Possibly the most difficult day of the tour, with 3300m of
climbing. The day started happily enough with the cool morning air greeting us
on departure from Vallieres. The fun started almost immediately with the climb
of the Col de Clergeon. At almost 1000 high it's not exactly a long climb,
however the gradient was steep at 10-12%. Because it is lower down and there
are a lot of forested areas, the road was shaded and gave us a bit of relief. It
was a very steep descent and the road surface was not the best. It was important
to watch the road ahead and keep the speed down.
Crossing the Rhone we could
see the big climb of the day ahead of us. The Grand Colombiere. It started
pretty sharply 23km from the top and reached 15% gradient in sections. No
relief until about 7km from the top when the grade dropped down to 3-4% and
gave a chance to gather some momentum. The final 6km was steep and hot.
Great views of the Rhone Valley at the
top and a view to a lake in the west, which we think may be Lake Annecy, but
no-one could confirm this fact. The descent was fast and narrow, and I failed
to close my crossbar bag and when I crossed a cattle grid at 55kph my camera
and Garmin GPS fell out and skidded along the road. Fortunately the camera was
protected by a case and the GPS was OK other than a few scratches. So it was a
lucky outcome.
The last two climbs of the day were long but not too steep and
got us over the 3000m climbing mark. Ype, our lunch van driver, arrived with much
needed extra water on the final col. We headed into St. Claude and found a bar
just near the campsite so it was a chance to celebrate a big day out on the
bike with a coldie or two!
I enjoyed a great meal tonight but unfortunately felt
a bit crook last night. Probably a result of the effort put in on today’s ride
and dehydration. So I will be taking it easy on the rest day tomorrow. It's a
chance to recover from a solid four days of riding before we head off toward
the finish at Strasbourg in four days time. Garmin link here
Vallières Cycling by peterjkemp at Garmin Connect - Details
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| view above the Rhone Valley |
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| view above the Rhone Valley |
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| view from Grand Colombier |
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| The "Marmot"enjoys a comfortable journey under Kiwi Dave's seat |
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| bike race in progress |
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| jet trails in sky above church |
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| beautiful church gardens |
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