Daniel and Mauro on a still dry road between Sierre and Vissoie. SIUNGARY 2008
BIG trip - Daniel Gobert - day 3
day 1 - day 2 - day 3 - day 4 - day 5 - day 6 - day 7 - day 8
Friday the 15th of august 2008
Wet, wet, wet
"Wet, wet, wet", a rock group with a lonely success but world success, terribly in phase with the present day of what would have to be the D-day of the crossroad. The swiss broadcast prevented us : it would be "wet,wet,wet".
The day before in the evening, we asked ourselves about what to do. e decided to meet together at 8.30 AM and to decide with a look at the sky on what we'll do during this day. Dominique Jacquemin, his family, José had decided to leave the place where the staid since a long time because the weather will not give them any possibility to ameliorate their scores. Nevertheless, Jules Dejace phoned me at 8 AM that the sky was ble over Sierre and that he began the climb of the Lake of Moiry. We hear that Martin Kool and Hans Koedijker just like Axel Jansen decided too to attack early this long climb and was already on the way . With Wim, Etienne, Mauro and Gabriele, we decided to make this attempt, perhaps without any good sense. But a cycloclimber isn't always full of prudency and sometimes a little wild.
Jules, 78 years old, chose very well his time-start because he ended his climb just with the last ones, started later. Axel in a better form, will also be met by the two dutchmen just before the entrance of the last gallery. The field had the advantage to meet all together in Vissoie, just in the beginning of the rain, welcome by Georges Rossini, who from Thonon, had made us the honour to give us a very sympathic visit. Wim Van Els who climbed Moiry just the day before (under the sun) and Jean-Luc Matte, arrived a little late in Sierre, decided to climb Chandolin on the other sid of the mountain from Vissoie, but over 2000m too. For Philip Hul, from Martigny, he climbed some BIGs in the surroundings.
For my own , I started , having parked my car just after the roundabout at the last exit of the motorway, at the bus stop (a sign ?) with my two italian friends. Etienne, started just after us in company of his wife who followed him in the car. We are on a good average 7% slope in the beginning for a total 30km climb. The first kilometers were dry. "Let's hope that it will stay dry " says Gabriele. "I hate the rain ", he adds. "It's not worthy the rain, it destroys the landscape, it burns the muscles,...". The speech against the rain of the sympathic Gabriele has made me laugh, the belgian that I'm having to live with the rain 300 days a year. I can't suffer the sun, he can't suffer the rain. Good for me, pity for him, the rain begins at Vissoie.
Daniel and Mauro on a still dry road between Sierre and Vissoie.
Let's be clear immediately , the rain will not only give us a company until the top, but will be heavier and heavier, become very cold and finally icy, and on the top becomes snow, not less, with nul degrees as a temperature. Shortly said, the legend has found its place in this D-day !
A french car crosses us by making a big big noise. We haven't the reflex to recognize the driver. He is Georgio. Georges Rossini, coming without his bike according to the weather but with his car and his good humor. Thank you, George, it's always a pleasure to meet you. Rainy downhill to Grimentz. We climb again with a regular slope until Mayoux under a heavy rain. Etienne reaches us by the back. After Mayoux, the slope becomes harder and the gradients are often up to 10%. 8 kilometers in the hell, with Georges who hurries up, Jules that we reach 4 kilometers before the top, the two italian guys who go quicker and quicker near the top , and Etienne who had the kindness to wait me each kilometer a few seconds to climb with me just 20 years after our Scandinavian tour. I'm always thinking about the Guillaume Prebois's sentence : "tomorrow, you've still to ride". It's better slowly but surely. I join Jules and I'm in full admiration about this man. Not so old, always active, in a winter weather, on terrible slopes and answering with some humouristic words to my questions. Hat trick, dear Jules ! I would like to be like you when I'll have your age. The last kilometer is terrible with nearly 15% in a gallery just like we had never seen before. Moiry Lake, here we are !
This last gallery is something unrealistic . A " mine hole " says Jules. A slopy gallery, just like in speleology : astonishing !
Mine hole. The picture tells us everything. 
At the exit, traditional picture, just before coming in the restaurant of the lake. Congratulations between us, sarcasms from the ones who went 3 kilometers further in the "Glacier" where is located the "sticker" - note that those kilometers are nearly flat (but cold!). Well, well, well, we let the restaurant in a terrible statement. Something like a waterpool at the backside, in company of dry tourists eating some speciality of the region. The barman asks us to be calm with our clothes and to be busy only with two tables, not more ! I admire my cycloclimbing friends who are able to eat full dishes with cheese, meats, ham and vegetables. I ask a "small menu for children" and I eat half the dish.
Three wet poor men who haven't put fire to the lake.
We decide to go down with the bus because one step outdoor means terrible swings and bodyquakes with our legs. The busses have very good material to wear the bikes. The driver has the habit to lead the cyclists up with the bus, and they go down with their MTB. Here, under the rain, he congratulates us for the other way that we manage to ride today. Nevertheless, the price is very high : about 30 € to go down with three different busses. The first one goes down to Grimentz (about 1500m high), the second one, one hour later goes up to Vissoie and the third one, one hour later, goes down to Sierre. What atravel and what a wasted time !
Holding the bikes ont he bus . 
In the opposite way of the group, helped by the fact that I don't hate the rain, and that I used to go down under the snow already last year in Vallter 2000 and previously, in Port de Pailhères, knowing that under 1500m, the rain can be ok for me, I only used the first bus and followed the way down on the bike. The climb between Grimentz and Vissoie helped me to be more hot inside the body and finally, I take some pleasure to go down from Vissoie to Sierre on a good surfaced road. During this time, the other ones (within an icy Hans stood up like a momy) wait in the pubs of the winter resorts the arrivals of the busses.
Hans Koedijker, icy momy. Where our life reaches our legend.
I spend two hours in my bed afterwards in front of the olympic games broadcasted in the television to be a little warmer just before the entrance of Jules who came in my bedroom (he has taken the bedroom of Gabriele ) and we discuss during an hour about Italy and Belgium, the differences, the sportsmen, the political ways,.... With an additional friend, Jean-Luc Matte, we meet the other members for the lunch again. Sharing of impressions, sharing of experiences, all the things that unify us in the common way of life and of lived adventures, and that slowly but deeply modify good companions to real good and precious friends . A deep friendship with a mix of respect and of admiration about what the other ones have already realised in their cycloclimbing life.