worked on our transfer into central Albertville and our accomodations at
Hotel Million. He sent me out for a ride up the Col de l'Arpettaz.
Climbs are rated by category for racing, 4 through 1, with 1 being the
hardest (a subjective combination of distance, elevation, and grade).
However, some climbs are beyond categorization, "hors categorie" in
French, or HC for short. Col de l'Arpettaz is an HC climb.
Made my way to the nearby town of Ugine on the bike path, then turned
uphill through the town. As the houses transitioned to farms, I mistook
the direction on a sign for the col, and it cost me several kilometers
uphill before the road turned to gravel and showed me my error. Back on
the route, I labored alone up the 16 kilometer climb, gaining 1200 meters
of elevation. I never used my tallest gear, holding it in reserve (or was
it pride?). Two cyclists passed me, and only a few cars. Lots of
pastures and forest, plus an ocassional farm building.
It clouded up and began sprinkling near the top, so I was glad to have my
wind jacket with me. And as I had been promised, almost every col has a
restaurant. There it was, at about 1700 meters elevation, all by itself.
An alpine oasis. I had a espresso and a Coke, was tempted by the pies,
and filled my empty water bottles. As I began my descent, I could see a
rain cloud in the distance, and hear the thunder. Eventually the storm
was upon me. Refuge under a tree worked once, but I resigned myself to
seeking warmer and lower ground. I gingerly made the descent in the heavy
rain, working the brakes hard the whole way. Halfway down, the one-lane
road joined a very generous two-lane road, which sits just above a major
road in the canyon. No cars, gentle grades, sweeping turns, and
eventually dry warm pavement worked with the wind to dry me out out also.
I found the now-familiar bike path in Ugine, and made my way into
Albertville. The skies opened again, and I once more got soaked. Tom was
picking up the other riders at the train station. They were coming from
Paris where they watched the final stage of the Tour on the Champs-Elysee.
After a hot shower, I watched the coupled bikes come out of their
suitcases for assembly. Luther is spending the summer near Chamonix, so
had ridden here and only needed to remove his rack. Evan was missing
critical pieces of his wheel, a problem solved by having Tom drive him to
the bike shop where he purchased a new $700 wheel.
We had a very nice dinner in the hotel and got to know each other. Andrew
had to excuse himself as he was feeling quite ill. More about the fourth
rider, Lars, later.
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