This is the big one for most of the boys really. As Phil Ligget says, there are bigger climbs and steeper climbs, but the Alpe has to be done really.
The last tme I rode over here it snowed lightly on the Alpe, just enough to bring on mild hypothermia for the descent. The whole ride was spent layered up...today the sun is out.
The breakfast club is developing quickly, my morning croissant run is expanding to the point that the bakery has to take on another member of staff. Just to note here, there are 5 boulangeries nearby, the one in the market square is by far the best...I've tried them all.
I've done this ride so many times now that I have a good feel for where people need to start the ride to survive it comfortably. The fanatics can ride straight out over the Col de Lauteret (27k), descend to Bourg d'Oisans (another 43k) then start the climb (13k, just a baby). For the first time I have company, Gareth, Mark and Meirion joining me for the full 100 miles. Tim generously offers to take the van over the Lauteret to La Grave, 11k down the other side, where we will all meet up for the rest of the ride.
So, Gareth takes us up the Lauteret at a blistering pace until first me, then Mark, are forced to sit up. Regrouping near the top we drop quickly down this fastest part of the descent to La Grave and install ourselves with a coffee in the most visible bar terrace. We only have to wait 5 minutes for a perfectly timed Tim to pull up nearby, and the group is together for the easiest start to any ride...30km of descent and flat before the climb. This is a stunning valley, punctuated by long, dark cold tunnels, and delayed by just one puncture for Mark when he clips a small rock, we are soon at the foot of the Alpe.
This will be the 4th time I've climbed this in the company of Meirion, and true to form he sets off like a rocket in the hope of crushing my morale completely. Everyone else takes their pace from Meirion, except of course for Gareth who is already at the top doing power intervals on the big ring before we have hit the 2nd hairpin.
Fact time, 21 hairpin bends on here, all numbered in countdown, and each one named after a previous stage winner on the climb. The first 3 bends are, in my opinion, the steepest, and after that I settle into the climb a bit. So, as is traditional, I overhaul Meirion after the 3rd bend and lay that one to rest for another year, still got Mark in sight but Gareth is long gone. Richard and Alan have sensibly given themselves a head start when we stopped earlier for some long forgotten reason, and are benefitting from a steady start to the climb.
It passes, as it always does, slowly, interupted briefly by the official photographer who snaps then passes a card with the web address for your overpriced pic. Follow the signs through the ski resort, past the only open bar, and if you are not too delirious you can follow the 'Itinerary du Tour de France' signs to the official finish line. I get there to find Gareth waiting, Mark, who I passed at half distance, has been overhauled by a turbo charged Tim who is just a couple of minutes behind me, and well ahead of the younger, lighter racing members of the Ystwyth CC. This has to be the ride of the week, shame on the rest of you.
When Dewi and Paul arrive I am suitably impressed by their suggestibility. They actually ride back down for 1k so they can sprint it out for the finish linetat they managed to miss on the way up...leaves me wondering what else I might be able to get them to do.
Lunch in the bar, vegetarians take note, the girl there struggles desparately with the concept of meat free and on her 2nd attept simply peels the ham off a croque monsieur ad hands it back.
We split up now, Gareth wants to torture himself some more and ride harder, so heads back the way we've come, while Mark leads us over the back road to the bottom of Les Deux Alpes...superb, bit more climbing but followed by 15k of manic, narrow, gravel strewn scenic descent...2 punctures for Meirion. Back up the interminable Lauteret where Tim loads half the group back into the van while me, Paul, Meirion, Mark and Shelley continue over the top, filling the bottles on the way from a variety of very dubious sources.
The descent off the Lauteret gives me a chance to make up for blowing on the climb as I let my fairly hefty body take me down the other side so quickly I don't pedal for 15k but put a minute into a hamster like Mark.
This evening we will dine on a huge curry, prepared by the resident chef, Alan (who did in fact used to be a chef, handy huh?).
Simon Miles: 98
What we learned today: Meirion didn't bring any extra tubes...again.
Richard is cold!
No comments:
Post a Comment