May 27, 2015
To St Pierre d'Entremont: Over Col de l'Epine/into Chartreuse
I woke up at dawn today for some reason, looked out the window and realized I should walk down to the lakeshore for a look around before breakfast. I had the lakeshore to myself for about an hour. By the time I returned the house was awake and breakfast was on. There were a few uncertain moments at the front door when I was faced by a growling Rottweiler, but fortunately he was soon called off.
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Maybe yesterday's long slog up La Clusaz took more out of me than I realized, but I found the climb up Col de l'Epine a real challenge. It's only a 2000' ascent, but the route we took at least seemed like the toughest ride of the tour. We took the most direct route to the top from Annecy, up the tiny but super-steep route D3 until it merged with the more gradual route, D91, about half way to the top. I'm confident that D3 was around a 13% grade for much of the way.
Other than the occasional sound of simpering cyclists, it was an exceedingly quiet climb. The entire traffic load - on D3, one bicycle going the other way; and on D92, one passenger car, a group of three motorcycles, and one immense, fully laden logging truck easing around a blind curve and taking the entire narrow road.
At the top though, views are wide-sweeping and dramatic at the panorama point, extending from Lake Annecy to the Chartreuse Massif in the haze to the far southeast. They're also fine on the way down the much more gradual southern approach.
We stopped for lunch in Novalaise, picking up a pair of delicious, filling cheese sandwiches. Rachael was still cold from the windy ride down from the pass, so we took our time basking on our bench in the sun for a half hour or so before starting up again. It felt great to sit there in the warm sun, with my bare feet warming on the pavement and Rachael napping for a spell with her head in my lap.
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After lunch we continued descending through the valley, working our way toward Lake Aiguebelette. This little lake is another lovely spot to cycle along - the perimeter road carried far many more bikers than cars, and the scenery is quietly dramatic. Leaving the lake, we began climbing immediately up a small saddle that gave us our first close up views of Chartreuse, whose ridges and peaks form the next major formation of the Prealps,
I have wanted to cycle through the Chartreuse Massif for many years - ever since I first heard of its existence. As a child, one of my favorite colors in my jumbo Crayola box of 64 crayons was chartreuse. I was surprised to learn as an adult that it also named a region, and I've always associated it with the color and pictured it as an impossibly beautiful green region.
In fact, it is an impossibly beautiful region, with its brilliant green fields and forests accented by a remarkable complex of dramatic, bold outcrops. It is amazing from 8 or 10 miles away, and gets better with each approaching mile. In the end it is almost stupefying, with each bend in the road revealing some wonderful new perspective. It made me glad to be seeing it for the first time now, in the digital age. I'm sure that if I had come here 20 years ago I would have been distraught after burning through all of my film with the best still to come.
We are holed up here for in a mountain hotel for two nights, looking forward to a day off the saddle and the chance to hike beneath the cliffs. To top off an already brilliant day, we enjoyed the best meal of the tour so far - a delicious trout meuniere, sided by also delicious chevre salad, scalloped potatoes, and courgette flan. And a delicious raspberry tiramisu. And a delicious half bottle of local white wine. We know where we'll be eating tomorrow night!
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Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 192 miles (309 km)
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