Alpe d'Huez and the Col de Sarenne

The first real day of riding dawned fair. Angela sensibly decided to stick to the lower slopes, riding up to the dam and power station at Lac Verney.

I, on the other hand, threw caution to the wind and decided to head up to Alpe d'Huez. We parted company at the foot of the climb. Everyone says that the first few ramps of the climb are the hardest and indeed they are. The gradients are frequently above 10%. What no one tells you is that the rest of the ramps are almost as steep, with gradients between 8% and 10%.

Having seen the climb yesterday, I knew that heroics at the bottom would be doomed to failure. I rode the numbers. I tried to maintain around 200W, using more when I needed to maintain pace on a particularly steep part, or to overtake someone. Yes, I actually did that! After only a few of the 21 hairpin bends that mark progress to the top, I did start to get a little lower back pain, but as it didn't get any worse, I just carried on. I ended up riding in a small bunch all trying to survive to the top at about the same pace. I resisted the increasingly strong temptation to stop for a breather, even when super fit riders whizzed past going up at unfeasible speed. In the end I hit my target numbers all the way to the top, taking just a shade under 1 hour 50 minutes without stopping. Mind you, at the top, I was wrecked. I didn't dare even try to get off the bike for a couple of minutes for fear of falling over. I sat on the pavement at the finish line, re-hydrating and shouting a weak 'Chapeau' for each rider crossing the line. The selfie I took at the finish is rather grim faced, reflecting my uncertainty about remounting to ride back down to the village to get a drink.

Instead of that, here's my bike up against the finishing post!

The track for the ride up to Alpe d'Huez is on Garmin Connect.

After a very large Limonade, Chez Leo, and quite an extended rest, I started to wonder if I could complete the loop from Alpe d'Huez over the Col de Sarenne and back down to Bourg d'Oisans via the lower reaches of the Col de Lauteret. This is a popular scenic drive, known as the Tour de l'Oisans. The main snag with it is that it drops away from Alpe d'Huez, which is nice, but then has to climb back up to an even higher altitude at the Col de Sarenne. I decided to give it a go. The first problem was that on the short climb out of Alpe d'Huez, I got cramp in both legs. I managed to ride through it by knocking the power back and taking it easy for a few minutes. After that, the ride through spectacular scenery was only slightly spoiled by the road surface. As they say in France, chausee horribly deforme. Or at least, they should. The 2013 Tour de France raced over this route. It beggars belief!

I had a few problems with the connection between my head unit and sensors on this part of the route. Eventually I cured them using the Windows method. Turn it all off. Wait 5 minutes and then turn it all on again. I'd already decided to break up any steep descent by taking photos. It allows the brakes to cool off, really important on a hot day when an over inflated tyre could lead to a blow out. The overall result is that the track for the Tour de l'Oisans is in several pieces, with a few gaps.

Tour de l'Oisans Part 1
Tour de l'Oisans Part 2
Tour de l'Oisans Part 3
Tour de l'Oisans Part 4

The scenary behind Alpe d'Huez is spectacular

Yes, that really is the road down!

Even at this time of year, there is snow on the highest peaks.

One of the less scary tunnels on the Col de Lauteret. It's on the right...

So, I may have been slow, but at least I've proven that I can get up this sort of climb. If I can get out of bed tomorrow, I may well have a go at another one!