The previous post in this blog is Tour of Wessex.
The next post in this blog is L'Etape du Tour.
Sport : La Morzine Vallee Du Alps
On my quest to get fit for the Etape I entered this race in Morzine.
We stayed at Carla's awesome chalet in Samoens went on a great hike on Saturday that ended with us drinking Champagne cocktails around an Alpine Lake - Probably not ideal pre-race preparation!
Early the next morning I headed into Morzine for the start of the ride... this was to be my first ride in the Alps so was understandably nervous. Luckily the race started with an easy downhill roll before we hit the steeps.
After starting nervously on the downhills I gradually got more confidence in my bike and was soon flying down with the rest of the locals. That lasted until we hit the hills and then the locals continued flying and I was starting to feel the previous day's Champagne and the Col du Joux Plane still awaited!
The 11.7-km HC climb with an average gradient of 8.5%. The summit is at 1691metres just 12-km from the finish line. There is an altitude gain of about 990 metres on this baby, as the maximum gradient is 10.5%, with about two kilometres worth of climbing at 10%.
The Col du Joux Plane was the final Hors Category climb on Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour du France - and turned out to be one of the most exciting - and as such I was justifiably apprehensive when I started up the 12km climb.
June 18, 2006
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