My high school friend Jamie Osher used to introduce himself to girls when we were teens – “I may be short… but I’m slow.” It applies to me in the mountains. People expect skinny guys like me to be fast on the hills. I may be the exception that proves the rule. On our rides Larry is way out front, I’m next and Chris brings up the rear. Chris is twice my weight, so his climbing abilities are truly impressive.
On Thursday the weather was still cloudy and light rain in the morning. We drove to BdO for lunch and returned to the KOM lodge around 2pm. The weather was breaking with some broken clouds and sunshine. Time to get on the bikes for an afternoon ride. Around 3pm we were descending the Ornon road.
Col d’Ornon road from the Oulles Road
At the bottom of the Col d’Ornon road we turned around and headed back up. We turned right on a tiny side road to the hamlet of Oulles. It is 7 km at about 10% on a narrow winding road (sounds familiar!) For the entire climb I saw 2 cars and no other people. Near the top I encountered a Bavarian rider who we chatted with. One of the joys of being a tourist here is the encounters with people so different from the folks at home. He was in the hops business (for brewing beer) and travels frequently to Spokane in eastern Washington State where hops are grown. At the top of the road were some houses and a very well maintained church whose bells rang 5 times (announcing cocktail hour?) There was a water fountain and benches to sit on. All very civilized for such a remote tiny hamlet. Guy told us that there once was a slate mine up there and that may be why there is such a nice road to such an unlikely place.You can see Oulles in the photo below.
village of Oulles
along the Oulles road
climbing the Oulles road
bike and rock cut on the Oulles road
There really is a bicycle in the photo above!
We debated whether to go back down and then climb to Villard Reymond before climbing the Col d’Ornon. This being an “easy day” I opted for skipping the 10 km climb to Villard Reymond and simply ascending the CdO. It was 5 pm after all. The lodge serves dinner at 8 pm so there was plenty of time to overdo things, but I didn’t want to have to much fun. So after descending slowly because of the debris on the road from the rains we turned back up the Col d’Ornon road. The moderate incline of the Ornon road felt great and I was able to spin better than in previous climbs up our home col. Larry zoomed ahead and I saw him descending as I got near the top. It was cool and cloudy up there with a chilly wind so I stopped at the top to put on a jacket and turned around to head to the lodge. I saw Chris climbing as I descended. As I put the bike back in the bat cave I noted 22 miles and 4000 feet on the Garmin. Not bad for a short rest day.