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July 24 Alpe D’Huez
After an horrible sleep – humid, mosquitos – we woke again without pressure to get up a hill for Le Tour – a CRACKING Hautes Alpes day – no wind and stinging hot sun at 8AM – a nice change from the gale force winds experienced over the last 3 days. We spun into Le Bourg d’Oisons for coffee and a croissant avec confiture. For a really solid coffee check out the cafe opposite the Hotel de Milan.
River in Bourg d’Oisans.
Looking from the campground to the d’Huez.
Coffee opposite Hotel de MIlan.
This is where we had coffee.
We met some Aussies, shot the shizzle, then headed off to get changed to smash the Alpe D’Huez. I’d been spouting about how delightful it looked and how I might Springbok up it. After a day of rest after my 5 days of epic climbing, I felt good. We spun out of town into the Alpe D’Huez and its 12% or so grade.
Now, a lot is made of the Alpe D’Huez – it’s viewed with a reverence and mysticism amongst cyclists. After doing it today, I can report it’s a reasonable climb but not what I would classify as hard. I would consider Mts Baw Baw and Hotham in Australia much harder. The thing about d’Huez is that it does not let up and it’s tricky to get tempo. The only respite is in the 20 or switch backs which spit you with some increased speed into more wall-like climbing.
After being left behind my Captain Chuckles on the St Bernard and Cormet de Roselend, it certainly was delightful to play with him for a kilometre or so, then blow him off like Usain Bolt in a lazy 100m dash.
The climb itself is reasonably enjoyable with lots to see, and lots of glacier-based streams to fill up or cool off in. Lots of flowers and some magical small villages are passed through. It was good to have the weight of the camera off my back, and that coupled with a day’s rest, saw me unleashed upon the climb,
We ran into the Aussies at the top and stopped for some (again) VERY good Lavazza espresso. “O” bar is run by I think an Italian and British couple and the coffee is seriously excellent. You can check out the review at wherespresso.com.
GOOOOOODDD coffee.
To be honest I was more taken aback at the scope of the winter terrain. The place is misleading (?) in that it looks like a simple village from d’Oisans but is so, so much more. The summertime XC and DH mountainbiking terrain is simply EPIC and you can see winter would be seriously (and dangerously) epic. And I mean dangerous. There is some very, very serious terrain.
After shooting the shizzle again, we rode off to D’Huez village where we turned off for an alternate descent of D’Huez toward Allemont.
Simply delightful jaunt through flower-filled meadows down into Allemont. The boys headed off toward Col du Glandon and we headed back to d’Oisans. The weather looked dicey, so we rolled into town and had a couple of sneaky Heinekens and watched the end of the Tour’s stage 19 into Aubenas at the camp ground – which was cooking a massive paella that night – the smell of prawns and chicken was maddening.
Watching le Tour.
An easy night to finish, as tomorrow we’re off to smash the Col du Glandon and Col de la Croix de Fer. The big boys approach with the Croix de Fer and Galibier on the roster over the next few days before we head home.
Similar Posts:
- July 23 – High French Alps transit to Bourg d’Oisans
- July 25 – Transfer to St Jean de Maurienne via Glandon and Croix de Fer
- July 26 – Cols du Telegraphe, Galibier and beautiful Chamonix
- July 18 – Swiss Alps to Bedoin, Mont Ventoux Recce
- Update (finally): Colmar-Suisse-France
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