SHAKE IT UP #3

When I asked about this route, the guys at Café du Cycliste told me “Just be careful, it’s not an easy piece of cake, it is more a wall than a road in some places… Always looking for an original suggestion for a gravel route around Nice, I’m used to talking here and there with the locals to find new ideas. This time though I’m not sure theirs was a good one…

As I leave the Port to take the road up Mont Boron, everything looks just fine. The blue sky reflects the colour of the sea, behind I can see some clouds on the foothills announcing a probable change in weather.

Some fifteen minutes later, I am at the top of col de Villefranche. To get to the gravel path along the mountain side, I had to take a narrow street in between houses, a hidden pathway only known by insiders.Even though I’ve got the route on my head unit, some of the bends between the houses are so improbable they keep surprising me. And a few minutes later I’m riding high above Nice, on a shaded path protected by the pine trees. It’s such a delight to climb through the olive trees in Vinaigrier’s park, and I’m already 300 meters above sea level as I arrive at the col des Quatre Chemins : I go over the top towards la Trinité, starting point of the infernal part of my day.

There is an invitation for pedestrians to walk around the barrier locking this tiny road going up to Col d’Eze. Nothing has been really fitted for cyclists, and I’ll soon understand why… The road is only a well ribbed concrete tarmac, allowing for the abundant water runoff from rainy days to flow down these steep slopes. My gravel bike is the ideal one for this type of path. Serious matters start almost immediately and I don’t need to wait more than a few hundred meters for the slope to become literally dramatic. You wouldn’t call that a climb or a hill, but a proper wall ! I’m pushing hard on the pedals, the grade gives no recess. I really shouldn’t stop at all, shouldn’t put one foot on the ground, it would be absolutely impossible to clip in my pedals and get the slightest momentum to start over : clearly, stopping is not on the list for today.

There are a few houses on the side of the road, and I sincerely wonder how people can access them every day, I can’t even imagine how a car could drive back on such an incredible slope, clearly you would need quite a lot of mastery and self-control. As far as I’m concerned, it’s power that I need, I keep pulling as hard with my arms as I’m pushing on the pedals, my bike is zigzagging and rearing up despite all my efforts. Shortly after 14 km, the grade climaxes, probably not to the maximum of what would be physically doable on a bike, but to the maximum of what Physics allows : one segment shows 37%. With more than that, I’m not sure you could stay low enough to keep the bike on its wheels !

The ending of the path is absolutely fabulous, the grade finally allows me to enjoy what is around, meadows and amazingly green trees, these old stone walls in the tree shades… I reach col d’Eze and come back down towards Nice on this strategic stony road that most hikers and mountain bikers know. The road is high above the northern valley of Nice and gives a breathtaking view of the summits of the Mercantour mountain range.

Upon arrival back at the café, the weather had definitively turned to grey. All I could muster was a grimace to the man behind the bar who had seen me get on the bike a little over an hour ago; his early assessment of the route ringing true in my ears - and in my legs.

Further Riding

Download the GPX file from Strava here.