Jura road cycling

Road Cycling: Cote des Rousses (Col de la Faucille), Jura
Distance/climb: 20k/500m
As was the case yesterday, this was not part of the schedule, but I realised my plans were too ambitious as we drove across the Jura in heavy rain and downscaled to this poor relation - the easy side of the Col de la Faucille. I had wanted to go up Semnoz from Annecy but realised I would just have to incorporate a short ride onto our onward route with Kate driving. I set off from the rather grim valley bottom town of Morez, in dank weather, with a steepish side road leading onto the road up the Cote des Rousses. The Rousses would make an ideal introduction to the bigger climbs, as it is fairly long (10k or so) but gentle throughout. Sadly, however, it is marred by heavy traffic: inevitably, as it is the main road through the Jura to Geneva. Indeed, we drove over it when the children were tiny infants ten years ago. In effect, the ride to Les Rousses represents the easier northern ascent of the Col de la Faucille above Gex and Geneva and, as such, it is a fairly frequent addition to the Tour. Low rumbles of thunder, tendrils of mist, drizzle and wet roads characterised my ascent, for which I was able to stay in the bigger ring throughout. Nice scenery, with alpine meadows and cowbells heralding our arrival into the real mountains higher up the climb. I continued some way up the very gentle slopes beyond Les Rousses but the rain got heavier here, and this section to the top of the Col de la Faucille is little more than a 'false flat' anyway.