Riding French cols

After having tried several solutions, here is what I recommend to carry on the bike:

- bottles: carry two bottles on your frame: one large with a mix of water and sport drinks and the other small just with sport drink powder in it. On your way, you will find plenty of fountains or bars where you can just get fresh water to mix in the first bottle (once it is empty) your sport drink powder. It is the best solution I know to save weight on the bike.

- energy bars and gels: I usually carry both for long rides. It start with the energy bars and finish with the gels. The rule of thumb is that you can ingest a maximum of about 60g of carbohydrates per hour. I really believe it is a max! Rather than carrying them in your back pocket, a small pocket attached to the frame is better.

- repair set: always carry a small pomp and two tubes, as well as a multipurpose bike tool !

- clothes: often a tricky question since weather and temperature can vary greatly during the day and with the altitude. I always have on me either a rain cap or a windproof vest with no sleeves for the descents. I carry gloves in descent and sometimes take them out during climbs. Shoe covers can be useful too in case of rain or cold. Don't be cheap for your bib shorts! look for excellent quality chamois to reduce the risk of painful injuries caused by the friction with the seat! Carry socks to avoid blisters!

- helmet: mandatory. No question.

- wallet and change: always good to afford a nice fresh drink with a sandwich during the day !

- cellphone: for emergency but also to take pictures of the climbs.

the Beauty and the Beast: Col du Galibier (North side through the Col du Télégraphe) :

What a climb! I have done it many times and every time it feels like a major achievement! First it is very long, second it goes very high (2,646m), and third it is really steep especially at the end! You start with the Col du Telegraphe which is not really piece of cake, especially at the bottom where the percentages are the toughest! It can be hot down under in the summer even tough you are soon surrounded with pine trees. The last third of the Telegraphe is relatively easy and you can enjoy the scenery of the Maurienne Valley. Then you go down through Valloire and then right at the exit of this town you hit a very steep one mile climb. Not good for your mental! Then you "roll" gently to Plan Lachat but in fact it is steep and you start feeling the lack of oxygen. Do not look for shades or trees: there will be none until the summit! A short downfall leads to the last Chalet on the left side and then you hit a first hair spin steep as a wall! Welcome to Plan Lachat and the start of the real climb! This is the Beast! Before that, it was just the starter! This is the main course and God! French cuisine is sometimes hard to digest! You are now riding at over 2,000 meters above the see. Just breath hard and concentrate and keep pushing for at least 2 miles to start feeling better! It is a no man's land! Do not look at your counter and may want to just stop immediately ! Bikers around you look like ghost, breathing hard to go often at speed of less than 6 miles/hour! At that pace, you will still need more than one hour to finish the climb ! You will feel the effort until the very end no matter what! (the last two K are tough enough to force to throw your last forces in the battle). And up there, at the top, you reach the Legend! I have done it a couple of time after the Col de Croix de Fer. It is a beautiful and very tough one-day journey for fit bikers and then in the last kilometers of the Galibier, you may easily feel like climbing the Everest (so that I can imagine it since I never climbed it)!

Here is my top five list of the not-to-miss cols in the Alps:

1. Galibier (North) via Télégraphe: see my article "the Beauty and the Beast"!

3. Izoard (South): for the history! Frankly it is not one of my favourite but it is so much part of French history that it is also a must! First the region is just awesome. Stay in Briançon and enjoy the beautiful rides around! Col d'Agnel is beautiful and totaly protected and wild! The Col du Granon is much less renowned but as hard as the Alpe d'Huez!

3. Alpe d'Huez: to feel like the champs!

4. Croix de Fer (West) : great scenery and long!

It is hard to talk about French cols without talking the Tour de France!

You know: the frantic 3-week pro race which took place every July and goes traditionally clockwise or counter clockwise through the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Why "Thank you the Tour de France"? For one and only reason: the quality of the roads!! Every tour, before the Tour, the French road services makes sure that the roads the Tour will use that year are in just perfect condition! Considering the Tour goes through the main French cols, you are more or less sure to find - even at high altitude - good quality roads in these cols even though these roads have very little car traffic.

Best example? Certainly the road from Bédouin to Mont Ventoux (especially the part through the Forest): just as smooth as the top of a billiard table!

An interesting question? Frankly as a Parisian, I used to ride mainly through the Alps rather than the Pyrenees: it is true that the Alps (especially the Northern part) are much closer to Paris than the Pyrenees which lay south of France at the border with Spain. Paris-Northern Alps: around 350 miles. Paris-Central Pyrenees: around 500 miles.

Alps and Pyrenees are quite different from a biker point of view in many significant respects:

1. Altitude: in general, the Alps have higher mountains and cols than the Pyrenees. It can be a disadvantage especially if your stay is short and you do not have a great physical condition: the cols of the Pyrenees are tough but not so high: therefore the altitude factor is often more manageable than in the Alps. On the other hand, if you search for altitude training, I recommend more the Alps.

2. Numbers: the Alps are much bigger than the Pyrenees: you will find more diversity and more roads and cols to ride in the Alps.

3. Road steepness: cols in the Pyrenees are in general more irregular in terms of degree of ascent than in the Alps. The Cols in the Alps have more constant degree of ascent. Of course, there are a lot of exception to this rule.

4. Scenery: it is hard to describe but the scenery is different: high and majestic snow mountains lay in the Alps rather than in the Pyrenees. But Pyrenees has a lot of charm also: both are definitely worth the ride!

If you have never ridden a col with your bike, here is some insights about how it feels: hard, painful, long, sweaty, exhausting!! However it is something you want to do over and over! Why? Do you have to be a sadomaso to enjoy it or simply the fool who hits his head with the hammer because it feels good when he stops? No! It is only because behind all this pain and suffering there is something else which overcome all this discomfort! Is it the scenery, the nature, the sensations, the feeling, the effort, the endomorphins flowing through your body, the relaxation of the mind? Probably all that and more! Each one has his personal experience in that respect but one thing for sure: IT FEELS GOOD!

A "col" is the French word to designate a mountain pass joining two valleys; some authors say there are 8500 cols in France. Others 2110 if you count only car roads. Anyhow there are plenty and enough for a life time!

You find cols almost everywhere in France. Some are very short, some are extremely long! The two main mountain areas in France being the Alps and the Pyrenees, it is where you find most cols, the toughest and highest ones and the most prestigious ones.

Altitude? The Alps are higher than the Pyrenees in general. If you look for cols over 2000m (ie 6,500 feet), go to the Alps!

A col has two sides: the east/the west or the south/north and the difficulty and length of the climb can vary greatly from one side to the other. So when you are told about a col, do not forget the side the person is talking about!

My nickname is Solaberg: a reference to the famous climb of the Roth Ironman race I did a long time ago.I am a recretional biker. Now settled in Paris with wife and kids, I have been enjoying spending some of my leasure time for the past ten years riding through the most prestigious French cols with my bike.

PS: please apologize my poor English!