La Vaujany

I'd signed up for this event many months ago, the interest being to discover the alternative climb up to Alpe d'Huez from Lac du Verney and beyond to Col de Sarenne which will feature in the Haute Route (now next month!) I certainly wouldn't have entered on the day, the forecast being for thunderstorms and heavy showers as the temperature dropped from  a sunny 34 degrees on Saturday to a more comfortable 22 or so.
We stayed in le Pic Blanc, Alpe d'Huez as I couldn't find any accommodation in Vaujany, or elsewhere closer to the start/finish. Over night I was woken by a fierce thunderstorm, lightning striking the town but the thunder echoing around the steep valleys and mountain tops, it was terrifying to think we could be out there on our bikes Sunday afternoon.
So I found it difficult to want to wake up, and was really close to bailing out early on this one. Waking at 5am (of course always earlier than the alarm, due to nerves) the scene outside was cloud and light rain. Somehow I still managed eat my breakfast then drive the short distance to lac Verney and park directly opposite the start. Down the mountain, a good 1000m lower, things were different. Warmer, no rain, and with breaks in the cloud it looked like an average day ahead, so it felt like a good decision to get out of bed this morning.
Quote of the day was when I asked the marshals by the start if there were any toilets nearby. "They are everywhere!" (in French) as they pointed to the forest and trails nearby. OK, we are in France now.
The race starts with a long, long descent to Sechiliene where we averaged 43kph. It seemed like we going much faster than this for long stretches, so a good warmup but always a nervous start when so many riders are bunched together and faster riders are eager to push to the front. The descent meant that it was not necessary to work at the front to increase speed, the few who were keen to chase the next group up the road seemed to be wasting energy very early in my opinion.
Left off the main road, and immediately the climb begins up Alpe du Grand Serre. This would be a 1000m ascent as we had dropped down to 364m. As we had descended the valley from the start, it was clear the clouds were getting heavier and forming lower and lower down the steep mountain sides. So soon enough we were climbing in the cloud, not raining just a very dense fog and by the top we could only see about 20m in front of us. But warm, and still dry, so a decent first climb. Luckily the cloud was all on the north side of the mountain here, so after descending only 2-3mins we broke from the cloud and were rewarded with fine mountain scenery even bits of blue sky as we rolled southwards, then north towards Col d'ornon.
Col d'ornon proved to be very gentle climb, but so many flies! Everyone cycling up had a swarm of flies following them. Not harmful or biting, just annoying.
Easy enough, then came a fast descent towards Bourg d'oisans. Some riders were taking extreme risks down here, overtaking on bends when cars were approaching, a few very close incidents.
Down in the neutral zone of Bourg d'oisans, its essential to form a group and today in the high winds ever more so. We made good pace up towards Lac Vernay, where we started, and here I discovered several members of the group were doing the senior course. I had this idea when I woke up, but now the blood was pumping and the weather hadn't worsened, of course I made the decision to turn right and make the huge extra loop for the masters course.
This is a nice climb, not steep at all like the main Alpe d'huez climb. About 4km from the top of the first section at Villard Reculas I was greeted by an Englishman doing the same pace as me. Turns out we are both Andrews, the same age, both riding Ribble bikes but hes from Yorkshire,  I'm from Lancashire so there the similarity ends. Normally I end up chatting a few words to some Belgian or Dutch guy for a few km, so this was a nice change. It was Andrews 5th La Vaujany event, he's over in the alps for a couple of weeks and using the Vaujany as a warmup for the main event of the Marmotte the following week.
Around this time humid conditions condensed further to fall as showers of light rain, but still no signs of thunderstorms so we pressed on. At Villard Reculas the road even descends a short distance before rolling along narrow, more or less level, road with (should be) awesome panoramic views for several km before reaching the small village of Huez and the main road up to the ski resort.
The steady ascent on the main road felt very comfortable after the ups and downs of the climb so far, so a steady rhythm could be set to the resort and the feed station. Satoko was waiting here with an extra energy bar, extra clothes if I needed them. Windy and cool with obvious rain further up, it must have looked miserable standing around here, but we were at the top of the main climb, we had to go on!
Only 6-7km to the col de Sarenne, a scenic narrow road , but this is badly surfaced. The descent had to be made very carefully due to the broken road, wet conditions and very tight hairpin bends. Andrew had warned of concave cobbled water troughs across the road, but at least these had been replaced with pipes and surfaced in the last year. The two of us descended at the same pace, and once off the broken roads onto decent tarmac we had to contend with wet conditions all the way to the foot of Vaujany.
Can't tell if it was raining or not all the way, the roads were too wet to tell as we got a real taste of the Isere roads from the spray. One Dutch rider managed to keep our pace for the valley, a couple of others tried but failed and of course there was one elderly gent who thought would help us but was far too strong and left me on my own as we made the gradual ascent before the final water station. Andrew managed to keep up with the old guy till the start of the main climb from the lake. Chapeau!
Always the thought on this ride was about getting up Alpe d'huez, but it should never be underestimated the final 6km up to the resort of Vaujany. Steep, and unrelenting, the finish line couldn't come early enough on a day like this.
I met Andrew at the finish line then we got some food, certificate passed on the chance to buy a gold medal then headed down the wet roads to the warmth of the car and dry clothes as quickly and safely as possible.

7hr 8min 52 sec, 132nd out of 475 finishers. Nice event, shame about the weather. Would be good to get a place in the Marmotte next year.....