French Alps 2026 Day 4: Grenoble to Le Bourg-d’Oisans

Three big climbs today, and one of them knocked our socks off. We also rode a good stretch with a local, and we ended the day at the base of what is arguably the most famous climb in all of cycling. Here’s Harald, excited for the day.

The first hour was mostly on nice separated bike paths as we worked our way over to the base of the Col de la Morte. A bit of jiggery and exploration led us down a side quest that we eventually aborted, but I did get to use nature’s urinal before we rejoined the route. So there was an upside.

We started the climb in the company of a few other cyclists. They either passed us or we left them behind, and then we settled in for an hour or two of mostly wooded switchbacks.

The col is named for the town of La Morte at the top, an alpine resort with skiing, downhill mountain biking and climbing. It sounds ominous, but the root isn’t “the dead woman” (the literal French translation). It’s from an old Celtic word meaning “Rocky Hill” that drifted over the centuries until it sounded the same as the word for “the dead woman.” Small consolation to the poor ski hill operators running a resort in a town named “the dead woman,” so they’ve been rebranding as Alpe du Grand Serre. It all checks out, but “Col de la Morte” isn’t going anywhere.

With about 45 minutes left on the way up, a cyclist caught us from behind and we started to chat.

Jérôme lives in Grenoble and was out doing something mind boggling to us: a 300km day ride doing a half dozen long climbs, that would get him home around 3am. So as I write this, he’s still out there! He kept us company all the way to the top of the col though. Perhaps part of the plan involved some relatively easy climbing with a couple of bikers abroad.

It was by far the longest conversation we’ve had with anyone on the trip, and it was nice to hear his stories. He works for Petzl, the headlamp company, which is headquartered near Grenoble. He said Grenoble is a mecca for outdoor activities (including caving, if you remember from yesterday, and they make headlamps for that!), which even our brief visit had already made pretty clear. He moved there for the job and temporarily left his family in northeastern France, until he gets past the probationary year that’s customary in France. Thanks to him the climb felt faster, even if we did push a bit harder than we should have!

Water and food at the top in La Morte.

Harald found fresh bread at the tiny grocery store, still warm. We watched some kids riding little mountain bikes around, making it all look easy and speaking French like tiny pros. It was about noon and the sun was out and warming us up nicely. But we had to move on.

The next phase was a sort of transition. A big descent, of course, then some valley work, ups and downs on light grades, just nice riding. We were working our way over to the base of the Col d’Ornon, a relatively easy one, but still warm work in the heat of the day. Tried to stay hydrated.

The Col d’Ornon was unremarkable but pleasant enough, particularly from the side we were climbing. Being Saturday, with a smooth fast road, there was lots of motorcycle action. It reminded me of a similar Saturday in Italy in 2024. It was used as part of the Tour de France this year, so there were still a lot of markings on the road:

Easy gradients and even a light tailwind made it feel pretty fast. At the top we had an important decision to make.

It was going on 3:30 and we had two options. The easy way was a long descent on the fairly busy road we’d just climbed, then some flat valley riding to bring us around to Le Bourg-d’Oisans, where our hotel was waiting. An hour or so of easy riding.

Option two added a completely unnecessary climb up and over an easily avoided pass called the Col du Solude, an extra 700m of elevation at about 8% average. The kicker was that the backside down to the hotel was a wildcard: unpaved segments, unlit tunnels, who knows what else.

Can you guess which one we chose? Yes. We were feeling pretty good, so we went for it.

Harald bolted down the other side of the Ornon but was waiting for me at the turnoff. We actually kept descending for a bit, another 100m or so, because we had to cross the narrow gorge we’d been following and the bridge was low.

Road work on the upcoming segment had it closed except on weekends, so we just happened to get lucky there. It was clear there’d be no meaningful traffic. The road was in okay shape, mostly, but narrow, and the backside offered no way down for most motor vehicles. So we were pretty much alone, free to take up most of the road and ride side by side. On the rare occasions a car or an ebiker went by, it was moving slowly.

Up we went, twisting and turning. A consistently hard slope, but doable, and we were motivated. Near the top the road actually cuts under a small town rather than sending everyone through the middle of it.

At the top we came up over the saddle, and there was quite a view waiting for us.

That’s a complete look at the famous Alpe d’Huez climb, the kind of view you usually only get from the helicopter during the Tour de France. And at the very base, our destination for the night.

Descending was going to be trickier because of the road quality. It started as chunky gravel, which made for slow, careful work.

Eventually the surface improved and we could make better time (some of us better than others…). The scenery kept pulling our eyes off the road, as usual.

The road kept descending and changing character, and eventually turned into a ledge carved out of the side of a rock face.

To top it all off, there were three tunnels on the way down, of varying length. The two shorter ones were pitch black, which I discovered in full when I came to a stop and my generator light went dark along with everything else (dynamo lights only work while the wheel is turning, duh). A moment of panic. Then I took off my sunglasses (smart!), rolled the bike forward a bit, and the tunnel lit up as my eyes got used to it.

Overall, one of the most interesting climbs and descents we’ve ever done.

The rest of the evening played out about how you’d expect. Go to the grocery store, buy a lot of food (mostly the same stuff, it’s worked so far!), go to sleep (or write a blog post).

69 miles, 9000 ft of climbing and almost 8 hrs in the saddle. It’s what we’re here for, and tomorrow brings… Who knows?