Two climbs to lakes, and sun!

Yesterday I ended after climbing the highest paved mountain pass in Europe (forgot to mention that), and today I have finished surrounded by famous Tour de France climbs. It is all going well! I climbed into clouds again, I saw two lakes, I got smashed by a headwind again, got pulled off a motorway, and raced against to try and beat the rain...again. But it was a great day!

So off I trundled this morning and literally within 500m of starting I was climbing at 5%. Rude awakening but only myself to blame - there is heaps of road around that I could have warmed up on if I needed it. Once again this is one of hose climbs that goes up the face of a ski field that is in the back yard of the village so for a lot of the way you can look down and see exactly where you started (I like that in a climb).

Looking down on Lanslebourg where I started

After the top of the first chairlift, just before you round the second hairpin, get ready for action as once around that bend you get hit by 9% before it settles back down to 7% again. Most of the climb is around that 7% mark from then on in really. There are only five hairpins as you climb up the face so it is easy to not get lost and count down the climb.

Although it is all fairly open this climb, there are a fews trees around, but once you go around a corner where you think the sisth hairpin should be it turns into the barren alpine environment. From here it is only about 1.5kms to the top, which is just behind a small church you see in the distance on a hill.

As I rounded that bend on the way up though I started to enter my old friend the cloud. It seems to have stuck around over this last week off and on really.

However, it wasn't long before it cleared to open up the awesome views around the top. There is a lake that you can get to if you go past the summit towards the Italy border, but you can get amazing views right where you are so I saw no point in going further.

It was only 9 degrees up the top today so was really happy it only warranted half my warm clothes for the descent.  This could have been amazing with the first time having dry roads in ages and nice corners, but two motorbikes past me when I stopped to take a photo, and when I caught them up kept right in the center of the road so I didn't want to overtake them. Think they were jealous.

From there it was back past the place I stayed in the night before, and it was only then that I had the thought of leaving my bags with them until after I had climbed Mont Cenis. I guess it was just in auto mode in the morning with the pack up and get ready. Not too far down the road, just before the town of Termignon, is the turnoff down a small road to Plan du Lac. It is easy to overshoot the turnoff apparently (ooops, only a short backtrack for me).

The road is dead quiet, in fact I think I only saw four or five cars and one motorbike the whole climb. The road itself leads up the a National Park where there are a lot of tramping tracks, and by the looks of the hut (refuge) at the top cross country skiing in winter as well. This climb was a bit different than the first of the day in that you climbed through forest first as you complete some switchbacks. every now and then you get a glimpse of down the valley but mainly all you see is trees up to about 1,900m of height. It is a tougher climb in that what it lacks in views it makes up for in gradient, with it sitting around the 8-9% mark all the way up almost.

There is one respite though, just when you are out of the woods and hitting 2,000m high you suddenly do a short down hill as you run along the edge of the hill. When I say short, it actually feels like a very long downhill as you will have to re-climb every single one of those metres you dropped, and as you are sweaty at this time the 'cool breeze' is enough to make you want to stop and put a jacket on.

Thee road once out of the trees

Once you have regained that altitude you just lost the fun really begins with the road turning int basically a heap of spaghetti - I think the engineer got bored of designing roads and gave the plan to their young child to draw. This makes the road so entertaining though it makes for a great finish to the climb! Actually, before exiting the forest I was thinking that this climb is not really worth going out of your way for. However, in retrospect it is totally worth it for all of what you see and ride above the treeline!

Hard to get a picture as it went everywhere, but just part of the spaghetti road

Once you go past a large carpark thee road is closed to cars and motorbikes (but cycles are allowed) and this takes you the last 2km past a lake to the refuge. There is only a short climb up to a plateau where the small lake is.

In fact the lake is so small you can't even see it really in this photo

What was more impressive though was peaks and mountains around towering above you. Just incredible. Only one was snow capped, and I believe what I saw were glaciers on it. Amazing whatever they were.

Whilst I was there I went to the refuge for lunch as well - rude not to really. I was amazed. This place was like a ski club type place up the mountains in New Zealand. Very basic, fire going, some small rooms you can rent, but most importantly a restaurant of sorts. Not only that it had a great selection of foods I had been craving. Since arriving in France I have found it hard with the meals as I feel like warm stodgy food that has heaps of calories and fills you up. The options are just not there, you either eat the set menu in th restaurant or you eat at a restaurant down the road if you are lucky enough to be in a town with more than one option at this time of year. The food has been really nice, don't get me wrong, but it is very light and 'well portioned'. At this hut I got an Omelette du Randonneur - basically a fry pan placed in front of me that was a two inch thick omelette filled with fried potatoes, chunks of ham, random vegetables and lots of cheese. It was still sizzling as the fry pan arrived at the table. Was delicious!

Don't know how it works but seems amazing to have a restaurant in a hut in the middle of nowhere accessible only by walking or cycling. 

So anyway, after the amazing food I dressed up in most of my warm clothes and off I went back down the hill.

The downhill was great fun, but it was at this point I noticed a bit of a head wind. Gutted. The road all the way down to La Chambre where I planned to stay was all slightly downhill but this headwind was a doozy! I pushed into it hard and was making progress in between the gusts. Everything was going well until Mr Garmin wanted me to take a main road that had a green sign. Learning what I did in Italy, green was the colour used for motorways, which bikes are not allowed. I was gutted as I did a lot of planning last night to make sure I would not go on the motorway. Anyway, having a look around I saw another road that had a blue sign and had the same towns listed on it so off I went down that one.

Once on the road though I saw the error in my ways quite quickly. A motorway is very obviously identifiable as such once you are on it. Well, not much you can do now. I stayed in the shoulder and went hard for the next exit where ever that was. Not long in though a lot off beeping came from behind me and a van stopped next to me. A side door opened and before I knew it the guy was suggesting I give him my bike. The van looked like a road workers van so I thought it was legit to oblige him. In I jumped as well and off we went. He then laughed about how in Italy the signs are different and in France they are the other way around and no bikes on the blue roads!

Think I was quite lucky actually as if he didn't pick me up and take me off the motorway via an offramp that had a garage door opener to open a gate on it, I would have ended up in a very long tunnel without a shoulder I would suggest.

Anyway, after that it was a slog again into the wind. When I got to Saint Jean du Maurienne, which is 10kms from La Chambre, I recalled the weather report in the morning saying that it was going to rain from 3pm - it was almost 4, and it was blue skies everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean the small amount of the sky you could see as the landscape had changed to being surrounded by these massive rocky mountains. Incredible things.

On leaving Saint Jean though, and rounding a corner, hanging over La Chambre was nothing but black clouds. I was a bit tired but I did not want to get wet at the last minute. 10kms into that headwind, flat out, would take 20mins, 15 if luck was on my side. I went full on down the road to try and beat the rain. The closer I got the more spits I could feel. It was getting tight. I had planned on going to La Chambre after it was suggested by a mate (cheers Scotty), but as the spits fell harder and harder and the sky got blacker and blacker I decided for the second time in two days to take the western option - just before La Chamber is an Ibis, I pulled in, went into reception well out of breath just as the rain started - and they even had a room. Winner!

So here I am, and this is where I will stay for the next few days while I whittle away the many climbs in the area (the lady at reception even gave me a map with them all on specifically for cyclists). So one Tour de France climb today, and one that is not a Tour de France climb, but both of which was just awesome. Great day!

Highlight: Food today! Not only the omelette but also for dinner I went to a truckstop and got a meal that was half the price I have been paying, was still really well made and delicious, but was big trucker sized portions and I could choose what I wanted instead of it being a set menu. Awesome! Might struggle up hills tomorrow with all that in my belly though.
Lowlight: After a good run of French over the last couple of days had a few occasions again today where I was not understood and had to revert to one word sentences. Have always gotten there in the end but just makes it a bit daunting the moment you think you may need to speak to someone.
Lesson Learned: Green means go, blue means no.