Rush raids the Alps

Raid Alpine, 2014: Stage 3 – To Italy

WE wake in a cloud. It’s not really raining but it’s wet. There are unenthusiastic mutterings in English and Canadian accents to the effect that it’s alright for the Irish and Scots as we’re used to it. We are and we pedal off into the mire. Through Val d’Isere and on up for another 18km.

Today is, on paper, the closest to a rest day we have – 125km to Cesena Torinese in Italy with only 2650m of ascent.

The gradient on the upper part of the ‘Iseran is (by now) manageable, staying under 7% for the most part. I plod up and am passed by many of the later starters. I stop to take photos and touch the snow. I’m riding up a red ski run I came down 12 years previous.

The crest is at 2764m and is very cold (there are skiers – in July!) . We take our photos, snack, put on more clothes with as much haste as we can muster and, more than a little worried about grip, fly off down toward the valley. We stop for hot drinks and a control point in Bonnevale sur Arc, where the road has dried out, and continue our descent to the bottom of the Col du Mont Cenis.

I climb this alone, thinking I’m the last of the group. The climb is ‘only’ 10km but in excess of 8% for most of this. I pass a French rider who, seeing the Raid banner on my bike, offers me a “Bravo!”.

The cafe at the top, also a control point, sells marvelous soup (with a thimble full of red wine to throw into it), settling my stomach after too much ‘bike food’. I press on, with some of the other backmarkers, across the Italian border and down into Suza.

The descent is epic! 30km from high grasslands with endless sight lines to hairpins through the trees. The Italian road seems smoother than the French and I build a fast rhythmn through the corners. We gather for a quick celebratory beer in Suza.

My good mood is shattered by the climb out of Suza. It is steep and unexpected and goes on for far, far too long – about 20km. I invent an imposing fortress built on a pinnacle in the middle of the valley with all my attention to avoid facing my agony.

We finally drop into Oulx where I admit to Mike I’m just about hanging on. Matt and I wheelsuck the last 10km up the gentle hill that remains to Cesena.

This is a fancy ski resort and our hotel is quite salubrious. Dinner is also fancy with a fourth course – wonderful food. I stay up ‘late’ chatting to James over a beer and turn in at ten.