Cyclopaat, An Alter Ego With A Twist
Bless me followers, for I have sinned.
Or more accurately: I have neglected you and I am sorry.
Well, I’m not sorry at all obviously, but I do feel a wee bit guilty that I have not even tried to find the time to write a post in months…
After all, this blog only exists for me to bore you to death with my ‘cycling adventures’, so I should have tried harder.
Anyway, let’s play catch up, shall we?
Since we will spend two weeks in Briançon for my ‘Tour de France 2017’, it’s clear that only two Marmots on the menu is not going to get me through those 🙂
As I have previously written, there are a lot of cols to be found in the area, so I had no difficulties in constructing a ‘Tour de France Road Book’ that made me shit my pants.
However, despite my normal lack of restraint, resulting in grossly overestimating myself, I had to promise Paula that for this year’s tour, I would at least try to cut myself some slack.
After all, I recently turned 57, which by itself may not be enough of an excuse to go easy on yourself.
But coupled with the slightly discomforting physical problems as the result of several crashes, I might actually be inclined to keep my promise…
So, with that in mind, I present you a first draft of the stages I’m planning to ride!
With this loop included, it claims 9th spot in the highest paved European roads list and is listed as 5th highest mountain pass. – without it, it’s ranked 11th and 6th respectively.
Like all passes in the area, it’s closed during winter, roughly between October and June. I cycled up the Lautaret side June 9th, 2012 and found the final loop closed from the Valloire side – luckily, I could still cycle up from my end. When I tackled the other side in 2014, it was two weeks later and the road was free of snow.
What makes climbing the Galibier hard, is the distance. It can only be reached via the Col du Télégraphe from Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne and via the Col du Lautaret from either Briançon or Bourg-d’Oisans (Le Clapier).
I originally planned this trip to follow the route of the Marmotte, but then changed my mind and plotted a ‘shortcut’ down the Croix de Fer towards the Télégraphe / Galibier.
After all, the passage from the foot of the Glandon in Saint-Étienne-de-Cuines, through the valley to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and onwards to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, is basically just adding (a lot of) miles to the trip.
In the end, I changed this stage to not include the downhill and / or side trip over the Mollard, and I transferred from the top of the Croix de Fer to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne by car because it would save us (valuable) time.
Besides, arriving at the summit of the Croix de Fer, I was already tired, with the Galibier still to come and the triple on the Ventoux planned for tomorrow…