The Iron Cross

It’s been almost a week since my ride up Alpe d”Huez and the Col du Galibier. It’s time for another foray into the high country.

My attempt at another ride up one of the historic climbs in the French Alps almost did not get off the launchpad. I went to rent a car at Europcar, and then at Avis, but both were all out of vehicles for the next day. I quickly came up with a plan “B” to ride a local ride up to one of the National Parks in the area. But on my walk back to my flat, I walked past a car rental place I had not heard of. CarGo!. I walked in and voila!, they had cars for the next day. So plan “A” was back on track all of a sudden.

I also have solved another problem I had. With all due respect to my great friend Greg C and his helpful suggestions for nutrition while on the bike, I found a large sporting goods “box store” called Decathlon and look what I found!

Also at the Decathlon, I became aware of something else. While traveling, I have always enjoyed comparing cultural and technical aspects of countries that are both similar and different than ours in the good ole USA. At the Decathlon store, at the check out counter, I expected to have my items scanned per the usual. The lady at the register instructed me (by saying in French, but mostly pointing) to place ALL of my items into this box at the register at the same time. The box was some kind of complex scanner that scanned ALL of the items at once. Maybe this technology exists at home in LA or NYC, but I have never seen it in Wenatchee, or even Seattle before. I was impressed.

Stocked up on PowerBars and other nutritional items and equipped with a rental car, off I headed for the mountains again Wednesday morning. Today, I would attempt the Col de La Croix de Fer. It is another famous climb that is often included in the Tour de France. It is a long 31km (about 20 miles) route of almost continuous climbing. It does have two areas where you actually descend for a brief period, but it is still a real challenge.

The day is sunny and going to get a little on the warm side. Lots of sun screen today for sure. The start of the ride is in Rochetailee and is only 6km from Bourg d’Oisans, the start of the Alpe d’Huez climb. The ride started easy enough. There is a 6km ride to the Powerhouse Museum by the dam that exists at the beginning of the ride. This part is pretty flat except for the zig zag road that climbs up the face of the earthen dam to the top. It was a nice warm up for the rest for the rest of the ride. After that, the route gets serious for the next 25km. It ascends quickly after that through the forested portion of the route. I climbed up to Rivier de Allemont on roads that were between 8-10%. Then there was a nice flat section before a short, steep descent to the river. Then a short, but back breaking climb out the river bottom (where a few other riders were actually walking the 13.6% gradient) before some more “routine” steep grades resumed. The roadway continued up the valley until I crested briefly at another lake. I thought mistakenly it turned out, that this was the beginning of the easy part of the ride where you pass the turn to the Col du Glandon and continue up to the Col de la Croix de Fer at an easier gradient. Well, I was wrong. The climbing continued for many more kilometers before that point, the point where I knew the I was involved in a true sufferfest!

Finally at the turnoff to the Col du Glandon, the gradient did moderate. Just 5-6% for the final 4km, but they were still hard since my thighs and quads were getting pretty fatigued at this point. Luckily, you can see the summit for the entire last 4km and that is enough inspiration to get anyone to the top. And then at last…. the top. A simple two and a half hour, 5,130 foot climb to the Col de la Croix de Fer.

I find it interesting looking at the relationship between French and English words. Croix means Cross which has some connection to the english language since both Croix and Cross start with “Cro…”. But Fer means Iron. And Iron is a ferrous metal! So I see part of the word origin for that word too. But I digress.

I spent a lot of time at the top, mostly trying to stop sweating, rehydrate, and have one of my PowerBars that I hauled up the mountain for just such a purpose! Eventually, I felt recovered enough to take a few photos of the top and the surrounding mountain peaks. Then it was time to begin the long descent to my car. When I first got back on my bicycle, I couldn’t feel my legs as they tried to turn the pedals. I was thinking I was going to pay the price for those two short descents on the way up today by having to climb back up them. Eventually, I began to feel a rhythm again in my pedal stroke. About that time, these two guys went flying past me on the initial descent. My riding friends know that I am NOT known as a fast descender. Top tier pro racers would refer to me as person who “descends like a married man”, meaning that I fear the potential consequences of going fast downhill, and they are correct! Anyway, I digress again. On the first little climb on the return ride, I caught these two young hammerheads and passed them like they were virtually standing still. Then on the downhill, here they came again. Whoosh!. Again, on that last short steep climb out of the river bottom, I passed them again. I knew that I would get passed up by them again soon, but I felt good that I was still climbing a lot faster than they were. They finely caught me just as we got to the dam above the town of Allemond. Since the major descending was now over, I was able to ride with them the remaining 4 km to my vehicle. It was kind of fun playing cat and mouse with them.

So I made it to the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer! It was only a 62km ride, but it took a little over 4 hours including my rest at the top. It was a pretty hard climb and a lot of vertical. Now I am looking forward to a day of rest. And lots of food and recovery.