Les Deux Alpes for Lunch, with a helping of Venosc on the side

I've decided to call it 'The Joy of Cadence'. Today's ride started with the climb up to Lac Chambon from Bourg d'Oisans. The intent was to climb to Les Deux Alpes and meet Angela for lunch. Not far out of Le Clapier, where the road starts up, I found myself struggling with low cadence and high power output, but on already on my 28 tooth sprocket. I was already rehearsing the excuses about not having the legs for today's ride when I realised I was still in the middle ring! After that, things went a lot better. As a result of a discussion on race craft with Kevin, I even managed to overtake a couple of fit looking riders on the way up to Lac Chambon. I like to think I attacked them when the climb eased a little. To them it all probably looked a little desperate. Still, I stayed ahead of them until the bottom of the climb to Les Deux Alpes.

The track up to Lac Chambon is available on Garmin Connect. 

Once again, things go haywire just above the barrage at Le Clapier. I suspect we're losing satellite signal around there.

I stopped at the barrage to start a new ride recording. I wanted to see what my time up the normal route to Deux Alpes was. The pair I'd overtaken came past me at that point. It was with some satisfaction that later on the climb I caught and passed them again. Not bad grandad!

Deux Alpes is a more forgiving climb than Alpe d'Huez. It's not as long, and not as steep. It's still a ride to be reckoned with, though. The surface is good, the ramps predictable and it's possible to set a rhythm and keep with it. Just as with Alpe d'Huez, arrival at the edge of the village does not mean the end of the climbing. There is at least another kilometer to go before the road flattens completely. 

Les Deux Alpes has the reputation of being one of the prettiest ski resorts in the Alps, as well as its second oldest. It's a big place, and it took us quite a while to find each other, before downing a limonade and a BLT at the Red Frog Irish Pub - really?

The track from Lac Chambon up to Les Deux Alpes is available on Garmin Connect.

Looking over towards Alpe d'Huez from Les Deux Alpes

I took an alternative route, on a much narrower and less well maintained road for the descent. The main road up is shrouded with trees making it difficult to find a place to photograph the valley. The older road has plenty of opportunity for such views. Some of these are man made.

Sometimes its better not to know what is beneath the road surface!

The descent on this route is steeper than the main way up. It also comes out on the main road much further down the valley towards Le Clapier. Once back on the main road, I threw caution to the winds and hurtled down to Le Clapier in no time. Well I say hurtled. I topped out at 62kph, which felt like hurtling to me, especially when I got hit by a cross wind gust.

The track for the back route down from Les Deux Alpes, including a detour in the village of Bons, and an excursion down a track to try and find a view through the trees, is available on Garmin Connect.

I had considered a climb up from Le Freney on to the 'balcony road' which runs along the side of the valley high up, joining the Alpe d'Huez road at la Garde. Some twinges in my back together with advice from Kevin that the climb is steeper than the road to the Alpe, made me reconsider. Instead I rode up to the cable car station at Venosc. It's a gentler climb with gradients at around 6-8%. Once again, I was passed by a pair of riders, but managed to catch and re-pass them on the way up. Getting competitive in my old age!

The track for the route up to Venosc from Le Clapier is available on Garmin Connect.

Finally, I rode back down to Le Clapier, and then time trialled along the 5km of flat road betweeen there and the roundabout at Bourg d'Oisans. Everything seemed to be working ok,

The track for the return from Venosc is available on Garmin Connect.