It was an early start and a long drive to get the Brides-les-Bains to start my ride, such was the price to pay for blatant Tour climb bagging. Today's ride visited the ski towns of Courchevel and Meribel, both of whom have hosted Tour finishes over the years.
The road up to Courchevel was surprisingly busy given it was the off-season for skiing, however as I was to discover Courchevel is having something of a building boom. It seems the Global Financial Crisis didn't make it to this part of France as I hadn't seen this many cranes since leaving Perth (which is a constant work in progress). The climb was also somewhat muddled and littered with numerous "Courchevels", for example there was Courchevel Saint Bon, Courchevel Le Praz (where there are impressive ski jumps that were used for the Albertville Winter Olympics), then altitude-inspired Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650, Courchevel 1750 and finally Courchevel 1850. These towns all had the rather odd effect of creating a constant climb through main streets (with all the shops shut) and building sites as each town is either getting a facelift, a new hotel or having repairs before the start of the ski season. The climb literally ended at the last building site at the front gate of the airport. This was easily the scariest looking airport I have seen with a runway that slopes down towards a cliff! Planes clearly land and wash off speed by landing up slope, whereas departing aircraft must get up to speed pretty quickly as they head down the runway and off the precipice. Scary, scary.
After not particularly enjoying truck frogger on the way up, I decided to change my ride plan of descending all the way down on the same road, so instead found another way across to the second climb of the day up to Meribel in the adjacent valley. Turning left at the ski jump I found a nice, albeit rough, connecting road. It was very scenic. When I reached Meribel I found this a much more enjoyable climbed and I preferred the look of the village too. The cycling signs evaporated though so I decided to continue climbing further up to the end of the road to another ski resort called Meribel Mottarat just to make sure I fully covered the climb that the Tour would do. It was worth it as the views back down the pass were very picturesque. An enjoyable, attractive descent back down to the car followed, before a two hour drive back home, bopping along to French radio.
Tomorrow I'll stay close to home, however I haven't decided which ride to do. It could be Alpe d'Huez again; alternatively the Col'Ornon across the valley; or no col at all, just a ride into the Parc National de la Vanoise to enjoy the scenery there. We shall see.
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