First ride of the Madeleine

After an easy day on the bike (the weather and the previous days riding made this essential!) the next target on the list was the Col de la Madeleine.  I had never ridden this col before, so was only too happy to go along with my guests to experience this climb.  The Madeleine is situated in the ‘next’ valley north from Bourg D’Oisans – and to get there you go over the Col du Glandon.  When we set off in the van it was raining and cloudy, but as we came up and over the Glandon, and down the other side, we ended up with sunshine and blue skies – result!  After finding a suitable parking spot and assembling the bikes we were off.

The Col de la Madeleine is a little different to the Galibier, Glandon and Croix de Fer (where there are changing gradients and some flat and even down hill sections).  This climb is a straight ramp up (always around 8%) for 19km, and never gets really tough but is nonetheless a hard climb as there are no breaks – unless you stop of course!  We took it steady, and despite a few worrying ‘road closed’ signs near the bottom, (later proved to be lies!) we set off from La Chambre, the village at the base of the climb.  The Col starts off winding its way through wooded areas before the valley clears a little and opens out higher up.  On arriving at the top we discovered a very welcome restaurant, and got a little warmth back via coffees and hot chocolate.  There were also some nice looking Col de La Madeleine bike jerseys for sale here to allow you to show off to your friends when you get home!

Once we had enjoyed the long descent and made it back to the valley, the group split up – some went back home in the van, and the rest of us started off up the Col du Glandon back towards Bourg D’Oisans.  The north side of the Col is shorter and steeper than tackling it from the Bourg D’Oisans side – but the main difference is that the hardest sections come right at the end – just when you dont need it!  And it’s not like the Galibier either, where the last steep section is short enough that a little teeth gritting and motivation to finish can get you through it – this is a good 2.5km at 11% or more…..however even after 2 cols and more than 3000 metres of vertical climbing Geoff still had a smile for the camera!

Once we’d arrived at the top of the Glandon, it was getting a little cold (5 deg.C to be exact) so we wrapped up as best we could and set off on the long downhill back to our accommodation in Bourg D’Oisans.  Even after all that climbing we were still glad to get to the short uphill sections – just to get a little warmth back into our bodies!  As the sun was setting over the mountains we came down into the Valley de L’eau d’Olle, and had a great view of the Lac du Grand Maison and mountains – the source of the largest hydro electric facility in France (for the engineers out there, the lake contains 132 million m3 of water and the plant produces 1420 GWh/year).  From there we just had a last uphill section, then the ride back down into Bourg D’Oisans, which we made just before the light started to go.  All in all, a great days riding with some stunning scenery!