One of my very favourites, that one. Did it back in 2015 (Jeez! Ten years ago). I rode it from the Vesonne/Montmin direction, which apparently is shorter but steeper. Massive sense of achievement and fantastic views when I got to the top.
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Set off to return the same way and immediately popped a brake pad on the front wheel. Saw it fly over my shoulder and off the side of the road. Only just managed to stop before the first hairpin, by which time the metal-on-metal friction was causing sparks to shower like a Catherine wheel. I burned my finger when I touched the destroyed wheel rim to inspect the various rough burrs of metal that were hanging off it, looking like my abandoned first year metalwork project. I had to walk whole stretches of the descent when the gradient became too much for a combination of my rear brake and my feet on the ground. A minibus driver stopped to give me a lift, which turned out to be one of the most hair-raising drives of my life. He was a Austrian seasonal worker employed in taking tourists up from Doussard to the paragliding take-off site up by the col. The faster he could do the return trip, the more custom he got. He was virtually hanging his wheel off the inside of every right hander and almost clipping every rock face we passed. I may have missed out on the thrill of the descent while cycling, but he more than made up for that with the adrenaline rush from that drive. A never to be forgotten little adventure, that one.
