Comments on: Fatty Goes to France, Part III: Mont-du-Chat

By: JeffD

JeffD — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:31:33 +0000

Nice, nice, very nice. I was on that Mont du Chat climb back in 2004, but going down. Oh that was fast and fun… and IN LA FRANCE! Stayed down the road from Aix-les-Bains in Chambery, and then up the road from La Grave in Villar d’Arene.

Thanks for all the great pix. I need to get back there!

By: Fat Cyclist » Blog Archive » Fatty Goes to France, Part VI: Alpe d’Huez

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:22:05 +0000

[...] attacking the Mont-du-Chat climb without The Hammer, and then riding the Col-du-Glandon with her, I had pretty much decided [...]

By: Tumbleweed Dan

Tumbleweed Dan — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:42:24 +0000

Thanks for sharing your trip, the scenery looks terrific you all must be having a great time. I look forward to seeing more.

Cheers,

Dan.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:07:48 +0000

Great ride report, Fatty! Though…I have to admit I’m mildly horrified that French food seems to have been lost on you. I just…I just cannot get my head around that. Anyway, I look forward to the next post. (Did you at least have a good brownie or two? There’s crack in French brownies, I’m pretty sure.)

By: a chris

a chris — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:04:22 +0000

Riding down a mountain no-handed is probably wiser than riding down one-handed, videoing your riding companion and the switchback-y scenery. The grip on the camera tends to be for the right hand and on North American bikes (not UK ones for some loopy reason) the front brake is on the left…

By: bart

bart — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:00:24 +0000

great post !
especially the funny kid.
like to know what gears your superlegs ride.

By: LauraS

LauraS — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:38:14 +0000

davidh – Alpe d’huez is actually not that bad really. What killed me was the Col du Glandon – over 12 miles averaging 8% and never going below 6% as far as I could tell. I think Elden will be mentioning that one! That would be like climbing BoFax from HWY 1 up to Ridgecrest – 3 times without stopping. Um, ouch. Also, wow!

By: Donmar

Donmar — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:20:15 +0000

Fatty-

How about some info on your gearing for the ride (ie, compact vs triple, 12-27, etc). I would be interesting to note what type of gearing it takes you to get up these climbs. Thanks for the great posts.

By: davidh-marin,ca

davidh-marin,ca — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:28:55 +0000

@LauraS- you can’t fool us. While you may not have raced Elden on the Mont du Chat (or gone back down to do it again) I’m convinced you represented Team Fatty with Flying Colors! How ’bout a compare and contrast. What’s the Marshall Wall like now that you’ve summitted Alp D’Huez. A ‘roller’?

By: LauraS

LauraS — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:02:52 +0000

davidh – that’s some crazy heartrate data! Strava says my max was 183, which makes sense since my max is around 196. Must be some kind of Garmin glitch.

re: guest blogging, I think the blog is pretty full right now with Elden’s reports and Levi’s evil doings. My riding what pretty much me saying ooh, pretty! and hyperventilating a lot (oh, the altitude!)