Minimum altitude: 241 meters
Distance: 86.1 km
Slope Aspect: East
Vertical Climbed: 1,826 meters (5,991 feet)
Vertical Descended: 1,769 meters
Rating: 5
I decided to ride home from the lac du Bourget this afternoon, but via the Relais du Mont du Chat and the col de l'Epine. The idea being to complete a 100km ride which I'd just missed out on, on the Glandon the other week. Maybe a bit too much given the 32C temperatures at the lake. Reaching the bottom of the climb I was nicely warmed up, 13km and 10% to the summit. About 1300 meters of climbing. In fact things felt pretty good but my gears were jumping around a bit so I stopped to see if I could fix them, I wasn't aiming for a PR (1h32 for the climb btw at a VAM of just over 800m/hr). I stopped several times but nothing doing, I couldn't engage my granny gear.
The climb seemed ok though, a bit of a slog on the 11% plus sections but it was nicely in the shade but hundres of flies around. The km markers went by quicker than I experienced recently and I got too the top not that tired but low on water. Without thinking I descended the West side with the idea of traversing over to l'Epine. Absolutely no water in any of the villages and not a "chat" around. Not the best plan. It was quite a hard climb to l'Epine, around 500 meters of V+ with sections in the 13 to 14% range and my gears were getting more jumpy. I stopped at the col to drink the last of my water and have a gel then down to Chambery. It was 17h30 and I thought about getting the train from here but continued on to Chapereillan where I was able to get a bottle of drink... but still no water anywhere to be found - not even the cemetary. The found was turned off, maybe due to the drought. Finally at le Fayet the first working fountain in 50k. In the end I continued to le Touvet and stopped there but could have ridden the final 12km ok.
Very hot, 29C at Bourget du Lac, 22 at the summit.
