7/26/14 - Riding to Col de Balme

Grabbing a quick drink from the many springs along the way.

In what is becoming an all too familiar theme of our trip so far, we woke up to rain this morning.  Not a nice sprinkling rain, but a downpour.  Climbing, once again, was out.  So instead of heading to the pool or the gym we decided to ride our bikes to Switzerland via the Col de Balme.  Right before we started riding the rain even stopped.  We took this as a positive sign and started on our way.  We started in Chamonix at 1035 m and rode up the streets until we got to the town of Le Tour.  Around the town of Argentiere two things happened.  The rain started up again, and the hill got a lot steeper.  I couldn't tell if it was water or sweat dripping down my face. Once we got to Le Tour we headed up a fire road, a very steep fire road.  Soon afterward the rain let up and then I knew, it was definitely sweat that was pouring down my face.  From Le Tour to the Col de Balme there was an elevation gain of 738 m, a brutal 738 m.  About 2 km from the Col, my stomach started feeling like a hollow pit.  Bucky commented on how we need to remember to buy an industrial sized box of granola bars and offered to ride up to the Refuge at the top of the col and bring me back a snack.  I happily accepted the offer and continued at my slow and steady pace while Bucky raced ahead to bring my salvation, a Snickers!

At the Col de Balme on the Swiss/French border

Results of the muddy singletrack descent

At the Col de Balme we stood and straddled the border between France and Switzerland and had ham omelettes before we headed back down to Cham.  On the way down I was excited to try out some of the downhill single track trails that I had been reading about.  It was quite muddy and slippery, and I certainly had a few humorous wipeouts.  Upon arriving at the mid-station Bucky decided the single track was too muddy and jumped on to the fire road, but I was determined to continue.  Nothing about the trail was very challenging, but it was fast and fun with a couple of small drops and long bridges.  At the bottom of the trail we washed off our bikes and began the fast road descent, chasing cars all the way back to Cham.  All in all we gained 1156 m (3800 ft) in elevation and rode for about 43 km (26.7 mi).  Bucky especially thought this was an excellent way to spend a rainy day, but I have to say my legs are a little "wanked out."