The Grand Goulets	The Grand Goulets

April 30th - Cycling to the Ski Resorts above Allevard

I had cycled in the Belledonne mountains near Chambery before today's ride, but I'd always turned back towards Grenoble in Allevard and ridden up the Col de Barioz and along the Balcon de Belledonne to Uriage-les-Bains.

This time I set off from Allevard and rode towards Le Pleyney, one of the Sept Laux ski stations and an unknown road for me. The profile in the Atlas des Cols showed a 1000 metres of climbing over 23 km to ski station and the end of the valley so I would have to come back down the same road.

The road quickly leaves Allevard behind and winds up the left hand side of the valley underneath the cover of trees, climbing at a slight gradient. The road took me towards high, snow covered peaks, before bearing off to the right and following another valley with its own backdrop of high peaks. I passed through a number of little villages, and in each one, the road flattened so a few metres before starting to climb as I left the houses.

After the hamlet of Pinsot, the road surface was terrible. Not quite cobbles but rough enough to send me down a gear or two to feel more comfortable for two kilometres.

The valley end at the hamelt of Fond-de-France, after 17 kilometres. From there the gradient increased and the final six kilometres of climbing began and took me up the hairpins climbing the right-hand side of the valley. Within a few minutes the lake that I had cycled alongside in the valley was getting smaller and the mountain views were opening up. The peaks were still white from the snow that has fallen a week before.

Cycling to Les Pleyney	Four kilometres to Les Pleyney

Spring was in full flow on the mountainsides and new leaves were a lovely light green, often set with the contrast of the darker pines. The day was the hottest of the year and I was sweating profusely and frequently had problems on this steeper part of the climb with sweat running into my eyes. I used my jersey but found myself wishing I was wearing a small cycling cap to soak up the sweat.

After four kilometres and quite a few hairpins, I caught a cyclist who told me that we had two kilometres to the summit. He hadn't heard me coming, and had quite a shock when I appeared next to him. The road had been empty and I was passed by two cars in the last six kilometres, although I did pass a flock of 20 sheep who were running up the climb, with a few stragglers at the back grazing by the roadside.

The backdrop of mountains in Les Pleyney	Roland reaches the ski resort

Le Pleyney 1450 was empty, and I took pictures and looked at mountains and the bare ski runs. The other cyclist arrived and we chatted before I started the descent. Roland had cycled from Grenoble to Allevard and would head back home again after this. As I descended, the sheep were still climbing and a couple of hairpins higher than when I'd seen them before.

I filled my bottle in one of the villages before Roland and I met up again and then took turns cycling in front of each other, protecting the other from the headwind. I left him with a kilometre to Allevard and turned onto the climb to the Collet d'Allevard, the ski resort above the village. This was a new climb for me and I knew would be tough. 14 kilometres and 1100 metres of climb on a hot day, and after checking the profile, I expected the middle of the climb to be the hardest with kilometres of nine and ten percent gradients.

Straight away, I started in 39-26, happy to spin and I felt fine. The road wound up the mountainside under the cover of trees and early on, there was a brief view of the lake in Allevard, but the mountain views would have to wait for the top half of the climb.

I did suffer and sweated as much as the previous climb and soon realised that my water was running out and there were no water fountains to fill my bottle. The higher I climbed, the more mountains came into the vista. To the west were the Chartreuse, and I could see the Dent de Crolles and the cliffs running north along to the Mont Granier. To north-west was the valley towards Chambery, the Bauges mountains with the 1500 metre Mont Revard looking relatively small compared to the snow covered peaks around me.

I reached the village of Collet d'Allevard, which thankfully had a bar that was open and they filled my water bottle and sold me a decent sized Coke. I'm not keen on the bars that sell the 200ml bottles, which may be fine for children but after cycling in the mountains, I need 330ml of caffine. The mountainside in the village was being used as a lauching site for paragliding and a large group of people were there watching the pilots taking off. Everybody was friendly, and I was asked about the climb as a number of them had passed me in their cars. 'Hot' was my reply.

The ski resort of Super Collet at 1650m	Descending from Super Collet, the views over the Bauges

I wasn't at the top and had a futher four kilometres of climbing to the Super Collet. After the steeper slopes in the middle of the climb, this section felt fine and I was soon at the high station at 1650 metres. The road stopped there and other than two empty cars, the area was deserted. I took a picture and descended back to the lower resort and sat enjoying the sun and watching the paragliders floating effortlessly in front of the mountians. I had planned to ride another climb, but I instead relaxed here for half an hour and watching the world go by.

A paraglider and the Chartreuse peak of the Dent de Crolles from the Collet d'Allevard	Mountain views when descending from the Collet d'Allevard

The descent back to Allevard was fast. The road is wide and there are frequent long steep straights where I was spinning out in my biggest gear. It was a great descent to work on my descending skills as the road was empty and the corners were frequent and the surface was well maintained. A few minutes later I was back in Allevard and heading back to Grenoble.