Yes, I am still here! My first adventure not starting from home since the end of the most recent French lockdown. The route? Col de la Colombière “the hard way” via Romme.
These will be the feature two climbs during stage eight of the 2021 Tour de France. See bottom of post for the stage profile.
The climb to Romme is steep! It begins as a little cliff road right beside the autoroute. The moment the road turns up there is this welcoming sign:
The local joke of course is “Tous les chemins mènent à Romme” (All roads lead to Romme). 🙂
There are perhaps 15 hairpins on this challenging, quiet 9 km climb.
Note, it’s possible to go above Romme to 2000 metres (Tête de la Sallaz). But it requires a mountain bike. See here for a map and old ride report.
Col de la Colombière has made many Tour appearances, but 2009 was the first time it took this “3rd way” via Romme.
From Romme (1300 metres), one can just about see Col de la Colombière far in the distance:
The route descends Romme for several kilometres and joins the main route (part of the Route des Grandes Alpes) at Le Reposoir. Here it is 7 more challenging kilometres uphill.
The final 3 kilometres get steeper on a fun near-cliff road. Regardless of wind direction ….. it is always against the wind. 🙂
I saw quite a few cyclists:
Me, waving at the camera!:
Finally, as the map below shows, I simply descended down the main north side back to the start.
This was hard work but fun. It’s been too long between adventures. I hope everyone is well and getting vaccinated soon. Doreen and I received our second doses last week!
For gravel fans: See this incredible route that climbs Colombière, briefly descends, traverses unpaved to the amazing Col des Annes, then returns to Reposoir on difficult back valley trail. Superb.
Stage 8, upcoming 2021 Tour de France:
