Snow on the col du Mont Cenis - Alpine-Cols

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Snow on the col du Mont Cenis

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I was absolutely delighted to receive the invitation from Vittoria. Would I like to join one of the stages of the Giro d’Italia in one of their neutral support cars? How about one of the mountain stages? Is the bear catholic? Are you kidding me?

I accepted, of course, while wondering about the logistical challenges of transport back from the summit finish on the col du Galibier in France to the start in Italy. The only way I could see to get myself from one to the other was by bike, but how to get the bike from one end to the other?

Vittoria solved the problem by kindly agreeing to transport my bike between the start and the finish in their bus.

Getting up early, I drove to the start in Cesana Torinese, where I left my car and put my bike in the Vittoria bus. After a great day with Vittoria I recovered the bike from the bus in Valloire. It was always going to be impossible to cycle the 150 km back to the start that evening, so I had booked a hotel in Modane, an easy ride down the mountain from Valloire.

The next day was the big one: while the professionals had a rest day, I had to cycle most of the 15th stage in reverse!

Considering the wintry conditions, I decided to dress in cold-weather bib tights and jacket, long-fingered gloves, overshoes and a skull-cap. It was 7 degrees when I left Modane at 9 am. The temperature stayed pretty constant on the way to the col du Mont Cenis, the increase in temperature as the day warmed up offset by the 1,100m gain in altitude.

I soon warmed up on the long climb and started to sweat. First to come off was the skull-cap. Next I opened my jacket. Finally I took my gloves off, pulling them off first one then the other with my teeth as I kept pedalling up the hill.

In spite of the snow piled high at the side of the road I was getting hotter and hotter and remembering why I never go on long climbs in the winter: there’s no escaping the dilemma between being too hot on the climb or too cold on the descent.

At last I reached the col and stopped for a coffee and photographs at the summit café. Here at least I was very grateful for my winter clothing. I very quickly cooled down and was cold when I started again down the Italian side.

The 26 km down to Susa took about 45 minutes. During this time the temperature went from 5 degrees at the col to 25 degrees in Susa!

I was no longer appropriately dressed, and I was faced with a climb 33 km long and 830m high to get back to my car at Cesana…

There wasn’t much I could do other than resign myself to an uncomfortable couple of hours. There was no way I could take my tights off – I had left all alternatives at the hotel in Modane. Equally, I couldn’t take the jacket off either, for fear of it catching in my back wheel. I opened it wide, pulled up my sleeves, stuffed my gloves and skull-cap down my bib and pedalled on, drenched in sweat.

I had a strange encounter on the way, but that is another story.

Never have I been so relieved to see my car!

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