Le Lechere to Valloire

A truly challenging day! What was I thinking?

Nervous or not I slept like a log and got up at 7 to get ready then down for breakfast at 7:30. Ideally I’d rather have left earlier but where to get food? As it turned out the breakfast here was probably the best so far this tour! They had riz au lait, one of my favourites and a great cycling food. I had two huge serves and was feeling almost sick after the second serve J

I checked out and set off at 8:15, reaching the base of the climb at 8:30’ish. The first road marker was 24ks to go at 500m, which meant there was 1493m to gain. Based on previous days where I’d been doing 7m / minute I computed 3 and a half hours plus stops, so call it 4 hours. I wasn’t entirely convinced I could hold such a schedule but we’ll see.

The bottom of the climb is steep with switchbacks, I love a switchback climb, so that was nice. The bottom is also fully tree covered which was another bonus as it was already reasonably warm. There was very little traffic just the occasional cyclist passing me. I’d expected more cyclists but I guess most of them are at the next Col for the Tour tomorrow. In the end 40 passed me and unsurprisingly I didn’t pass any.

As you get higher the tree cover eventually thins out and I needed to target breaks for shade. I chatted to a couple of people higher up the climb. There are several cycle tour groups doing the climb and they are doing the Telegraphe and staying at Valloire as well. I stopped at one small village and got water from the fountain, it was cool and delicious!

I normally try to ride to Km markers before having a stop, and in the lower slopes I went several Kms at a time between stops, however as I got nearer to the top I was finding I needed to stop twice per K, the heat was getting oppressive (and this is at > 1500m). Reaching the half way mark was an achievement as was the half way by height. There were a couple of places where it was flatter and one spot where the road went down a little bit. I normally hate that on a climb, lost height, but it was a nice change to the endless climbing.

Finally, 4 hours into it, I made it to the top. WooHoo! I got a photo and then went to one of the restaurants for lunch. 

They didn’t have a 2/3/4 course menu option so I just picked the Chef’s suggestion of the day which was delicious, Salmon and a White fish (I forgot to photograph the menu) with veggies and a pile of rice. Perfect cycling food. I sat for a while and then dragged myself off around 1:25, almost an hour’s break.

The descent was awesome, of course, with lots of switchbacks and quite a few long let the brakes go straights. It took over half an hour and I stopped a couple of times near the top for photos. There were hardly any cars and not that many cyclists either. Surprisingly I didn’t see another touring cyclist…:)

Near the bottom I didn’t need to brake much as there was a humungous hot wind blowing up the valley, a bit of a worry, but as it turned out it was blowing in my direction. The only real problem was that it was sooooo hot. Definitely not 26C.

The route through the valley (the Maurienne?) is (almost) as awful as it was in 1995. The minor D road is quite busy and while there is a good shoulder/bike lane for much of road it was just sooooo hot, predominantly up hill, and noisy. I’d hate to be doing it in the other direction into a head wind.

Feeling exhausted I got into Saint Michel de Maurienne which is the base of the climb to the Telegraphe and Galibier. I stopped at a Patisserie and bought 2 cakes, coke and a large water and got my water bottles refilled. There were two women there from a tour that I’d talk to on the previous climb. I was surprised to see them as I expected them to be a couple of hours ahead of me. One of them was getting picked up and the other one was waiting until she was. After about 20 minutes, feeling refreshed, I set off, last climb of the day ho ho.

The base of the climb is quite steep and there are a lot of cars heading up the climb. I was very tired and was having a break two or three times per kilometre. After about an hour the sun dropped enough that the climb (which was in the trees) was now well shaded. That made a huge difference to the climb, so much ‘easier’ without the sun. I continued slogging away sometimes only stopping once in a Km, sometimes several times if it was particularly steep. Fortunately the climb wasn’t as high as I recalled (I thought 1860 but it was 1560) so it wasn’t as bad as I expected which in turn made it easier.

I passed someone! And he wasn’t carrying panniers (and no Nick he wasn't in his 80's either), just knackered I assume. Which reminds me I saw quite a few people coming down the mountain with full touring gear on and 3 or 4 people going up the mountain with huge backpacks on(!) which must be very uncomfortable.

After about 2h 30, and way earlier than expected, I made it to the top! There were people everywhere getting photos and in the end I just took a quick photo and rolled down the hill to Valloire. I stopped several times to make sure I didn’t overshoot the hotel as I didn’t want to have to climb back up a steep hill. The hotel was a bit hard to get to, if you obeyed the one way signs, but that wasn’t a problem on the bike in France!

Finally in at 6:30, 10h15 since I left. Strava reckoned that was 10h01 moving time which is ridiculous given the time I spent at lunch… 3057m of climbing which was a third of the climbing for the entire tour prior to today!

I went to the hotel, which is actually apartments, there was no one there so I rang the owner ($10 for 2 minutes, ouch, thanks Telstra) who organised for his mum to come and open up. The apartment is great, it’s on the ground floor (thankfully), I can put the bike inside and I have my own external door.

I unpacked, showered and then walked into town for a look and to buy dinner. Unfortunately I’m a bit late so most things are just closing and the restaurants are fairly full. It looks like a lovely town so hopefully I’ll have time tomorrow.

Dinner was nice but I was obviously tired as I did not chose well, fortunately it’s an easy day tomorrow. I thought I was getting a Choucroute which normally comes with lots of potato and sauerkraut. Unfortunately it was mixed meats but cold and with bread. Oh well, it was Very tasty.

After dinner, it was getting cold, I went back to the apartment and planned to do a few things but I was too tired so I read for a bit and then bed.