On Friday 16 July the Tour de France will be starting at Bourg-de-Péage and finishing 210km further away at Mende in the Lozère, passing through the Ardèche and briefly into the Haute-Loire.
To celebrate this, the Mayors of both towns had the idea of organising a 'randonnée' along the route, giving local riders the opportunity to ride it before the pros. The CCRP (Cyclo-Club Romanais-Peageois, who organise the Vercors-Drome Cyclosportive) did a fantastic job of organising and Michael, Soph and I were the only British riders present.
At 6.30am 140 cyclists set off under clear a sky at an 'allure randonnée' as opposed to an 'allure course de vitesse'. After passing through the vineyards of Tain Hermitage we crossed the Rhone and started the 10km, Cat 3 climb to Lamastre. Michael and I stopped to take a few photos as the peloton disappeared into the distance. We soon caught up with a small group and after a few minutes went to the front of the group and chatted, as you do, about power outputs and heart-rates. It was all very interesting stuff. However at the top of the climb we found something far more interesting: the first food station (ravito). This was a fairly simple affair with 'pate de fruit' (fruit jellies) and bars of dark chocolate.
We then followed the route of the Ardechoise, climbing the Cat 3 Col de Nonieres before the 40km Cat 2 climb to the Gerbier de Jonc (1417m). 106km done and only 104km to go.
A twisting 15km descent took us to the foot of the Cat 3 Cote de Mouline (3.8km at 5%) which is immediately followed by another 15km of more gentle uphill. Fortunately this was broken up with a lunch stop. The temperature was hotting up now to well over 30c. It can get really hot here in July. We had quite a leisurely rest here as we waited for the last rider to arrive. It was a good opportunity to chat to a few club members who I haven't seen for a while and meet up with Soph who was riding ahead with a friend from the St Romans club and then another friend she made en route, George, aged 72!!
Another gradual climb was followed by a fast sweeping descent with a great vista over a lake to Langogne (158.5km, altitude 906m). Although what followed is not a category climb, the headwind certainly had an effect. This section is a recently rebuilt road heading straight up the valley compared to the old road which evidently meandered in a more relaxed manner. It was half way up this climb that I experienced a 'Petit Fringale' (loosely translated as a small raving hunger). I ate two muesli bars on the way up and a third one while I waited for Soph to catch up. Sherpa Pinchen had long since disappeared, powered over the horizon along with the Malt Loaf and Marmite sandwiches.
At the 186km point we all met up for another snackette of rice salad, pork and chicken and waited for the last rider to come in. The organiser made an announcement about the final ride into Mende: we would do part of the descent in small groups then all meet up to ride into Mende as a group with a police escort up to the Montée Jalabert, which he added was optional.
The Montée Jalabert is a bit of a mythical climb. In 1995 Laurent Jalabert made a 200km breakaway to win on this climb on July 14th, Bastille Day. Since then it has been called the Montée Laurent Jalabert. It was also the year of Casartelli's death in the Pyrenees and Indurain's fifth Tour victory.
So, with great fanfare of police sirens and klaxoning of car horns we rode in a 140 strong peloton into town. Before we knew it we were suddenly changing down through the gears as we hit the first slopes of the final climb: 3.1km at an average of 10.1%. With 208.5km in the legs this Cat 2 climb felt like hard work and the rough surface added to the challenge. Nobody was speaking as we huffed and puffed our way up. The silence was broken as I drew alongside Michael. Judging by his choice of words I suspected he was having a sense of humour failure. Soph rode up chatting to a policeman on an mtb who, as well as providing invaluable encouragement, also told her Contador might make an attack on the climb this year. It was with great relief that we reached the finish and headed back down for a shower and meal in Mende.
The evening entertainment was a great ending to a fantastic day, with a few speeches, including from the Mayor of Mende, a viewing of the day's photographs, the official presentation of the Tour stage, and an awards ceremony which included prizes for the best climber (which Soph's friend George deservedly won), for the best calf muscles (won by the Walter who was the first up the 'Montée Jalabert' to the finish), for the fashion victim and the best bike. After some food, music and dancing, we hopped in a coach and were driven back to Bourg de Peage. What had taken us 8 hours to ride (and will take the pros about 5) took 4 hours in a coach, which sort of shows how twisty the roads were. Our bikes were just being unloaded as we arrived and, 24 hours after we had got up, we finally got to bed.
We've been lucky to have many a great day on the bikes and this ride was really up there with the best of them.
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