Day 13 Bourg d’Oisans to La Chalp

That was a BIG day on the bike, ‘only’ 59 miles but 9617 feet of climbing over two cols. The scenery was spectacular but my concerns about famous, tourist attraction, alpine cols were unfortunately proved to be correct.
The morning climb up Col du Lautaret was dominated by some sort of old sports car rally, predominantly Porsches which prompted a very apt joke from Neil (sorry Big Bro!):
Q: What is the difference between hedgehogs and Porsche drivers?
A:  Hedgehogs have their pricks on the outside.
It didn’t help that there were lots of tunnels which are unpleasant enough on a bike without being overtaken at speed by said pricks.
The scenery however was rather lovely...







The Col du Lautaret has been crossed over 40 times by the TdF so obviously one needs another podium photo.



The descent was enjoyable as the Porsches had presumably arrived en mass somewhere, and we stopped for a picnic lunch on the way down to give it time to digest before the next bout of climbing.

After Briancon which is the highest city in France and very obviously a ski resort, the climb up to the Col d’Izoard started with a rather rude gradient, vaguely chilled out for a bit and then got really rude in the last 5km. This col was dominated by numerous speeding motorcyclists, most of whom obviously needed an engine to get their beer bellies up the mountain. The constant roar of their engines ruined the peace and quiet of a sweaty plod up a beautiful mountain, but I still had a huge sense of achievement from getting to the top of such an iconic Hors Categorie TdF climb.







The descent to the hotel was a bit painful for the knackered body, but the lovely Alessandro drove the support van behind me to stop all the speeding over takers!
The hotel is a classic ski lodge and I have a huge room overlooking the beautiful view.

I’ve had a long soak in the bath and I’m looking forward to a suitably huge dinner and a deep slumber, probably aided by ibuprofen!












Comments

  1. BikewallahSeptember 12, 2020 at 5:05 PM

    Ahem... sorry about the Porsche drivers and motorcyclists. I’d take take a bike up those climbs any day over something motorized!

    ReplyDelete

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