polished off.  It was a well deserved jar.  When we got to the bar later on in the evening, the owners didn't seem particularly eager to sell us beer so Annie got herself in at the taps and kept pouring until the early hours of the morning.  We had conquered the 10 Alpes, and much more besides.  We were all very excited about finishing in Nice the following day...


Timmanybeers after 215kms and 3 cols!  Well deserved...

Friday, July 16, 2010

Stage 8 - Briancon to Jausiers (Col d'Izoard & Col de Vars)

The last day of June and ahead of us lay a relatively short stage of 90kms, but with 2 high mountain passes to contend with: Col d'Izoard (2361m) and Col de Vars (2108m). Stage 7 had proved quite a taxing day and I was in my tent and asleep by around 10pm after yet another wonderful feed, prepared by our culinary experts, Jaap and Astrid. Hats off to the pair of them for making the food both nutritious and interesting. We had enjoyed a sausage and bean casserole that evening which was sumptuous, with many return visits being made by us all, plate in hand, to the stove.

It lashed rain whilst at the campsite in Briancon and this was the first occassion on our trip that it had properly done so. There was a feeling amongst the gang that we might be in for our first wet day on the bike on Wednesday, but thanfully we awoke that morning to blue skies. The lovely climb from Briancon to the Col d'Izoard is 20 km in length and has an average gradient of 5.8%. On paper you think to yourself, ok, that's a workable gradient. But this average gradient business is misleading. Yes, at the beginning of the climb out of Briancon the going is quite easy, but later on in the climb the road ramps up and there are a few really tough kms.  I always remember from watching Le Tour and other races that Izoard is a Hors Categorie climb, which means that it is "beyond categorization", i.e. an incredibly tough climb.  One thing I've learned from cycling in the Alpes is to never trust the average gradient, because it doesn't mean jack at the end of the day and sometimes leads to a false sense of security.  If for instance you are climbing a mountain and half way up you are treated to a downhill of some description (as is the case with Col d'Izoard), you can be shit sure that you are gonna pay back in spades what you've just been given.  These little jewels of respite come back to bite you in the ass and account for the seemingly low average gradient.

En route to the Col d'Izoard
View from Izoard

Nothwitstanding, Izoard was a mountain I really enjoyed.  Compared to what can only be described as foregettable (that afternoon's ride up the Col de Vars), Izoard was really pleasant with a great road surface, some alpine lakes and a generally tranquil vibe.

All I can really remember from the Col de Vars was the little ski town of Vars, a steep gradient out of the village and a few action shots taken from a moving car by Eamon Fitz and Simon from Bicycling Australia.  I felt like a pro for those few brief moments.  I had drained two 800ml bottles of electrolytes in a little over an hour and was worried about dehydration, a very real treat on the bike in the heat of the afternoon.  Good fortune prevailed however and a fresh water spring appeared just after the village of Sainte Marie de Vars - lifesaver!  Damo, Blake and Adrian were all pushing for podium placings and passed me on the way up.  The summit of Vars was quite unlike the others.  It kind of just flattened out and all of a sudden you were at a restaurant.   Mark it down lads, only 1 biggie to go! (actually there were 2, one we weren't really told about until final hour).
 L'eau!!!
 Col de Vars

 Camping @  La Condamine-Châtelard

Our penultimate camping site proved to be a great one!  Up on the hill, as can be seen from the picture above, was some form of Napoleonic fort which looked really cool.  We couldn't figure out how to get up there though.  Before dinner we decided to venture up to the main house where there was a stone oven for cooking pizza and a bar serving Warsteiner fine German bière à la pression (draft).  We vowed to come back after dinner as the stuff was that good and the family who ran the place seemed to be really welcoming (cash starved).  So all of about 20 of us bailed back to the bar and proceeded to drink the place dry, giving no thought to the fact that we weredue to encounter one of our biggest challenges following day with the Col de la Bonette.  The owners shouted us all some weird, highly alcoholic local minty things which looked like green sugar cubes.  When sense finally prevailed, we fell into our tents, full to the gills with sauce. When I woke at 5.30am for the 7am start I think I was still fairly pissed.  Thankfully there are no laws about cycling whilst over the limit in France, that I know of!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Garmin Readings for Les Dix Alpes

I've uploaded the Garmin readings for Les Dix Alpes to garminconnect.com.

Unfortunately there were a couple of stages where the battery died so I didn't get a complete readout of the stage.  Most of them are there in full however.  The distance is in miles and the height is in feet. 

Click here to see the list, click each individual stage to get the information for that route.

This is an embedded example of Stage 1:
Stage 1 - Como to Locarno by collym at Garmin Connect - Details

Monday, July 12, 2010

Stage 7 - l'Alpe d'Huez & Col du Lautaret

On Monday 28th of June we had a well deserved rest day at our campsite in Bourg d'Oisans, the small town that sits at the base of the road to Alpe d'Huez.  The following day's stage would see us tackling d'Huez and the Col du Lautaret which was just up the road.  Looking at the itinerary for Stage 7 (which included 2 large climbs) a few of the group decided that they would ride up l'Alpe d'Huez on the rest day, and then just head straight for the Lautaret the following day.  I decided that a rest day was supposed to be just that, so I planned to have a bit of a sleep in, a large brekie in Bourg d'Oisans, some time by the pool and a few beers while watching the Dutch game in the World Cup.  It was a glorious day and I managed to do everything that I had planned, including paying a visit to a nice cycling shop in Bourg where I picked up a new jersey.

Being fairly dehydrated after many hot days in the saddle, I drank too much of arguably the worst hydration beverage known to man, beer!  I got the skinny on d'Huez from some of the lads who had been up there.  It sounded fairly punishing but the more stories that trickled back, the more I wanted to give it my best shot and try to get a decent time.  Eamon, the Aussie photographer, had managed an amazing time of just under the hour mark at 59mins.  To put that in a small bit of context...  The following times were recorded from 14.5km from the finish:


Rank Time Name Year Nationality
1 37' 35" Marco Pantani 1997  Italy
2* 37' 36" Lance Armstrong 2004  United States
3 38' 00" Marco Pantani 1994  Italy
4 38' 01" Lance Armstrong 2001  United States
5 38' 04" Marco Pantani 1995  Italy
6 38' 23" Jan Ullrich 1997  Germany
7 38' 34" Floyd Landis 2006  United States
8 38' 35" Andreas Klöden 2006  Germany
9* 38' 37" Jan Ullrich 2004  Germany
10 39' 02" Richard Virenque 1997  France
11 39' 06" Iban Mayo 2003  Spain
12* 39' 17" Andreas Klöden 2004  Germany
13* 39' 21" Jose Azevedo 2004  Portugal
14 39' 28" Miguel Induráin 1995  Spain
15 39' 28" Alex Zülle 1995  Switzerland
16 39' 30" Bjarne Riis 1995  Denmark
17 39' 31" Carlos Sastre 2008  Spain
18 39' 44" Gianni Bugno 1991  Italy
19 39' 45" Miguel Induráin 1991  Spain
20 40' 00" Jan Ullrich 2001  Germany
21 40' 46" Fränk Schleck 2006  Luxembourg
22 40' 51" Alexander Vinokourov 2003  Kazakhstan
23 41' 18" Lance Armstrong 2003  United States
24 41' 50" Laurent Fignon 1989  France
25 41' 50" Luis Herrera 1987  Colombia
26 42' 15" Pedro Delgado 1989  Spain
27 45' 20" Gert-Jan Theunisse 1989  Netherlands
28 45' 22" Fausto Coppi 1952  Italy
29 48' 00" Greg Lemond 1986  United States
30 48' 00" Bernard Hinault 1986  France

The increased speed in the 1990s had been attributed to Erythropoietin or EPO. Riders with sub-40m times, such as Alex Zülle, Riis, and Virenque, have admitted using such products. Landis subsequently had a positive drugs test. There is also strong evidence that Pantani, who has the fasted recorded time, took EPO. Coppi has been listed with 45m 22s for 1952.



On awakening on the morning of Stage 7 I found that I was a tad anxious due to one too many beers the night before and from having built up this day in my head for quite a bit of time beforehand.  Alpe d'Huez is afterall the cycling mecca!  Our campsite was practically sitting on the start of the ascent so I figured it would be a good idea to go for a warm up spin before attempting the climb.  When I had around 10km on the clock I headed back in the direction of d'Huez and so began the mytical ballbreaker.  The climb is 13.8 km at an average 8.1% (1130 m), with 21 hairpins (les 21 virages) marked with signs honoring each of the Tour de France/Alpe d'Huez stage winners. Since the Tour has now used Alpe d'Huez more than 21 times, the lower signs have been doubled up as you'll notice on the first bend with a double panel honoring both Fausto Coppi and Lance Armstrong; Fausto was the first Tour winner of Alpe d'Huez in 1952 and Lance was the 22nd winner in the year 2000. I had been informed beforehand that the finish line lay after 14.5kms so not to stop when I reached the little village but to go approximately 2km further up the road.


The first 2 or 3 kms or so are quite steep at around 10-11% gradient.  I have ridden steeper roads at home but generally at a relatively slow pace and not against the clock.  I was keenly aware of my heart rate and breathing which after just a few hundred metres were both pounding and laboured.  I slowed down a small bit so as to avoid "blowing up" before I had even reached hairpin number 3.  At each hairpin there is a leveling out for a second or two before the road kicks up again.  The small respite isnt sufficient to recover but enough to get you out of a hole, so to speak.  I realised that I was probably carrying a bit too much stuff on my bike so I shed my extra water bottle, my rain jacket, pump and saddle pouch into a ditch on the fly.  As it was very early in the morning there weren't many other cyclists in the vacinity, so I would collect the stuff on the way down and felt it would be safe enough.  As it turned out it would be more than safe! (see below)

I don't remember much of the climb except to say that it was pretty tortuous, given the speed that I was ascending.  Not very fast for a professional athlete, but for a humble Leitrim lad it was the upper extent of my cycling capability.  There were a few occassions where I thought I was going to have to stop and spew on the famed surface.  As the road evened out towards the top of the climb and the village of Huez, I was sure I was going to break the 60 min mark and knowing I was close gave me the drive to pedal harder.  I passed under what appeared to be the finish line but remembered that I still had 2kms to go so on I went into a tunnel and up out of the village in the direction of lots of shallets and ski lifts.  Not really what I remembered from the TV.  My odometer read 14.7km and I was in no-mans land.  My timer read 1h 2mins, damnation!  Having said that, I was still happy with my time but felt distinctly underwhelmed at the misplaced finish line.  There is simply no comparison between the top of d'Huez and the likes of say, Galibier.  One is a ski station, and one is the top of a great mountain with magnificent views.  Perhaps if there had been a million odd screaming fans atop d'Huez I would have felt differently.
Ski station on the top of l'Aple d'Huez - where are all the screaming fans??
Finish line, but not the official finish line for timing purposes. Confusing!
And so I was absolutely bollixed.  It was not long after 8 in the morning and my heart rate had already reached 190bpm!  The trouble was that I still had around 90kms to travel to the end of the day's stage.  I felt quite unwell as I got off the bike at the "arrivee" but recovered quickly with a coffee.  I was looking forward to the descent as I hadn't really seen anything on the way up.  The hairpins on the way down would mean a technical descent but technical descents are the ones I most enjoy.  By this stage there were plenty of cyclists making the trip upwards.  I dropped like a stone, trying to pinpoint the location of the gear I had thrown from the bike on the way up.  "No, not here, don't think this is the place, maybe around the next bend, no, not here either...".  I realised that I was close to the bottom and only one place had stood out as the potential location of my stuff.  Shit!  I was going to have to turn back.  Such was the speed of the descent that I was probably about 2 or 3 kms below where i wanted to be.  The lads shot on past me.  I couldn't believe that I was going to have to cycle back up.  Exactly NOT what I needed.  I even considered not going back up at all, but sense prevailed and with heavy legs I reached the place I had thrown my gear and collected each piece at small intervals from each other.  Pete, Rune and Greg thanfully had waited for me at the bottom.  I didn't relish the idea of cycling alone up the Col du Lautaret.  Greg paced us up as far as the lunch stop and as was now customary, the temperature had increased dramatically.  There was a section of newly tarred road where the loose chippings stuck to our tires.  It made the going hard for a few kms.  Although the Lautaret wasn't too steep (6% average), after the efforts on d'Huez it felt like a long steady climb.  A blessing by way of a few clouds came our way and we were treated to some light rain at one stage.  With a few kms remaining I decided to make a beeline for the summit, so as not to prolonged the pain any longer than was absolutely necessary.  We had been at the top of the Col du Lautaret after descending Col du Galibier a few days earlier.  Not much to see here, so we headed south to our next camp at Briancon.  A big thanks to Pete for towing me home!
Almost the end of a really hard day @ Col du Lautaret, Galibier is in the background somewhere...