Val-d’Isere to Briancon
Morale 8/10
Climbs: 2 HCs, 1 Cat 1
Perhaps it was due to the excessive resting (i.e. 2 days in a lovely hotel in Tignes), or the fact that Col de I’Iseran is rated an HC climb (i.e. very steep and very long), or that we had essentially no warm-up prior to the steep grade of the mountain. Whatever it was, I did nothing but struggle up the first climb of the day. My heart was jumping out of my chest from the first switchback. ‘Kyle, do I have a flat tire?’ I asked, around kilometer 3. ‘Nope, looks just fine,’ he replies to my dismay. A few kilometers later ‘Kyle, are you hanging onto my saddle’, I enquire. ‘No again,’ he laughs. I finally made it to the top where Brian commented that my face looked quite red. Lucky for me, we had a 50 mile descent (literally) where my legs finally started to function. The descent was just what I needed and I didn’t even mind the head wind. Eventually, we made it to the dreaded St Michel-de-Maurienne where we would begin the two back to back epic climbs- Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier. I felt good, actually didn’t overeat at our lunch stop and made it up both climbs without too much of a problem. Of course they hurt, but nothing compared to my first climb of the day. We were greeted at the top of the Galibier with a rain storm, thus making the descent slower than we would have wanted. Regardless, we all survived and happily arrived in Briancon where it appeared to actually be summer.
Morale 8/10
Climbs: 2 HCs, 1 Cat 1
Perhaps it was due to the excessive resting (i.e. 2 days in a lovely hotel in Tignes), or the fact that Col de I’Iseran is rated an HC climb (i.e. very steep and very long), or that we had essentially no warm-up prior to the steep grade of the mountain. Whatever it was, I did nothing but struggle up the first climb of the day. My heart was jumping out of my chest from the first switchback. ‘Kyle, do I have a flat tire?’ I asked, around kilometer 3. ‘Nope, looks just fine,’ he replies to my dismay. A few kilometers later ‘Kyle, are you hanging onto my saddle’, I enquire. ‘No again,’ he laughs. I finally made it to the top where Brian commented that my face looked quite red. Lucky for me, we had a 50 mile descent (literally) where my legs finally started to function. The descent was just what I needed and I didn’t even mind the head wind. Eventually, we made it to the dreaded St Michel-de-Maurienne where we would begin the two back to back epic climbs- Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier. I felt good, actually didn’t overeat at our lunch stop and made it up both climbs without too much of a problem. Of course they hurt, but nothing compared to my first climb of the day. We were greeted at the top of the Galibier with a rain storm, thus making the descent slower than we would have wanted. Regardless, we all survived and happily arrived in Briancon where it appeared to actually be summer.
0 comments:
Post a Comment