During the fall of 2017 Kathy and I decided to see Alaska in August 2018.  This meant if I wanted to go to Europe in the summer of 2018, I'd need to do it earlier in July.  If I was going to be in Europe in July, I could try to see the Tour de France!  Unfortunately I came up with this plan in the fall of 2017 a few weeks after the 2018 Tour route was announced, so all the available hotel rooms near all the mountain top finishes were already sold out.  I was most interested in the mountain top finish on Stage 12 on Thursday July 19, 2018 on Alpe d'Huez, the overhyped and highly overrated mecca of cycling.  My first Alpine climb was Alpe d'Huex on Tuesday August 4, 2015 - I rearranged my Swiss trip and climbed it a week after watching the Tour de France finish its last mountain stage ...

In the fall of 2017 I reserved airfare in and out of Geneva.  Late in the fall an extremely overpriced and tiny AirBnB became available on Alpe d'Huez for the nights I needed, so I went ahead and booked it and invited the rest of the guys to come.  Kent wanted to come, but his ex wouldn't take the kids that week, so he came to Europe the week after I did and Kent missed the Tour.

I planned to stay near Guillestre, France for a few days and do some cycling, then see the Tour on Thursday, then perhaps do one more climb near Alpe d'Huez on Friday before heading home. I picked Guillestre to do Col d'Izoard, another legendary Tour de France climb.  I figured I'd be happy to get 3 climbs in over the course of a week considering the weather and general dificulty involved.  I figured at least one rest and/or rain day would be necessary.