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04-08-2014 Châtillon-en-Diois – Les Ougiers
130 km
I have breakfast with my roommate Gérard – who is actually 68 years old and lives in Belfort (and his grandson is 2½ years, my notes tell me ;-) – and leave in high spirits since the weather is fabulous, and the Col du Menée is fabulous too. I've passed it six or seven times from the north-east and only half a time from the south-west (in 1996, when I descended to Nonières and returned). Already at the village boundary the road forks: to the right it's the D539 to the Col de Grimone, more spectacular – with halfway the Gorges des Gâts – than the road through a much more open landscape to the Col du Menée. For some 5 km both routes follow the river Le Bès, and then my itinerary turns to the north.
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Two roads into 'paradise'
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Green slopes . . . .
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. . . . towered by high cliffs . . . .
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. . . . orange . . . .
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. . . . white . . . .
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. . . . all the time
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Beyond Nonières
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Scarce cycling activity
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Last view back
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Unfortunately it's over
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On a morning like this I can't think of a more desirable route: it's quiet, there's just this small village which you pass, the scenery is gorgeous, it's green all around, the wonderful white and orange rocks high above, catching already the full sunlight, remind you that you're in the Vercors, the slopes are perfect – 4 to 8 per cent, it's two hours of the highest cycling bliss. On the other side I am welcomed by the high cliff a.k.a. Le Mont Aiguille, the absolute landmark of the region. I'm not the only one who has chosen this day for this highlight, on both sides I greet a couple of soul mates.
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It's not a col, it's a tunnel!
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First view to the other side
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MONT AIGUILLE
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View back to the col (not the tunnel)
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High landmark of the Vercors
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A small advantage of the Col du Menée to the Col de Grimone is that you cross the E712/D1075 straight, at the position where it's still 275 km till Nice, to enter the Triève region. Out of hearing of the Route Nationale I have coffee and pastry in the form of the Mont-Aiguille in Clelles – it is too warm to sit in the sun! I like this! Triève is a region with hills 1000-1400 m high, the roads keep going up and down, surrounded by HIGH mountains. There's a lot of agriculture and villages are scattered all around, of which Mens is the 'capital. Around Mens the scenery is not very special, I think.
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Still nine days till Nice
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View back to the col (not the tunnel)
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Pâtisserie Mont Aiguille
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Goodbye perspective
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Paysage de Trièves
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From Mens it's another 150 m up to the Col Accarias, a few km on a plateau while the clouds are irreversibly coming in, and then 300 m down, through the Gorges du Drac to the Pont de Ponsonnas over the said river that flows some 50 m (or 100 m?) below it.
The gorges don't add much to the gorges I've already seen (am I getting blasé?).
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Gorges du Drac from above
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Gorges du Drac from within (sort of)
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I'm coming to the point where I have to decide about the remainder of the stage: to include or not to include the Col de Parquetout. Timewise it is possible, weatherwise it's another matter, and whether it's wise for my knee(s) . . . On the other side of the Drac the road goes up quickly to the notoriously busy N85, that first descends to another low (ouch!) bridge over the Bonne, immediately after which there's the last but one opportunity to skip the Col de Parquetout. I'm tempted to do so as the weather is turning for the worse, the N85 is a shitty road, both for the cars and for the steepness. I'm getting tired, but I overcome this relative misery and make it till a pizzeria shortly before Les Egats. It takes a while and some energy to get noticed by the young boy (younger than 15 years, I guess) who is the only waiter, while his mum is taking care of the kitchen, but after the contact is made the pizza is prepared in ten minutes or so, and it's quite okay. For the first (and last) time during the trip I come across des toilettes à la turque.
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l'Obiou in the clouds
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Time for a bite
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Nice shot (is it not?)
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What's good that during the strenuous last half an hour I have already gained 350 m since the bridge over the Drac, which means there is still 550 m left to go up. I'm very happy when 3 km after my pizza stop I can leave the N85 for the much nicer D212. It's a stiff climb at first, some 5 km of 7 to 8 per cent, and with the overcast sky the Obiou in the south is not so photogenic as I remember it. The last 1.5 km from Villelonge, over a very tiny road is very steep. From the col there's a spectacular view down to the north, which I missed the other three times I visited the Parquetout. From there another steep few hundred meters more up – this year I definitely would never have managed the Mortirolo! During the incredibly steep descent I have some funny encounters with some of the incredibly numerous people struggling to get to the top.
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l'Obiou a bit clearer
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Storage lake in the Drac
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Beyond Saint-Michel-sur-Beaumont
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Final steep kilometers to the Col de Parquetout
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Close to the pass, view backward
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Close to the pass, view forward – Vallée de la Bonne
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It's good to have some breaks to not have my brakes get overheated! First a Dutchman walking his (heavy) city bike who assures me the worst is over (where I know what's still in store), later on another Dutchman and a little later his wife asking whether I have seen her husband. And lastly an English woman going up (well, walking too) with two quite young boys, one of them her son, complaining all the time (I can imagine!), whom she has promised money for every kilometer, having trouble with her gears too, and slightly worried whether I have met her partner (frankly I can't tell her). I'm really surprised to see so many people trying such an impossible climb! In fact it's a challenge, even the descent is, but I like the Col du Menée infinitely more. Back in the valley of the Bonne it soon starts to rain. And it's rather cold, with also the wind from the north. The last two times I did the Col d'Ornon I did it bare breasted and got a sunburnt back, now it's more of a struggle, not thinking too much how it could/should be, counting down the kms till the top. It's not raining all the time, and it's not pouring with rain when it does, but I'm glad when it's over, the third climb of the day, and I can change into dry clothes in the shelter of the hotel on the pass (I do not go inside, I don't feel so bad). Luckily when I start the descent the rain has stopped.
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PHEW!
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Again: what a lot of water!
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More rain to come?
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High up: Oulles (I guess)
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Descending from the Col d'Ornon to the Romanche is sort of home coming, with the many well-known ingredients: Oulles, Villard-Reculaz, l'Alpe-d'Huez, . . . .
The road is wet, but it doesn't become wetter while I'm cautiously riding down. It could be more fun, but fun it is nevertheless.
And also, with three 2nd category climbs I'm very well satisfied and quite reassured with regard to my condition.
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The huge rock harboring Villard-Reculaz
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Beforehand I had hoped to be in Le Bourg d'Oisans before seven, I pass the village boundary around a quarter past six. Good! The third and last try to find a bed in Le Vert again has not the hoped for outcome (why do people not cancel when it would suit me?!), and then I decide to try my luck in Hotel Bon Acceuil, the 'Dutch' cyclists' hotel in Les Ougiers, and to my pleasure they do have a room for a reasonable prize (€ 59,- for demi pension). It means another 10 km, the first half over the annoying N91, which feels like a racetrack at this time of the day, and with a short climb, through a grandiose environment (with no rain worth mentioning) at the end.
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"Fietshotel"
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I arrive early enough to enjoy a nice shower before dinner. Dinner is nice too, with Hans, Ide and Pierre, three sociable Dutchmen that create their own 'programmes' from here. In two respects I learn that I'm a lucky bastard: in Les Ougiers it has been raining hard almost the whole day, and from this weekend on the hotel is fully booked till half September. It is nice to be here once, in this hôtel des cyclistes – Boogerd was here too, and Steven Rooks, and many others. I wonder how many climbed the Cormet de Roselend ten times in ten different years!
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