Training Log Archive: Carbons Offset

Stuart and I headed off for a big day: park at the top of Col de Vars, drop down the back, up Col d’Agnel and back, up Col d’Izoard and back, toward the bottom of Col de Vars and back up to the top of Col de Vars to return to the vehicle.
A great day and the weather cooperated. Had to pass another sheep-drive on the highway and saw the working dogs doing their thing including biting sheep on the bum to get them moving in the proper direction. A coldish descent from Vars, I had my shiver-wobble. Then set a decent pace (steady, somewhat quick but not pushing hard because of the big day ahead) along the valley bottom road that climbed gradually past the Izoard turnoff and onward to the Agnel turnoff. Interestingly, there were signs leading us toward Col d’Izoard but after that turnoff, the signs simply said “Italy” for the direction to Col d’Agnel.
The Agnel valley is beautiful, with the road snaking upward, while a creek snaked down. The left side of the valley was a massive open green slope that went on forever and would take our group over a week to ski it out. The right side of the valley had trees and avy chutes, the perfect compliment to provide skiing options in all conditions. Just when Stuart and I were getting ready to book a winter trip and have lots of untracked powder, there was a big refugio that probably sleeps about 80 people, just 2 km from the top of the col. So much for untracked powder. Definitely our favourite scenery of the day.
Approaching the col, I snapped a few photos of the scenery behind us and got shots of two older guys that were riding up (one on an e- mountain bike, one on a regular road bike). At the col, I showed them the photos and pieced together some French to explain that I will send him the photos if he gave me his email address. They then took some photos with us, and snapped photos for Stuart and I at the col, then explained that at the restaurant 8 km back, there are two very nice waitresses... (giving the inside recommendation from the locals to the visitors). The views to the Italian side were socked in with clouds.

Had a great ride down, many sections weren’t limited by tight switchbacks so you could let it run at times. Refilled water bottles at a fontaine in the Agnel village, then continued down to the valley-bottom road and stopped at an InterMarche where Stuart loaded up on too much lunch before the next big climb, I grabbed some orange Fanta to have more sugar in my bottles, and swallows dive-bombed us incredibly close to our heads.
Up the Izoard climb where more names were painted on the road including many “Mike Mike”. A few km before the col, lots of people were pulled over and taking pictures of a tall rock formation. I figured it may be something Izoard is famous for, so I snapped some photos of it too. At the summit there was a tall monument and the road had a finish line on the pavement for Le Tour in 2017. Looked over the other side and the road was a crazy corkscrew of turns (no wonder we saw lots of motorbikes and sports car clubs), so I had to go down just a little and come back up. I had already put my jacket on for descending so I probably looked strange “finishing the climb” dressed like this. At the col, there was a shop selling jerseys including a climber’s red polka dot jersey with Izoard written on the sides. It was appealing, but Agnel that we had just climbed is one of the higher paved passes in Europe so Izoard didn’t seem quite as significant.
Then a good descent back down Izoard at a slightly faster pace (getting a little more comfortable descending on the bike but just not as interested in descending as fast as I used to). As we got lower down the Izoard descent, the wind picked up and pushed the bike sideways a few times. Down at the valley-bottom road, we were a little disappointed to have to work to pedal downhill at 25-35 km per hour against headwind when I’m guessing you could easily roll at 45 km per hour if there is no wind. Then began our final climb up to Col de Vars, with some steeper sections right from the beginning. It also started getting hot, we were getting a bit cooked. Found a fontaine in Vars to put cold water in the bottles, and dump a bunch of it on myself. Also got to ride through the overshoot of someone’s lawn sprinkler. Fortunately the last few km up to the col weren’t as steep.
A big day with some fun, challenging objectives. Happy with how the body held up and held a fairly steady effort all day. Also happy with how the weather held out. I had a feeling it would be a good day but still thought we would get drizzled on the for last half hour or so.

C • Wow! 3

Col de Vars. This may have been the prettiest ride so far. Beautiful green rolling terrain at the top and a fantastic mountain backdrop with great ridges and peaks. Looks like it would be fun to explore on backcountry skis, foot, or even just camp there and enjoy.
Started early to beat the chance of rain later in the day. Cold for quite a while off the start. Legs felt like pieces of dead wood today but still managed to ride up Col de Vars decently. Dropped down the other side a little to reach the centre of the Vars ski resort. The road down the other side was even prettier still. Returned to the top of the col where the gang enjoyed a big break for coffees and cappuccinos. Had a nice descent back to the original front side, with a lot of riders coming up... must have been a group or two; helmets did not seem to be popular equipment for most of them on the climb. Then headed over to another ski hill (St Anne) for another climb. This ski hill was older and showing its age a little. Lots of chip seal patches on the road. A maintenance truck passed by and offered to throw our bikes in the back and give us a ride up. Some gravel on the way down, took the corners slowly.
Got back to the apartment at noon. Good weather all day.

Running and hiking.
Rain in the forecast for a little later today, so decided not to ride. Drove out of town a few km, then hiked and ran up to Batterie de Cuguret. This outpost was used to watch for invasion from Italy during World War II. A nice trail up into some great alpine. Great views back down the valley and the towns below. Ran down another trail that took us back down to Jausiers where we are staying. A few of us raced to the grocery store to shop before it closes early on Sunday while Revy and BigFish ran back to fetch the van.

From Point Sublime down to the Verdon River. Hiked through a couple fun tunnels that were bored through the rock alongside the river in an attempt to set up hydroelectric power generation. Used headlamps and phone flashlights to spot the rocks that allowed you to tip toe across the pools of water in the tunnels.
Big Fish and I did a swim in the Verdon before hiking back up. Brrr. Pretty fun.

Gorges du Verdon
Got up early to get some of the riding done before the expected heat (29C forecast) on this long day. It rarely felt super hot to me but I wasn’t pushing super hard - Stopped a lot for views and photos, enjoyed taking it all in. The breathable white jersey may have helped too; and ate and drank well all day. Impressive rock walls and big drops. Saw some people rock climbing on some of the walls and saw what looked like slacklines set up across a gap between two rock outcrops. Spotted a couple of big griffin vultures and got to see one glide down the road ahead of me. Big sturdy looking birds. Nice switchbacks, nice road surface in many places, some cool tunnels and lots of viewpoints. A big bridge that reminded me of the Kicking Horse valley. Saw some kayakers travelling down the Verdon river, that looked nice on a hot day. Stopped in a village for ice cream; Carbon got a soft serve waffle cone that must have been half a litre... maybe even more. It felt hotter when we dropped down toward town at the end of the day.

Revy and Carbon had spotted a cool section of GR trail that passed through an interesting looking canyon right by our rental house. Revy and I were up early and went to check it out before breakfast. Actually felt fine running on the empty stomach, energy was okay. Descended from our house to enter the bottom of the canyon. There were a few signs along the way explaining the mills that were set up in the canyon, there were some ruins to check out. Also, the French resistance gathered in an area near the bottom of the canyon during World War II.
Lots of rocky single track, and some cool ladders, single tabs of metal inserted into rock walls to provide steps, and chains/cables installed for climbing up and down a few sections. Plenty of uphill as we headed up the canyon, some of the run turned into hiking which wasn't unexpected. Finished with a continuous stretch of uphill running until we had the option of a 2 km run on road or a 500 km bushwhack directly to the house. Opted for the bushwhack as a more fun adventure although we were a little worried about how much these plants would scratch us up. Not bad. Finished by jumping straight into the pool - perfect.

Drove to Sault and four of us (Carbon, BigFish, Stuart and I) rode to the summit of Mount Ventoux via this route we hadn't seen. A more enjoyable climb than the one we had done from Bedoin, both because of it actually having some views and having a more rideable pitch that you could enjoy more. There was also a bit of a breeze in spots, at least today. If I come back, I would do it this way next time (or try from Malaucene so that I can compare all three routes); the route up from Bedoin is just for those who are curious to see what the Tour de France route is like (that said, if you are looking for the extra challenge and feeling strong, this one can be fun). Descended the Bedoin route we had climbed previously, and then rode the Gorge de Nesque in the reverse direction of previously, uphill this time. The uphill gradient was not significant, we were able to carry some decent speed despite remembering a really enjoyable downhill in the other direction.
Got back to the vans just after 1:00 and met up with the rest of the group.