Two Days, Two Legendary Cols (the Madone and Turini)

They don’t call the Col de la Madone and the Col de Turini legendary climbs for nothing. I’m not sure who “they” are, but they’re right.

Yesterday: The Madone

Today: The Turnini.

The Madone

The Madone (on Saturday) was the first ride for Justin, who arrived the day before. We arrived at the bike shop (which is named Bike Trip, in English, which sounds like a rather obvious name) a few minutes before it opened at 9:30. We were first in line, luckily, as at least a dozen people arrived in the next few minutes. It must be the name. We got Justin’s BMC all-carbon road bike, rode back to the hotel to get ready to get on the train to Menton … and then headed back to the bike shop. There was something wrong with the disc brake in his front wheel. It was rubbing against the wheel. They fixed it. Sort of. It still rubbed, but a lot less.

Then, on to the train station. You couldn’t reserve tickets online, there was some sort of tech glitch, so there were 25 or so people in line at each of the two ticket kiosks in the Nice train station. We finally made it to the front and bought 2 tickets to Menton. The train, which also stopped in the popular tourist destinations of Eze, Monaco and Monte Carlo, was jammed packed with tourists from around the world. And then some. We and our bikes were wedged in the center of a car, surrounded by people who seemed annoyed we brought bikes on the train. Rearranging our bodies and bikes to let people off and on at the stops was a logistical challenge.

We made it to Menton and found the D 22 that leads to the top of the Madone. My app says it’s a 13.4 kilometer climb with an average grade of 6.4 percent. And a max of 8. Rubbish, It’s much harder, and I struggled. Much more so than Justin, who, it turns out, is a natural climber.

Justin? He’s my sister’s son. I hate to say “my nephew” as that denotes ownership and Justin is very much his own man (he’s 33). He was worried about all the climbing and keeping up with me, as he’s new to this type of riding and I’m the season veteran. I thought I’d be much stronger than him, especially the first few rides, but it turned out to be the opposite. I’m blaming the fact that this was my third ride and I’m still a bit jet lagged. Yeah, that’s why!

The Madone ride includes lots of switch-back curves and great views … and you just keep climbing and climbing. Slower and slower in my case. But we made it. Justin said he was surprised how easy it was. I silently cursed him and his youth.

The Turini

We packed our stuff and got the 9:08 train to Sospel, a mid-sized village at the start of the route up the Turini. We got in at 10, found our hotel, the Hostellerie du Pont Viuex (we’re here four nights) … and nobody was there. What the hell? A guy (a local) walking by who was very interested in my bike mirror and then asked us if we were gonna ride up the Turini. In English. We told him yes, but that we had to check into our hotel first. He was sympathetic to our plight and called the owner, who arrived 10 minutes later and let us in. We dropped off our bags, got on our bikes and began climbing.

It’s a 24-kilometer climb and, thankfully, the first half is somewhat easy. About a 5-percent grade to the town of Moulinet. There was even a one-K stretch that was flat. Then, after Moulinet, it gets a lot harder. I’d say the next 12 Ks are comparable to the 14 Ks of the Madone. So many switch-back curves. And so many great views. Fortunately, I did feel a little better/stronger today and, while I’m not quite as fast uphill as Justin (a fact that’s making me feel a bit old and that I need to lose 10 pounds) I was able to plow along at a moderate pace and never had any doubts I’d make it to the top. Confidence is a huge part of climbing. I think I just had bad legs yesterday, a phrase I’ve learned watching the Tour de France. Justin said he was surprised how easy it is. I silently cursed him and his youth.

We turned around and headed back down the way we came. Justin and I are actually about the same speed descending. However, I have a feeling that after another few long downhills, Justin will get the hang of them and ride away from me. Then again, he’s a very nice young man and wouldn’t dare leave his uncle in his dust (especially if he reads this).

Here’s what we had for dinner …

Tomorrow? We’re not sure. We could do the Turini another way, that’s equally hard, or take the train to L’Escarene, loop around some villages up in the mountains and ride the the Col de Braus back to Sospel.