Festival of pain - The Alps on a Corsa Extra

[ededwards]

1 man. 7 days in The Alps. 550km+. 11,500m+ climbing. My mate said it is not about the numbers. But he is wrong.

Festival of pain indeed.

 

[ededwards]

Here's Alpe d'Huez and the Col du Galibier, the latter in a hailstorm with visibility at the summit down to about 6 feet!

 

[orange71]

wow - thought you'd been quiet lately

 

[MercianMike]

That is good work, Im jealous of the location you were in.. but not jealous of the pain!

You must be a man machine now!

 

[legrandefromage]

git


git, git ,git ,git

 

[fingers]

Wow.

(here in suffolk we say that when we see an incline)

 

[FemtoMetre]

6 feet visibility from the Summit down. Wow.

Does anyone know the grades of any of these climbs? Perhaps they are on a website somewhere.

 

[legrandefromage]

I say git, but I did have the opportunity to ride up part of the Julian Alps near Kranskagora in what I think is now Croatia or Slovenia

It was 1989, I was 14 and I was on a rental 531 Peugeot gents bike with no drops and centrepulls...

I was on steroids for my asthma - went up just as fast as I could go down!

 

[ededwards]

Does anyone know the grades of any of these climbs?

Not particularly steep, as you can see from the Galibier photos (the road is the zig zag. Most climbs are about the 10% or so mark with maximum around 14% or so. Not at all steep by UK standards but long and unrelenting.

Due to the weather and having a mate in a car I did not ride the descent off the Galibier as I doubt it was safe but, apart from a 4km section of flat, it was all downhill for 40km!

 

[FemtoMetre]

At times, I am curious when a "grade" becomes impossible to climb. Of course with Mountain Bikes, you've got some steep grades mushing around the trails.

There is one hill here with a bike path and someone said it is a 30% grade. I don't know but I know there are instruments to measure a grade. It's a bear. If that is what it is, I don't think I could ever do any more than that. That little bit on a hill will set your wheels to spinning and maybe sliding as many know that sentiment. I've almost come to the conclusion that maybe I should not be testing some bikes on some grades like that hill because, maybe it challenges a bike too much. I'm going to get a 3rd chainring, that should solve it.