Friday, 13 July 2012

Col du Glandon

Col du Glandon - profile
At almost a 5.0% average gradient the Col du Glandon doesn’t appear on paper a difficult climb except at two points it descends for almost 4km combined. Not only does this skew the average it also does two things. Critical to any long climb is finding a tempo and just tapping that out at a comfortable heart rate to ensure you don’t go into the “red zone” and expend too much energy unnecessarily. A descent in the middle of a long climb can affect this tempo or rhythm. It also means you are losing altitude and what that means is you will need to recover that height gain which has been lost all over again, thus adding to the difficulty. A positive aspect about the Glandon ascent is that it comes early in La Marmotte and at a point in the day where the sun is only just peeking out from behind the neighbouring snow-capped peaks, thus the mountain side stays relatively cool. Another aspect of the Glandon ascent, which starts with barely 15km on the clock, is that there is still a huge amount of cyclists in close proximity as the field is yet to thin out. As such it is always tempting to get carried away and try to follower faster wheels but the important thing is to ride within yourself and - to use a very well worn cliche - ride your own race. Fortunately a cyclist from my tour party was at a similar standard to me and I used him as a gauge and vice versa. The Col du Glandon is hard; make no mistake. Any climb where you are going uphill for 24km – barring two small descents – is going to take effect later in the day. You don’t feel it at the time but if you go too hard it will undoubtedly catch up with you later in the ride.



Lower slopes
The Glandon is a beautiful climb as well. The French being the forerunners in hydro-electric power have built huge dams flooding the valley basins with the deep turquoise waters synonymous with the Dauphine and Rhone Alps. Sweeping mountain sides with vultures circling above on the early morning thermals. There sometimes aren't any words to describe what is in front of you, it is just stunning scenery. The summit is at over 1900m and the views across the Alps are something to behold and on any other day the camera would have been whipped out recording the spectacular panorama. However, with the clock ticking unfortunately there is not much time to enjoy the views as the summit is also the point of the first feed stop of the day.  As the field is still yet to thin out the feed zone is complete chaos. Cyclists everywhere trying to get hold of water, bananas and anything else on offer. It can get frustrating but to miss a feed would be a huge error, this will be a long hot day and the hard miles are to come.



Glandon descent
Fortunately my pockets are still stuffed with energy bars and gels so water is what I need and what I get. With both bidons full and my hands sticky from the energy drink powder I had mixed into one of my bidons I started the descent from the summit of the Glandon. Wow. Steep, fast and technical. The first few miles are just a succession of short sharp ramps into tight hairpins. The worst thing to do is to keep feathering the brakes heating up the rims and risking a tyre blowout. Pick up speed, find you line and slam the bike into the corner braking hard and then release and do it again and again, at times hitting 40mph. As the descent meanders towards the valley road it becomes less technical and I can throw the bike into corners with more confidence whilst always being careful to gauge my line and speed. Seeing the aftermath of three accidents on the first descent of the day just reinforces how dangerous the sport of cycling is, travelling at anything up to 55mph on 23mm tyres with nothing but Lycra on. If you crash it doesn’t really bare thinking about. A bike lodged into a verge, a cyclist being stretchered into an ambulance and another who had gone over the side of the mountain all rammed it home that one mistake could have horrible consequences.

An alpine descent is fun, but it also hurts. Your arms are locked into position on the drops for anything up to 30 minutes, your neck starts to ache and your legs start to tingle with pins and needles. It is important to keep pedalling when you can just to keep the blood flowing and keep some sense of feeling from the top of your thigh to the end of your toes. While not as hard as climbing, descending also requires a degree of strength and skill to negotiate dropping to earth as fast as you can. By the time I had reached the valley road I had lost my climbing partner and I began the ride along the long flat road towards the second mountain of the day, the Col du Telegraphe. It is a long, hot, and not particularly pleasant stretch of main road dissecting the mountains either side of it. Our tour guide had said whatever you do, do not ride this section alone otherwise your legs will suffer later, if not on the Telegraphe then most certainly on the Col du Galibier.

The section faces into a stiff headwind so getting into a group is critical. At times I found myself towing two, three, four or more people. I sit up, let another group come through and attach onto the back wheel of the last cyclist. A rider throws his arms in the air when people refuse to come through and work, it is all good fun. Lets be honest we’re all enjoying the fleeting moment of riding like our heroes in the professional peloton. The arguments, the flicking of the elbows to get someone to come through and work on the front, the Gallic shrugs; “come through? I don’t know what you’re talking about”. The benefits of riding in a group are obvious. From labouring at 23mph on a pan flat road I'm now getting swept along at 30-33mph. It is a great feeling, almost like you are being sucked down the road. By the time I had reached the foot of the Col du Telegraphe my group had swelled to over 100 riders. We had formed our own peloton. The only problem with this from a personal perspective was I got caught on the wrong side of the road to get across to the water stop at Saint Michel de Maurienne before the climb of the Telegraphe. I had a small amount of water, a 12km climb ahead and the air temperature which was now reading 30c on my computer.

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