Tournon to Annecy

On July 14th, I rode from Tournon to Annecy, discovering two minor mountain passes along the way.

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Shrouded pear trees on the road to the
Col de Tamié

After a lovely little breakfast at the B&B, I got my usual early start. When I told the proprietor that I was headed to Annecy, he knew I would be crossing the Col de Tamié. I found that comforting, in a way, that people know about these "cols" outside of cycling.

Again I was putting miles on a wounded bike, but by now I was gaining confidence that the broken rear spoke wasn't going to make the rear rim get any worse. And given that today was a holiday, it certainly wasn't going to get fixed today regardless.

The morning was very pleasant, becoming slightly muggy as I climbed. The fog got thicker as well, particularly as the road began passing through woods.

D201c heads into the clouds

Fog on the road toward the Col de Tamié

At the top there was the usual sign, and I took my usual picture next to it.

One of the cheese-making residents of the
Abbaye de Tamié

The previous evening the B&B proprietor had mentioned the Abbeye de Tamié, which produced the cheese I had for dinner and may have been originally responsible for the building I slept in (that part wasn't quite clear). I was expecting it to be right there at the summit, but as it turns out it's a little further along. There was a sign for a turnoff, and since this was a short day, I was inclined to take all the side-trips that sounded interesting.

I followed the driveway for a bit, not really knowing what to expect, and eventually came to a sort of visitor's center. Clearly this was a larger operation than I expected, and since I didn't really want to invest that much time, I continued on my way.

The valley around Seythenex

A little further along I saw signs for a Grotte and Cascade (i.e. cave and waterfall), so I followed that lead, too. It took me down some little roads that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. That was good, but the actual destination was a tourist area; you couldn't see anything from the road. I continued on.

Toward the Col de la Forclaz

My plan was to follow the road along the west side of the lake, the left side from this direction, to the city. But as I was pedaling along I saw a sign for the Col de la Forclaz, which seems to go around the east/right side of the lake. Well, why not?

I came to learn that the Col de la Forclaz is a substantial climb, marked as 8 km but that includes some downhill sections. It was very steep, with lots of sections of 10% or more. The most difficult kilometer was in this section, at 11.4%.

If you're looking it up, you probably want to know that there's a different pass in Switzerland with the same name. This one has been used a few times in the Tour de France; I think in 2004 it was a category 1 climb (and the Col de Tamié was a Cat 2 in the same stage).

The Col de la Forclaz

Apparently the pass is used as a base for paragliding. It was busy as I passed through, with a few cyclists and lots of others enjoying the hiking or paragliding. I headed down the other side a bit, found a good spot for a picnic, and had a sandwich.

The Annecy lakefront, as the rain clears

Shortly afterward it began to rain. It was coming down hard, but not especially cold, so I was happy. The rain let up just as I entered Annecy along its very pretty lakefront. After being disappointed in my brief exposure to Albertville I wasn't expecting much, but Annecy turned out to be fantastic. The infrastructure seemed healthy, the lakefront was lively, and the touristy old town was much more than I expected.

Rue de Pâquier in Annecy

This place even has canals!

At the hotel they put my broken bike in the basement ("backstage", as the hostess put it), and I showered and enjoyed the sights. Dinner was a terrine, Tajine du Poullet (a sort of stew with chicken thighs), and crème brûlée.

My view for the fireworks. It filled up
as the sky darkened.

As it was also Bastille Day, after a short rest at the hotel I went back down to the lakefront to see the fireworks. I hadn't asked anybody where they would be; it was pretty obvious. The park filled with tens of thousands of people and finally the show started. It was fantastic, similar in scale to those of Washington, D.C. on the Fourth of July, despite Annecy being a relatively small town.

Elevation profile

This was a short day, at just 33 miles and 3800 feet of climbing. The day held several discoveries, notably the fierce Col de la Forclaz climb and the wonderful town of Annecy.

Col de la Madeleine

On July 13th I rode my bike from Saint-Julien-Mont-Denis to Tournon, near Albertville, along the way crossing the Col de la Madeleine.

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Two days before earlier, I broke a rear spoke on my rented road bike.That was the 11th, a Friday. The next day I rode down to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, the largest town in the area, in the pouring rain to try to get the spoke fixed. The large sporting goods store I stopped at had a promising bike repair facility, but the responsible employee told me he would have to order a spoke. What am I riding, a penny-farthing?

Looking back to Saint Julien from
Le Bochet.

The result was that on this day I still had a broken spoke, and as it was Sunday there was little chance of changing that (and the next day was a holiday, but one day at a time). By now I had put in 10s of km on the weakened rear wheel, and since the wobbly rim was always not-quite rubbing I would have known if it had got significantly worse. So I decided to just ignore the problem and enjoy the ride.

For two days now I had been looking across the highway at a little town called Le Bochet. I decided that, rather than take the busy main road up the valley, I would take the side roads through that village. After the previous day's frustration, that was a very enjoyable ride, first running past one of the giant factories in this valley, and then through the cluster of houses tenaciously hanging on to the mountainside.

Near the start of the climb to the Col de La Madeleine

I passed through Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, not stopping but not missing it since I had spent quite a while there the day before. Again I took side roads northwest through the valley to La Chambre, the base of the climb to the Col de la Madeleine. An energizing ride so far.

The Col de la Madeleine is crossed by the D213 road, connecting the valley of the Arc river with the valley of the Isère. D213 starts right in the village of La Chambre, at the intersection of a little shopping area. No bike shops, though.

The day was gloriously dry after the previous day's heavy rain, but on the lower slopes of this climb it started to feel warm. I stripped down to just a normal jersey, no undershirt, the lightest I had dressed this whole trip so far.

D213 winds up to the Col de La Madeleine

The road seemed to run through clusters of hairpins, followed by longer winding sections. There were occasional villages, including Saint-François-Longchamp at which I refilled my bottles with water and my body with a nice sugary tea or some such thing.

Nice marker showing the climb, not to scale.

In this direction the climb is 19 km at an average of nearly 8%. It's steady but long, just plain long. At least it got cooler as it rose.

At the pass itself there was the usual little clutch of stores and a restaurant, with a generous parking lot being used by hikers and other folks enjoying the sights. I ate a sandwich for lunch and headed down.

The north side of this pass is completely different from the south side. The geography is much more

A little village on the descent from the
Col de la Madeleine

dramatic, with the road clinging to steep mountain faces, and several villages doing the same. The road passes over fast-flowing streams and through picturesque woods. It's seems like a much more interesting and varied climb. Maybe next time I'll come this way.

On the climb I hadn't been thinking much about my broken rear spoke and wobbly back tire, but it was hard to ignore on the descent. Again the rear brakes were not very effective and worse yet unpredictable. Near the bottom of the descent I blew my front tire while braking for a hairpin turn, quite possibly because I was over-relying on the front brake. I managed to get the bike stopped without crashing, but it was close.

Once in the Tarentaise Valley I headed northwest toward Albertville, mostly following D990 but taking small unmarked roads when possible.

A country road in the Tarantaise

Tours-en-Savoie

When I got to Albertville I remembered that it had been the site of a Winter Olympics, and that's about all I knew. I think I must not have seen the most interesting parts of town, because it certainly looked like there hadn't been any investment since those Olympics in... what, the 1950s? I was later reminded that the games hosted here were in 1994, which means I definitely must have missed the best of the city.

Looking back toward D201, from the road
climbing toward Tournon

My hotel was in Tournon, a village down the valley a few kilometers, then up a hill. The tiny B&B style place didn't even have a numeric address, so I didn't have a lot of faith in the pins the map services showed me -- they were probably just centroids of the village area. I peeled off of D201 onto some unnamed road, climbed a kilometer to D201c, then since this was the main road through Tournon I just continued climbing until I saw a sign.

The hotel was a quirky place run by an older couple in a converted monastery outbuilding. They greeted me warmly and we toasted my welcome

The hotel. A bed and breakfast. Not dinner, breakfast.

with apple juice. Unfortunately I had assumed that they had a restaurant, but as a small three-room hotel they only cooked for large parties. Since it was Sunday, relatively late and the nearest restaurant would be quite a climb away, I would again go hungry.

Well, nearly so: they kindly scrounged up a wedge of cheese from the nearby Abbeye de Tamié, and a cup of yogurt from a local dairy. Not too bad, actually.

This was also the night of the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina. I fell asleep before extra time commenced, and therefore missed the winning goal.

Elevation profile

Today's ride was just over 60 miles, with just over 6000 feet of climbing. The most difficult kilometer was somewhere in the middle of the climb, with an average grade of 9.6%. The climb of the Col de la Madeleine, as a whole, was definitely the most challenging climb of my trip, both as I experienced it and in the semi-objective rating of my analysis program.

Col du Galibier

On July 11th I rode from Briançon to St.-Julien-Mont-Denis, passing over the Col du Galibier on the way.

View Col du Galibier in a larger map

After missing a proper dinner the night before, I was pleased to find a bountiful breakfast at my hotel in Briançon. I took good advantage of that. I felt like I was going to need a lot of energy today.

It's a long climb

I got my usual early start and promptly headed up toward... Italy, actually. But I turned around and headed back up D1091 toward Col du Lautaret, reversing my course from the day before.

The climb is very gentle, at times hardly even registering as a climb. The road runs through some little villages, then becomes a little more isolated as it approaches the pass. I passed a couple of flocks of sheep, each with a shepherd watching them from the road. Not many fellow cyclists on this day.

Looking up toward the Col du Lautaret

Two years ago I passed through here. On that occasion I had a lovely omelette, sitting outside in the sun with a view of the Lautaret Glacier.

That omelette loomed strangely large in my planning. I had planned to get to the pass around lunchtime, which worked out. As it turned out it was far too cold to sit outside, and I ended up eating at the other restaurant at the pass. Anyway, I got my omelette.

Looking from the Col du Lautaret
toward the Col du Galibier

Looking at my GPS track, I'm surprised to find that I spent about an hour having my leisurely lunch and generally loitering around the area. But eventually it was time to continue, and I headed up toward the Col du Galibier. I'm surprised to see, as I'm writing this, that this road is also labeled D902, just like the road up to the Col de l'Izoard.

Maybe it was the long rest, maybe it was the magical power of the omelette, but I felt really great on this climb. It runs through stark terrain, with exposed rock, grass or moss, and not a tree to be seen. You can see the road for miles ahead.

I think the last time the Tour de France climbed this side of the road was 2011, and the road was still covered with exhortations for Andy and Frank Schleck, and the Leopard team. That day was near the peak of poor Andy's powers; as I was passing over his name he had just pulled out of the 2014 Tour a couple of days earlier.

D902 climbs up toward a fog-shrouded Col du Galibier

There was a fog hanging over the pass as I climbed toward it. Once I arrived I found the top almost deserted; it was just me and two other cyclists. Just enough to have someone take my picture, as it turns out.

At 2642m this was now the highest point of my ride, and indeed would be the highest point I would see until the plane ride home. It was also cold -- about 10C (on that plane ride home I kept an eye on the flight statistics, and as we passed through 2600m I couldn't help but note that the plane also registered 10C).

A fog-bound Col du Galibier

Given the fog there wasn't much sightseeing to be done, so I bundled up and headed downhill. In 2012 there had been little patches of snow up here, but on this day there were large areas of snow by the road, and melting across it. There wasn't much traffic, and the descent into Valloire was relatively quick.

As I rode into town, I heard a crack and thought I might have dropped something. After passing all the way around the town once, reminding myself of the place I spent two days in 2012, I headed up toward the Col du Télégraphe.

It was at that point that I realized that the crack I heard earlier was, in fact, a rear spoke snapping. Nuts! I turned back around to find a bike shop. The first one didn't have spokes for road bikes; the second one had no shop, but they offered to sell me a jersey and sent me toward another shop that didn't happen to exist.

Saint-Julien. Nice town, but
no bike shop.

So it was that I just opened my brakes and continued on. Oh well. I felt really uncomfortable with this, particularly as I started down the descent toward St.-Michel-de-Maurienne. The open rear brake didn't work well, unsurprisingly, and had a jerky, juddering, unpredictable effect. None of this lent any confidence to the guy descending on a damp road.

Nonetheless, I slowly and carefully made it to St. Michel, the little town at the bottom of the hill, and again looked around for a bike shop. None to be found. Incidentally, Google did no better. Harrumph.

The Maurienne, the valley of the L'Arc, from my hotel balcony.

I headed down D1006, a busy road despite the convenient highway running parallel to it, down to St.-Julien-Mont-Denis and my hotel. The hotel was isolated, and not only did they serve dinner but they actually had a large neon knife and fork blinking on top of the restaurant. Dinner was a lovely goat cheese salad, local favorite tartiflette, a chocolate tart and a 35 cl bottle of local red wine. Fixing the bike was going to have to wait for the next day.

Elevation profile

Today's ride was just short of 52 miles, and just short of 5200 feet of climbing. The most difficult kilometer was the last bit near the Col du Galibier at 9.4%, but at the time the excitement of reaching the pass made it feel easy.

Col de l'Izoard

On July 10th I rode to Briançon, and took a side trip up to the Col de l'Izoard.

View Col de l'Izoard in a larger map

A few days ago, stage 14 of the 2014 Tour de France went from Grenoble to Briançon, up and over the Col de l'Izoard, then up to Risoul. On my trip I did much the same thing, except that what took the tour five hours took me two days, and I even skipped the last climb.

The road up toward the Col de Lautaret

I got my by-now-usual early start of this trip, enjoying a cool but dry morning. Shortly after leaving La Grave you pass through the little Villar d'Arène, and after that the valley is largely unpopulated as it rises toward the Col du Lautaret.

Both sides of the Col du Lautaret are long climbs with gentle grades. As I climbed, a cloud layer formed mid-way up the mountains, separating the snow-capped peaks from the lush valley below.

Looking back down the valley on the way
up to the Col du Lautaret.

I got to the top of the Col du Lautaret, which is marked by a couple of restaurants and a souvenir shop, a little too early for lunch. The elevation at the pass is just over 2000m, the high point of my tour so far, and it was correspondingly chilly and windy. I enjoyed a coffee before putting on all my newly-bought cold weather gear and heading down the other side.

The long, mostly straight roads heading down toward Briançon made for a fast descent. The speed isn't extraordinary, but it lasts for kilometers at a time.

As on the other side, the top part of road passes through a lovely empty valley, then starts passing through a few little ski-oriented towns. I spent a little quality time in Montier-Les-Bains while fixing a flat, which also marked a good time to strip down to normal riding clothes.

Kayaking through the middle of Briançon

I arrived in Briançon too early to check into the hotel, so that meant I would have to take my full, heavy bag all the way up the Col de l'Izoard. Oh well. I had a little lunch and headed down through town.

The road up to the Col de l'Izoard is D902, which starts at a traffic circle near the middle of town. It climbs past a few houses and, well, a dump, then actually descends for a little while before beginning the long climb toward the top.

Giant bikes on D902

Shortly before this trip I read French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France, in which the author described the Col de l'Izoard as a "ruined martian landscape." I was therefore surprised that the climb was absolutely lovely. It parallels a stream until it reaches the little village of Cervières. After that the road turns south and gradually enters the woods.

Cervières

As the road climbed in hairpins through among the woods I passed by bucolic little picnic areas and, increasingly, caravans parked on the side of the road. This seemed a little mysterious until I realized that they

Four kilometers remaining

were already staking out space on the climb for when the Tour de France would pass by nine days hence. Spending more than a week somewhere just to see the race pass by? I'm a fan, but that seems excessive even to me.

On the whole, this climb didn't feel especially steep. The lower portions were a reasonable 5-6%, and while this section in the woods was the steepest it wasn't too bad. The most difficult kilometer of the ride was in this section, at a steep but reasonable 9.2%.

The last portion of the climb

With about 1.5 km to go, the trees thin out and the barren pass comes into view. At roughly the same time, not coincidentally, you start to feel the powerful, chilling wind.

The elevation at the pass is 2360m, which again marked a new high point for my tour.

At the top the wind was fierce, threatening to blow my bike over while I was trying to take pictures. I took refuge in the lee of the souvenir shop. It became clear that the combination of the effort and the cold was having an effect on me when I was unable to figure out which coins would pay for a celebratory nougat bar. That can't be good.

A fellow cyclist told me his friend, still climbing, was riding a tandem bike with a Lego man on the rear seat. Honest. He showed me a picture. Hmm... maybe my head was fogged more than I thought. I once again put on the cold-weather clothes and headed back down toward town.

The Col de l'Izoard

I checked into the hotel, watched André Greipel win the Tour de France stage into Riems, and did my laundry. Around dinner time I found that the hotel had no restaurant, and indeed all the decent places to eat were likely to be on the other side of town, near the start of the climb. Only a McDonald's was nearby, and that just couldn't be allowed. So: no dinner tonight.

Elevation profile

Today's ride was a little over 50 miles, with just under 5800 feet of climbing. The most difficult kilometer was in the middle of the climb up to the Col de l'Izoard, averaging 9.2%.

Les Deux Alpes

On July 9th I took a short trip up to Les Deux Alpes.

View Les Deux Alpes in a larger map

When I planned this trip, I scheduled a few days in La Grave, but I didn't have anything specific planned for Wednesday, July 9th. I thought I might need or want a rest day, but as it turns out I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to take a short ride up to Les Deux Alpes, visiting a climb that has been used in the Tour de France, although pretty rarely.

Mont-de-Lans

The day started dry but cool, which made the descent toward the lake relatively comfortable. I was wearing the heavy jacket I bought yesterday, which helped quite a bit. Just after crossing the dam and turning onto D213, the road begins a gentle climb up to the ski resort. After a couple of hairpins dutifully numbered, you reach the pretty little village of Mont-de-Lans, where I stripped off my outer layers.

Les Deux Alpes is a year-round ski resort, and the road is wide, well-paved and has a consistent and moderate grade. It runs through a very pretty wooded mountainside, but after Mont-de-Lans there are few views of the surrounding valleys.

The neighboring village

As I reached the top, it began to rain heavily. I hadn't actually known before I got there that it was a ski resort, so I was surprised to see that it was huge, a long line of hotels, restaurants, and ski shops. I put on the heavy jacket I bought the day before, but the rain was still cold and I hadn't even started the descent yet. After a while I walked into one of the ski shops, bought ski gloves and yet another jacket, put all of my warm-weather gear on together, and started the descent.

The view from the hotel, with lots of post-processing

Despite the rain, the wide road was a pleasant descent, and by the time I got back down to Mont-de-Lans it was warm enough to strip off a layer or two. I continued down to the dam, then back up the now-familiar climb to La Grave.

Elevation Profile

This day's ride was just 31 miles, with 3566 feet of climbing. My analysis program broke the climb into two parts, the first part 2 miles long and the second 3 miles, both averaging about 7.5%. The most difficult kilometer was in the second part, at just 8.4%.

Alpe d'Huez and the Col de Sarenne

On July 8th I climbed Alpe d'Huez, and enjoyed a ride over the Col de Sarenne.

View Alpe d'Huez and the Col de Sarenne in a larger map

Since I got to France I've been waking up annoyingly early, like 04:00. Tuesday was no different, but in this case I fell back asleep and missed breakfast. I ate yesterday's spare packaged sandwich instead.

The morning was rainy and cold. The first part of the ride is a descent, and the rain started shortly after I did. Once my feet were soaked I was once again bitterly cold on the bike. My shivering was making it hard to keep the front wheel steady.

Looking back along D1091

I had never been on the section of D1091 between Lac du Chambon and Bourg d'Oisans. The detour on D211a had always seemed more interesting, but I was wrong. D1091 passes through some of the most dramatic landscape I've ever seen, in a valley bordered by steep granite mountains. Definitely worth a visit, preferably on a bike but a car could do in a pinch.

After a quick tour through Bourg d'Oisans, I started up the climb. Not many riders on the road today, but the familiar tour van was there. I stopped for a while at the church at hairpin #7, a little above La Garde, to eat and enjoy the scenery. The rain was mostly holding off, and while it was cold when stopped it was pleasant while climbing.

With the paucity of riders on the road, I was a little surprised to see that the souvenir photographer was nonetheless at work. There was no one near me and I ride very slowly, so she was able to get about five shots of me. And yes, I bought one, even though they're overpriced.

I stopped at the "false top" for a coffee bite to eat at Bar L'Indiana (passing by L'Alaska and La Nevada). When I went to leave it was once again raining hard, so... hey, another coffee.

I climbed up to the real top and took some selfies, which came out poorly. The riders connected with the tour van were just arriving, and one of them was overcome with emotion at finally making it to the top, which just reminds you how special this experience can be.

On the road toward the Col de Sarenne

So now it was over toward the Col de Sarenne, the route the Tour de France took in 2013 in order to climb Alpe d'Huez twice. This route starts by heading out among the hotels on the east side of the village. As I passed by the last of the hotels I could see dark, ominous clouds rolling quickly toward me over the mountain. I didn't have warm enough clothes to deal with any kind of real storm, and I turned around.

My first thought was to wait it out in some cafe. But one of the first stores I came across was a ski shop having a sale, so... shortly afterward I had bought a new, warm jacket with a hood. Armed with the new equipment, I left again for the Col de Sarenne.

If I recall correctly, there's at least one sign indicating that you're headed toward the Col de Sarenne. Beyond that there isn't the normal signage you see on French roads, but it's hard to go wrong. Just don't descend back to Bourg d'Oisans and you'll get there.

The last part of the climb to the Col de Sarenne

The road passes by the airport (which is not recognizably an airport), then descends a few hundred meters into a lovely, isolated valley. The views here are a reminder that the Alps are vast, and one tends to see little slivers of it. At one point you cross a little stream and then begin this side of the climb, mostly in one straight section. From this direction it's about 3 km long and just a couple hundred meters of climb. It's generally steep at  7.8%, but at least consistent.

The Vallée du Ferrand

If the road up to the pass seemed isolated, after the pass you're in a different world. The road on this side is tiny and not in ideal shape for a descent, an effect heightened by the usual potential of long falls over the sides of the road. And did I mention that in this section it began to rain heavily?

The thing about this descent is that you're not just losing the few hundred meters you just climbed -- you're actually losing more than 1000 meters, essentially descending the mighty Alpe d'Huez climb, but on this little road. It just goes on and on. The first part of the descent winds through hairpins, but then a little further down the sections between turns stretch out quite a bit and you can get some speed up.

Mizoen

After passing through the pretty little village of Mizoen, the road meets the main valley road D1091 at one of those  "I wonder where that goes?" intersections. Similarly, the water coming down through this valley emerges here in the form of the giant fountain that sprays into the reservoir.

Lac du Chambon, as seen from Mizoen

By rejoining D1091 here I saved myself a few hundred meters of climbing, although I missed the chance to experience that lovely part of the valley in the opposite direction. I tramped back up to La Grave, my hotel, and dinner. Which started with a welcome tomato soup, then a steak with a 35 cl bottle of a local gamay, topped off by a chocolate tart.

Elevation profile

This day's ride was 49.8 miles, with over 6,400 feet of climbing. The most difficult kilometer was in the middle of the Alpe d'Huez climb, in which it averaged 9.3%. As I've mentioned before, that's based solely on climbing; the most uncomfortable kilometer on this ride was one of the early ones, shivering on the descent toward Bourg d'Oisans. And surely the actual most difficult kilometer was part of the descent of the Col de Sarenne. But you get the idea.

Grenoble to La Grave

Monday I rode from Grenoble to La Grave, completing my transition into the Alps.

View Grenoble to La Grave in a larger map

Yesterday's ride from Lyon was certainly a transition day, and this was another one. After the traditional French breakfast, the day started with... waiting. I thought I could charge my camera with its USB cable, but that wasn't working. So I decided to wait until the (very close-by) FNAC opened at 10:00 so I could buy a charger. I found one that would work, but was expensive. Maybe it was a bargain, though, since the TSA apparently changed the rules in the previous couple of days, and if my camera couldn't be turned on I risked having to leave it behind.

So it was that despite being up quite early I didn't get moving until around 11.

Hot Springs at Uriage-Les-Bains

A side road off D524

I knew I wanted to revisit the old town of Vizille, which I had passed through in 2012, but since there was a lot of climbing today I decided to avoid D5, the direct route, in favor of the flatter D524. D524 turns out to be a very pretty road, passing through some picturesque mountain villages before entering Vizille next to the chateau.

Entering Vizille

I would have preferred to spend a little time in Vizille, but daylight was burning so I passed through and began the long slog up D1091. As you can see from the elevation profile below, this road just goes up, gradually increasing in grade, until it hits the plain that contains Bourg d'Oisans at about 700 meters.

At the second hairpin on D211

All along the way it was threatening rain. I thought about stopping in Bourg d'Oisans for lunch, but since it was still sunny I instead just bought two packaged sandwiches at the Casino supermarket (one of the few open on Sunday), and started up the Alpe d'Huez climb.

When I rode through this area in 2012, I chose an odd hotel nominally in La Garde, a micro-village on the Alpe d'Huez climb, but actually across a gorge and 2000 feet of climbing away. That was inconvenient, but the positive side was that it introduced me to D211a, a little road scratched into the side of the mountain, offering stunning views of the valley below. I wanted to revisit that road on the way to La Grave, which meant climbing up the bottom third of the Alpe d'Huez climb to La Garde, then taking D211a as it peels off.

Looking east, near the base of the Alpe d'Huez climb. You can just barely see D211a about 2/3 of the way up the mountain.

The climb felt pretty good, despite my full pack. I was definitely slow, and it rained a bit, but I felt OK. I turned off on D211a, then began its long climb. In 2012 this always ended at the road up to the Maronne, so I hadn't realized that in this direction the road just keeps climbing, right up to 1200+ meters. Ugh.

Looking back toward Bourg d'Oisans from D211a

When I got to the relatively level part of the road, the part with shear drops to the valley below and consequently great photo opportunities, fog was falling down the valley and it was getting much colder. I stopped to eat one of the packaged sandwiches. At one point I noticed wisps the fog rising above the road, which I thought would make a good picture. By the time I fished my phone out of the bag I was already in pea soup. Ugh. No more good pictures today.

Riding that spindly little road in practically no visibility was a little worrisome. There's barely room for a car, and the guard walls are pretty low. Overcook a corner, and you're Wile E. Coyote. But my real concern was the weather; if it got much colder I didn't know what I could do. The weather certainly rolled down the valley quickly.

I continued on, and at a four-way intersection I took the wrong turn, entering D211g and the tiny village of... maybe Les Cours? A little lesson in French road numbering: A letter suffix already indicates that the road is a glorified track, and once they get to G, the road is just an afterthought. Accordingly, D211g is tiny, not so much a road as a series of connected driveways. OK, this was obviously wrong. I climbed the steep ramp out of the village to the main road... and made a wrong turn. In fact, it wasn't even the main, minor road -- it was D211e. As it turns out, I did about half the climb up to the ski station at Auris d'Oisans before I decided that surely I would have remembered this from 2012. I should have finished it off, but I was worried about the time, and besides the fog precluded views once I was up there.

So I turned around, following D211a back down toward D1091, the main road through this valley. I knew the hotel was at an elevation of about 1450m, so I was disappointed to rejoin D1091 below 1000 meters. Lots of climbing ahead.

The view from the hotel in La Grave

From this point, the ride was a slow cold slog up the hill. I managed to reach the hotel at about 18:30, with plenty of daylight (for what little that was worth) and in time for dinner. So not too bad.

Elevation Profile

Monday was a little over 58 miles, with 6600 feet of climbing. The most difficult kilometer was at the start of the Alpe d'Huez climb... but of course that doesn't take temperature into account.