Anger Management: The Baked Beans Tour 2022 - Day 1 Gingins to Briançon

Thursday morning on July 21st, the sun was up and the temperature was already well over 20°. Our bikes were packed and we took off from Gingins a bit past 9 AM. In order to avoid buying a highway vignette for CHF 40.- just to do 20km, I had planned a route taking some backroads to get to France and the direction of Annecy. Although a bit annoying and time-consuming, it was not a big deal, and soon we found ourselves in France and well on our way to adventure!! This is what the trip for the day was going to be:

I don't have a GPS on my bike, so I was using Google Maps on my smartphone that I had placed in the transparent pouch of my tank bag. This was a bit of a quick workaround, and although initially, it worked okay I was soon to discover some problems with this setup. First of all, it means I have to look straight down taking my eyes off the road to see the phone, but as long as the screen is bright it was not a big issue. The problem was that the sun was very bright, with temperatures running quickly over 30° by now, and the phone began overheating. This at first makes the screen go dim, and eventually completely shutting off! Over the next days, I was able to use my phone like this for the first few hours in the morning, but then my buddy had to take over the navigation part using his phone. In the future, I will have to find a better solution...

The road to Annecy takes us past a famous landmark called le Pont de la Caille. It is well known around here, and before the new highway from Geneva to Annecy was completed all traffic to Annecy basically went past it. Not so now, and we are happy to discover so far that traffic is very light.

Unfortunately, as we reached Annecy the traffic situation changed. Total traffic jam all through, and with the temperature really starting to soar, it was all becoming quite uncomfortable. We did make a note that going by Annecy should probably be avoided in the future. When we finally did manage to get through, we really needed to stop for a breather and a cold drink, and we found a lovely place called O Poisson Rouge right on the edge of the Lac d'Annecy. Very nice place with a great outside area in the shade. It was way too early to eat anything though, and so it was soon time to get on the road again.

After the break, the fun stuff was about to begin! The first climb was about to begin, and it was just so refreshing to be able to ride at a reasonable pace finally. The best was that there was really no traffic and we really did not have to try and overtake any cars. With this first pass completed, we again found ourselves in the valley which was really heating up by now. Seeing as we were getting hungry, we made a quick stop at a supermarket and bought some sandwiches and gazpacho that we had together with a big bottle of fresh water sitting in the shade.

As we got back on the road, we were about to reach the first proper mountain passes. The two major ones are both classics from the Tour de France, and as we gathered altitude we were greeted with the names of bike riders on the road, and other images on the side of the road. First was the Col du Télégraphe, which culminates at 1'566 meters. The road up was in really good condition, and it was just great to keep riding.

The next mountain pass was the Col du Galibier. This one is one of the really serious ones, and here the road conditions were a little bit bumpier near the top. Even if there were quite some people there, it really was never crowded and the ride up was nice and easy for us. The view was absolutely stunning!!! It was difficult to keep your eyes on the road with the spectacle all around us, and we simply had to stop at the top to take some photos. The height at the top is 2'642 meters, and although you might expect it to be a bit cooler all the way up there, this time it was close to 30°!

After this, it was not that much further to our destination of the day, Briançon. We enjoyed the ride down from the mountain pass and stopped for gas just before arriving so that we would start the next day with full tanks.

I had booked us at the very reasonable Hotel de Paris in Briançon (https://www.hoteldeparisbriancon.com/home). The room was basic but it had what we needed: two beds and a shower!! Also, they provided a locked garage to store our bikes in for the evening. That was one particular thing I had been checking for all our bookings just to be on the safe side.

Having cooled down and replaced our riding gear with shorts and a t-shirt, we set out to explore the city a little bit. Briançon is famous for its fort, and indeed the old town is up on a hill with a very serious wall all around it. Inside the walled city, we found a charming old town, littered with little shops and restaurants. After a drink on a terrace overlooking the valley, we settled in a local restaurant for a lovely trout for dinner.

Even if the beds then were not the most comfortable, we were happy to then get some sleep in preparation for the next day.