Just returned from a holiday in the Alps/Dolomites. After going solo last year I decided to take things a bit easier this by booking on an organised cycle trip. This meant "simply" having to ride my bike between stages while my luggage was carried on to the hotel ahead. This sort of worked, sort of didn't. More of this subject later.
The ride itself followed the "Randonee Alpine Leman-Adriatique", an official "route permanante" from Lake Leman (Geneva) to the Adriatique. It snakes across the Alps , zigzagging from Italy to France in the early stages before staying in Italy for a tour of the Dolomites then finally down to the sea at Trieste.
All in all it officially measures some 1180km in length with 44 cols and 22,131m of climbing.
Those following the route get a card which acts as a guide on which roads to follow/cols to go over but also has a section showing various points where you need to collect a stamp as proof that you have ridden the course.
My ride took place end August 2007. Still being a relative newbie in terms of serious cycling this was my first time flying with bike. All went smoothly on this front with the sole exception that right at the end my Scicon bike case was a bit too big for the x-ray machine at Venice airport.
I took advantage of the fact I would not have to carry my own luggage to pack about 5 times as much stuff for 11 days than I took with me around France for 6 weeks (Parkinsons law of luggage). Still as it turned out I did not take enough.
Day 1: Thon to Sion.
Arrived at Geneva the day before and was taken to Thonon on the shores of Lac Leman. There were 26 of us in all and on the first day we set off in small groups for a relatively easy 120km day's ride to Sion in Switzerland with just the Pas de Morgins (1390, mailto:14km@3.3) in the way. The weather was fine and the going easy. I was happy to find that I could still negotiate a long climb.
Only problem we encountered was right at the end, with the hotel being off in an industrial park outside the main town, with most everyone taking a different route to find it.
Stats for the day: Time 4:23 Dist: 122km, AVS 28kph, Mclimb 1250, AvP 144W, NormP 199W
Day 2: Sion to Domodossola.
Similar to day one, except start in Switzerland to hit Italy for the first time and the mountain in the middle was bigger, the Simplon at 2005m the first time over 2000m and being 20km of climbing at 6.6%. Route at the start was flat so we headed off in groups. Roads were boring and hot, progress was not fast but groups split nonetheless. I dropped back to see if some of the backmarkers wanted some help. They didn't but as a result I lost contact with the main group before climb proper started in Brig. The climb starts with a section in the town then hits a fork. Left takes you up the main road, right takes you on a minor road. I took the right fork which proved to be a good idea as it is shorter, shaded and not at all busy. This is at the expense of it being a bit steeper with the first long 10%s (overall 9% for 4km)of the tour but this too is a good thing as it provides a warm up for the much tougher hills ahead.
I made good time up the hill, declining the offer of a beer shouted out by some old locals sitting on their porch. Halfway up or so the minor road rejoins the main one and the climb becomes a longer and less steep, winding through avalanche tunnels with a constant stream of traffic. Not that enjoyable made less so by the fact that a long bridge is undergoing repair (apparently the mountains are moving apart!) so has a long section of one way traffic. I learned from last years tour and went through the red light, which proved a good move as the road was very narrow and I would have had a very long stream of traffic behind me had I waited.
As I progressed up the hill I overtook a number of others on the tour, though none I was in from the group I was with earlier. The couple of km are quite easy and I sped on to stop at the restaurant at the top to meet up with the tour lorry and a couple of others. I had several beers at the top. In fact more than several as I waited for a couple of hours before the group I was with earlier showed. One distraction during this time was a VW Golf that struggled up to the restaurant from the other side of the pass, wreathed in clouds of white smoke. Not quite sure what was ailing it but it was eventually loaded onto a repair truck and driven off.
I eventually set off down to Domodossola, our destination for the night. This was straight down from the Simplon. Just before getting there I and a few others stopped of at a bike shop (owned by a former Giro rider) for various bits and pieces. My purchases were gels and sports drink mix for the harder days to come.
Domodossola turned out to be a nice small Italian town
and the hotel was right in the middle of it. I checked in then went straight out to get some decent maps of the area since the ones provided to us were pretty basic and useless if you wanted to do any off route exploring. I tracked down some in a book shop then headed for the main square where I had yet more beer then the hotel for a very good meal.
Stats: Time 4:19 Dist: 116km, AVS 27kph, Mclimb 1585m, AvP 157W, NormP 212W
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