The route this year was 138km with 4400m of climbing from Saint-jean De-Maurienne to La Toussuire via Col Du Glandon. The forecast was an extra hot 35°C with chances of thunderstorms later in the day. I’m staying in La Chal, St Jean d’Arves which is the neighbouring valley to La Toussuire.

After a long journey on Friday with the new baby I wasn’t keen to get back in to the car for a 1.5 hr round trip or a 55km road ride to go pick up my bib number. Since its only 8km away…if your willing to go off road. I hire a mountain bike in La Chal. The Bike owner thinks I’m a bit crazy and warms me its quite a hard ride and suggests I take an electric MTB instead considered that I will waste my energy before the big day. I stick with a regular hard tail and climb/push up the hillside. At one point half way this crazy road I think “What am I doing?” This is a bit mental the slope is over 20% and its loose gravel. After a bit of huffing a puffing I get over the top drop the saddle and descend in to Le Corbier climb up the road to La Toussuire pick up my number and head back. The return leg was much easier and takes my 36mins. Shop owner is pleased to see I’ve returned in one piece.

The morning plan was to drive to the edge of the route dump the car and cycle the remaining 5km in to Saint Jean de Maurienne. Cars are backing up along the road so I’m not the only one with this plan. The bike has never been so clean. I went with the easiest gears I had available, 36/46 chainrings with 13–29 on the back. I’m not planning to push to hard on the flats anyway but I’m hoping it will be low enough to get up the hills. Get my kit ready and join the rest of the participants heading down. I feel a bit nervy on the bike, brand new GP4000SII whacked up to 120psi and I’m already bombing do the hill at 45kmh, “Did I screw everything together ok after the flight?” I take it easy and before I know it there is a traffic jam. Oh this doesn’t look good, a rider has come off on and its looks pretty bad. Ambulance turns up in a couple of mins so he is being taken care of. I decide to take it a bit easier now really don’t want to crash today.

I pick up the free breakfast and drop my bag off before joining my club mate Alicia at the front of the pen. There is a sea of lovely bikes and riders of all shapes and sizes. The sky is clear at the moment and is a pleasant temperature. After a bit of team talk for the strategy we are being shepherded down to the starting line. This is my first proper grand fondo so I’m a bit apprehensive of what to expect. I’ve done the odd alpine climb before but never 3 in a row! The plan for the first climb Col du Chaussy (950m) was to take it easy at tempo with no more that 80% FTP. Its pretty much vertical from the start and we get in to a nice tempo ride taking turns on the front.

The scenery is epic and even at 8am all the locals have come out to cheer you on. Legs feel ok and we are generally moving up quite well. I see some other London club riders so give them a shout. a couple of kms from the summit you can see all the riders zig-zagging up the mountain and you have a awesome view of the valley. I’ve been told by other club mates that grand fondos are pretty tough going but the landscape make it worth while. We catch up with Michael, another ICC’er who had started just before us. We ramp it up a little and we have made the first climb of the day.

Well that was easy, 2 more like that and this will be a piece of cake. We skip the first water station as still having plenty of supplies on the bike and head down the valley. We hit another traffic jam which is strange on a decent. I assume someone has come down again but it turns out there is a short sharp climb on the way down causing everyone to back up. A few take a comfort break before it gets moving again. I seem go though phases with my descending skills. Somethings I’m flying down leaning over in to the corners other times I’m cornering like a granny. Michael and Alicia wiz down and we regroup at the bottom.

The next section is 20km of flattish terrain so we form a fast pace line flying along the valley. We have a few wheel suckers behind which we help us out take a turn on the front. You can really feel the heat at the base of the valley when our speed drops for a small incline. I take a caffeine gel in preparation for the Glandon fast approaching. We stop at the feed station and refill our bottles grab some snacks and start climbing up the hill…only 1500m, ouch!

We agree to do the same as before pacing it up the hill. However this time my heart rate starts to climb higher and higher with little effort going in. Must be the heat or lack of water as we aren’t pushing that hard. Mmm I can either carry on and try to hang on to Alicia’s wheel, who is in super fine form, or try to bring it down to a more conferrable level. Its a bit to early on the climb to start pushing it so I drop off and watch Alicia carry on motoring up. I swear its getting hotter and keep drinking and dousing myself with water. I manage to bring it down to a manageable rate and continue climbing at a steady rate.

In Tour de France terms the Glandon is a HC climb which is Hors catégorie (beyond classification) Its certainly the biggest climb I’ve every done so you can understand my concern about finding a suitable pace…especially as there is another big one at the end. We climb above the tree line and the valley opens up. Wow this is pretty epic. Plenty of people by the road sides and even a few brits cheering us on. The last couple of km really kick up looking down the road is full of riders all grinding up the hill. I spot Michael not to far back so I wait for him at the summit.

After a much needed calorie fest at the feed station Michael and I do the remaining 140m climb to Col de la Croix de Fer. Thankfully this gradient is much more easy going. Legs still feel ok at this point so try and focus on the decent. We do a small climb of 400M on the way back down to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and find Alicia is only 7mins ahead of us. I much prefer this decent as there is less switch backs and more open roads so you can see further up the road. I get back to to a rhythm. So nice to ride on closed roads having the full width of the road.

I consider taking another caffeine gel for the final climb but think nah its going to take 1–2hrs to kick in so I should be done by then. We are at the valley floor and Michael graciously waited for me at the base again. Once you stop flying down the hill you can really feel the heat and I’m starting to suffer at the base of the final climb. I start getting some food and drink inside me but feel I must have missed a feed with all the descending as starting to suffer before we get going. Hard to tell if I’m bonking, exhausted or suffering from heat stroke.

I switch in to survival mode now and drop down to Zone 2 and up the drinking & dousing just to keep cool. I now realise this is going to be a long slog up the hill…should have taken that caffeine gel after all…sigh. Unlike the first climb at the start of the day I’m slowly slipping back as everyone continues to overtake me. I try and hold an old timers wheel for a while to get some focus but he eventually drops me too. I see a sign for the turn off back to where to car is parked. This becomes very tempting. I’ve had a nice day out, no need to kill myself my brain tells me, you can be back home in 30 mins.

No just carry on. I’ve come all this way to finish this thing regardless of how long this last climb is going to take. So I continue trudging up the hill. they say a watched pot never boils but neither does a watched Garmin. The KMs are taking an ages to get tough. 12km to go. I see there is a water stop not to far ahead so decide to pull in for a refill. Everyone is clustered around a fountain in need of fluids. I step off the bike…instant cramps! Can’t hack standing or cycling at the moment. I gingerly climb back on and continue the pounding. My feet are aching now, great. I following the crowd who weaving side to side to follow the patterns of shade.

I’m certainly not alone in the suffering the road is littered with riders taking a moment in the shade. Ambulances by the side of the road helping those to far gone. I also keep seeing scooters with bikes strapped to the back ferrying riders. Is this the deluxe option? The gradient eases a little and even goes downhill for a small rest bite…so this is what 18kmh feels like I had kinda forgotten bikes can go faster than 8kmh. Slowly but surely the km start to fall away and I’m less than 3km to go. A wave of relief comes over and the next few km start to fall away as the online eases. A bunch of British supporters are on there corner and give me a big cheer. I attempt to sprint up the last hill but my legs just cramp up. Sit back down and spin in to the final 250M. Bunny hop over the line and I’m done. RELIEF

Medal, t-shirt, photo with Michael and grab my bag. Legs bursting with cramps so concerned I won’t make it back to the car. Say my goodbyes congratulate club mates of an awesome ride and head back down the hill. I pass by a stream of folks suffering on the way up give fellow ICC’ers Ed and Blake a cheer. Get back to the car home shower food sleep. Cramping has eased now legs feel fine but all other contact points hurt.

Would I do it again? If you had asked me in the following 24hours certainly not. But now I’m like I could have gone quicker, prepped better and if it had been a bit cooler I’m sure i wouldn’t have felt so rough…so maybe next year? For now I’ll stick to watching the pros doing it.