Tues 14th Aug
On paper, today looked pretty cruisy - slide down the valley towards Montreux, take a left over a benign pass, and cruise around to Morzine. Not so easy though. The Col du Morgin turned out to be a brute in the heat, gaining ~900 m of elevation at a steady rate of 8-9%. Thank the Lord it stopped at 1300 m! Along with the Croix de Fry, this rated as the toughest climb of the trip for me. So roasted were we that instead of nipping over the Col du Corbier or Forclaz (yet another Forclaz) as planned, we stuck to the valley roads and did a bit of a loop into Morzine. Greggy was starting to come good and won the stage, although there was no urgency as it took a considerable time to actually gain the keys to our Hotel rooms for the night - trashed and grumpy little soldiers. Nothing a few beers (or strong Ananas) couldn't temper though.
The stats: 98 km and 1400 m gained for the day.
Wed 15th Aug.
Today's route would take us back down to Lac Leman, which we would then follow back to Geneva. En route I had eyes on doing the local Forclaz (thus far I have climbed 2.5 of the 4 Forclaz' that I know of), and meeting the guys a little lower down at the junction of the two converging valleys. However, I succumbed to another navigational error, and ended up on a climb that went no where. The map seemed to indicate that the road I was on would join the Forclaz proper up high - but never did. After some very steep grades I ended up on a gravel road for a km or so until I bumped into a walker, who informed me that the roads didn't in fact join, and that it was a common mistake. So that was the end of that. We cruised down to the lake on a perfect summers day, set up shop by a kiosk on the waters edge, had a bit of dip (well, I did) and consumed cool drinks and lunch. Then it was back on the velocipedes for the drag back to Geneva and Hotel 33.
The stats: 90 km and for me, probably ~500 m gained for the day.
That was it for the riding (sniff). The following day was spent sight-seeing, and the day after that Kev bailed in the am, and I bailed in the pm, and the Ham and Greg departed a day or two later (Ham with a nasty cold). Alas, that was it for the Alpes 2007 - a little more drama-packed than we were expecting, but a good one none-the-less. Where and when will the next velocipede adventure be, I wonder...
On paper, today looked pretty cruisy - slide down the valley towards Montreux, take a left over a benign pass, and cruise around to Morzine. Not so easy though. The Col du Morgin turned out to be a brute in the heat, gaining ~900 m of elevation at a steady rate of 8-9%. Thank the Lord it stopped at 1300 m! Along with the Croix de Fry, this rated as the toughest climb of the trip for me. So roasted were we that instead of nipping over the Col du Corbier or Forclaz (yet another Forclaz) as planned, we stuck to the valley roads and did a bit of a loop into Morzine. Greggy was starting to come good and won the stage, although there was no urgency as it took a considerable time to actually gain the keys to our Hotel rooms for the night - trashed and grumpy little soldiers. Nothing a few beers (or strong Ananas) couldn't temper though.
The stats: 98 km and 1400 m gained for the day.
Wed 15th Aug.
Today's route would take us back down to Lac Leman, which we would then follow back to Geneva. En route I had eyes on doing the local Forclaz (thus far I have climbed 2.5 of the 4 Forclaz' that I know of), and meeting the guys a little lower down at the junction of the two converging valleys. However, I succumbed to another navigational error, and ended up on a climb that went no where. The map seemed to indicate that the road I was on would join the Forclaz proper up high - but never did. After some very steep grades I ended up on a gravel road for a km or so until I bumped into a walker, who informed me that the roads didn't in fact join, and that it was a common mistake. So that was the end of that. We cruised down to the lake on a perfect summers day, set up shop by a kiosk on the waters edge, had a bit of dip (well, I did) and consumed cool drinks and lunch. Then it was back on the velocipedes for the drag back to Geneva and Hotel 33.
The stats: 90 km and for me, probably ~500 m gained for the day.
That was it for the riding (sniff). The following day was spent sight-seeing, and the day after that Kev bailed in the am, and I bailed in the pm, and the Ham and Greg departed a day or two later (Ham with a nasty cold). Alas, that was it for the Alpes 2007 - a little more drama-packed than we were expecting, but a good one none-the-less. Where and when will the next velocipede adventure be, I wonder...
Planning the following days route - what could possibly go wrong?
The "Transalpin", with one pf several Col do Forclaz' in the background
Ham threatening to end it all with a plummet into the swollen river
Greggles on the Morgin
Hotel Alpen Roc in Morzine - the mtb center of the universe on the day we arrived.
Not the Col du Forclaz mark IV
Greggles models one of those new fangles Swiss hearing-aid thingies
A bientot Geneve
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteJust a general comment, am I the only one that finds it ironic that the person bagging you about "being behind the times" by not having a mobile is the same person that has an un-updated blog that is still packing bags in Rozelle and hasn't even taken off for Geneva yet? I'm sure i'll get a disc of Tour 2006 pics soon though.
I think I'll let that one go through to the keeper BT. There is a Hamster disk with your name on it at my house. Me bad!
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