Today is day thirteen of the flashback series. I’m putting these posts up unedited in all of their retro glory.
Little old me on Alpe d'Huez.
This post was originally published on or around 20/07/2008.
It’s now around lunchtime on the day after that day. Alpe d’Huez is filling up with people and by the time the race arrives at around 5:00 p.m. it should be crazy. The road has been closed to public vehicles since 9:00 last night and will not open again until sometime tomorrow morning. More about that perhaps in my next post.
Yesterday was a hard day on the bike. We woke to this spectacular view from our room.
After the most craptacular breakfast of the tour so far we were on the bus and off to the Col de Lautaret – which thank god is halfway up the Galibier. It was cool – probably around 10 degrees and we were already at altitude – around 2000m. I started the climb in full-leg warmers, long-fingered gloves and a jacket.
The 8km to the top was our warm-up for the day. Unfortunately, there was no warming up – it was even colder and windier at the summit …
…meaning that it was a very short stay before we headed downhill for almost 40 km with the Telegraphe in the middle leaving us at the base of the Croix de Fer.
The Croix de Fer is a beast – harder than it looks. It is so long – almost 30 km that it never seems to stop.
The worst part is that you look up and I do mean up and you can see the bloody camper vans and you know that somehow you have to drag your tired body past them all.
At the top I had lunch while waiting for the rest of our group to make it across. Then another 20 or 30 km of fast downhill interrupted by one little lump before we were back in the valley roads for 15 km to the base of the Alpe d’Huez.
By this stage, it’s fair to say that I was toasted. It was around 6:00 p.m. and I was so tired and so crampy that I could not use my left hand to get into the big ring when required. I had to reach over with my right hand to change gears. Luckily for me not much time is spent in the big ring around these parts. By the time we got to the climb, we were well past the cut-off time that the guides had set. All day I had waited at the top and bottom of each climb asking our group’s guide if we would make it in time and while I was assured we would – by the top of the second climb it was obvious that we would struggle. I was asked to wait and did, and at the bottom, only two of our group climbed the Alpe.
While I was tired, I knew that if I could get through the first 3 km then I would be alright. I was glad that I took some photos on the bus on the way up as I did not stop on the bike. The 21 switchbacks give you some respite from the climbing and the roads were lined with a whole pile of people in differing stages of sobriety. I was very pleased to get to the top, quickly rug up and thankfully ride back down to the hotel where I fell into the shower. I arrived at the top just after 8:00 at night – a very very long day in the saddle.
Pizza for dinner at the restaurant closest to the hotel – a brief trip to the internet cafe and then home to bed for a well-earned rest.
A very memorable day!!
