Grenoble Day 3 - Chamrousse

Day three in Grenoble saw us finally getting back on the bike after a much needed rest. The first ride on the agenda was the climb up to the ski resort of Chamrousse situated in the Belledonne range to the east of Grenoble. It was our first attempt at navigating our way through the main arterials out of Grenoble and into the mountains and this proved to be more difficult than expected. As a result of our poor navigation skills we ended up doing an additional climb up the Fort du Murier, a nice little leg loosener which was 2.8kms in length at an average gradient of 7.3%.

We finally managed to get back en route to the Chamrousse and before long we had begun our ascent. The main climb for today was the longest we have done to date with the full climb totalling 27kms in length with an average gradient of 5.6% and a total elevation gain of 1,520. This makes it by far the biggest climb I have done to date since I started cycling. The climb was incredibly scenic as we made our way through a very green and lush rainforest which reminded me a lot of the Springbrook climb back home but on a much larger scale. 

While the average gradient seems relatively tame at 5.6%, there were a number of sections with gradients consistently upwards of 8-9% and after 27kms it quickly begins to take its toll. The climb also featured a relatively long unsealed section which appeared to be due to significant road works which are currently being carried out up the climb. Thankfully we did not have to descend back down this side.

As we made our way further up the climb we were rewarded with beautiful views back down into Grenoble through the thick rainforest which surrounded us. 

After a long climb and some tired legs we finally made it to what we thought was the top of the climb at an elevation of 1,650.

At this point we were very much looking forward to the descent down the other side of the mountain and back into Grenoble. To our shock we discovered that the climb actually continued a little further up the road with an additional 100 metres of elevation. At this point we were well and truly into the cloud cover over the range with visibility becoming a bit of an issue. The photo below gives a better idea of the type of cloud coverage we were surrounded by.

  

This time we really had reached the top and began our descent back into Grenoble. The descent was super fast. We had to play it a little safe at the start with the visibility issues and several large hairpin corners but once we got through that we were able to have a little bit of fun.

Once out of the cloud cover, the last section of the descent was seriously fast with several long, straight stretches of road that made the long ascent well worth our efforts. This was the first time I really wish I had some higher gearing to really make the most of it.

Overall, todays ride would definitely have to be up there with one of my favourite rides to date with a seriously fun and scenic climb followed by a super fast descent. Tomorrow we head to the most famous climb of all, a 130km round trip to the Alp d'Huez.