Col de la Republique

Starting

Friday night is MUSIC night! Whether you want it.
Close to the campsite, it was all kicking off. The bass thumping 2:30am excitement for some was not shared by me.

My shorter than ideal sleep was not ideal, but I perked up and set off for St. Etienne and the Col de la Republique.

Even my Garmin watch, which delights in telling me of a poor night’s sleep and recovery, thought this was exceptionally bad.

After the Col de l Oellion opening climb yesterday, the ‘Body Battery ‘reading was below 50’. So, an energy packed day today then. (Not?)

The forecast promised a 0% chance of rain and sunshine, but a ‘blessed’ by a light shower blessed me. Hmm.

Setting off on a climb described as not very good, on long busy roads, I muttered at the weather apps.

“I fart in your general direction,” (From Monty Python’).

With the trusty Garmin route loaded, confusion replaced my eagerness.

The Garmin route displays the start from the wrong side of the roundabout junction.

This can’t be right. In short, it occurred to me that this was probably because I plotted the route using UK road rules rather than European and so, accepting this notion but still considering it odd, I set off.

(I would have thought that the routing app would’ve informed me of this error when planning).

Green light

It was a lethargic start up the busy town road, but the sight of roadworks and traffic lights sparked me up.

I raced for green.

“Yes, Monsieur Gendarme, they were green. You can trust me, I’m an English man”.

Now fired up, I was confident that the road would change, and it did.

It is not very often you can get 20mph+ supposedly going up a climb, but at a point where the climb levelled for a section and the tailwind caught, I did.

I raced (for me that is) up the D1082 through the Planfoy commune and kept going.

This was great.

The legs felt good; the air was pleasant and consequently all systems were GO! Push to the top. Whoopee.

No vista views at the top of the smooth tarmac road, but at least there was a sign.

Photo time!

Opportunely, a couple of walkers made the mistake of parking opposite the sign.

After an attempt at French, which only produced a puzzled look, I subsequently resorted to a Neanderthal, ugh and pointing.
“Ahh, photo of you?”
“Oui, Merci.”

(I think they understood all the time but just wanted to have a laugh pretending not to, who can blame them).

A climb of historical importance for the Tour de France, but not one I would rush to do again.

However, I feel like the Col-de-le Croix de Chaubouret is on.