Dromara Cycling Club – Alps 2007 Report.

24 May 2007 – 31 May 2007  by Peter Bryson

Heading out from Dublin on Thursday 24 May 2007, Steven Wallace, Davy Robb, Nigel Sudlow and Peter Bryson set out for a weeks worth of Alpine cycling. Up to departure the vague concern over the size of the mountains had been a constant topic of conversation, how to train for the Alps, how much, how often and with what gearing. Getting off the plane and into the minibus at Grenoble brought the first indication of what was ahead. You know you are starting a new experience when you can’t see the tops of the mountains without pressing your face against the window and looking straight up. That is to say the landscape in front of you is bigger than your peripheral vision. You may think I exaggerate but the answer to the question of what to do to train for Alps is, go to the Alps, there is nothing like them on these Islands.

This report isn’t going to follow a linear process, regurgitating facts figures and numerical data, like height and distance, mainly because on one of the many climbs during the week away I kept hearing the same phrase repeating over and over as I turned the cranks, Mind Body and Soul….Mind Body and Soul…..Mind Body and Soul.  I took this as a sign and in respect of the mountain I was riding up, I will try to condense the weeks events using these three words as titles.

MIND

So to those three words repeating over and over in my mind, a word of explanation. Endurance sports like cycling have many drawbacks, lactic acid, the knock and cramps being a few, but one of the benefits is the ability to escape into your own world. A space in your head where you can close the door and escape whatever it is that is tormenting you. Whatever happens in this room is down to your imagination. This ability is enhanced, it seems, by the level of difficulty of the terrain or skill and fitness of the group you find yourself riding or competing against.

In the French Alps the level of difficulty is fairly hard, so the level of escapism sometimes reaches hallucinogenic proportions. At various times during the week I heard ridiculous music from the 1980’s (who remembers Kajagoogoos “Too Shy Shy” – more importantly why do I remember?), single words (mainly swear words) and repeated phrases like the one above. What ever comes to you, it comes to distract your attention either from the way you are feeling or what you can see ahead of you in the environment. The Alpine environment is epic, it is probably for me the only time I can use the word ‘Awesome’ without thinking of Keanu Reeves in Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure. To be blunt the scale of things can and will do your head in. ( In the same way as Keanu Reeves will if you let him.)

When we arrived after a days travel and despite quite a lot of mature talk about easing ourselves in, each of us had our bikes out of the box and built fairly quickly, not long after, we found ourselves free falling down the Col d’Ornon from our base at La Riviere to test our legs and our bikes. The 8km descent sweeps you from the snow covered peaks of the Col through lush forest, following the route of one of the tributaries of the Romanche River as it carves its way deeper into the rock below you.  Huge lumps of Granite swing into view with each turn in the road and your senses flood with the sights, smells and sounds being forced into your orifices  at 35mph. Its hard not to get pulled into focusing for too long on one particular view, everything is new and everything demands concentration, none less than the 200ft drop to the river boiling below.

The descent ends on the valley floor, pan flat and expanding into a panorama of giants, to the right through the town of Bourg d’ Oisans are the big boys, the Galibier, the Izoard, the Telegraph and Alp d’Huez. To the Left is a wall of rock behind which nestles the Croix de la Fer. “This is the shit”, was Fritz’s assessment of the scene. Buzzing on the view and not really concerned that our legs had yet to turn a crank in anger, we made our way slowly back up the Col d’Ornon. I never timed the climb back up but for me at least that first evening gave me a bit of perspective. The Col d’Ornon is 1371 m over an 8km climb, Spelga is 405m over 5km of climbing and as the week went on we grew to enjoy this final climb as it meant we were nearly home.

Other details that tend to play with your head are, Alp d’Huez, 21 numbered hairpins each with the name of a champion on it, however did you know that the mountain has the ability to manipulate time? You approach the mountain from the town of Bourg d’Oisans with the idea that the familiar zig zag pattern will open out in front of you, you will get sight of it before you are on it, no no no, the Alp is sneakier than that, you only know you are on it because you are suddenly doing 4 mph on an 11% gradient with no sign of it ending, it feels like you are going backwards. Within 100m you are in your lowest gear and standing on the peddles thinking there is nowhere else to go, when in fact, and you know this fact,  there are a further  13.8 more kilometres to go. So if turns 21 to 16 are slow motion, turns 16 through to 7 seem to fly, the gradient decreases and you double your speed which feels like fast forward.

It was not the toughest climb of the week but mentally it is very hard

to get past all the history of the climb, the fact that the mountain is

a shrine for cyclists and it’s slopes have seen many the greats achieve

astounding things. (Pantani climbed it in 1995 in 36 minutes 50 Seconds,

we did it slower) The day we went up it started raining just before turn 2

where the photographer stands, it continued and we descended

through a cloud burst arriving at the bottom literally shaking with the

cold. The weather changes in a second and the cold cuts right through

you.

Another memory is Col du Lautaret from the Briancon side, 28 km of climbing, 2058m at an average of 9%, I really don’t need to say any more than that, however, the day we did it following last years Etape route from the lovely town of Gap, there was a headwind. Steven will tell you more about it, if you ask him. This day was the hardest, we rode it with John from Cork, training for this years Etape, and Peter an Aussie, excellent cyclist if not so good at boules, everyone suffered. What struck me about this climb is how pragmatic you become, the steep hills came second in terms of concerns, shelter became a priority, so every time the bus supporting us drove in front we would sprint like mad dogs to get behind it and enjoy respite from the wind, the fact that the respite would be a matter of seconds did not matter, escaping the wind became obsessive. When the bus went on up the road, it was back to hiding behind Nigel’s arse.

A Final example for the Mind section is the ride on the last day through snowfields up to the Col de la Croix de Fer in utter silence except for the sound of rock fall. This was the most beautiful of rides, the weather was hot and the previous days snow had settled high up, so the last 5km of the climb were through a pure white open landscape with huge peaks in the distance, non-less than the Galibier. Every now and then a rock would decide its time had come and tumble down the mountainside producing a vaguely disturbing sound, which made me put my helmet back on.

BODY

Guy and Helyn run the converted schoolhouse, which is “King of the Mountains” www.kingofthemountains.co.uk where we stayed for the week. The building is from the 1800’s and has been converted to an excellent standard, offering more than more just a base for a weeks cycling, it is comfortable, with shared rooms, a large shared space with a wood burning stove, bike storage and workshop, a well stocked book and DVD library of all things cycling/outdoors related and plenty of washing and toilet facilities (no queues).

KoM is situated in the village of La Riviere 2km from the Col d’Ornon, 28 people live year round in this small community. It is a great location, authentic and charming with well attended vegetable patches surrounding the tightly knit series of alleyways, which divide the houses. Beyond all this is the ambience of the place, which in my mind at least makes it outstanding. The locals are curious and friendly, waves and ‘Bonjours’ as you set off in the morning and applause followed by shouts of “COURAGE” as you return in the evening looking suitable exhausted.  

Peaks surround the village; the river runs behind the old school house and is one of the few sounds you will hear. There are beautiful alpine meadows above the village and apart from a boules court and a public telephone there is not a lot else, but what more do you need? 

The food is excellent; breakfast is a variety, continental, cereals and porridge, plenty of fruit and yogurt. Lunch is usually eaten on the road at a café or bar and upon return there is always a bowl of pasta and homemade cakes.  (The lemon cake was from God.) The evening meal is at 8:00pm and is always three courses with wine. The ingredients are all local and fresh and there is a different dish every night, meat, fish and vegetable dishes were served during the week. There was concern expressed that we may start losing weight with all the healthy eating we were doing. It was all excellent, Helyn and Guy are more than willing to accommodate any preferences, (some of us got special dishes made for them) and are excellent hosts. Route planning for the day ahead and reviews of the day past are usually done over dinner as is the majority of the piss taking as the wine begins to flow.

There is an option for a supported ride during the week, which means Guy or Helyn in the bus with you for the day. We were sceptical about this before going out, but it turned out to be a great day. You have the joy of not carrying too much kit and having a van full of food, including Coke and hot chocolate which, when you have been cycling uphill for 2 hours into a headwind are the things that keep you going. As I said earlier we followed last years Etape route after the weather prevented us from considering the Marmotte route, snow on the high cols such as the Galibier had made it impossible. It’s a full day’s cycling, out at 8 in the van, cycling by 10 and finishing at the foot of Alp d’Huez at 6:30pm. Apart from anything else it is great to have encouragement along the way and to have the chance of picking up a musset on the move.

So in conclusion to the Body section, your well looked after, La Riviere is much more pleasant and authentic than a ski resort or a hotel. The accommodation is good, a place to look forward to at the end of a ride and the people running it know what you are after and provide it.

SOUL

Trips like this are good soul food; they feed your inner cyclist.  From excellent road surfaces, to considerate car and lorry drivers, from pedestrians who are warm and encouraging to the natural beauty of the place, you come away exhausted but also rejuvenated. French people genuinely seem to like cyclists is the first revelation; from the old ladies who gave us direction to Les Deux Alps on the second day as we melted in 28 degrees of alpine sunshine, to Christian and his wife who took us to into their house, muddy and soaked to the skin after a circular day ride up the Alp du Grande Serre and through some stunning scenery in the National Park, the Massive Ecrins which lies over the top of the Col d ‘Ornon.

Secondly cycling is truly an international sport, the Giro was not far from where we stayed, every year 8000 cyclists take part in the annual sadists reunion that is La Marmotte, the Tour will be there in five weeks time. Every day when we dropped down onto the N91 main road into Bourg d’Oissans it was like joining a conveyor belt of cyclists, most with a friendly wave, all with a smile on their face. This is cycling country. Even riding in groups the common understandings come out, pointing out hazards, indicating turns, stopping to wait, sharing pulls on the front, it doesn’t matter where you are from. 

The roads in the high Cols all bear the graffiti of previous years visits of the international professional cycling circus, the devil has left his mark in fair few places non less than the Izoard at 2360m the highest and coldest place we got to during the week. But everywhere you look there are names or moments remembered. You find yourself thinking, just how do they race up these things. To paraphrase someone else, regardless of whether you race up them or just ride up them, you do so because ‘they are there’ and you can.

Many thanks to King of the Mountains for their hospitality, extra spuds and general “spot on ness”, thanks for the mountains for tolerating us and hopefully we will be back again.

Route Summary: Total 360miles approx

Thursday 24 May – Travel Departure Col d’Ornon. (1371m) 8km. Evening ride weather humid.

Friday 25 May- Alp d’Huez to turn 16, Balcony Road to Le Freney d’Oisins, up Les Deux Alps (1650m) back via Alp dHuez, (1972m Nigel). Col d’Ornon. 60km approx Day ride weather very hot.

Saturday 26 May Alp d’Huez (1972m) Col d’Ornon weather wet cold. – Coldest descent ever! 30km approx

Sunday 27 May - Le tour du Plateau Matheysin, through Laffrey, Sechilienne, Le Alp du Grande Serre (1360m) La Morte, le Col d’Ornon (1371m) Circular route 80km approx, day ride, weather wet.

Monday 28 May – Active recovery (NO CLIMBS) N91 to Rochetaille D526 towards Croix de la Fer Col’d Ornon. 45km Weather Cold wet, snowing on Cols

Tuesday 29 May  - Gap – Col du Izoard (2360m) – Briancon – Col de Lautaret (2058m) – Bourg d’Oisans. Weather fair very windy. 130km

Wednesday 30 May  - Alp d’Huez (Stevie and Davy) or Col de la Croix de Fer (2067m) (Nigel and Peter) Col d’Ornon 80km) weather warm.

Thursday 31 May Travel Return

short video here (465kb)