It was with a heavy heart that I rose on Friday July 2nd, knowing that our "little" trip across the Alpes from Como to Nice was almost at an end. Ahead of us lay a 120km cruise into Nice over what could only be classed, at this point, as "hills". We set off at 7am leaving the little campsite with the shitty showers behind us, everybody in high spirits, happy that later on that evening we would be able to collapse into an actual bed, with a mattress and pillows. We headed back towards the little medieval town of Entrevaux and on to Puget Thénier, out of which there was a climb called Col de San Raphael, up to about 900m.
It was a beautiful morning once again, and as Rune, Pete as I made our way in train formation along the tree lined passage between the 2 villages, the sun shimmering through the foliage. I made a short vid as we tore through the countryside.
I felt really fresh on the first climb of the day and overcame it with ease. I was really peaking fitness-wise at this point, the tail end of the trip. If this was the Tour de France I would be arriving on the
Champs-Élysée in fine fettle, with a podium position under my belt!
Rune, Pete and I were passed out by another Pete (Ivin, the Limey) who was cycling like the clappers, as if his life depended on it. I wondered how long it would be until he blew up. A km or so up the road we caught sight of him and began to reel him in. As we approached he looked around, and in that split second made an almighty burst for the summit. He was not going to be undone on the final day by a couple of upstarts from Denmark and Ireland. We allowed him his moment of glory and let him go. At the top, much to our amusement, he was bent over his bike, in convulsions of coughing and spluttering, pissing sweat from every orofice. Gasket blown!
We made our way down the other side, the countryside being not too disimilar to something you might see in Ireland. We passed through the village of Sigale and when we reached the picturesque town of Roquestéron we stopped for a coffee. The "Little Unit" provided some banter on the next part of the stage. Maca is a small charater with a big heart and I enjoyed whittling down the kms while chatting to him. We even stopped for yet another photographic opportunity in the village of Consequedes with Rune and the "Big Unit". Shucks, I miss those guys...
Rune, Geoff, Greg & Colly
The Aussies Blake, Damo and Adrian (who had participated in La Belle Italia before joining us on Les Dix Alpes) caught up to our group and the pace suddenly jolted upwards. Before long the four of us were flat out racing. It was serious craic as each one of us took to the front for a few seconds, only to be overtaken by another rider soon after. This went on for around 10km, at which point we called a stop to the madness before we did ourselves some damage. The sun was very intense at this stage and we were extremely exposed to it's rays due to the fact that there were no trees along the side of the road to shade us. Thankfully lunch soon beckoned and we were able to catch some respite before heading off again. Hats off again to our Dutch (+ Astrid the Danish cook) crew who always seemed to manage pulling lunch out of the bag just in the nick of time.
In order for everyone to arrive in Nice together we arranged to meet in the town of Vence, approximately 10kms from our ultimate destination. We overcame the Col de Vence before enjoying one last technical decent, which gave us the opportunity to utilize the skills we had honed over the past couple of weeks. There was a fairly drastic change in temperature and humidity when we reached Vence. A street sign displayed the fact that it was 40 degrees, but it felt hotter. Our time at altitude in the Alpes had come to an end as we were almost down at sea level again for the first time in 2 weeks. Wilbert took to the front and guided us along the road between Vence and Nice and before we knew it we were on the boulevard with the sea front to our right hand side.
Well deserved beer in Vence
In order for everyone to arrive in Nice together we arranged to meet in the town of Vence, approximately 10kms from our ultimate destination. We overcame the Col de Vence before enjoying one last technical decent, which gave us the opportunity to utilize the skills we had honed over the past couple of weeks. There was a fairly drastic change in temperature and humidity when we reached Vence. A street sign displayed the fact that it was 40 degrees, but it felt hotter. Our time at altitude in the Alpes had come to an end as we were almost down at sea level again for the first time in 2 weeks. Wilbert took to the front and guided us along the road between Vence and Nice and before we knew it we were on the boulevard with the sea front to our right hand side.
Unfortunately for Kiwi Pete he punctured twice on the run-in, and unlike almost every other stage we didn't get to cross the finish line together. We paraded down Promenade des Anglais before entering the grounds of Le Chateau de Nice where a welcoming party had been arranged with food, beer and champers. There were scenes of great joy and emotion, tinged with sadness in the knowledge that this magnificent trip had finally come to an end.
Spot the Paddy (Finish line in Nice)
The Anis hotel played host to our farewell dinner where we tried in vain to drink the place dry. Much to our disgust and serious thirst, the bar closed at 11:30PM. With no hope of more sauce we hit the streets.
Thanks for following my Les Dix Alpes diary, hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed cycling it. It was an experience that I will never forget and no doubt will be banging on about for years to come. It has been announced that Stage 18 and 19 of the 2011 Tour de France will feature high mountain passes that we overcame on LDA, namely Izoard, Galibier, Telégraphe & d'Huez. Something to look forward to next Summer. Anyone participating in La Marmotte or the Etape du Tour can experience those climbs for themselves. But if you have a couple of weeks to spare next Summer, and are looking for a serious biking challenge I would wholeheartedly recommend a trip with Bike Dreams. The third edition of “Les Dix Alpes” starts Monday June 20th, 2011 in Como and finishes 12 days later in Nice. If you have a bit more time why not cycle the length of Italy? The fourth edition of "La Bella Italia" starts Saturday May 14th, 2011 near Palermo. After five days in Sicily you cross the Strait of Messina and continue slowly north in the "boot" with daily averages of 105 kilometres. The stages alternate regularly between the coast line and the hilly country side, but you don’t loose sight of the cultural places of interest. The finish lies after 35 days and 3,000 kilometres at the shores of Lake Como.
A big shout out to all the amazing people I met on the trip from New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Chile. I hope to ride with you again some day. Perhaps in Ireland in 2011?
I decided to participate in Les Dix Alpes to honour my great friend Martin O' Gorman who passed away in September 2009 after a struggle with testicular cancer. His memory was a source of great inspiration to me in overcoming many of those big climbs. Thanks to the generosity of so many people at home and abroad, I managed to raise over €5,000 for Cancer Care West, a charity organisation in Ireland.
Finally, a big thanks to all the crew who made our lives so much easier and provided a wonderful service to all participants: Jaap, Richard, Astrid, John, Marcel, Wilbert and Susana - Chapeau!
Feel free to contact me on collymurray at gmail dot com if you have any queries about the trip.
Check out my Garmin route readings here.
Over and Out.
Colly
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