Historic Alpe d'Huez

The ride on Thurs 7/17 took us over historic Alpe d'Huez.  Many famous TdF stages/cyclists have conquered this climb, but not this year - we non-TdF cyclists had the Alpe all to ourselves.  And there were riders from all the world climbing, descending, picture-taking along the route, etc.  The road up to the d'Huez ski area near the top is about 14km long and has 21 famous switchbacks, each named after former TdF stage winners.  The first few s/b's are named after a couple of stage winners, e.g. the first s/b at the bottom of the climb is named for both F. Coppi ('52) and Lance A. ('01).  The climb starts in the village of Bourg d'Oisans at elev. 730m and goes to 1860m with an average grade of 8% with steeps over 12% at the beginning and end.

The record time to the top is 34 min by M. Pantani.  Lance A. did it in 37 min.  Yours truly, well let's just say I didn't set any records, but made it to the top, met lot's of cyclists along the way, and enjoyed the experience.  I find most of the climbing (and descending) here much steeper than your average climb in CO.  Here's a pic about 2/3 of the way up (@ the Gert-Jan Theunisse ('89) switchback).  It was taken by a rider from Denmark.

And of course, the proof that I was actually at the top.

The descent was also spectacular, down to the village of d'Huez and then a quick right and down the valley through the small village of Villard Reculas.  If you've watched the TdF in past years, you will recognize that descent - the scenery is unbelievable.

We are now staying at the ski resort of Montgenevre, in France and about 200m from the border with Italy.  Today (Fri, 7/18) we rode to Susa in Italy…stay tuned.