Col de la Croix Fry

Distance: 21.9 miles. Elevation: 3008 ft.

Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt | Col de la Croix Fry

Following on from last year, I was once again able to time my travels to coincide with one of the regional meet-ups of the Club des Cent Cols. This time, the Rassemblement régional Alpes du Nord (Northern Alps Regional Gathering) was held at the Col de la Croix Fry in the Aravis massif, with some riders starting from Thônes, where I had been based for the past few days.

The format was slightly different this time, with riders free to find their own preferred way to the main gathering at Col de la Croix Fry. The route provided by the club was from Thônes to the col via Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt. I simply used that and extended it into a loop back to my van.

It was a lovely sunny morning, with some high cloud. I left at 8:30 and cycled to the start — less than two minutes away — not quite knowing what to expect.

Only a small number of people were there, fewer than last year, with most riders apparently opting to make their own way to the Col de la Croix Fry. I paired up with the only other rider heading my way, Sandrine. She was hoping to join le Club des Cent Cols soon, but hadn’t yet accumulated enough cols — particularly the five over 2000 m required before being allowed to join.

So Sandrine and I set off towards the first col of the day, Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt. We chatted in broken English and French — her English, fortunately, was better than my French. Whoever had designed the route had clearly aimed to keep it on quieter roads, and we followed one that ran parallel to the main D909 Route des Aravis (also known as Route d’Annecy or Route de Thônes, depending on which map you’re looking at). The road climbed gently at around 4%.

As usual, I felt compelled to follow the route on my Wahoo religiously, no matter what. So when we came to a point where the quieter road detoured significantly away from the main route and crossed the river Le Nom, whose valley we were following, I naturally went that way, while Sandrine took the more direct (and more sensible) route which joined the main road just ahead.

I knew my detour would be longer and slower, so I made an effort to make up time. Initially, the road plunged down towards the river, and I was able to make quick progress. But once over the bridge, it climbed very steeply up through Plan du Bourgeal. I mentally cursed the route planner and imagined them sniggering as they plotted this detour!

After the initial 16% stretch, the gradient eased and the road climbed gently into the woods. I was putting in more effort than usual, knowing I’d need to keep my speed up if I were to catch Sandrine. Once across the river again, there was a 9% climb via a switchback to rejoin the main road, visible up to my right. I caught a glimpse of my fellow rider up there, but I still had a way to go.

Once up at the main road, I had to keep up the pace to catch Sandrine — shortly after which we reached Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, and the first col of the day.

After getting our col photos we carried on riding towards Col de la Croix Fry, initially covering the fairly easy couple of miles to La Clusaz.

The gradient increased for the next short stretch to La Converse, where we turned right, away from the main Col des Aravis road, and headed towards Col de la Croix Fry. The 2½ miles to the col averaged 7% but were very undulating, with sections at 9 and 10%.

For some reason I didn’t get a col photo (same as I hadn’t done when I was here two days ago). We saw the other club members in the car park and went over to join them. I had some interesting chats with some of the other riders over the next ninety minutes or so. I wouldn’t usually drink alcohol during a ride, but as the eight miles back were all downhill, I decided to have a cup (or two) of wine.

I bade farewell to everyone and rolled downhill back to base. It had been another enjoyable and friendly encounter with the members of the Club des Cent Cols.

Club des Cent Cols

How I discovered Club des Cent Cols and became hooked on collecting cols across Europe, finding a friendly cycling community along the way