Loop Ride: Lacets de Montvernier

June 11, 2025

We started our morning with a reasonably early breakfast so we could be waiting outside dVélos, yesterdays shop #1 and it seemed the place for high-end bikes here. Looking up the spelling of the shop’s name, I learned that it’s part of a regional chain with a dozen shops in Savoie and Haute Savoie.

The 3 bikes, including an e-mtb, were locked with a single cable lock. They, along with a nice hitch rack with its own cable, appeared to have been out overnight. You couldn’t do that in Vancouver and expect them to still be there!

The Dauphiné will be passing through on Saturday. We saw “upcoming road closure” signs en route yesterday; today the “no parking” signs were going up.

In any case, the mechanic at dVélos able to fix the spoke, which also required retaping the rim and new sealant, plus they replaced the valve. In doing this, the mechanic checked the brake pads, deemed them finished, and replaced them. Al asked him to check the front brake pads too and, since they were in similar condition, had them replaced too. Hmm. Al had started with at least one set of brand-new pads so as soon as we got back to our hotel, we checked mine. They looked ok. Phew!

Saw this interesting little bug where we did some of our waiting…about 8 mm long.

It was now after 11 on a day that was going to get hot. We have 3 days here, one allocated to rest, and 2 mapped day rides, one of which had 2 variations. We decided to do the shorter loop that included the Lacets de Montvernier.

We rode up through Le Châtel to Montvernier. Decision time: we could add an out-and-back up Col de Chaussy since we’d decided against the longer loop through La Chambre that included it. Al opted for more climbing but I decided to just continue with the short loop. He said later that it was a steep climb with no shade and a not-spectacular summit. I skipped it to conserve my energy for tomorrow’s ride so no regrets on my part.

View towards the valley from Le Châtel. I only had my phone camera so didn’t get a shot of this tower from the valley below but it’s pretty high.

One reason I was wondering about the tower is that both villages we passed through so far, Hermillion (in the valley bottom) and Le Châtel, had subtext about being a “commune de La Tour-en-Maurienne”. It turns out that La Tour-en-Maurienne isn’t the tower, it’s an amalgamation of these two villages plus Pontamafrey-Montpascal, which we will pass through after the Lacets, formed in 2019.

Al was waiting for me in Le Châlet, under this cherry tree hanging over a small public parking area. We had a nice snack! I saw several very loaded cherry trees on the ride.

In Montvernier. Decision time. It would be another 700 m vertical to Col de Chaussy so I decided not for me.

Also in Montvernier. Al saw this but I missed it.

From the info sign, translated by Google:

Construction work on the "Montvernier Road" began in 1928, under the leadership of the Montvernier Municipal Council, with the aim of opening up the village, which had previously been served only by a mule track.
Based on plans by Mr. Jean Pierre-Cabanes, Engineer, the route was staked out and supervised by Engineer Boniface Bochet, assisted by Mr. Abel Tronel, Mayor of Montvernier. A company from Isère began the project but abandoned it after two bends due to its complexity. The Gabriel Martiner Company of St-Rémy and St-Jean de Maurienne won the second tender and resumed work in May 1932.
Approximately forty workers, some from Piedmont and some from the region, were assigned to this project. Miners, earthmovers, stonemasons, and masons worked with shovels, picks, mallets and chisels, crowbars, sledgehammers, wheelbarrows, and quantities of explosives to lay the road and erect the drystone walls.

The first truck from the Berliet CBA company gradually replaced mules and carts for transporting materials from the valley. In 1934, the site was handed over for tarring by the Brun de Grenoble company, the same company better known today for its biscuits.

A few pics from my dawdling ride down the Lacets:

I was too late to get a boulangerie sandwich (they were all closed) so had a bistrot salad for lunch. Al was too late to get food by the time he joined me, so had the rest of my salad and a post-ride beer.

On a notice board near our table. Dauphiné events!

For dinner, burgers and beer. There is surprisingly little choice in this town.

Burger with house-made bun, frites, sauce poivre. And beer. We both had the same, but Al chose an IPA.

Zoom in on the part below Montvernier! (I added a bit to my ride, venturing back into Hermillon in an unsuccessful search for lunch, and around the Complexe Sportif to check out the swimming pool

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Today's ride: 19 km (12 miles)
Total: 721 km (448 miles)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	3

Scott AndersonI enjoyed the write up of the construction of the Lacets. It's still a ride I'd love to make someday.
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1 week ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonThe route I did was scenic and the climb was less steep than up the Lacets themselves.
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1 week ago