There did look like a simple way of shortening the course to make a 60 mile version that went out the same way as the race course and came back with the race course but cut 50 miles out of the middle. Though in doing so did add a steeper climb.
Getting through Nice to the course was again a little uncertain. I followed the cycle path as that seemed the easiest way to get past the town, the airport and over the river Var. Having consulted the map I was sure of where the route was to follow up the Var valley. Fortunately I found road markings indicating the course. A sign that there is a race coming, or is it a sign that the race has been?
The road markings helped with the first few bends following the Var, then came a left turn off the main road. I was conscious of a following car so was keen to take the corner quickly. There was a stream of cars waiting to come out of the side junction I was turning left into and due to my haste I didn’t spot the gravel across the junction until my wheels started sliding out on it. I tried to counteract the slide. I guess I must have over corrected. You’d think that if you’re turning left and leaning left then you’d lend on your left. My grazed right elbow, right knee and right hip provide the evidence. Pride was more injured than bike or me. I was then taken aback by the consideration of the spectating drivers and the cyclist who was following me. They stopped, showed concern, warned me of further gravel and generally ensured I was okay to continue before resuming their own journeys.
The route is pretty flat for the first 15km or so but with this left turn comes the first proper bit of climbing and it’s really quite sharp. You are then generally twisting and climbing from the industrial outskirts of Nice as it transitions to rural outskirts. Before long. After several switch backs are following a hill side road heading west parallel to the coast.
I was wanting to turn off this road to cut across to the other side of the bike course. The returning stage of the route. I managed to take a turn to early and found myself climbing into the village of St. Jeanet. On the approach to the village I over took a couple of cyclists they responded to my ‘Bonjour’ with very French sounding ones of their own.
The main road into St. Jeanet narrowed into rustic cobbled streets in what was a truly picturesque French mountain side village with no obvious route out the other side of the village. Certainly their were no signs pointing to a col to get over the mountain behind the village. The cyclists who’d I’d overtaken earlier caught me whilst I consulted my map. I flagged them down and in my best pigeon French asked “Excusa moi monsieur, o’est ici” pointing at my map.
“Can you speak English” was the American accented reply. I should have realised that the Alpe d’Heuz cycle jersey’s were just too touristy to belong to a local. We had a good little natter. Found out where we were, where we each heading, where we were staying, where we hailed from and what we were doing in the area. My French accent and Ironman Switzerland cycle kit made him and his wife think I was from Switzerland. I’ll take that as a compliment particularly the day after the Swiss two times World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara won the Tour of Switzerland.
With his directions and the course markings I really had very little difficulty following the rest of my ride. The Col de Vence provided stunning scenic views over Nice and out towards Corsica. On a clear day I’m sure it would be visible. There was an area of sea that looked to rise so guessing that was the island. The climb rose to over 1,000m over 9km with a count down marker each km telling you distance to the summit in both vertical height and ground to cover. They also indicated what the average gradient of the next km was to be. For the first two that was 4% then 7% for the next six and then 6% for the last one as per the photo below. Afraid I didn’t stop to take photos of them all. In fact I was too taken in by the views to notice 5km and 2km.
The views on the way up where nothing compared to the views on the other side.
I was now to enjoy some entertaining descending. I’d been warned that this was technical and not a route for time-trial bikes. So far I’ve only seen one tt bike out of the hundred that I’ve seen. The road is constantly turning and twisting. There is rarely a stretch of 100m without a turn in it and for a bend to have warning chevrons it needs to be equivalent to a 360 turn around a mini roundabout. I’ve taken some photos of bends that didn’t warrant warning signs. I felt my decision to head advice and go for a sportive bike with compact groupset, drop handle bars, no bar extensions and light weight climbing wheels was completely the right choice of weaponry.
There were several scenic cafés and restaurants where I was tempted to stop but figured it best to head back to the hotel to clean up my wounds. I then wandered round the corner to settle down for a spot of lunch and was soon joined by Matt Spillman and Katie. One is now three. Seven more to arrive.
For those of you interested in numbers and stats. Here is a profile of the ride, and also mapped against, speed, heart rate and cadence:
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