Col du Glandon - profile |
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 |
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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