Les Dix Alpes (2014)

Part 3 - Downhill to the Med

By EAT MORE LARD

April 9^th, 2020

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have had to cancel plans and are effectively isolated in our homes. This year was to be the year I returned to Europe for a cycling trip through the Dolomites. Unfortunately, it was not to be so I thought I would share an old set of blog posts (from my old site) about my trip to the Alps in 2014 as a little pick me up for happier times!

Don't forget to catch up on part 1 and part 2!

Downhill?

With 10 days of accumulated effort, I was still to have a bad day on the bike (my only tough time came on the 38C push through the valley on the penultimate day) and still felt fresh and excited every morning.

The climb of the Col d’Izoard rises straight out of the town and the conversation from some of the veterans of previous incarnations of the tour was that the best days were over and that the remaining climbs weren’t as interesting. I don’t know if they were just trying to soften us up for the remaining days, or had gotten so acclimatized to the amazing scenery, that it just became another set of switchbacks under a blue sky, but I got a real kick out of the two days of double climbs in particular.

The landscape was changing becoming dryer and less green, with now was the time that we would start to see some of the spectacular gorges of southeastern France. The Izoard was another beautiful climb, not hard (or were the legs now just adjusted to the long climbs?), with an easy descent and lunch waiting for us deep in one of those gorges. The second climb of the day, the Col de Vars, was a unheralded little cracker, some tough sections (not helped by the heat but with a few friendly water fountains on route) and a special little old school café on top, run by a rugged old French couple serving a decent brew, too.

High point

The further south we went, the hotter is started to become and I was expecting the mountain ranges to start dipping towards the sea. Yet we were to only come to the high point of the trip, the Col de la Bonette at a little over 2800m, on our last day in the Alps proper. It’s one of those crazy climbs where you just can’t work out where the road is heading unless you can spot another car high up ahead. As you climb high the cliffs and snow covered slopes close in and many times the road seems to wind back on itself, passing high alpine tarns, before the summit slopes are reached and it is a straight pull to the top. The final tourist loop that yields the 2800m was still closed and snow bound and required a little snow trekking with the pushie. The actual road pass is about 100m lower which tends to result in much debate about the highest through pass!

The descent was possibly the best of the entire trip, with perfect cambered corners allowing for a flowing and technical sweep down the valley before sliding up the unknown Col de la Couillole.

On another day, this would be a fairly straightforward affair, taking you through and up a winding canyon with villages from another time - it was the kind of road you could have imagined many would have looked like 50 years ago. Today it was stifling and airless and it felt like a struggle, with water running out by the summit. Fortunately, it was only a few kilometres down the other side to a little town where cold drinks and ice cream were on offer.

From there, the road dropped rapidly through the stunning Gorge de Cians, flashing through tunnels (one was scarily dark) and hugging the canyon wall. The traffic was light. In fact, we didn’t see any at all for a while. We soon found out why. The road was closed as they repaired a rock overhang. We had descended well over 10km at this point and it was hot. There was no way we were going to turn around. We picked our moment and slipped past the workers, flashing a “Bonjour, au revoir” as we speed off down the deserted road. Despite the aforementioned super hot slog along the valley, this was one of the best days of the entire trip. It had been a real day of contrasts – cold descends and baking valleys, snowy peaks and running-out-of-water grovels. Beer tasted good that night.

Race to the finish

By now, everyone was talking about the last day as the easy roll down to Nice. It wasn’t a hard day, by any means, but it still had a couple of decent climbs, rising over 1500m, packed into the 120km parcours. I was surprised how close we had to get to the coast to get our first sight of the Med – it was not until the Col de Vence that it finally came into view – I see you at last! We regrouped at a café in Vence to ride to the finish as a group but that idea soon fell apart as we hit the suddenly busy roads of the Cote d’Azur. Mark and I, who had been leading the field for the whole tour, rolled in last having gotten misplaced in Nice, but I don’t think we lost enough time to challenge our positions on GC!

After a glass of champagne or two, we ceremonially dipped our front wheel in the Med and headed to the hotel for a beer and dip in the pool.

It had been 13 days, 1467km and 29 436m since we first build our bikes and set out on the prologue around Como and here we were in the heat of the Cote d’Azur. We managed one last ride along the coast as a goodbye in the morning, more in search of coffee and croissant by the sea than kilometres and metres, before packing the bikes safely in their bags and parting ways at the airport.

It had been a barnstorming few weeks, exceeding my expectations and fuelling the fire that burns for future European adventures. If I wanted to talk in cliches, I would say something like "although this trip has ended, I realised that the journey has only just begun" but truthfully it was just such an enlightening two weeks!

Thanks to Mark for being the instigator of getting on the Les Dix Alpes bus, to the crew of Bike Dreams for outstanding support, to our fellow riders for the banter and company and to my family for the two week escape! Next year, 100 Cols…