Two Old Friends and an Unwelcome Guest

Today should have been the first, and simplest test of whether I'm anywhere near fit enough to be attempting La Marmotte. The idea was to ride over the Col du Glandon, to Saint-Étienne-de-Cuines, then along the valley to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. From there, ride back up the Col de la Croix de Fer, and complete the loop, before retracing my steps to Le Clapier. The ride over the Glandon is part of La Marmotte, and the ride back up to the Croix de Fer, while not as big as the Galibier, is a tough enough test in its own right. And it should all have been easily possible within a normal length day.

Things started brightly enough, at around 9:30, with a blast from Le Clapier, along the valley, past Bourg d'Oisans and on to Rochtaille. All the way to Allemont, some 25 km from Le Clapier, the pace was up. The next 25km are not so easy. Once the climb starts properly, after the junction for Vaujany, it is pretty challenging. The gradients are frequently above 8% and my progress was modest, until reaching Le Rivier d'Allemont.

View from Rivier d'Allemont

 After this village, the road plunges down for a couple of km to cross the valley, before resuming it's relentless gradient once more. It's not until the Lac de Grand Maison is reached, that the road flattens out, and the pace increases. The lake is part of a major hydro electric scheme, and is held back by a very impressive dam. Andrew finally caught me up here, in the car. He'd been doing some shopping.

There is another short downhill section before the road once more kicks up for the final climb to the Glandon. This is where the professional photographers lurk, so it's important to zip up the jersey and smile through the accumulated fatigue!

The old fool at the top of the Glandon

The ride to the Glandon took about 2 hours 40 minutes, much faster than my previous attempt. After taking on water from the car, and putting on my jacket and video camera, I headed out feeling that this was going to be a good ride and that everything was going to plan. I did have to stop for a couple of minutes just after starting the descent. I kept catching a minibus and having to wait for it. The top of the Glandon is steep and technical, but lower down it opens out. It's a fine descent, which I enjoyed hugely.

At the bottom, in Saint-Étienne-de-Cuines, I removed video camera and jacket, and set out for Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. We'd stayed here a couple of years ago, and the town brought back fond memories. I picked my way through the town to the famous roundabout with the massive Opinel knife sculpture. And this is where it all started to unravel. On the exit for the road up to the Croix de Fer, was an unassuming orange sign. The key part was 'Route Coupe'. The road is now shut for maintenance until December. There is a diversion, of course, but in a mountainous region, there aren't too many options. In this case, the diversion was over the Col du Mollard, adding distance and a lot of climbing to the ride.

I didn't much care for the Mollard when I rode it in the opposite direction a couple of years ago. A second encounter hasn't changed my view! It's steep throughout, with gradients often approaching 10%, and the road surface is horrid. There are some nice views back across the valley at some points.

There was evidence of work on the direct
route to the Col de la Croix de Fer

The Longchamp-1650 ski resort is visible top centre.
That is the resort on the route to the Col de la Madeleine

The climb seems interminable. It is quite a long way, and the gradients mean slow progress with little respite all the way to the top. A couple of km below the col, the ski resort of Albiez-le-Vieux did at least have a cafe, where I was able to buy a bottle of lemonade and have my bidons replenished.

The approach to Albiez-le-Vieux

Finally made it to the top

 The descent is also rather nasty. It's technical, and could be fun, but again the road surface is just too horrid.

At the bottom of the descent, I was finally able to get on to the road I'd wanted to use in the first place. Even after slogging over the Mollard, there was still 14km to go to the top of the Croix de Fer. Thankfully the first part of this climb was at lower gradients, and progress was relatively swift. But then as always seems the case, the obligatory ski resort hove into view and road ramped up to 10%. And Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves is not a small resort.

Leaving the top of the resort, I was finally on slightly lower gradients and the kind of rugged terrain that makes these climbs so spectacular.

A couple of km below the Croix de Fer

At last. there you are.
Where have you been all my life?

Made it to the last col of the day.

I made a bee line for the cafe at the top, and bought some lemonade and had my bottles filled. The brand is French, and meant to mimic the sound when the bottle is opened. Its called Pschitt! You can imagine the fun we had with that as a group of schoolboys on a delayed train on the way to a skiing trip in 1966.

Didn't expect these to turn up while I was there.

A group of classic American motorcycles turned up while I was there. Most unexpected. One of them wouldn't fire up on the kickstart when they were ready to leave. It wasn't much of a problem though, with at least 5km of downhill on which to bump start it!

I was actually shivering as I attached the video camera and headed down. It wasn't until the first uphill section just above the lake when my teeth stopped chattering. There was almost no traffic around, so I quite often used the full width of the road during the descent. The long stretches between hairpins meant that I quite often saw speeds in the region of 60 kph. The 12% climb to get back up to Rivier d'Allemont didn't seem too bad and I was soon gathering speed, until a truck carrying logs pulled out of the forest just ahead. Fortunately it wasn't going far, and I soon sped past as it stopped.

It was a fast an furious run down to Allemont, where I removed camera and jacket and time trialed along the valley, determined not to delay dinner by more than absolutely necessary. As we're the only ones staying here at present, it was fine. I'd been texting Andrew about my progress, and once I'd showered, we were treated to another of Shawn's superb meals.

The Activity for the ride is available on Strava.