Col de la Rochette

This was to be a slightly different flavour of french ride for me today. A few days beforehand, I had discovered that the Club des Cent Cols were having a regional meeting at Hauteville-Lompnes in the southern Jura on May 25th, and it coincided with my trip down to the Alps, so I arranged to stop near the start of their ride and meet up with them, a few hundred metres from Col de la Rochette.

I had ridden past Hauteville-Lompnes last year on my col-fest of a ride from Lalleyriat via Col de Bérentin, but today’s route would be further south, allowing me to collect a few more cols.

I arrived in the area the night before and parked at an out-of-season ski station car park for my overnight stay.

The morning was sunny but coolish, around 6°C. I left at 8:15, later than planned. It was a two-mile ride to the meeting point, the first half of which was a steep climb of 8.4% average, and that included downhill sections, so the gradients were in the mid teens. It was like a mile of Barn Hill! It took me up to le Col de la Croix de l’Orme, where I stopped and took a while getting my breath back.

That had been the toughest beginning to a ride that I can remember! From there it was a gentle gravel track down to the meeting place. The group of Club des Cent Cols riders was easy to spot. There was a table laid out with various things in front of a motorhome, and most riders were wearing the club kit. I introduced myself and luckily they had been expecting me after I had left a comment on their forum. So it was handshakes and introductions all round.

It turned out that the majority of riders were doing the VTT (mountain bike) route. That left me, Henri and Roger to do the road route via the Col de la Rochette and Col de la Lèbe. We set off at 9:00 sharp.

Henri, a nonagenarian, is the oldest member of the club, and Roger, an octogenarian is another very experienced member. I felt like a young whippersnapper in their presence! They rode electrically-assisted bikes.

Although the sun was out, much of the first part of the route was through forest so I left my rain jacket on, especially as the first three miles were downhill to Plateau d’Hauteville.

I was excited by the views, not having ridden anywhere with ‘big’ scenery since last year. So I stopped for photos and caught them up. Henri and Roger are no doubt oblivious to the landscape to some extent.

At Plateau d’Hauteville, we briefly stopped outside the church. Henri explained that its style was typical of churches in the Jura, and that each department had a different style of clock.

There followed a four mile very gentle climb to Col de la Lèbe

I was doing my best to chat to the other two riders in French as we rode along. At one point we nearly missed a turn until I alerted them. I had the route on my Wahoo. They were relying on written notes I think.

From the Col de la Lèbe it was more than four miles of downhill, with amazing views towards the southern tip of the Jura as it meets the Rhône river basin. We discussed the Col de la Grand Colombier, which sits atop those mountains.

At the foot of the descent, my Wahoo announced that there was a seven mile climb coming up, with lots of yellow and orange sections being displayed on the screen, indicating the severity of the gradient. This was the final climb of the ride, up to Col de la Rochette.  I hadn’t really noticed how big this climb was when I’d looked at the data before the ride. So it came as a bit of a shock. It wasn’t exactly a killer but still more than I’d imagined. It started off fairly easy, but as the gradients picked up I was having to put more effort in to keep up with my fellow riders on their electrically-assisted bikes.

The problem worsened when I stopped (unusually for me) for a ‘comfort’ break and told the others to carry on. Well, I never caught them after that. For a while I would catch glimpses of them way off in the distance up the road, but they eventually disappeared out of sight as I ground my way up the climb. The last four miles, nearly all through forest, were at a steady 6% and took me 40 minutes.

When I reached the col, they were waiting for me.

From the col it was an easy half a mile downhill back to the start. That’s when I got to meet more of the other riders that had been on the VTT circuit.

Henri gave a brief speech of rememberence honouring his long-term friend and founder of the Club des Cent Cols, Jean Perdoux, who died in March of this year. A minute’s silence followed.

I got to chat to quite a few of the members and I got the impression they all liked the fact that I could speak a little French. It certainly helped with the conversation.

Whilst chatting I managed to gain some information about a ride I have planned for tomorrow to Col de la Charmette, in the Chartreuse. So that was useful. After finishing my cup of wine, I bid them all a friendly farewell and rode back over the Col de la Croix de l’Orme (easier from this side) back to my van. It had been a very different and very enjoyable experience.