Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Le Bourg D'Oisans to Mont Cenis - Day 3 (GBF13)

Stage 1 of 2 -- Le Bourg de Oisans to Mont Cenis.

Alarm 7am, breakfast planned for 7:30 -- but the little hotel was just about to set  up a simple buffet... coffee, hot milk, cereal, croissants, jam... -- French breakfast! Charged up and good to go :)

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Rolling out of town, Ben putting in a great pace flying by a bunch of riders. Fun! We were going towards Lac du Chambon (D1091) again, slightly uphill and slowly increasing slope as we were approaching Col du Lautaret. Waiting for a light -- one way traffic for construction...

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At the top of the mountain pass Col du Lautaret, entering the closed road up to Gallibier (D902).

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Entering the close road. Some rumours some one went over it, curious... Well this is what we got:
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Some snow removal activities with about 200m (elevation) to go to enter the tunnel from where it was clear again -- but no way to get there, needed some touring ski... or been stuck in 1..2m of heavy wet snow where even big machines had trouble. We got told not before 1 week or so. Snow is still pressing down/avalanches from the mountain side making a safe passage or even

cleaning the road impossible on the last stretch.

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Meeting a few other riders photo time and descending back down to Lautaret, then a fun long fast descent continuing on (D1091) with a -3..-1% grade into town Briancon for lunch.

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What a ramp right after lunch out of Briancon on (D994G)... then moderate uphill a nice Col del Echelle and a fast long decent into Susa -- flying again with 40..50 km/h sustained, making nearly 50km distance in not much over an hour -- just a little hill (D1T). Non stop flying into Susa on (SS335/SS24), a quick snack on road side -- preparing for a long final climb of the day up to Lac du Mont Cenis on (SS25, D1006), climbing and nibbling on the last Cliff bar and water... 

Here a few impressions:

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And final descent into Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis. Checking in at the first hotel we found. Great dinner :) Almost to exhausted to sleep well.

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