alpe d'huez

080907. A date that I will not be forgetting anytime soon, because its the day I finally climbed the Alpe d'Huez!

That's right, I biked up this very famous TdF mountain stage today. For the uninitiated, this particular mountain has hosted a stage finish every year from 1976, is one of the hors catégorie climbs, and is the battleground where many famous rivalries like Armstrong-Basso, Armstong-Ullrich have been fought. It features about 1100m of climbing and the average gradient is 8.1% - Not really suitable for your Sunday ECP cyclists!

But anyway I decided to give it a try, even though I still have not gotten a bike here. Piétér, a Belgian whom I met in school told me it was possible to rent bikes at Bourg d'Oisans, the foot of the Alpe d'Huez, so we made plans to bike up this weekend. But unfortunately he said that he had to attend a soirée on Friday night so the task was left to Cheuk Fong and me.

aerial view of Alpe d'Huez with the route outlined

profile of the climb

Met CF at 9 in the morning an we proceeded to take the TransIsère bus which would take us to Bourg d'Osians. On the bus we met another cyclist Tom who is a Australian but he was working at the moment in Austria so he took the opportunity to come to Grenoble just to climb the Alpe d'Huez. Boy I must be really lucky to be based in such a cycling paradise! =)

Reached Bourg d'Oisans and bidded farewell to Tom, who started riding almost immediately. Not for us, as we still had to locate a bike store for us to rent our bikes. Found this shop, which rented out entry level road bikes for 20 Euros per day. They even changed the pedals to Shimano SPDs so I could use my cycling shoes! I also bought a pair of CSC gloves as I heard that the descend would be nail-bitingly cold. Then we grabbed some lunch (which we brought along) and headed out.

The plan for the day was simple enough. Go Bourg d'Oisans, rent bike, bike up mountain, bike down mountain, return bike, go home. The first two were already accomplished without much difficulty, but how was item number 3 going to be? We soon found our answer as we found ourselves at the foot of Alpe d'Huez after 500m of cycling out of town. Almost immediately we were thrust into a 10% climb, with no chance of warming up whatsoever. In response, I shifted to the smallest chainring (luckily I rented a bike with a triple chainring) and tried to spin my way up as I read that the first two switchbacks would be the worst.

As this was my first time here and also my first time biking up the mountain, I did not know what to expect so I took it easy. I also stopped pretty frequently to snap pictures. Cheuk Fong, a debutant with zero experience on road bikes, gamely spun on all the way to the top sans helmet and SPDs!!! Take that man all you newbies! o_O

Ok some pictures from the bottom all the way to the top.

in the little village of Bourg d'Oisans

my steed for the day: a good ol' BH aluminium bike

all prepped and ready to set off!

cheuk fong too

all shagged out after the first two switchbacks!

view of Bourg d'Oisans just after 5mins of climbing!

there are signboards like this for all 21 switchbacks, and they act as a countdown from 21 all the way to 1!

more signs pointing out the way

a shot of the infamous hairpin switchbacks

another view from a little farther up

point of no return - at about switchback 10

reaching cloud level

got someone to take a photo for me.. also for me to take a break! =D

breathtaking scenery

almost there..

at the top! there was even a photographer at the top taking souvenir shots!

views of the village; there's a memorial with couple of bikes at the roundabout

l'arrivée, but its the fake one because..

the real TdF stage finish is here!

truly above the clouds; Bourg d'Oisans was actually overcast!

hell yeah!

podium finish

What goes up must come down. So after spending some time chatting with some other cyclists at the top we proceeded down. Frankly I do not know which was worse: Cycling up or going back down. The slopes were so steep that I had to keep my hands firmly gripped on the brakes on all times and maintain full concentration on the road at all times. It was also very cold going down and I was glad I had my jacket with me! Anyway both off us zipped down at speeds of about 60kmh, and yet people were still overtaking us! They seriously have nerves of steel.. =P

So anyway after getting down my fingers were totally frozen and I had to pry them off the handlebars. We were trying to make the 1550 bus back to Grenoble so we returned our bikes and headed for the bus stop tout suite. Luckily we got there in time and did not miss the bus (the next bus was at 1930). But by a cruel twist of fate I accidentally left my Northface jacket along with my newly-bought CSC gloves in the pocket at the bus stop! Damn.. I only realised it halfway through the journey and I knew by then it was too late to head back to look for it; It would have probably been taken by some person. Nevertheless I asked the bus driver to look out for it on the next journey but true enough when I called to ask him later on it was gone. So I guess I have to get another jacket. Sigh.. I loved that jacket! =( Bought it in Mongolia somemore..

Anyway that's about the end of my ride today. Will be buying a 2nd hand bike sometime next week and I definitely will be doing alot more of such rides around the area. Cycling is really the grand passion of the French (just look at all the graffiti of encouragement messages along the road) and the weather/scenery is just so amazing! À tout à l'heure! =)