The locals tried to tear my legs off....

(A midwesterner moves to the French Alpes)

When I was waiting for my flight to Lyon, I spent a bit of time investigating the trails and trail conditions near Grenoble: I went to Strava and looked at various segments, and then who was the “Local legend,” and then looked at their rides. Upon arriving in Grenoble, I commented on “Slyeb #PIVOT 429 trail”’s post asking about the trails: “Je viens d'emménager à Grenoble et je ne sais pas comment se comportent les conditions des sentiers. Savez-vous si ces sentiers (ou n'importe lesquels) seront assez fermes pour rouler demain? Je n'ai apporté qu'un vélo de montagne avec moi. Merci” ... and he wrote back saying that they’d be wet, but south facing was good. He also said that he’d go ride, and that I’d be welcome to join. YES PLEASE!

So, I rode my bike to a street corner, and met up with Didier - on an e-bike, and Sylvain, and then we picked up Gauthier on the way. Riding to the base of Saint Nizier, Sylvain points out the mountain looming 2000 meters above us, “we’re going up there”... Gulp.


Up and up, some road, some gravel, some trails. Everyone’s English is better than my terrible French, but I still hang onto a few of their conversations. After a while, the views of the Grenoble valley below emerge, with breathtaking mountains in every direction.

And then, the downhill. The trail we take is so steep, narrow, and technical with really tight switchbacks. Barely scratched into the hillside, and covered in leaves. I manage to make nearly all the turns, but do end up clipping a tree and crashing eventually. Didier and Timo (who we picked up on the ride up) split off and Gauthier, Sylvain, and I take an even steeper and more narrow trail down. My brakes are literally smoking by the time we’re at the junction to meet back up with Didier and Timo.


When we’re back to the city, Sylvain and Gauthier say, “Do you have energy for another 40 minutes or so?” Sure. But they actually mean, bike across the city and then embark on a 50+ minute climb up the mountain range to the north. I’m pretty tired by the top, but holding on to these mountain goats.

And then the downhill. I actually hiked down it two days prior, and thought, “this would be really scary on a bike.” Gauthier says, “you’ll really have to learn how to do nose wheelies now” - the corners are so narrow and steep that the only way to clear them is to ride into the corner, plant the front wheel, pop the rear wheel up and around to continue. I’m terrible at it, but Gauthier says, “you’ll only learn if you try” ... but it is so steep, and the consequences of going over the bars are severe... the hillside seems like it drops away at 60 degrees below the trail, but at least there are trees to keep me from sliding the whole way down. I do try, and by the 15th turn, have a pretty respectable nose wheelie turn. Another delightful crash, where I’m caught in the brush, my bike 10 feet below down the cliff. Good fun.

Gauthier and Sylvain really put me through the ringer. Almost 7000 feet of climbing, some of the most technical descents I’ve encountered... and I survived, barely. Can’t wait to do it again.