Cyclopaat, An Alter Ego With A Twist
Just a quick note to inform you (who?) that the “Col Collector” page has been updated with (new) Tour de France 2021 climbs and some previously forgotten Austrian climbs.
The latter were cycled during my Marmotte Gran Fondo Hochkönig in 2017…
As a bonus, I’m attaching a nice 2021 Tour de France shot by Paula ❤️ and one by the photographer from Photo Breton…
As promised, I will conclude the reporting on my Tour de France 2021 with a recap.
I cycled 14 out of 15 available days and have my own stupidity to blame for having a “rest day”.
While I guess this Tour de France once again showed I’m (still) capable of pushing myself through – and over – my limits, there’s no denying that I will have to take it down a notch.
How much will also depend on my capability to keep enduring the back pain on every climb.
Sure, taking in the mostly overwhelming landscapes, the feeling of tininess when looking around and the stunning views are great “distractors”.
But I keep increasing the number of short breaks to ease the pain, which eventually do not help very much any more either.
On the upside, these enable me to take in more of the views and make pictures too 😂
Anyway, lets get to the recap…
Yes, I did use that phrase before. Thank you for so closely following / reading my blog 😂
However, at the time I spoke about my plans to do two of them, Sestriere (La Marmotta) and the classic Marmotte Granfondo Alpes during that Tour de France of 2017.
Both were a bust, whereas I didn’t even start the classic, due to the (general) weather conditions and had a flat with no spare tube(s) during the La Marmotta.
This year, being located at an even better spot to start it, I finally did ride Marmotte Granfondo Alpes, but with a twist…
As mentioned, we will stay in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne for my Tour de France 2021.
I’ve designated Briançon and Barcelonnette as French cycling hotspots – like Corvara and Bormio in the Dolomites – but this capital of the Maurienne Valley in the Savoie is definitely one too.
There are a lot of cols within cycling distance and a lot more further away, where opting for a car transfer seems the way to go.
The mountains on the southern side are the Dauphiné Alps and the Cottian Alps.
On the northern side is the part of the Graian Alps known as the Vanoise.
In this post, I’ll list the cols and possible routes that are “around the corner” from our base camp.
So, thanks to the ongoing pandemic and subsequent “no fly” policy in the family, I get another cycling adventure this year.
As we will be going to France, I have obviously and as usual dubbed it “Tour de France 2021”.
While I do feel sorry for Paula’s not getting her well deserved sun vacation, I’m also excited at the prospect of having another go at the giants of the French Alps.
I was thinking (again) to plan for the Pyrenees, but I eventually couldn’t withstand the temptation of a remake of part one of my Tour de France 2014.
That was way too short – not the tour, just the first part – to tackle everything that’s in that area.
So for the Tour de France 2021, we’ve rented an apartment in Saint-Jean-de Maurienne, which is located at the base of the…
*Drum Roll*