Modern life is busy, there could be a million things on your mind as you start climbing the Col du Galibier. Your upcoming marriage, your recent or imminent divorce, the birth of your first child. The boss you hate or the job you love. These hugely essential considerations will eventually be reduced to just one concern. Getting to the top of this climb. If you can still remember your own name by the time you crest the summit, consider going pro.
Five kilometres in, and you could be forgiven for thinking the Galibier isn’t so bad. Well into the climb, and apart from the initial ramp out of Valloire, nothing has really tested you. All that training must have been more effective than you thought. You might even consider a coffee or an ice cream at a very attractive little cafe by the side of the road. That is all about to change, crossing the bridge over the stream, and the Galibier turns from being kind and gentle to anything but, with just a few pedal strokes. Unless you’re super fit and have brought your A-game with you by the time you are halfway up that first serious 10% ramp, all the training will have melted away like ice cream in the midday sun.
