I'm doing more skiing than cycling at the moment.

After 6 months of skiing (I was a complete beginner, not even having
roller skated as a kid) I realise how weak my ankles and lower legs
were when all I did was ride a bike a lot for exercise. Getting better
now though.

Doing 2 hours of rolling terrain or hill intervals on the roller-skis
seems more attractive than spending the same time on the bike, as it
is only 10 minutes to the park where I train (Greenwich) but I need 30
minutes to get out of London suburb into the countryside.

That said, I did travel to the northern Alps for a week of chalet
living and road riding recently, though it coincided badly with a
passing weather system that became ensnared on the peaks around Mont
Blanc - report below:



The week was spent in the vicinity of Geneva and Chamonix, exploring
this part of the northern French Alps, an area much less familiar to
me than the better-known cols further south between Grenoble and Briançon.

Poor weather meant that a couple of mid-week days were spent off the
bike, so some rides west towards Annecy and north to Morzine and Col
du Joux Plane will have to wait for another time. However a 100km ride
down through the Route des Gorges du Borne was stunning and another to
the Alpine valley town of Beaufort and up the awesome Cormet de
Roseland was also impressive. Very challenging climb that one, yet
rewarded with scenic views. A very difficult ride back over the long
Col des Saisies in cold rain though, but it had to be done in order to
get home.

In the Time-Megève itself there were three choices of circuit: 80 km
(Col de la Colombiere, Col des Aravis -- climbing 2850 m); 110 km
(Colombiere, Aravis, Saisies -- climbing 3930 m); 140 km (Colombiere,
Aravis, two different ascents of Saisies -- climbing 4810 m).

Interestingly, the route is designed so that the total amount of
climbing on the longest course exactly equals the height of nearby
Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps and for which the event
is named. Very clever, these French.

To complete this long course participants have to have reached control
points before certain cut-off times, otherwise they are re-directed on
to the shorter versions of the route. This is possible because the
routes of the three courses share the same initial and final sections,
but the longer routes also incorporate various additional detours on
the truly challenging Col des Saisies, a place that always seemed to
attract poor weather. Sometimes narrow and very deeply cracked by
frost damage in places, the road was also shrouded in low visibility
cloud on the day.

I was very focussed, eating/drinking regularly – something I'm not
always so diligent about, so this was a good sign – and benefiting
from having ridden all the climbs during the preceding week (often in
wet conditions), surprised at the relatively slow pace of most riders
along the initial 15 km of valley highway (compared with what would
happen in a similar Italian event on such a straight flat section
before the first main climb) and pleased with my ascent and descent of
the Col de la Colombiere, as I had misjudged the profile earlier in
the week when I first rode it from that side.

This 16 km climb went from moderately difficult to easy as it reached
and began following an upland valley river. Deceptively easy, in fact,
as it quickly went back to uncomfortably challenging once through the
village of le Reposoir, and finished with a grueling coup de grâce
that hugged a cliff and was made more desperate by the view of a small
hut on the crest of the col. When you first see it you think "ah, at
last, there's the top. I'll soon be up by that little shepherd's hut,"
but it seemed to take an age to get any nearer. Then, some 20 minutes
later, after the hut had revealed itself to actually be a 2 storey
house and the preceding kilometers of toil had been a relentless 10%
gradient along a bumpy, rockfall-dented road, the climbing was finally
done with for the moment.

On with wind jacket and over the top, no time to waste on the
well-stocked and rather busy first feed stop everyone else seemed
interested in -- too early to lose time here, we'd only done about 35
km. Now's the chance to grab back some of the places lost to those
annoying compact chainset spinners who had eased past me earlier on
and were now caught up in a bike-entangled scrum for cheap energy
drink, bits of fruit and biscuits.

The initial descent on the other side isn't very hard, just lots of
straightish sections and hairpins, so I again passed more riders,
especially when the road widened and levelled out through the ski
village of le Chinaillon, about halfway down the mountain. Deciding I
didn't want to be stuck in slow traffic on the more winding lower half
to Grand-Bornand I upped the speed briefly to 60, picking off a good
number of plodders with a smooth weaving line before we began to
plunge downhill again.

Almost immediately after reaching valley bottom and Grand-Bornand we
began the drag up to the next climb, Aravis, which began proper at the
ski town of la Clusaz. Where the road was flattish I coast a bit and
eat but once through la Clusaz it was time to concentrate on staying
with other riders. From this side the ascent is a relatively short one
of 8 km and a gentle gradient most of the way compared to the
Colombiere. The climb reminded me of the one to Passo Gardena in the
Maratona dles Dolomites -- not difficult, just a question of being
patient. Quite a large crowd of cheering spectators lined the roadside
from the last hairpin to the inevitable summit gift-shops, so as a
gesture to the fans (or my ego) I popped it onto the 53 and big-ringed
it for the final km to the top, thereby passing yet another clutch of
hefty mittel-Europeans in cow-patterned Assos kit.

The descent on the other side of Aravis is much steeper, longer, and
also very twisty compared with the Colombiere. Lots of official
photographers here too, perched on the tight corners, so another
reason to take care. Concentrate on looking cool; don't want any
mishaps recorded for posterity. The lower part after the village of la
Giettaz is a nice run along the side of a steep gorge. By now this was
the third time I had ridden it during the week, so I could take this
part quite fast and ride hard on the brief uphill stretch, knowing
that it would only last a corner or three before the road went
downhill again.

At about 70 km, we reached the village of Flumet, with its ancient
stone bridge spanning the ravine, where longer courses separated from
the short course for extra climbs over the Col des Saisis. It was here
I found I had a mechanical issue -- cracked rear brake caliper -- so
decided not to risk the alloy completely failing on another long
descent and opted for the short course and an early queue for the
dollops of overcooked pasta, stewed chicken and red wine they served
up at the finish.

Have since been wondering whether I would have been alright to do the
110 km route if I took the descent slow and smooth, as I was putting
in a good ride up till then.... Still, did a reasonable time, so am
happy enough, considering the circumstances.


80km // Overall placing 135/802 // Category placing 50 // Time 03:23:45