Haute Maurienne & Le Tour de France

It’s been a great run-up to my 45th Birthday.

• 6 days
• 390 kms
• 9400 mtrs elevation gain
• 8 Cols

I started to ride a bike about 2.5 years ago so I could keep up with my then 6 year old who started to ride around the block. I quickly upgraded to a Road-bike in about a month having been beautifully upsold from the thought of a new hybrid by the friendly folks at bumsonthesaddle. I did my first 50k and 100k with them shortly after and fell in love with the sport.

For those who know me I was first a biker for about 10 years and a part of a great club called the Bangalore Pandhis.The shift to two wheels and pedal power from riding 1200 cc 160Bhp motors was swift and hard. I was very quickly sucked into the world of cycling with power meters, performance bikes, fancy kits and totally moved on from motorbikes so much so that I sold off my Ducati.

After 2 years of riding, a bunch of tours, the 1st being the Tour of Andamans followed very quickly by the Tour of Goa and then my 1st boot camp with Srinath Rajam at Tiruvannamalai, followed by a bunch of camps in Coonoor, Kotagiri, Valparai, Kodaikanal, Sirsi, to name a few… Structured training with Coach Volker, Strength Training with Coach Sidharth, vengeful attacks by Cheesecakes and Brownies defined these last 2 years.

From my 1st attempt at climbing Nandi on a friend, Arvind Bhateja’s 50th Birthday to culminating finally in a week of climbing at the French Alps in Maurienne its been a fantastic journey on my personal road to freedom.

July 2023 had me riding the French Alps at the same time as the Tour de France with great company Rajesh, Russel Bell, Doc Arvind, Shankar, Mohan and yours truly. Using the Hotel le Marintan in St Michel De Maurienne as our base we had 6 days of riding the Alps with one rest day where we watched the tour ride past us on the Col du Galibier on Day 4. On Day 5 we rode up the Alp d’ Huez before the tour came up accompanied and cheered on by the throngs of folks celebrating and waiting for the tour.

Day 1 – Col Du Mont Cenis – 103 kms – 1600m.

An unexpectedly longer warm up session left most of us buggered. But some of the best cycling roads I’ve seen with spectacular views and great Croissants and on the way. The head winds on the way down made you feel wrestling with a bear would have been easier. Let’s see what tomorrow holds for us. The most beautiful ride I’ve ever done in spite of battling with continuous climbing, brutal heat and the most crazy headwinds and gusts I’ve ever seen. Nothing really prepares you for the Alps

Day 2 – Col Du Telegraphe and Les Lacets de Montvernier – 69 kms – 1500m –

Col Du Telegraphe, Les Lacets Du Montvernier, bike gearing issues, a single speed bike, a flat and sweltering heat.A day for the history books with great company Rajesh, Russel Bell, Doc Arvind, Shankar, Mohan and yours truly

Day 3 – Col Du Glandon and Col de Croix de la Fer – 89 kms – 2150m –

2150 mtrs of climbing. Last 6 kms of the climb were 3 at 9% + 3 at 11% Long roads with no switchbacks made the 13% climbs look like false flats. There were points towards the top I was wondering what I was doing here. Excruciating fatigue, legs barely moving, the air thin, heat in the mid 30s but, the most beautiful surroundings made it all worth it.  A massive ham and cheese omelette at the top hit the spot before a 30km descent.

Day 4 – Le tour 2022 Allez Allez Allez …

Watching the pros by the side of the road at the Galibier. Incredible day… simply incredible. Drove up halfway to Col du Galibier to watch the Tour thunder by.

Day 5 – Alpe D’ Huez. TDF Stage 12 2022 – 19 kms – 1127m – Alpe D’ Huez descent – 18kms 490m

Day 6 – The Galibier – 35kms – 1215m –

Last ride of this trip
Couldn’t have asked for more. Absolutely beautiful, entirely above the tree line. 
Fantastic vistas and smoking gradients. Great finish to an epic riding holiday

Day 7 – Plan D’ Aval – 60kms – 1300m –

Encore – Just one bonus ride to wrap up the week at the alps 
A total of approximately 400kms and 9000mtrs of climbing in total
A tough but rewarding week