The goal was to get in as many three starred Michelin routes in the Vercors as possible. To do so required a convoluted route ascending the west side of the escarpment a couple of times. Due to the number of roads crisscrossing the plateau, I could do this without riding the same roads twice in all but a few very short sections.
The initial descent from Rencurel was to the picturesque village of Pont en Royans via the Gorges de la Bourne which was the first of the rides three star roads. Initially it followed a tight gorge with a couple of short tunnels and sections of single lane road traversing cliffs before lower down opening up and was dwarfed by the large limestone cliffs on either side.
Cliffs towards the bottom of the Gorges de la Bourne
Pont en Royans
Next on the agenda was an ascent of the Combe Laval. Unfortunately the most spectacular section of this route was completely closed for road works! Instead we were detoured via a quiet road over the Col de l’Echarasson 1146m; a pleasant ride but not why I had come to the Vercors. I was able to ride down a short way from the top, so could at least see why this road gets its three stars.
Combe Laval road takes the left side of the valley
I got to see it better from the other side of the valley, as I descended back down via the road opposite. I was now headed to the Grand Goulets, the third three star road that I was to ride. Disappointingly here the most spectacular section was permanently closed to all traffic, the only option now was a new 1700m long tunnel.
Road to the Grand Goulets
From the small village Les Barranques en Vercors at the far end of this tunnel, I continued to the very small roads marked on the Michelin map to link the Col du Maupas and the Col de Carri. It was now that I discovered that the Michelin maps don’t just show sealed roads, but also show farm tracks!
Valley road to the Col du Maupas
A few kilometres before reaching the Col du Maupas, the road turned to gravel. I was initially lured on due to its smooth surface and the thought that it surely couldn’t be more than a couple of kilometres. Unfortunately the surface progressively deteriorated till I even had to dismount and jog the roughest section.
The road
At one point the track forked where I was originally going to turn right up to the Col du Maupas. I didn’t take it though, as it looked worse than the track I was on. Plus the sealed road couldn’t be too far away if I continued straight on. Thankfully I did finally reach the road to the Col de Carri, even if it was twice as far as I’d originally thought!
Once back on tar the pass came soon enough. As I had now approached the Col de Carri via the east rather than west as planned, I decided to continue west and ride an extra loop over the Col de Lachau further south. It was a scenic loop through pine forests and some open fields till I reached the col and after a fast descent the road followed the wide valley through the towns La Chapelle en Vercors and St Agnan en Vercors.
Descent from the Col de Lachau
It was shortly after passing through the later and with still over 20km still to ride that I heard a crack. I knew straight away I had broken my saddle! Sure enough the left saddle rail had snapped clean through behind the seat clamp. Luckily this meant I could still sit on the nose of the saddle and didn’t have to ride the rest of the way standing.
Towards Rencurel
When I arrived back at the hotel, I asked owner where the nearest bike store was. With one more full day left in France to ride, if there was a shop close enough I could drive down to buy another saddle first thing in the morning. Grenoble would be the first option if not for the road works and detours so he suggested a store in St Marcellin. In fact he called them up to see if they had road saddles which they did and better yet they were still open till 7pm.
Due to the time, it was going to be tight. I had 35 minutes to get there, on roads the owner suggested would take 30 minutes if you knew them. It was worth a chance, so I entered the address in the car GPS and started down the Gorges de la Bourne I rode earlier in the day.
The Peugeot Partner for what was a people mover handled the curves surprisingly well and I did make St Marcellin with a couple of minutes to spare. The store though was primarily a motorbike shop which had limited stock of bicycle parts and even more limited number of road saddles. In fact they only had a total of four saddles to choose from... I ended up buying a Selle San Marco Ponza saddle with steel rails; no way will I break any more saddles this trip!
Ride details:
Distance 151.36km
5649m elevation
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