Galibier, Galibi-yeah!

An incredible day! Sometimes you get excited about something and when you see/do it will let you down, other times it will exceed expectations. Today was a day of exceeded expectations! I touched some snow, saw some art made out of hay, and saw a town that enjoyed a lot of wooden animal carvings. Ripper day!

So as per yesterday I started with a lot of clothes to ward off the freezing cold. My idea of a slight delay to wait for the sun to pop over the mountains didn’t work, as it was actually the landscape that allowed the sun in and where I am staying the sun is blocked for goodness knows how long. The good news is though that as soon as I turned the corner a few kilometres up the road the sun did warm things up quickly.

The initial cycle was for a slight uphill ride to a town called Saint Michel de Maurienne. It is an old industrial town that has embraced the cyclist with all the flags and pictures of cycles everywhere. Fair enough being at the base of a climb that has been used by the Tour just under 60 times so far. The climbing for the Col du Telegraphe starts as soon as you hand a right off the main road. I wasn’t ready for it and was still dressed up very warmly. I stopped and faffed about getting all my warmers and that off just next to the 12 kms to go sign about 5 metres from the traffic lights. 

Once I got going again I was in for a real shock though. The gradient went straight to 9% - to weed out the weak or to get you in the mood depending on who you are. If you hang in there though it soon eases off to 6’s or 7’s for the rest of the way up. The road itself heads into the trees and starts to wind its way up the hill. Because of the trees there isn’t much of a view for most of it, but you do get the odd glimpse of what is out there.

The climb is actually OK, but because it is basically the opening act you have to endure before the real band comes on stage it loses some of its gloss. If it were put anywhere else and didn’t have to live in the shadow of the Galibier I think it would be classed a lot higher.

The sign says 1km to go to the Telegraph

So you chip away at the Telegraphe and before long you get to the top where you are met by a lovely man made all of straw – he’s on a bike so he must be OK.

From here it is a short 3km downhill to the town of Valloire, which I think is trying for the prestigious world record for number of animals carved into wood in one place. I gave up counting but this is what they look like.

When I was at the top of the Telegraphe I chose to not stop and get warm clothes on as it was only a 3km downhill, and I thought I would get colder stopping than if I just carried on. The plan seemed to work and I arrived at the wooden animal capital raring to go. As you get to the edge of town though the Galibier reminds you who is boss and smacks you with 9% gradient. If you push through and endure it though you are rewarded with a lot of different sculptures made from straw. Thankfully, unlike at the Stelvio I did not get shouted at for taking pictures of the art.

Once you are on the flat by the straw things it is a fairly straight road as you follow a valley up at a nice 3%. The surroundings have also opened up so you can see the surrounding peaks of shingle/slate (no idea really, just rugged). The further down you get the gradient does come up to 7%, but then back down to 4%. This is when you see the switchbacks heading up a face to the right.

 

Just after the straw things

As soon as to make that first sharp right hander into the switchbacks it is on! You wind your way up the steep side of a mountain with sheer drops on one side and walls on the other. There aren’t too many of them though so enjoy them while they ar there. All too soon you are at the top of the switchbacks and skirting around the side of a hill to the tunnel that takes cars through to the other side.

Just before you get to the tunnel though there is another serious of twists and turns as the road ties itself in knots. If you are lucky there will be a photographer taking your pictures which you can buy online for a good sum later. It was about here that I started getting the snow. Not much as most had melted, just a sprinkling. It was also here that I saw a barrier across the road leading up to the very top. This road branches off with one kilometre to go, where the cars go straight to enter the tunnel, and bikes turn left and go to the top.

 

Looking down on the twists and turns

As it was only one kilometre to go I thought that to stop here would have been ridiculous! I quickly dove under the barrier before onlookers saw (hence no photo). From here it is simple enough and you can see the top glooming down on you. I could see why the road may have been closed though as there were still patches of ice and maybe what was salt (or something else to stop the ice?). I took it easy and had no issues at all.

At the top it was incredible views everywhere you looked, even of Mont Blanc still way, way off in the distance. Simply stunning up there. There were a few more cyclists who also went under the barrier so maybe I wasn’t as brave as originally thought…or they blindly followed me. Who knows?

From there it was a downhill, but not after something quick to eat in the restaurant. Or so I thought. Even though it was by the tunnel that was a little busy, it was well and truly closed! I had enough food to get me to the top and a little extra just in case so no big deal, but sometimes it is nice to have an excuse to sit down and have something warm. Oh well, next town.

So down I went. It was awesome! The roads were nigh perfect for most of it, and there were nice twists and turns everywhere. Was great!

Unfortunately, by the time I got to the next town lunch service had stopped so no food. No drama though as from here it was mainly downhill anyway and I would just eat when I got back to the hotel (I had stocked up on stuff from the supermarket). Never ceases to amaze me though how things are different.

The downhill was great all the way down. I did stop occasionally to get those photos I missed on the way up, and there was the small uphill just before the Telegraphe I needed to get up, but other than that was just magnificent. Once again the afternoon wind was blowing straight into me for the last bit, but not even that could wipe the smile off my face. Awesome day!

So tomorrow it is time to move on. I will head out via the Col du Glandon, maybe pop up to the Criox de Fer from the other side while I’m at it (it is only 2.5kms from Glandon), and head on down towards Alpe d’Huez.

Highlight: Just loved being at the top today, was very cool! So far the best.

Lowlight: Against my own advice I tried out the merino socks again. I thought my feet would be better if I did the laces up a little looser. It didn’t work.

Lesson Learned: It is only a stupid man who does the same thing over again but expects a different outcome.