French Alps Tour 2003

July 7th - the Col de Madeliene

The Hotel Million is owned by a young couple, Jose and Sue Chen. Previously it had been in the Million family since before 1800. The prior owner, Phillipe Million had an apprentice chef (Jose) who he sent to Charleston South Carolina to open a restaurant (The Phillipe Million), which he did. Jose met Sue Chen, falls in love and gets married. Phillipe, back in Albertville wants to retire but there are no more Million children to take over the hotel. He asks Jose to come back and buy the Hotel. So now, Jose cooks and Sue Chen runs the hotel. Phillipe mother, a sweet grey haired little lady still lives in the Hotel. And that is how a Portuguese cook and a Taiwanese hotelier came to run a 300-year-old French hotel.

This morning we said goodbye to the Hotel Million and rode up the Isere River Valley (up river today, having ridden down river into Albertville yesterday) towards Cevins and Feissons-s-isere. Turning off the D97 onto the D213 we immediately started the climb. These roads don't fool around with 'approaches'. They start up on 10 and 11% grades right away. Twelve miles, 5000'of climbing. The grade varies between 4% and 10% and goes up and up and up to 6700'. For Eric, not a problem. He breezed up in a little over 90 minutes and scouted out the two restaurants at the top. For me, the combination of third day in country, maybe the altitude and maybe not enough water it was struggle between miles 8 and 11.5. Typically of the climbs in the Alps, the road follow the river but climbs up the steep sides of the valley as it does so. There may be a switch back or two to get up steeper sections, but often the road just slowly curves so that on a map it doesn't look all that hard. At the end of the valley, there is usually a steep headwall (100 to 300' high) that separates one valley from the other on the other side of the pass. The road usually climbs this in a series of five or six switchbacks and then is at the pass.

The climb to the Col de Madeliene is no exception. There are five or so switchbacks at the start and then it snakes its way up the valley going thru a few tiny villages, past one wonderful restaurant and then, 11.5 miles later, five switchbacks to the top. Coming at the end of the 12 miles they are hard, but afford a wonderful view all the way down the valley; and they are at the end, which makes them at least seem easier. The top is a wide-open saddle with snow caped peaks towering to 9000' all around. Lunch, a delicious omelet and salad and sitting on the open deck of the restaurant made it all worthwhile.

Meanwhile, the sensible riders were sitting at that wonderful restaurant, 4 1/2 miles down the valley at Ceiliers (4000') enjoying the sunshine, une pression and 2 tarts for desert. The Tour d' France rates the climbs from 1 to 4; we rated them based on the number of tarts demanded at lunch. Col de Madeliene was definitely a two tart climb.

From the top it was quick descent about 1500' to Longchamp and the Hotel. A shower, a round of beers and another delicious dinner. Our room had a sitting area and two lofts with incredibly narrow stars and rope banisters - more like a ship than an alpine hotel and very tricky in the dark with legs sore from the ride. Total for the day - 5400' of climbing and 31 miles.

July 8th - the Col d'Telegraphe.

Because today would be a relatively easy day, the only climb the Telegraphe a 7 mile, 2800' ride at 5% - 9%, Eric decided on a extra credit ride up to the Col du Glandon and the Col de la Croix de Fer. He finished the day at over 9000' climbing to my 5200'. Clearly he is in the lead for the King of the Mountains jersey.

From Longchampe we descended down a narrow sharply winding road to la Chambre. The regular road (the D13) had construction delays so we used a side road giving us great views over the valley and an exhilarating start to the day. Craig, Meg, Ciaran and I met Dick in la Chambre and stopped at a cafe for a cafe. Dick went into the cafe and told the waiter there were 'cing persones' out front. Not expecting that, the waiter thought Dick said cinq presiones and soon we had 5 draft beers at 10:30 in the morning. We did sort that out and enjoyed our coffees.

Ciaran wanted to find a bike shop to buy a bag and I wanted to find some replacement brake pads (I wasn't hitting metal yet but the rubber was pretty thin). We found a bike shop but no brake pads. The mechanic was an "older" crusty fellow who looked at my brakes and told me I had "over a 1000 km" left, in a tone only the French can effect.

After a brief stop in St. Michael for a drink we turned across the river and started up the Col du Telegraphe. Sadly, tragedy had struck within minutes of our starting up. About 1 mile up the hill three riders from our group had taken a break and as they started up one collapsed, suffering a heart attack. The two with him and the medics who arrived very quickly did all they could to no avail. I passed the scene without knowing what had happened and because Ciaran, who spoke fluent French stopped I felt that I would only be in the way of the emergency vehicles and related traffic. I circled once, asked one of our group if I could help (he said no without elaborating), and rode on. It wasn't until later at the top I learned what had happened.

Our dinner in Valloire was sad. For most of us It had been a brief friendship with someone who clearly loved cycling and who had looked forward to this trip for a long time. That night we remembered his family and our sympathies were relayed to them. In an exceptionally kind spirit, his family were concerned that our ride went on and that everyone enjoyed it as much as Jos would have. We did, always having him in our minds as we went.

I have included a wonderful article on Jos from the San Jose Mercury.