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1 Day 1 Col Ride in Morzine

Road bike climbing on a Sunday morning

featured in Activity reviews Author Ali Gibb - 44 South, Guest Reporter Updated

A new event this year, organised by one of the many French authorities around, is the one day one climb one col, in which a notable col in the Savoie Mt Blanc area is closed to cars and only open for cyclists for a Sunday morning.

We have had Col de Joux Plane and Col de Ramaz to play on over the last few weekends, and having never done either of them before this summer, I hoped to be able to have a go before making a fool of myself in front of lots of keen and fit cyclists on the day. Having heard a fair amount about them, especially Joux Plane, I was more than a little nervous on the first trip out to have a go at it. For those that don’t know, it has become infamous since Lance Armstrong blew up on it and effectively lost the Tour de France in 2007.

By the time we got out of the house and had finished phaffing it was late morning, and so the middle of the day by the time we got to Samoens ready to tackle the Joux Plane. Just keeping the mad dogs and Englishmen saying alive and pedalling! Although only just pedalling - it was hideously hot in the baking sun and I managed to get my speed on my cycle computer to an all-time low of 3 ½ mph at one point!

Lesson One - don’t do it in the middle of the day when the forecast is to be sunny and over 30 degrees.

The next attempt on it was the event day and what a fun atmosphere. We set off with our group of triathletes who were staying with us for a two week training camp and building towards the world Championships in London in September. What that meant was that they were very fit, young, light and fast! There were hundreds of people making the “pilgrimage” up to the top and cyclists of all abilities with jerseys proudly on display from all over the world. All of this made a great atmosphere - its just a shame that apart from right at the start most people are gasping far too much for any chat! Well I was anyway. The atmosphere must have spurned me on as I was almost 10 minutes faster this time, or maybe it was the sight of the inflatable arrival sign and the promise of another great French feed station at the top with cake, drink and beers! None of that for us though (some cake may have been smuggled out) as we were off to finish up in Avoriaz with the Col de Joux Verte just to make the legs hurt a little more the next day and a vain attempt to tire the triathletes out.

Lesson Two – theres no point trying to keep up with someone who is the National triathlon champion for their age group, even if they are 16 or 17!

Col de Ramaz was also tackled as part of a longer ride, buoyed with confidence from being faster and not feeling like collapsing up the Joux Plane. Four of us set off on a route planned by an ex pro triathlete now based in Morzine. We should have known… Col de Joux Plane, then Ramaz back to Morzine and then up to Avoriaz. Those all-important stats made it look like the Garmins were broken with 110km and 4295m of climbing.

The crazy thing about it is that it was such an enjoyable days riding, beautiful quiet roads and a fair old challenge shared with great people. And of course some awesome descents which I have finally learnt to like, if you are new to alpine road cycling then stick with them as they will become enjoyable.

Lesson three – don’t get intimidated about the climbs being “big and hard”, take them at your own pace and link a few together. It makes for a great days ride. If nothing else you can eat as many pain au chocolats as you like to help you around (I had 4!) and will eat like a horse for a few days after with double helpings of everything. Yum.

Give them a go, and keep your eyes out for the one day one col dates for next summer. We’ll be posting them on our website once they are released, along with other road cycling sportives and events in the area.

Read more about cycling in Morzine in our handy guide and cycling routes pages.

Location

Map of the surrounding area