My Raid Alpine

The fourth day of my Raid Pyrenees from Massat to Prades stayed with me for a long time after. I descended from the Col du Pailheres into a beautiful valley of La Bruyante. The descent continued along when the tributary met the Aude River, save for a slight bump of the Col de Molis, before the road turned left onto the Col de Gravel. This wonderfully green and vibrant col was followed by a nice descent to Le Bourguet, where I refilled my water bottles at the fountain, and Roquefort-de-Sault. The Col du Jau rose up from here after which I enjoyed the descent into and along the La Castellane valley to Prades.
I really felt I rediscovered the cycletouring I did when I was 18-22. It united my new love of sportives and single day challenges with that feeling of drawing a line across a map as you travelled over the course of a week. There was one other thing: the French language. There was a period around the cycletouring where I pushed myself to learn French rapidly. Going back and cycletouring with the language was an amazing experience and something I wished to do again.
The Raid Alpine would give me the opportunity to tackle the Alpine peaks, to draw that line from Thonon-les-Bains to Antibes, and through the French language and AirBnB, I could make the connection with people in those places I would cycle through. I planned out the trip in November 2015 for late June 2016 to take on the challenge between the opening of the major passes and the heat of the summer which would be a more difficult task to cope in for a lone traveller. I obtained the email address of the organiser of the Raid Alpine, Georges Rossini from Bec and Howard, a couple from Australia who had completed the Raid Alpine just after Paris-Brest-Paris. I registered with Georges and he posted out the carnet with the number 4140. The W100/200 loomed just before my scheduled trip. I had promised a mate I would do the W100 with her really fast. But when I heard the rain pounding on my window at half five in the morning and read that there would be 8mm of rain before noon, I cancelled. I let her down. My Raid Alpine was starting in a few days and I wasn’t going to risk getting a cold.

Prologue: Genève Aéroport - Thonon-les-Bains 47.6km

I assembled the bike in Geneva airport and cycled through the city centre along the lake to Thonon-les-Bains. In the pouring rain I found the Air BnB I was booked into for the night which worked out really well as I had dinner and breakfast there as well as washing my cycling gear in the washing machine.

Stage 1: Thonon-les-Bains to Beaufort 148km 3,398m

Under a grey sky of intermittent rain, I set off on the daunting task freeing myself of the traffic of Thonon-les-Bains to the alpine meadows and rolling hills. The Col de la Ramaz was the climb that was testing. The traffic on the Col de Megeve made it quite a grind but the Col de Saisies was enjoyable. From there I descended to Beaufort and found the hotel I was staying in.

Stage 2: Beaufort-Villarodin Bourget 140.4km 3,575m

The main thing on my mind was the Col d’Iseran and getting up and down before the potential heavy showers yr.no was predicting. Earlier on was the Col du Pre/Cormet de Roseland combination followed by a long procession of about 30km uphill stretch to Val d’Isere. From there, the air thinned and the temperature dropped for the 18km climb. There was a strong wind in the valley of the Isere river but afterwards it was just a long twisting climb with the main issue being the worry of poor weather at the top.

With three kilometres to go there was a good bit of snow

At about 3km to go there was walls of snow and then over the top where I asked one of the many motorcyclists to take a photo for me at the sign, a light snow was falling but not sticking. I quickly put on full gloves, a rain jacket and shoe covers for the descent.

A friendly motorcyclist took this photo and gave me a 'bravo!'

I was slapped in the face by a shower of hail. Works on the road made the descent slow so by the time I got off the twisting steep descent to the town of Bonneval-sur-Arc I was pretty cold. The long straights and the undulating terrain gave the chance to warm up and while I was relieved that the weather on the descent was fine, I was also fairly annoyed at myself at the task I had set ahead. The profile of day three was heavy on my mind. The road followed the Arc river and it was quite beautiful at that point. A vibrant green meadow at its side, I looked fondly at the river banks and decided to pull in and just think about things. I had plenty of time to get further down the valley and find my Air BnB for the night.
After having a snack and enjoying the colours, I continued on and tackled an unexpected rise which was called the ‘Col de la Madeleine’ (1746m) but not the famous Col de la Madeleine. I was cheered up and resolved to stick to my route the following day. I continued down the valley and into a headwind. The road rose up and I saw some magnificent rock and a fort above before turning off to the village of Villarodin Bourget where I quickly found my Air BnB where Cathy and her husband Francois welcomed me in. I quickly got the cycling clothes on for a wash, took a shower and then once all of their three daughters had arrived back, we had a classic French dinner banter which was pure class.

Stage 3: Villarodin Bourget-Briançon 141km 3,932m

Francois had just arrived back from leaving two of his daughters to the airport in Turin and reported back that my first climb of the day, the Mont Cenis, was well passable with better weather on the Italian side. By the time I climbed it, the weather was quite warm on the top which meant only a slight chill on my fingers during the long descent into Susa. The air in Italy was noticeably warmer and I immediately made my way through Susa and to the bottom of the climb of the Colle delle Finestre.
The road immediately cruelly rose up out of leafy suburbs into a wood with the road snaking constantly from hairpin bend to hairpin bend. Ten kilometres of this and I already had exerted myself when ahead, I saw the road abruptly end to a trail of stones. My initial thought was how much more rocky it looked than I realized. I’d have eight kilometres of this, all uphill, and the memories of watching and re-watching stage 20 of last year’s Giro kept coming back. Contador was dropped by Landa/Aru but controlled the situation. If he was dropped, it must be one hell of a climb. It was actually my own design that I was here. If you do the Raid Alpine with Marmot Tours they have a clever way of avoiding the Colle delle Finestre and getting the control stamp at Siestriere by going up and down the same way of the climb. I choose to do the classic and original route and therefore made stage 3 the queen stage of my Raid Alpine.
Somewhat hopeful or naïve I enjoyed the initial transition onto the rough surface. Next I negotiated around four bulls who had broken out of a field and were roaming on the road. A few minutes later, a young farmer was pelting it down the road and asked me something in Italian frantically. I indicated in hand gestures how many and where the bulls were. But soon after that, the surface and particularly the surface on the bends, started to grind me down. I was constantly finding my line but often poorly holding it with the result of my rear wheel jolting over the large rocks that I had ensured my front wheel would avoid. On every hairpin bend, I would power through a loose pocket of stones and across a large rut. Again and again I’d attempt to arch my body and bike onto a solid piece of earth to bring some momentum out of the corner. But I just wasn’t pulling it off well. Over time the constant barrage of rocks and stones combined with the gradient dampened my will. I was crawling up it. Finally I saw the massive Fortezza di Fenestrelle on the peak, to the right of the summit. I asked an Italian man to take a quick photo of me at the sign and immediately descended the smooth road which winded through a meadow.

Finally reaching the top of the Colle delle Finestre

I continued through the Chisone valley, climbed to the Sestriere ski station and decended to Cesana. The Col de Montgenevre followed and after passing the town of Claviere I crossed the border back into France and descended to Briançon. I found my Air BnB where Duncan was my host and great banter too.

Stage 4: Briançon-Les Thuiles 110km 2,495m

After plenty of banter and a coffee with Duncan, I headed off and immediately out of Briançon, I tackled the Izoard. After the descent, I took the right at the junction at the bottom, in the River Guil valley, but against a wind. I caught a group of cyclists with red jerseys and blue on the shoulder. I knew they were English speaking so said hello before pushing on against the wind. When the town of Guillestre wasn’t on my route I initially continued on in the direction of the following Col but seeing as it was the last place to get food and water, I turned back and stopped at a boulangerie at the edge of the town. After I ordered a baguette, the guys arrived and I sat down with them for a coffee. They were the London Battlers and completing a four day Geneva-Nice. We started the Col du Vars but they wanted to stay together. I clicked into the granny cog and got going. Several kilometres into the climb, a swarm of flies started to torment me. I sat in the saddle and pushed as much energy as I could to rid myself from them. The air thinned slightly after the town of Vars with about five kilometres left to climb and I was able to enjoy the final few kilometres of the climb. I descended into the Ubaye valley and found the Air BnB of Catherine and Guy and had another banter in French.

Stage 5: Les Thuiles-Puget Rostang 152km 3,290m

I climbed the Cime de la Bonette first and descended into the valley of La Tinee river. A huge group of cyclists from the Fireflies organised touring group were at the top of the Bonette and another at the bottom of the climb. They had Geneva-Cannes written on their jerseys. I stopped in the Saint Etienne de Tinee and bought a sandwich. I found a nice bench outside the town to eat it and look up at the forest valley.
I took off again and a few of the people I had passed out on the descent were rolling by, so I jumped on a wheel and got towed to the group. Once back at the group and sufficiently digested my food, I felt social and started chatting to the guys, but I had the impression they wanted to keep to themselves so I took off against the wind. I pulled down into an aero position as possible and went to the edge of the road but maintained my legs and arms loosely. It was about 25km gradually downhill but the wind was strong, save for some shelter when the road weaved away from the river around some rocks.
Reaching the town of St-Saveur-sur-Tinee, I took a narrow road just before the town, met a Trek Segofredo team car and Dutch professional rider Bauke Mollema out training a bit behind it and climbed up the Col de Couillole. Starting the climb in the hot but beautiful valley, I met the London Battlers on their way down. They were due to fly out of Nice that evening so I wished them all the best. I refilled my water bottles in the picturesque hillside village of Roubion. After the main descent I rocked through the Gorges du Cians, a spectacular gorge through red rock.

Gorges du Cian

The Cians gorge lead me to its main tributary, the River Var. I continued along the Var until the town of Puget-Theuniers. I climbed up the valley of one of the Vars’ tributary – the Roudoule and from this I went onto a smaller torrent, the Mayola, to find my next Air BnB of host Melissa. I enjoyed dinner outside with the forested hills of the valley opposite, looked at her paintings around the house and prepared for the next day which not having any major cols, had the challenge of finding a bike box to bring the bike on the plane.

Stage 6: Puget Rostang-Antibes 120km 2400m

I climbed the Col St Raphael out of the Var valley. Over the top, the day was getting hot just as Melissa said it would do as I made my way toward the Mediterranean. I had another high speed winding through the narrow roads of the Esteron gorges, with rocks overhanging above the road, just before the town of St Auban. After this the road I turned into a fertile green and took the Col de Bleine as one of the final high points of the journey. To celebrate I had a coffee at St Vallier de Thiey and immediately after leaving the town I saw the Mediterranean for the first time.

Seeing the Mediterranean for the first time

The heat was intense when I reached the coast. I got to the edge of Antibes and immediately clicked into the mode of my next challenge – finding a bike box and flying out! I rang up several bike shops until I found that the Top Cycle shop on the Chemin des Combes told me they would be able to sort me out with a box and they also spoke English too. The lads at Top Cycle were top people: they gave me a great box and they minded my bike as I went to the Carrefore supermarket around the corner and bought some duck tape. I walked the final 4km into Antibes with a heavy duty cardboard bike box in my left hand and the bike on the right. I reached the train station and went from Antibes to St Laurent du Var (the Var river again). My host for the final night helped me reach his place by giving me a lift from the train station.

Epilogue St Laurent du Var – Nice Aeroport

The following morning I walked into St Laurent du Var with the big heavy bike box. I asked a man in a local hardware shop for papier bulle (bubble wrap) and he gave me some as well as suggesting I use the space behind his shop to take the bike apart. I duly did and perfectly wrapped up the bike. I limped with the bike now in the box to the bus stop but a challenge emerged when I learned after waiting about 30 minutes that a strike was on and the 52 bus just didn’t appear. I started walking toward the airport but the weight of the box was just too much and I had only one hour and a half before my flight would leave.
I saw a 707 bus and flagged it down. I hopped on in the middle and explained to the driver in French about my plight to get the plane. He was listening to the classic gangster rap PIMP tune (I don’t know what you heard about me/but you can’t get a dollar out of me) as I explained it and decided to help me out bringing me to another bus stop and explaining what bus was coming and how far from the airport it would leave me and then about to know what terminal I had to go to. I then quickly told him about my great adventures over the Cols the past week! The bus arrived and I hopped on. Initially the driver told me he couldn’t take the bike box but when I explained that my flight was imminent he let me on. By a pure fluke my flight was going from terminal one and I made it to the queue for the flight with enough time for them to load the bike onboard. This all concluded my Raid Alpine. After arriving back in Dublin, I contacted Georges Rossini to send the evidence for completing the challenge. A fortnight later the medal arrived!
While this was happening my Orwell clubmates did the club proud by hosting the National Championships. I tried to follow progress of Orwell week while abroad and could see from the reaction that the work of the club was much appreciated. Well done.