Gérard Marion-Gallois: St-Jean-de-Sixt - Menton

At the genesis of the story, there was a challenge between friends at the instigation of Emmanuel, one of us, for his 50th birthday. In the spring, we decided to do the Route des Grandes-Alpes as a small group of friends aged between 50 and 60. We started training according to our availability. And so we set off in mid-September with minimal but sufficient preparation: 1500 to 2000 km each, no more, but with maximum elevation gain!

For safety and the return journey, we rented a small nine-seater van and the Thônes Cycling Club lent us a bike trailer. Two people from our entourage acted as drivers and escorts, so there were eight of us on the starting line: six on bikes (David, Emmanuel, Hervé, Jean-Marc, Samuel and myself) and two in the vehicle (François and Lionel).

In the evenings, we stayed in gites on a half-board basis, and at lunchtime we ate at restaurants on our itinerary, except once when we had a picnic enjoying the sunshine. We were always made very welcome.

As for my bike, I had a Trek Domane SL in carbon with disc brakes, compact crankset and big 32mm tires, a bit like gravel. My fellow riders had more conventional road bikes with pad brakes. Each carried only a small handlebar bag.
We had also brought along a "mullet", a spare bike in case of need, but fortunately it was not used. Incredibly, the six of us didn't have a single mechanical problem, not even a puncture! No physical problems either. Several of us wondered whether we'd be able to keep going day after day, and here again it went well. The levels were different, but we expected each other at the top and bottom of the passes.

Luckily we had the van. We set off on September 19 and it was raining buckets of water. At the top of Cormet de Roselend, it was 5 degrees, a crazy wind, we had the bar on our foreheads... Thanks to our assistance vehicle, we were able to change and put on warm clothes before the descent. The first two days were terrible, with snow at the top of the Col de l'Iseran. I wore a cap under my helmet, leggings, warm underwear, a fleece, thick gloves... Fortunately, from the third day onwards the fine weather returned, despite chilly mornings between 5 and 10 degrees.

In Monêtier-les-Bains, at the end of the day we were able to enjoy 2 hours at the Grands Bains with its hot springs: excellent for recovery and relaxation at the halfway point!

It was a superb human adventure and will remain the best of all memories. But there are so many other beautiful things: the whistling of the marmots in the passes, the passage over the Col de Turini and the tipping point into the Mediterranean world, the swim in Menton and the champagne on the beach... There were poignant moments too, like the crossing of St-Martin-Vésubie, a year after the tragedy.
My worst memories are the descents! I'm not a descender and I'm scared. For the Iseran descent with the snow, if it hadn't been for the group effect I'd probably have climbed into the van.