As a passionate cyclotourist,
I’m always on the lookout of new challenges to satisfy my perpetual hunger for
kilometres. When I heard of Everesting (http://www.everesting.cc : choose a climb and ride it as many times as
necessary to reach the height of Mount Everest in elevation gain), I knew at once it
was something for me. So, in November 2014, I took my bike and climbed 22 times
the Mont Chauve (Bald Mount), a big hill that dominates my hometown of Nice,
performing a 228 km ,
8934 m ,
little ride.
Some time after this
accomplishment, I received a mail from the guys at the Everesting project,
presenting the new challenge they intended to throw down to the impatient
cycling crowds around the world. They called it “High Rouleurs Society” (http://www.highrouleur.cc), and basically, one had to
perform a (at least) 400 km
and 10000 m
elevation gain ride, to be part of this very select community.
I immediately started to draw
routes that would allow me to reach the target. It was not a difficult task,
given the nearly infinite number of beautiful climbs surrounding Nice. But the
accumulations of ups and downs I was building didn’t satisfy me, as I felt they
lacked some underlying concept that would unite them in one way or another.
I then remembered an old
project that once crossed my mind. It was inspired by an event called “Monte
Grappa Challenge”, which proposed to climb the Monte Grappa by six of its
different sides. Monte Grappa being a mountain rich of history (intense battles
took place there during WW I) and cycling feats, in the Venetian region of Italy .
It appeared to me that the col
du Turini, with its ascents from the valley of the Vésubie, valley of the
Bevera, and the four of five variants on the Paillons side, could be the place
for the same type of event. The similarity between both was even more obvious,
as the Authion (the massif overlooking the pass) saw fights in WW II that lasted
nearly until the very end of the war. Furthermore, a little road taking its
start on the pass and looping around the mountains above permits to visit the
remains of the military installations, and to reach the symbolic altitude of 2000 m .
A quick study on Openrunner
showed that, starting and finishing from home, doing the Authion loop after the
first ascent and performing five more ascents from the different sides, seemed
sufficient to fill the distance and elevation constraints imposed by the High
Rouleurs Society.
I then searched for a title to
give to this achievement. Already existing were “les Cinglés du Ventoux”, “les Fêlés
du Grand Colombier”, ”les Fondus de l’Ubaye”, … all being some synonym of “crazy”
followed by the name of the mountain. On this model, I could have build ”les Calus
du Turini”, calu being a typical niçois word to designate a crazy guy, but, as
a Niçois, I dislike much doing things the way that other people do, so I chose
instead the name “Turini sans limites”.
At this point, it was nearly
finished. The only remaining thing to do was to pick my Garmin, put it on the
bike and stroll it upon the track designed at home. In mid-april, I’ve already
climbed the Authion to be sure that the road was now free of snow, so I decided
that may the 6th would be the appropriate day.
For those who’d like to follow
my route on the map, my milestones have been Nice, l’Escarène, Peira-Cava,
Turini, Authion, Turini, La Bollène, Lantosque, Col Saint-Roch, Turini, Peira-Cava,
col de Braus, Sospel, Moulinet, Turini, Peira-Cava, Col Saint-Roch, Lantosque,
La Bollène, Turini, Peira-Cava, Col Saint-Roch, l’Escarène, la Pointe, Contes,
Coaraze, Col Saint-Roch, Turini, Moulinet, Sospel, Col de Braus, Peira-Cava,
Turini, Peira-Cava, l’Escarène and Nice.
On my way back home, when in
l’Escarène, I saw that a direct return home would put me below the 10000 m target. So at the
col de Nice, I turned right and added the col du Calaïson to the record. But it
was a too modest climb, and I had to do a last detour to the Monastère de
Cimiez before I could finally go home. With a 414 km , 10068 m record proudly
uploaded on Strava.
Though not envisaging it, should
this ride see the day of light, I think that the six ascents I challenged
myself to are a bit too much. But a cycling meeting that would propose a few different
options: a single climb to the Authion for everybody, the addition of the two
other main sides (Vésubie and Bévéra) for the tougher cyclists, and finally the
Coaraze side for those who want the biggest challenge, looks like something appealing.
The possibility to climb at 2000 m at the end of april, and the renown of
French Riviera, are other assets that could attract people from northernmost
countries. But I think I will be too busy
cycling to dedicate myself to the organizational tasks.