Cent Cols Challenge Northern Alps
07 25 19“After the worst weather seen in June in the Appennini in 70 years, the group of CCC Northern Alps riders were faced with temperatures well over 40°C at the end of the month by the time they hit the giant peaks of the Glandon, the Galibier, & Co. Yet once again riders met the unplanned challenge of record-breaking temperatures with admirable courage.
Riding in the mountains is so often as much about the weather as it is about the gradient. It’s all part of the process of being lifted out of your comfort zone. As a group of riders, we are taken elsewhere collectively, and ‘come back’ united by an unspoken bond. We are attracted and humbled by this “something bigger than us” and when we become part of it The Magic happens. Words and ride statistics cannot express this. Images can sometimes help though.”
Phil Deeker, July 2019.
At the end of June we spent a few days following the Cent Cols Challenge through the Northern Alps of France.
The trip encompassed 10 stages, with riders journeying 1,836km and climbing 48,810 vertical metres over 100 cols.
Below are some photographs from the trip.
