Col du Galibier

The Col du Galibier ,"the Cathedral of the Alps", is simply brutal. It is long, it is steep and it is exposed to the elements. It may “only” average just under 7% but that takes into account that the first few miles average closer to 5%. What this means is the longer the climb goes the trend is for the road to steepen. Added to this the road starts to head skywards immediately on leaving Valloire, however these lower slopes are not categorised as part of the mountain. The first part of the climb is a long road occasionally winding for about 7km and our tour guide had mentioned he had only ridden with a tail wind on three occasions at the most. His knowledge was invaluable as it helped me prepare for  what was coming as if I knew the road myself. However, once the wind hits and the road started to rise steadily upwards I knew I was in for a long, hard battle.

Col du Galibier - profile

Although I was suffering and concentrating on turning the pedals as fluidly as possible, it is impossible not to marvel at the beauty and sheer scale of the Galibier. It is truly an awesome place, and to be on bike makes you appreciate it all the more. You are tremendously small and insignificant in the face of what nature has created. In the valleys there are boulders which have fallen from upon high which are the size of buildings, neighbouring peaks permanently covered by huge glaciers and ahead a road which meanders to a summit topping out at over 2600m. It is almost intimidating. It was at the Galibier that it really started to sink in how hard La Marmotte is, the bike slows, my legs started to feel the increasing burn as I continued to turn my smallest gear as fast as possible. With about 7km to the summit the Galibier starts to really pitch up and I began to rise extremely quickly even though my speed was  anywhere between 5 and 7mph. At times you can look up and see where you're headed and the mental battle becomes even tougher in the realisation there is still plenty of road ahead before reaching the summit. Psychologically it almost becomes unbearable to look skywards. It started to grate, as after each hairpin you turn brings yet more road into view. I started to wonder how I would make it. Even with just 2km to go, the summit looks so high as if it is more like 5km away and I did the calculations in my head that to rise that high that quickly means only one thing. The road is going to be very steep.

Lower slopes

From 6km to the top the gradient averages over 8% with sections ramping up to 13%. It is almost a case of survival. Cyclists by this point are littered at the side of the road, resting, stretching out cramp, trying to relieve exhaustion. This sport really finds out us mortals compared to the super humans who compete on these slopes for a living. And then my own crisis hits as between 5 and 3km I went through the most horrible time as I started to cramp on the inside of both of my thighs. I didn’t want to stop, not only would I feel I’m cheating myself  it would be very difficult to get the legs going again on such a difficult climb. However, if the cramp continued I was thinking I would have no option. At 4km I was in agony and my only option was to stand on the pedals, out of the saddle in an attempt to stretch out the contracting muscles causing me such agony. Added to this I was now at over 2000m where the air is thin and the fewer red blood cells do not serve the muscles as efficiently as they do nearer sea level. The kilometres tick by so slowly and between 5 and 3km I was in all sorts of difficulty but eventually, my continued rising out the saddle to stretch my legs had the desired effect and I started to find my tempo again and began to tap it out in more comfort.

As I got nearer the summit instead of looking continuously up I began to look down and what a sight. Thousands of cyclists snaking their way towards the summit of this giant mountain. It provided great motivation. As much as this is a physical challenge it is a mental one in equal measure and every little thing you can do to help get over these hurdles you grab. Looking at line of cyclists on the hairpins below and stretching out for miles into the valley I thought “I’ve been there, I’ve done that, I don’t have to do it again”. Just seeing the sheer distance I had pedalled was almost unbelievable. With 2km I rarely looked up from the front wheel, watching the logos on the side of my tyres go round and round. Five minutes and I’ll see how close I am, then another five. With 500m to go and the altimeter reading over 2500m I now know I'm going to make it. The summit appears and from somewhere I found that little extra motivation to push towards the top yearning for the descent and the opportunity to rest the legs. One hour and forty five minutes and the Galibier had been summited.

Galibier descent

At the summit the snow lies at the side of the road as the temperature rarely rises above 5c. Quickly you cool down and after a quick photo of the Galibier sign with its altitude of 2642m written in bold black text I pulled up my arm warmers, put on my lightweight windproof jacket and started the 8km descent to the junction with the Col du Lautaret. The surface of the descent is not perfect an on the way down I hit a couple of hard bumps in the road, enough to cause a blowout if unlucky or even buckling the wheel rim. Our tour operator had set up a feed stop at the Galibier/Lautaret junction so we didn’t need to use the one positioned at the summit where space is at a premium. Coke, biscuits, meat, sandwiches. Again, all welcome breaks from the energy products sloshing around in my stomach. After the feed was a long, wide, sweeping descent of the Lautaret with plenty of opportunity to reach speeds in excess of 45mph. Caution is needed through some of the tunnels where the notorious bad lighting makes negotiating them safely trickier than it should be. With only a few rises, the road to Bourg d’Oisan and the foot of Alpe d’Huez is almost all downhill. It provides 55 minutes for the legs to recover as much as possible in preparation for the final ascent towards the finish.

The last section to the foot of  Alpe d'Huez is a long flat section of about 3km. While rolling along it was here I took the opportunity to stretch my back, pulling my feet from the pedals and stretching my legs up my back. In fact just about everything I could stretch I did knowing my body would be hunched in the same position for well over an hour pedalling towards the summit of the Alpe. Eventually I come to a roundabout and if you watch the Tour de France regularly you know it well, almost like you ride it every year. You swing right and images of the peloton speeding towards the first bend enter my head as they look to attack the climb from the bottom at such high speeds in order to break the race up and rivals look to crack each other at the earliest opportunity. A section of about 300m takes you up to the first ramp, you turn left and then look up and what faces you is a road that looks more like a wall.