Route des Grandes Alpes – Morzine to Menton
I've attempted to finish this post multiple times, even written a very short post for the Buzz blog, but have struggled to finish my own. I've finally made myself gather my memories and log them on my online diary. It's long, and taken me a while to do, so I don't expect you to read it all but here is a record of my first Routes des Grandes Alpes.Sadly some of the photos aren't of that great quality as shared on WhatsApp etc.A team of 12 cyclists and our awesome one man band support crew and his van, Joe, we wore our Buzz jerseys proud and tackled the Route des Grandes Alpes from Morzine to Menton.
We left Morzine on the morning of Sunday 4th August having packed the van with our day packs (I thought we just carried what we needed in our jersey pockets, but no, for this week we could unload kit into the van, what luxury!) and bags for the week along with tea, coffee, milk, gas stove, sandwiches, cake... I knew this was going to be a great week!My role for the week was to help guide the group from A to B each day. The catch was however, that I had never before cycled the Route des Grandes Alpes. Thankfully for walkie-talkies, a sense of direction, and Joe's guidance, I didn't once get lost. Hurrah!We also had the lovely Phil and Sarah Sykes to help chivvy everyone along and having done the route once before, could share their experience.
The RouteEach day we cycled anywhere between 80km and 120km with roughly 2000m of climbing. Below I have taken a screen shot of the map from each day's Strava recording, and given a 'brief' account.Day 1Morzine to AlbertvilleThe most significant col of the day was Col de la Colombière (which I'd only done once previously, and those last few kilometers, crawling round the rock face, were just as long and tedious as I remembered!) and, because the Aravis was closed, Joe amended the route and we went over Col de la Croix Fry. Oh, and the Col de Marais, which came a little unexpected and pretty much finished most people off for the day. The trick on day 1, I suppose, is to pace yourself for the week ahead, and if you make day 1 hard, the rest will seem a doddle. Right?
We left Morzine on the morning of Sunday 4th August having packed the van with our day packs (I thought we just carried what we needed in our jersey pockets, but no, for this week we could unload kit into the van, what luxury!) and bags for the week along with tea, coffee, milk, gas stove, sandwiches, cake... I knew this was going to be a great week!My role for the week was to help guide the group from A to B each day. The catch was however, that I had never before cycled the Route des Grandes Alpes. Thankfully for walkie-talkies, a sense of direction, and Joe's guidance, I didn't once get lost. Hurrah!We also had the lovely Phil and Sarah Sykes to help chivvy everyone along and having done the route once before, could share their experience.The RouteEach day we cycled anywhere between 80km and 120km with roughly 2000m of climbing. Below I have taken a screen shot of the map from each day's Strava recording, and given a 'brief' account.Day 1Morzine to AlbertvilleThe most significant col of the day was Col de la Colombière (which I'd only done once previously, and those last few kilometers, crawling round the rock face, were just as long and tedious as I remembered!) and, because the Aravis was closed, Joe amended the route and we went over Col de la Croix Fry. Oh, and the Col de Marais, which came a little unexpected and pretty much finished most people off for the day. The trick on day 1, I suppose, is to pace yourself for the week ahead, and if you make day 1 hard, the rest will seem a doddle. Right?
I can safely say that cycling 25k uphill was tough, and sadly it did not make the local 10k climbs any easier. But my gosh did it do my cycling and fitness a whole lot of good! What a week and what an adventure to remember!