F & S Day 13 12/09/11 - Alp d'Huez

Today was meant to be a rest day, but we always knew that we could never resist a climb of the legendary Alp d'Huez.

We had a great pizza in town last night and a nice lie in till about 8:30 this morning. Then after a lazy start, picking up a baguette in town for breakfast, we began the ascent at 1030.

Francis decided he wasn't quite ready when we left so Ben and I left together. We hit it pretty hard - sticking together up the 21 hairpin bends and briefly enjoying the stunning views of the valley below when we weren't squinting trough the pain and sweat.

We eventually got to the top in a time of 0:59:52, so just under an hour! Pretty good really considering the weight of our bikes and the fact that we have been riding almost solidly for two weeks!

This afternoon we wandered around town and got some food from the supermarche, then chilled out in the campsite.

We are losing Ben tomorrow - real shame, but he needs to be with his family at the moment for personal reasons, so for the last week of the tour it will just be me and Frank powering up back to Le Havre.

Tomorrow it is time to start heading North again.

Interesting Link from another Blogger about Climbing times of Alp d'Huez: http://www.gsoto.easynet.co.uk/fr_ride1c.htm



Comments

  1. Thought you'd be interested in this quote: "I found out from other riders during the course of the week that breaking 60 minutes on this climb is the objective for those who fancy themselves crack climbers. It’s like batting .300 in baseball, the de facto dividing line." from this blog http://www.gsoto.easynet.co.uk/fr_ride1c.htm So you count as a 'crack climber'! Go Tim!

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