Tuesday 31 July 2012

Simon's Alpine Challenge Day 2: The Hardest Climb

[caption id="attachment_3834" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The mountains around Col du Glandon with Mont Blanc just visible in the distance[/caption]

Well we made it! We reached the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer and I can safely say it was the hardest cycle climb I have done to date - even Alpe d'Huez. It was a long hard slog of 30 km with very little respite and things weren't helped by the fact it was very hot day. I went through over 6 litres of water and isotonic drinks before I had reached the top!

When we got to the Col de la Croix de Fer the views were spectacular. We treated ourselves to a well deserved beer outside a cafe at the Col. Loads of other cyclists were there looking professional with their shaved legs!

After the Col de la Croix de Fer we moved onto the Col du Glandon where we took some more photos including a sculpture that had been prepared for the Tour de France that had only just passed over the Col du Glandon only a couple of weeks before us.

After the Col du Glandon we made a high speed descent to the Maurienne valley - the roads still covered with slogans and the names of Tour de France cyclists: Go Wiggo!, Allez Voeckler etc. I hope to provide a video of our descent of the Col du Glandon at some stage.

After we reached the valley floor I noticed that one of my water bottles was nearly falling out of its cage because it had become squashed - I then realised that because we had come from high altitude the increase in air pressure lower down was the reason this had happened.

The next big ride will be the Col du Galiber on Wednesday so my next blog entry will appear on Thursday.

Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day!

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