In a much needed rest and recovery day, Steve and I drove to Annecy for lunch and to show Steve some of the roads that I have been riding before he arrived in France. Tomorrow, we would ride the mighty Col du Galibier!
We drove out the same direction as we drove the other day, but drove past Saint Jean de Maurienne and continued on a few more kms to Saint Michel de Maurienne. From here, we would begin our ascent of the Galibier. The Col du Galibier is typically the highest point of the Tour de France on the years when it is included in the 21 day itinerary. And it was another ride I had wanted to do 3 years ago but was unable to, riding the Galibier from the Saint Michel de Maurienne side after having ridden from the other side 7 years ago.
On the drive to to Saint Michel de Maurienne, we noticed that there were a lot of cyclists out ridings on the way to the Galibier. We chalked it up to the fact that it was a Saturday and that the cycling clubs were out riding early in the morning to beat the expected heat that would certainly be present later in the day.
The ride begins with a nice warm up by riding up the Col de Télégraphe, a steep-ish 12 km precursor to the real crux of the day, the Col du Galibier, a true monster of a climb.
On the slopes of the Col de Télégraphe, it soon became evident that all of the riders we saw earlier were more than just club riders out on the road. We had stumbled into a major cycling event, The Gran Fondo Marmotte. Marmotte is the french word for marmot, the unofficial mascot of the Savoie. The Gran Fondo Marmotte turns out to be one of the most famous rides in Europe, and really in the world it turns out. It is a one or two day ride that 7-8000 riders cover the Col de Glandon, the Col de Telegraphe, the Col du Galibier, down to the Col de Lauteret, down valley to Bourg d’Oisans, and finishes at the top of the Alpe d’Huez….. a nice 16,000 ft day of climbing. And being out early, we were at the “head of the spear” so to speak, meaning that the riders we were seeing were the real fit riders actually racing up to the summit. Over the course of our ride, we are easily passed by over a thousand riders!
One real bonus for us being caught up in the middle of the Marmotte was that we were able to avail ourselves of the Marmotte water stations. There was no way the event organizers could keep tract of everyone wanting fill up their water bottles! We found this out at the summit of the Col de Télégraphe and would stop at several other water stations during the day.
From the Col de Télégraphe, we had a 4 km downhill, before an uphill to the town of Valloire. There was next a slight uphill grade before things got seriously steep.
I was feeling pretty good on the ride up to the summit, but I knew that I was still a bit fatigued from the Croix de Fer, or at least aware that I might bonk again. I decided to ride with a measured effort. Steve was riding well ahead of me today and I insisted that he go ahead and ride at his own pace. It all worked out great and we both made it to the top, me about 5 minutes behind Steve, but still happy about the result. And we celebrated along with several hundred other riders who were at the summit at the same time as us.
We got a good sense of how famous the Marmotte was at the top of the Galibier. We talked to a lot of riders from all over Europe. Germany, Spain, Italy, Great Britain, and even a guy from Philadelphia, PA. He and three friends flew over just for the weekend to try the Marmotte!
Being at the summit was pretty great, but we both noted that the descent was going to be tedious. While the riders doing the Marmotte were going to continue down the other side of the Col, Steve and I would be riding against the grain and have to dodge the several thousand riders still coming UP the mountain…. along with cars and motorcycles as well. This was not nearly as bad for me since I am a “white knuckle’ descender and very cautious, but Steve likes to let it go and is MUCH faster that I am. So he would really have to hold back.
The descent was indeed tedious, but we thanked our lucky stars that the road was in good condition especially after the storm that was on the mountain just a few days ago. We slalomed downhill dodging everyone who was still coming up to the Col. It wasn’t until we started up the grade to the Col de Télégraphe the we finally got past the trailing riders of the Marmotte and had clear roads to our selves. The grade back up the Télégraphe was not too steep so we were able to climb back up without difficulty. From there, it was 12 km of downhill with some brand new pavement for the first 4-5 km. After the new pavement ended, Steve went flying past me. as I expected. But we ended up at the car within a few minutes of each other and set about finding a café for some post ride food., and a well deserved beer.
It was a really good ride; about 7,300 feet of climbing between the Col de Télégraphe and the Galibier. A true accomplishment for us, but paled in comparison to those who were riding the Gran Fondo Marmotte. But we were both good with it.