Alpine Trip Review

[Marek]

So last week I spent mainly riding up and down beautiful mountain passes in France, Italy and Switzerland. Was probably one of the toughest but most enjoyable weeks I have had on a bike.

Travelled to Lyon and transferred to Grenoble for our first nights stay. The 13 strong group built up our bikes in the evening ready for our first day.

First climb was the drag from Grenoble up to Bourg D'Oisans along the main road. Not a great road but a nice warm up for the Col de Lauteret. We climbed this pretty fast, about a 30 km climb, those who have done the Marmotte will know this as the very long descent from the Galibier. At the top of the Lauteret we then did an 8km climb up to the top of the Galibier. Beautiful weather and we were even greeted by seeing the Sky Team including Bradley Wiggins descending down the other way. Descended into Valloire and a few of us went and added the climb of the Telegraph before coming back to Valloire for our second night.

Day 2 riding was a tough one. We did the Galibier, descended to Bourg D'Oisans and then did Alp D'Huez. Then we went back down the Alp the back way and ended our day with a ride up the Glandon. Those who have done the Marmotte will know this is the first climb in that event. Well take it from me, doing it as the last climb of the day was a horror. It was much harder than we had all anticipated and there were some very tired legs at the end of that day. Descended the Glandon to Le Chambres for our 3rd night stay.

Day 3 riding and we went up the Col de Madeleine to start with. Was a really nice climb, not too steep and the weather was a bit cooler than the day before. Had a bit of a race with a couple of the guys to the top but they pipped me, my hill sprinting never was any good. Then we did the Cormet de Roseland. I started on the climb and lost all energy pretty much straight away. All the riders overtook me and I was seriously wondering whether I was going to make it up the climb. I had a Viper Bar (Maxi Muscle make them) and within 10 minutes I was transformed. I took off, my legs now seemed to be fully charged and I overtook almost half of the group by the top of the climb. Descending into Bourg St Maurice.

Day 4 was a big one. Started with the Col du Petit St Bernard a long beautiful gradual climb, then we did the Col du Grand St Bernard. Again a gradual climb but long. On this one I felt really good and raced the main climbers, the gradual incline was more in my favour and I managed to get up it in 2nd out of the group. Got beaten by the 17 year old Triathlete in the group who only drank milk, not the wine and beer I was consuming every night. The descent from the Grand St Bernard was super super fast, great long bends and wide roads, absolutely hammered it. Then a minor 6km climb to our destination of Champex Lac.

Day 5 was a flat day, I was looking forward to this all week, changed over to my Cosmic wheels for this day. We hammered the flats along the Swiss valleys through Martigny, Sion, Brig and into Ulrichen for our nights stay. I got to the hotel first with a couple of other guys, we set some really fast speeds on the flats that day, so not really a rest day, just different muscles.

Day 6 was the last day riding. A monster of a day. Started with the Nurfenpass, a beautiful climb, some steep sections but the scenary was breathtaking. Then we did the St Gothardpass, 14km of riding up hill on cobbles. A first for me and again another wonderful climb. Then we did the Furkapass, well known amongst those Italian Job fans, as this is where the final part of the film was located. Then the final climb of the holiday was the Grimselpass, not too hard, but was in cloud cover and was very cold. The descent on the other side was amazing, probably got up to over 80kmph on this section as one part was straight and quite steep.

Overall we did about 830km of riding, not sure how much ascent as have not downloaded the Garmin files yet, but am guessing it was a lot. Lots of fine wine, beer and banter were had, went with a group from St Albans, Verulam CC. Was superb.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Marek]

http://www.verulamcc.org.uk/gallery/201 ... itzerland/

Photos.

[Rob W]

Wow Marek it sounds awesome,anything like that comes up again and there are spare places give me a shout.Dream riding.

[Brian Nolan]

great review Marek - sounds like a great trip all right... What gearing were you on ? I'm off to the Alps soon for a 2 week trip and I'm thinking of going compact.. I normally use a 53/39 with a 12 -27, I have used this for all sportives and my trips to Devon ( just done Dartmoor Classic on it - 106m, 6:41 ), but I'm thinking it would be kinder to my legs to get a 50/34 fitted with a 12-27 - think it would make more sense for the rides I do in Plymouth / Dartmoor etc...
cheers,

[Marek]

I would put on a compact if I were you. I use a compact and I also had a 28 on the back but did not use it too much, although some parts are quite steep and you might be thankful of having it in reserve.

Cheers

Marek....

[Brian Nolan]

yeah - I think I know it makes sense ... Got an Ultegra set up on order now with Deans at Beckenham, apparently latest version will not work with my DA 7800 shifters, so going for previous version....
thanks,

[Marcus]

Great write up Marek and fantastic scenery. No doubt you'll be off again soon

[Sylv]

Sounds very good Marek.
You'll be ripping our legs on the TG.