For day 8 click here.
Day 9 was billed as the big one, the longest day in terms of distance with 168km but only 1180m of ascent, most of which would be one climb: The Grand Ballon d’Alsace. For the first time since leaving Scotland I’d get to over 1000m above sea level.
I was looking forward to this day and also a bit nervous about it too. I was particularly keen to finish the ride by 6pm this day as I was due at my friends Daniela and Sven. The evening would tie in with Sven’s birthday too.
The forecast was for dry weather with a south westerly wind which would serve me well once over the climb as the route would take me southeast first before turning northeast.
It was easier this time to get an early start. The owner of the Airbnb kindly made me a coffee before I left and I was out the door by 7:30 am and rolled down into the centre of Epinal to find a boulangerie and some breakfast. That sorted I was on my way. I would eat my breakfast (2 croissants – one filled with Nutella and the other filled with raspberry jam) around 25km up the road. It is all uphill from Epinal in a gentle gradient along the Moselle valley. For most of it I was on a disused railway line again.
The climb proper started around 55km into the ride at Saint Maurice sur Moselle with about 700m of ascent over 9 km with pretty much no respite. So steady but steady steep. It briefly looked as if the cloud would lift as the sun came through at the foot of the climb but that didn’t last and from around half way up I was riding in the cloud and never got out of it. Even without cloud there wouldn’t have been that much to see as it is a very forested climb. Nonetheless it was nice to ride a proper climb. It was surprisingly cold at the top and I descended with my gilet on.
It is a quiet road over the Grand Ballon d’Alsace with a car every few minutes, very peaceful. Once over the top I was looking forward to a great descent (further down than up) but was stopped in my tracks within the first 2km. I was meant to turn off onto my descent route that road was closed. It wasn’t really a place to try and find out if I could still get through.
So, I checked the map and worked out that I could descend on the road I was on and head along the valley bottom to rejoin the planned route. This would add around 10km to my route taking this to 180km for the day. I started on my descent and pretty much immediately got a text from Fiona warning me that I was going the wrong way (she was getting tracker updates through Garmin LiveTrack); I assured her that it was OK.
And down to the valley I went until I got to Giromagny from where I would start heading east/northeast to rejoin my original rout at Lauw. The valley route meant I was skirting along the edge of the Vosges mountains. From there it was pretty flat with mostly a tailwind (occasionally cross wind) first to the German Border (over the Rhein) and then onto Freiburg. The Rhein crossing was very impressive – 2 huge locks as well as a hydro scheme. Cycling over that added some extra 20 m of elevation to my day. It was also pretty warm for the remainder of the day.
With today’s distance being 180km now and my desire to arrive by 6pm I pretty much gave myself no time for breaks so after my 2 croissants I snacked on dried pineapple and energy bars throughout the day. It surprised me how relatively little I ate that day and how good I still felt. I was wondering what the impact on the next day would be. More on that later.
Once out of the Vosges mountains, it was noticeable that I was in a more populated area and at times I was on busier roads that I’d have liked. Thankfully on the German side I was mostly on cycle routes and the run in to Freiburg in particular has excellent cycle infrastructure.
I said to my friends that I would arrive at theirs by 6pm and with everything all my extra distance I didn’t really think that this would happen. In the end I rang their doorbell at exactly 6pm. They commented that they wish the Deutsche Bahn would be that punctual (for those that don’t know, Deutsche Bahn have been plagued with a lack of punctuality over the past years).
I had a lovely evening with a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen for many years, with a BBQ and beers to celebrate Sven’s birthday.
Planned Distance: 168 km
Actual Distance: 183.03 km
Trip Distance: 1194.73 km
Ascent for the day: 1504 m
Ascent for the trip: 9730 m
Riding time: 9:06:00 hrs
Riding time for the trip: 60:04 hrs
