Bicycle Diaries 2
Thursday July 6 Briancon-to-Briancon almost
Last night we met the “neighbours” and they included Claude, the tough 70 year old local cyclosportif from across
the road. He doesn’t speak English but we have Mike and he’s practically French, well his bike is. We met out the
front of Le Cluster HQ and Claude takes us down through Briancon and along a beautiful back road only a local
would know towards
Guillestre, which is around the corner in this photo.
Claude takes us 20 or 30 kms south and says goodbye, and we are almost immediately joined by a group of riders
from Kendall in the UK. A father and 2 sons and guess what…they know a back way. We turn right and immediately
ride up at least 2 kms of 13 plus %.
My jet lag is back in a big way but it’s beautiful country and these guys are the friendliest people, and we are having
a great time as we swoop down the descent towards Guillestre, famous to us as being the start of the Col d’Izoard.
It’s beautiful, it has a lovely fountain in the centre and we are straight into the town square’s café.
We have a coffee-break in Guillestre, and to meet the up with the self-named Clusterettes. They are now hitting peak
form! They’ve found every chocolaterie, boulangerie, patisserie and shoe shop south of Paris and they’ve got their
eye out for a fromagerie. They seem to be having an uproarious time which keeps the pressure off our gnawing
nervousness of a fast approaching Etape Monday.
I’ve had it…I’m done, cooked…it’s already a big ride and we have 30 kms uphill from here to the 2360 metres high
Izoard somewhere up ahead.
We leave the Clusterettes, I think they’ve spotted a quite an interesting patisserie near a market next to the clothing store
and say we’ll see them in Arvieux. The road ahead is unbelievable, it climbs and snakes through tunnels along the edge
of a wild river, we turn left and the road kicks up but it’s OK and we ride and ride and arrive at Arvieux. We look back
and it’s stunning and amazing how high we’ve climbed. We stop in Arvieux next to the town fountain and note it’s likely use
on Etape day. The Clusterettes arrive in a hail of gravel and immediately locate the town café 20 metres from the fountain.
We are off because we know the tough
stuff is right ahead.
10 kms to the top and we are where this col earns its reputation, and it starts immediately you leave town. It’s deceptively
wide open country and very peaceful but the bike feels like you are riding up a wall, only later do you check that it’s over
10% through this section. This pic is
looking down to Arvieux and Guillestre which is 20kms further down.
It stays steep all the way until a km or so from the top where there is a little down hill section where your speed leaps to
about 50 for a few hundred metres on a narrow road with no guard rails, but there’s no time to look because the road immediately jumps back to 10% for the last km to the top. This is called the Casse Deserte and it looks like it, you can
see the road is if
you look closely at the photo.
Hooray we are at the top, I’m stuffed and swamped with sweat and the temperature is dropping like a stone,
and the wind is getting wild.
A roaring sound fills my ears and I think “what now?” but it’s the Clusterettes arriving in full flight, they’ve heard that the
best cakes in France are sold at Napoleon’s Refuge just over the hill. It’s the best news I’ve had since taking up cycling.
I need everything I can get, a bath, a
sleep certainly a refuge.
Napoleon’s lives up to its name and I’m thinking the Clusterette’s research is really paying off; these are the best cakes
I’ve ever seen and spoilt for choice is
the right sensation. We want them all and give them a bit of a workout.
Thunder and lightning outside as an alpine storm swings in and you forget this isn’t at sea level and the changes are
extreme, and we head straight off on
the descent which goes for 30 kms down to Briancon.
I’m plummeting down the hill, the others have long gone with Simon showing the alps they’re there for him to swoop
down with Mike right on his tail. My bike is shaking and wobbling all over the road and I work out it’s me, the sweat
has turned to ice and I’m shivering so much the bike is almost out of control and it starts to rain. I stop; knowing the
Clusterettes are just finishing up a hot chocolate back at Napoleon’s. They arrive like the Angels of Mercy I know they
are and I’m straight in the car. The heavens open and it feels like we are in a snow ball fight. It’s incredible, we creep
down the road and stop at a bus shelter full of drowned cyclists and Pete is in there, and we pile him in and head off
looking for the others.
We get all the way back to HQ and there’s Simon and Mike swapping stories about swapping lines or swapping lies
I’m not sure. Whatever happened they did brilliantly to out run that storm! Confidence was building or was it? Dark
thoughts had entered people’s minds. Izoard had done its job, we all got over it, but we will have to do Izoard, the Col
du Lautaret, and Alpe d’Huez all on the same day if we are to crack this Etape.