05/08/19
178 Miles
14 hrs Moving Time
13,000ft Gained
12.6mph Average Speed
Into the final country of the race today, all being well. France was just one rather large alpine pass away and I was raring to go in the early hours with some good weather forecast for the day and a relatively ‘easy’ day in the legs yesterday.
Out of Albertville I headed West along the valley road, which was so straight I felt I was on an airstrip. The sun was just rising behind me and I could see the Furkapass hairpins weaving and clinging to the cliffside ahead of me.
The climb was tough, but with fresh legs and it being early in the day, only about 2 cars passed me and it was a good warm up for the rest of the day. I was engrossed with the views, which also helped see me to the top of the pass.
When I reached the summit, an old man in a campervan gave me a ‘thumbs up’ which gave me a smile. The views East were equally as breathtaking, with alpine passes squiggling up hillsides as far as I could see. It was nice to look at these climbs, but I was pleased to be taking the road that descended into the valley towards France.
After the 35/40 mile descent, I raided a supermarket, then had to sneak into a Chinese restaurant that had its door slightly open to use the facilities! I was going to ask if anyone was there, but after a couple minutes searching for someone who worked there, I ran out of patience and took matters into my own hands. Its not the nicest of subjects to speak about but it is something that spending most of the day outside you need to get pretty good at. Finding toilets. The fancier the better.
Then I quickly ran up the stairs, helped myself to a few mints from the mint bowl and pedalled off.
In the valley, I followed the Rhone River Cycle path which was mostly free from traffic, but which hopped onto the busy road for a few miles. I didn’t mind as the going was fast and it was a nice change after hauling up alpine passes the past few days.
Feeling good, I was managing to keep my stops to a minimum and my mood up by listening to a 70 minute Bollywood Film soundtrack, which was a good audio change to my usual listening and kept the pedal revolutions high.
Passing through the French border, the roads started to become more rolling as I left the valley, heading towards Chamonix. I was excited to cycle through Chamonix as I had heard good things about it and it is pretty much the home of adventure sport in the Alps.
Coming into Chamonix, the roads got busier. I reached the centre and the views of Mont Blanc were stunning.However, I was just concentrating on getting through without getting hit by a car. After a few near misses and some choice language coming out of a GB plated car towards me (first and only road rage of the whole race), I dove into a newsagent to fill myself with ice cream and cola while trying to keep upright on and flimsy faded plastic chair, gazing up at Mont Blanc.
I had planned to stay in Albertville tonight as it would be under 200 miles and it would give me a good shot tomorrow at getting to Checkpoint 4 at Alpe D’Huez.
I was on track to reach Albertville for around 10pm which would give me time to get some food and a good sleep in. All of the climbing over for the day, the road started to descend into Albertville.
I read a few signs on the roads and with my very limited French, deciphered the road was closed and a diversion was in place to Albertville.
Dis-regarding this advice and thinking it only applied to cars, I ploughed on, over a few road blocks and was greeted by this…
I had a look and even attpeting to scale this landslide was defintly not on the cards. Way too dangerous and not worth it at all.
So a few curse words later, I turned my bike back along the road I had just cycled, pedalled for 10km back along my route and joined the diverted route. Diversions are annoying in a car, but in the alps on a bike, this can be the difference of eating at the end of a day or not. So tasting blood and with fury in my legs, I tried to gather some energy to haul the bike and myself up the extra climb the diversion sent me up.
Thinking I was doing well and again, nearing Albertville and my stop for the night, the diversions decided to start to take me on a motorway. These are banned in the race and I really don’t want to be cycling on a motorway at any time. So there was a cycle path which I tried to follow, but the signs sort of vanished, as cycle path signs generally do.
I ended up in a farmers field, carrying my bike through calf deep mud up steep climbs and through forests, then eventually found a back road to Albertville.
Sweating, cursing, sunburnt and muddy, I jumped into the first pizza shop I came across, ordered the largest pizza they made, downed a bottle of Fanta and got another one to take with me. The owner was in high spirits and was talking to me about other TCR racers that had ate in his pizza shop during the day. However, I wasn’t really feeling the conversation and was falling asleep on the table whilst waiting for food.
The pizza was ready. I refrained from eating it straight away and pedalled to my accommodation, ate the pizza way too quickly, got some more food from a vending machine, then collapsed into bed.
Some day. Same again tomorrow.
Jordan Matthews 