Stage 6 - Col du Télégraphe/Galibier (Lanslevillard to Bourg d'Oisans)

Sunday's Stage 6 included 2 climbs: the Col du Télégraphe and the infamous Tour de France climb, the Col du Galibier.  I was really excited about cycling up the Galibier but after studying the profile and bearing in mind that the Télégraphe had to be overcome first, I was sure it was going to be a tough day at the office. 

Monastery on a hill near Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne

Before beginning the Télégraphe ascent we had a 44km warmer-upper along a main road with a slightly downhill gradient.  We ripped down the road in "train" formation, to use some cycling parlance.  For those of you not familiar with such terminology, a train is a formation of cyclists who ride in a bunch or group in order to conserve energy and more importantly to go faster by slipstreaming the rider in front.  Each rider takes his turn at the front breaking the wind (and sometimes breaking wind!).  This is the fundamental reason why the peloton will almost always catch a breakaway rider in a race.  But I digress... We made it to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne at the foot of the Télégraphe in no time, tried in vain to find a coffee shop for a quick espresso, and instead proceeded up the hill.  It was around 10am and already quite warm.  Some sections of the first climb were steep enough, and there were tonnes of switchbacks.

 Signage for the 2 climbs which lay ahead

With such a profile it is possible to gain altitude quickly and after only 20 mins or so I could see Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne way down below.  The Col du Télégraph is so named because at the very top of the climb is a series of radio and TV towers. It's a rather large cement structure that can be seen from a long distance away.  The climb itself is 11.8 km long, gaining 856 m. in height (an average of 7.3%). The maximum gradient is 9.8% at the summit which didn't take me too long to reach.  To my surprise I was, for the 2nd consecutive day, the first to the top.  The summit itself is not like your typical col, but serves I guess as a prelude to Galibier.  We had lunch here, because it seemed the most opportune time and point to do so, after which we descended a small distance into the ski town of Valloire and started the long steady climb upwards one again.

Start of Galibier ascent outside Valloire (Limey dead ahead!)

I got talking to a German girl and her friend from Bristol who told me that he had been up the Galibier once before at the tender age of 14.  Although the girl was riding strong out of Valloire, we dropped her when the gradient really started to kick up with around 10kms to go.  The actual climb to the summit starts at Valloire and is 18.1 km long at an average of 6.9% (height gain: 1245 m). The maximum gradient is 10.1% at the summit.

Switchbacks towards summit of Galibier

Again, it was scorcius maximus as we rode up through the valley, but it was pleasant and the scenery was glorious, with flowers, green fields and little streams flowing through.  Generally speaking, the further up you go on an Alpine climb the greater vegetational changes you will see and what was once a shady tree filled climb becomes a treeless, fairly barren landscape with large ice sections everywhere.  As promised by the limey from Bristol, the going got really tough as we rounded a corner with around 8kms to go and at a height above sea level of around 2000m.  Thankfully the temperature had cooled a bit, but that provided only a small comfort as I looked along a road above me that seemed to be never ending.  On Galibier and a few other climbs there are signs every kilometre that tell you how much you have to climb before you reach the summit, as well as the a gradient indicator.  The jury is still out on whether or not I like them.  Sometimes you forget what the previous sign had said and instead of 4kms to go, you have 6kms, such is your inability to think straight with the lack of oxygen and the constant agony of the climb.  Meanwhile motorbikes are whizzing by on the wrong side of the road gaining altitude at a rate that seems infinitely higher than the humble cyclist whos peddles are barely turning.  As soon as I hit the 10% gradient of the final couple of kms I drop to my last gear and grit my teeth looking up at around 5 or 6 switchbacks to the summit.  The last part is an absolute killer and I'm gasping for breath as I power up over the top to be greeted by a couple of the Aussie blokes who've summited before me.  Wow, what a ride.  Boy was I happy to be at the top.  The Galibier proved a really tough cookie but I had a feeling a deep elation having conquered it.

 Looking back down at the ascent, good job!

Rune, Greg, Damo, Colly, Blake, Adrian on the summit of Galibier

As it was Sunday we had a lot of traffic to contend with on the decent.  The 12% gradient on the southerly descent of the Galibier towards Col du Lautaret was very fast and I was conscious of not overshooting any of the hairpins for fear of ploughing into a vehicle coming in the other direction.  We still had 48kms to our camping site in Bourg d'Oisans and because of the said traffic the brake shoes on my bike got a good shaving on the way down.  We passed over the route we would be taking out of Bourg d'Oisans 2 days later, albeit in a different direction.  An Irish guy with a board.ie cycling jersey joined our little train, consisting of Tim, Pete and I.  We exchanged only a couple of words before we went in opposite directions at the roundabout entering Bourg d'Oisans.

12% gradient descent with no barriers - Hairy!!

Spirits were high back in camp due to a long awaited rest day we were due the following day.  We were joined by Simon Hayes, editor of Bicycling Austrialia and freelance photographer called Eamon Fitzpatrick, also from Australia, although the name might suggest otherwise.  Simon was going to cycle with us to Nice, and Eamon was going to take some action shots of us on our bikes.  We had another great dinner thanks to the Bike Dreams crew and looked forward to lounging around the pool the following day at the campsite.  Tuesday would see us tackle the most legendary of all cycling routes, the paved road up L'Alpe D'Huez. SihAmon HayesH

Stage 5 - Col de L'Iseran (Bourg St. Maurice to Lanslevillard)

On friday 25th we were joined by Peter Ivin (twin brother of Chris) at our campsite in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, a commune in the Savoie (as in Savoy) department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.  Bourg, as it is commonly known, is the last large town along the Tarentaise valley in the heart of the French Alps and sits at around 700m above sea level.  This meant that we would start the following day's spin up to the Col de L'Iseran ascending the Alp, so Peter would find himself battling a mountain from the get go.  I was interested to see how he would find it, as we already had a few decent climbs in our legs at that stage. 

As I had finally settled into a pretty decent sleeping pattern I was feeling a lot better in the mornings.  Nonetheless I was still struggling with chowing down on museli and granola, peanutbutter sandwiches and fruit at 7am.  Invariably I would end up sitting across from young Tom Wakeling from Australia for what seemed like an eternity, munching away like a pair young calves eating calf nuts. 

And so I was late again, but only marginally so.  I noticed that some of the group were struggling, starting out as we were on a 9% gradient out of Bourg.  I spotted an eager Pete Ivin putting in a big effort and his brother Chris reigning him in so he didn't explode after a few kms with his eagerness.  Luckily I was fresh enough to push on up past the peloton and soon enough I reached Tim "timmanybeers" Dowling, a hardy farmer from outside Sydney.  He had acquired his nickname for his voracious appetite for the sauce, an appetite that would put many an Irishman to shame.  Tim could easily sink 10 cans of beer of an everning and be up bright an early the next morning ready for another hard day's slog on the bike.  Cycling in the Alpes was probably easy for him, considering that just before he had left Australia for the trip he was busy building a road!  I was eager to get to the lunch stop on top of L'Iseran because my chainset sounded like it had a little tweety bird installed in it, so I hiked up the pace and soon I was out on my own on the mountain. 

Starting from Bourg-Saint-Maurice, the Col de l'Iseran is 48 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 1955 m (an average percentage of 4.1%). The last part of the climb starts at Val-d'Isère, the famous ski resort: 15 km at a consistent average of 6% (climbing 895 m).  It was a long climb but I felt fairly comfortable, and reached the summit ahead of the rest of the group with a little grin on my face.  I could hear the legendary cycling commentary of Phil Liggett in my head, "Colly Murray, King of the Mountains for Stage 5 of Les Dix Alpes". It was a beautifully sunny day on top and we had a great lunch while basking in the sunshine. 

 Summit of L'Iseran

Richard & Jaap (Dutch Support Crew) & Colly

The decent was an interesting one.  It started off really well due to the sprawling landscape that was laid out before us.  Picturesque fields, streams and waterfalls everywhere.  It wasn't quite as barren as some of the other descents, persumably due to the aspect of the mountain?  After a good few kms, it flattened out and once again I found myself in no man's land having dropped a few of the others on the descent.  There was a fairly vicious headwind which made the going hard, and suddenly there was another little col in front of me.  I checked the map and profile and saw no mention of it, and I still remember the name of it vividly (lividly), Col du Madeline.  It was a bit of a ball breaker but I was soon over it and another nice twisty descent into the town of Lanslevillard.  When the rest of the gang started arriving back at the campsite, the first few lines muttered were something like, "Where did that little f*cker of a Col appear out of?". 

 Spectacular descent from L'Iseran

5 Stages and halfway there.  The next day we would head for Bourg d'Oisans where we would have a rest day followed by the legendary climb up to L'Alpe D'Huez.  I could hardly wait! But first we would have to reach the summit of the Col du Télégraphe at 1,566 m and the Col du Galibier at 2646m.  Lots of climbing ahead.