The First Ride From Nice

I’ve been staring at my Michelin map of Nice and the surrounding cols and villages for months, plotting and planning, planning and plotting. And today, finally, I was immersed in/on the map. Riding. Even better, after all that planning and all the expectations … the ride lived up to the hype.  

My rental bike, a BMC SLR, didn’t come with a computer. I guess everyone these days uses Strava. Except me. I use the aforementioned Michelin map, and an offline Google map since I don’t have WIFI once I leave my hotel (it’s $10 a day!).

Getting out of Nice is confusing. There are a lot of bike lanes and one-way streets and I struggled to find the M 19 road north to Tourette. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be, then it was, then it wasn’t, and every traffic circle (there are a lot) was a crap shoot on which way to go. I eventually found the M 19 and started climbing. This region is all about climbing. And villages. I wanted my first ride to be an overview and include inland climbs and climbs that parallel the water.

There was about a 5K steep downhill into the village of Contes, my first downhill of the day … and I gradually began to feel more and more confident of my descending skills. I’m not an especially brave descender, but by the bottom of the climb I wasn’t using my brakes (disc ones) nearly as much. I wish I had a bike computer so I could know how fast I was going. Then again, it’s probably a lot slower than I think, so maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have one.

I didn’t do the Col de la Madone (that’s on Satruday), but I wound my way around to La Turbie, which is ab out 12 Ks west of the Madone and followed the M 2564 back to Nice (this is the route we’ll take back from the Madone on Saturday. This road parallels the water and you get a great view. You can watch the airplanes heading into the Nice Airport and it sure seemed as though I was above them from this vantage point on the road.

The last several Ks into Nice are another long downhill.

Getting back into the city and my hotel (right near the train station) was easier than getting out of town. I followed the signs for the port and then found the bike path along the promenade/beach. The last K through town was a bit confusing. Who has the right of way? Cyclists? Pedestrians? Scooters? Vehicles? Everyone? Nobody? At some intersections there are red/green light bike signs and regular red/green lights. Others not so much. It’s a bit of a madhouse, so you have to be a bit assertive and just go.