The quest was …….. to find a run route and a mountain bike route that doesn’t require loads of hill climbing. I tried a different run this morning and headed to the international canoe and kayak centre. Unfortunately no one was on the course – I can’t wait to see it in action and have the dates in my diary for the French championships – bring it on.
Anyway, back to the running – this morning’s exploration may have revealed a better hill to tackle on the homeward route so next time I will reverse today’s route. I am also cutting myself some slack as I am sure the altitude must have something to do with me finding it hard – even walking up a long flight of stairs can get you out of breath up here!
So what about the mountain biking? Yesterday we translated a route from our second guided book. This ride involved a climb of 1000m up the switch back road to the ski resort of La Plagne (past the base of some ski lifts).
We thought we’d be smart and drive halfway up in order that we did half the climb at the beginning and left half to the end. So how did it go? Well we missed the turn off at the top and climbed an extra 150 m in altitude on the road – doh!
After riding back down we found the nonexistent signposted path, rode down part of a ski slope and across a gorgeous field full of flowers.
At this point I couldn’t help breaking out into a rendition of “The hills are alive, with the sound of music”. Pete just rode away shaking his head.
Then we were onto a nice single track trail through the trees, although when the guide said “techical laces” – he wasn’t joking! The hairpins were frequent, loose and very tight – oh but that’s ok, there was always a nice safe run off incase you got it wrong – oh no, that’s right, it was just off the edge of the mountain – eek!
I’m obviously attacking this tame corner so fast that I am just a blur, ha ha. We were having so much fun we lost track of time and suddenly realised we better get a move on for some water from the village shop at the bottom of the ride before it closed. We drank a big drink each and shared a bar of chocolate while looking up the mountain wondering whose idea it was to park so far up. Oh well, nothing for it but to start climbing the switchbacks. The km stones slowly ticked away helpfully showing you if the next km would be a 6, 7 or 8% climb. The switchbacks were also numbered and Pete was convinced we had parked at corner 11 but that corner came and went with no sign of the van. We could see that we were nowhere near the necessary height so we just kept plodding while shifting about in our saddles with sore bottoms. I was possibly regretting a downhill enduro bike with really knobbly tyres at this point. Eventually we found the van at switchback 9 – it was a beautiful sight. So the quest continues. ……
Today we decided not to sit on a saddle at all and took the van to explore Les Arcs 1600 and 1800. We had a lovely picnic lunch on the other side of the valley overlooking where we live.
The sheep thought it was hot!
It will be great when the funicular and bike park opens up there in a couple of weeks. Woo hoo – can’t wait!
