Carolyn Hewett Blog: Cycling in France
I pushed the envelope a little 10 days after coming off my bike by heading into the Alps for a week of tough cycling. I skipped the first day and managed to get through the week by dosing up on long lasting ibuprofen every morning which did the trick! I’m so pleased I didn’t have to miss the riding as we saw some incredible sights. The group was made up of 10 riders including myself and was led by The Dutchman who runs a little side business doing cycling trips in Europe and has done for about 5 years now. Most of the riders had come from the US, 1 from Holland and the rest of us from the UK including our van driver who is also a keen cyclist.
I skipped the first day of riding which was a short out and back to Nice to test the bike set ups and stretch the legs for the Americans who had arrived that morning. That night we had a pasta party at home for everyone. Most people have been coming on the trips for quite a few years so it was a good opportunity for everyone to catch up. You need a lot of lasagna to feed 10 hungry athletes ;) Next day was also an out and back from Nice which included one of my favorite climbs, Col de Braus. It is so cool to look back on all the switchbacks as you climb above them. We covered just over 100km so it was a good intro to the trip.
Monday we left Nice and cycled out to Entrevoux which is an ancient walled village surrounded by a moat. The streets are so tiny there aren’t any cars allowed into the town; although I’m not sure they would actually fit anyway! We covered 3 big climbs, although I only did 2 of them after snapping my chain and having to be rescued by Anton our mechanic and van driver. It was much easier waving to people as I passed them in the van rather than actually doing the climb in the heat. Anton very kindly fixed my chain at the top and I zoomed off down the decent. Monday’s stage was 101km and 2000m vertical.
Tuesday we set off again to. By this time the competition between the boys had really kicked off so I started taking bets who was going to be the ‘winner’ at the end of each day. Ian is a superb climber, but is still developing his descending skills where as Pete has been racing for years and can really handle the technical descents. €5 would be staked on the winner and I am pleased to say my man Ian came home with the goods most days. Tuesday’s stage was mostly up including Col de la Cayolle which seemed to go on for ever. We did 86km and 1900m to get to Barcelonnette which is a gorgeous little town and full of cyclists!
Wednesday was our rest day, well rest if you call doing a 3 hour hike with over 1000m of climbing a rest.
We found out about a route to a lake nestled up amongst the peaks. What the brochure failed to mention was that you had to walk up a ski run to get there! It was a good walk but my glutes and quads hurt for the rest of the trip! Most of the group decided to just hang our in Barcelonette which was a lot less strenuous!
Thursday back on the bike for the BIG day. This was going to be the toughest day where we were doing Col de la Bonnette (22km, 8% average) and then Col de la Couillolle (16km 9% average). I had an axe to grind on Couillolle after severely blowing to pieces when I rode up it last Easter. I have never bonked as spectacularly as I did on that climb and it is a miracle that my relationship with the Dutchman survived as it was very clearly his fault that I was even there in the first place ;) So this time I decided to do Bonnette at a reasonable easy pace and eat eat eat to ensure I was in good shape for Couillolle.
I set out ahead of the group with one other rider who had the same strategy and took it easy and stopped to enjoy the view back out across the valley. Bonnette featured in the 2008 Tour de France so the road was in good shape. It is also the highest paved road in Europe at a nose bleeding 2700m. I was wearing everything I had by the time we got to the top and dug out even more from the van to descend in. We stopped for lunch before heading off on a long valley descent to the bottom of Couillolle and Pete from our group took this video of us flying along doing between 55 and 65km hour being pulled along by Big O. Totally exhilarating and absolutely terrifying on some of those narrow bike paths!
Friday was a long day but didn’t feel as tough as some of the other days as the vertical was spread out across several smaller climbs. My least favorite was Mt Vial which was 7km of hell. It was so tough and made tougher by the fact the road is only used by the guy manning the TV antenna at the top so it is in dreadful shape with gravel and lots of pot holes. It was worth it when you got to the top and had an incredible uninterrupted 360 degree view out across the Alps and back towards Nice where you could see the sea. Spectacular. It was a 133km and 2200m day and I think we were all happy to make it back to Nice.
Saturday the group headed out to Col de la Madone which the Americans loved after realising where the Trek Madone gets it’s name from! I was very busy being horizontal on the beach so couldn’t do the ride ;) October is my month of rest and I will be taking full advantage of that by taking a trip to California. More on that later!
Happy training.
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