Next
Wednesday July 11, 2018 and Thursday July 12,
2018
El Granada to Geneva
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.
Years
ago when I first heard about friends at work spending their vacations
cycling uphill in the mountains I thought they were crazy. When I
first tried it I was only doing it to prove to myself I could do it,
and I still wasn't sure why I did it. I've come to realize that
cycling uphill gives you the perfect balance of making enough progress
to see many miles of mountains, but also moving slowly enough to
appreciate the scenery. After climbing two of the highest paved
roads in the Alps in 2017 -
Col du Galibier and the Stelvio, I decided to
see if I could tackle the top
ten highest
paved roads in the Alps. I was inspired in part by Kent's
quest to solo climb 4000m Alps, and also all the gorgeous pictures off
the over 800 Alps Will has climbed on cycling-challenge.com.
I booked my car reservation in Grenoble when I booked my airfare, but I
didn't try to rent a bike for the trip until late May 2018. I was
planning to rent a bike on Saturday July 14, but the bike shop let me
know I'd need to be there on Friday since Saturday is la Fête
nationale, French National Day, and everything will be closed. I
had made yet another rookie mistake.... I was lucky, however, and was
able to change my flight out to Wednesday night instead of Thursday
night with no change fees - one of the best perks of the American
Advantage program.
Unfortunately the fine folks at the car rental company gouged me to
pick up the rental car one day earlier - they called it a whole new
reservation that cost me a couple hundred dollars more for a week than
the old reservation.
Ray's family ended up on vacation in Barcelona and on a Disney cruise
from Barcelona around the Mediterranean during the same time I would be
in France.
Cycling totals for the trip 8597m vertical altitude gained 28,205' / 5.34 miles over 5 days
171.3km / 107 miles uphill, 155km downhill - north side of Col d'Izoard
is shorter than south side.
Over 380 days over three trips between July 5, 2017 and Friday July
20, 2018 I biked up 6 of the 9 highest paved roads in the Alps, plus 2
other cols that are in the top 25 highest paved roads in the Alps...
plus one more.....
14:58 Europe time 05:58 California time
PANO from the parking lot for Casse Deserte - scroll right
15:47 Europe time 06:47 California time
Friday July 13, 2018
Col d'Izuord - looking north
15:47 Europe time 06:47 California time
PANO of Col d'Izuord looking north - scroll right
15:49 Europe time 06:49 California time
Col d'Izuord - looking south
09:56 Europe time 00:56 California time
I made it!
Col Agnel looking north into France.
I had started so early I didn't see too many other cyclists on the way
up, at least until I started to stop and take pictures every 10
minutes... then cyclists started to catch up to me.
09:56 Europe time 00:56 California time
Colle dell'Agnello - looking south to Italy.
Note the clouds hanging over Valle Varaita
There's a statue of the Virgin Mary and an Italian flag right next to
my right elbow.
This view was amazing, it just about took my breath away.
I rode down to turn 1 on the Italian side to see what I could see, then
decided to head down to the statue of the Virgin Mary.
I locked the bike to the guardrail and in 4 minutes I was at the statue.
(I carry a very thin lightweight cable and lock that would only serve
as a minor deterant to any real thief, but I didn't expect a problem in
Europe in the middle of nowhere.)
10:25 Europe time 01:25 California time
Turn 1 on Colle dell'Agnello, the Italian side
PANO - scroll right
09:58 Europe time 00:58 California time
10:56 Europe time 01:56 California time
Cime de la Bonette
10:41 Europe time 01:41 California time
PANO - scroll right
Cime de la Bonette, looking southeast to southwest.
11:10 Europe time 02:10 California time
This is not the way I came up, this is the other side.
11:10 Europe time 02:10 California time
11:07 Europe time 02:07 California time
PANO - scroll right
Cime de la Bonette from Col de la Bonette, looking east and south.
I heard a curious sound for quite a while before determining what it
was - a fellow cyclist was trying to dry out his shirt and rubbing his
hands to keep warm in the relative shelter of a roadside altar just out
of
sight to the left.
11:09 Europe time 02:09 California time
PANO - scroll right
View from Col de la Bonette, looking southwest to north
11:52 Europe time 02:52 California time
A few nice hairpins - looking north from about 2260m / 7,420'
11:53 Europe time 02:53 California time
PANO - scroll right
12:02 Europe time 03:02 California time
Overlooking Halte 2000 Chalet Bar Restaurant, which is actually around
1960m not 2000m
14:22 Europe time 05:22 California time
Looking north toward Guillestre, which is in the center of the picture.
Just past Guillestre is farmland, then a canyon formed by the Guil
river.
You can see the cliff on the far side of the Guil river before it meets
the Durance on the far left.
The valley headed northeast leads to Briancon.
The valley headed east leads to Col d'Izoard and Col Agnel
10:57 Europe time 19:57 California time
Looking south back the way I came
11:29 Europe time 20:29 California time
Under dreary skies I finally reached the Calle Desert.
I was extremely glad that I'd already taken pictures here in excellent
sunlight a few days ago.
I'd wanted to see this for years, but I must admit it was a bit of a
disappointment.
From TDF footage I assumed Calle Desert went on for miles and was
enormous.
Having lived in the desert southwest, this was.... pretty tiny, all
things considered.
It only went on for a couple of kilometers.
However the prior two days rides had greatly exceeded my very high
expectations, this was pure gravy....
11:54 Europe time 20:54 California time
I made it!
Three cols in three days!
and I haven't been rained on today... yet....
I didn't linger long on the top, storms continued to form to the south.
I took a few more pictures then headed downhill on the north side.
This was the first time I've traversed a col.
11:56 Europe time 20:56 California time
Looking south back the way I came up... at storm clouds....
13:19 Europe time 22:19 California time
Colle del Nivolet
13:52 Europe time 22:52 California time
Lago Agnel and more hairpins winding their way up the mountain
It was now nearly 2pm and I still wasn't on top... and once I got to
the top I was still going to be 40km away from my car!
I refrained from taking pics on the way up those final hairpins and
finally got to the top!
14:26 Europe time 23:26 California time
I was spent... 40km uphill and over 2000m vertical, it had been a long
day!
14:46 Europe time 23:46 California time
PANO - scroll right
Looking southwest to northwest
I took tons of pictures from this spot, even the pano doesn't begin to
do this area justice.
If it was earlier in the day I would have stopped for lunch...
Since it was so late I just kept going.
14:49 Europe time 23:49 California time
Colle del Nivolet is 2612m according to the sign, 2641m according to
wikipedia, or 2601m according to my gps
14:56 Europe time 23:56 California time
PANO - scroll right to see tourists feeding a fox that's in the middle
of the road and the top of Colle del Nivolet
I took tons of pictures from this spot, even the pano doesn't begin to
do this area justice.
15:09 Europe time 00:09 California time
Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso
15:11 Europe time 00:11 California time
PANO - scroll right
Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso was featured in the 2003 version of the
movie The Italian Job.
I took tons of pictures from this spot, even the pano doesn't begin to
do this area justice.
Lago di Serrù
is the far lake, Lago Agnel is directly below.
15:12 Europe time 00:12 California time
15:12 Europe time 00:12 California time
13:19 Europe time 22:19 California time
The road up to Alpe d'Huez is hidden in the trees
14:11 Europe time 23:11 California time
Dutch corner
16:50 Europe time 01:50 California time
While the condo was a tiny ugly joke, the view was excellent.
I had a beer on my porch and relaxed for an hour or so before heading
our to see Alpe d'Huez and the TDF preparations.
18:52 Europe time 03:52 California time
After wandering all over Alpe d'Huez and finding not much of anything
all that interesting I got to the bottom of town.
People drink beer, watch the sun set, and applaud the cyclists who have
just gotten to the top.
Unfortunately it was packed, I couldn't find anywhere to sit
nonetheless eat.
13:33 Europe time 22:33 California time
I've been waiting for over 5 hours - I'm still grinning ear to ear!
17:42 Europe time 02:42 California time
17:42 Europe time 02:42 California time
17:42 Europe time 02:42 California time
Garaint Thomas wins, keeping his yellow jersey and beating his teammate
Chris Froome!
He's also the first Briton to win on Alpe d'Huez and the first yellow
jersey to win on Alpe d'Huez.
I had watched the shade form over the finish line over the last couple
of hours and was disappointed at the quality of my pictures.
Between the shade and the fact that the cyclists were moving very
quickly the pics suffered.
The video turned out much better....
17:46 Europe time 02:46 California time
Nairo Quintana
18:03 Europe time 03:03 California time
Geraint Thomas, stage winner and yellow jersey (GC / general
classification) winner
18:05 Europe time 03:05 California time
Pierre Latour, best young rider winner
18:12 Europe time 03:12 California time
Steven Kruijswijk, most agressive rider - Kruijswijk broke free withi
73km to go, only to get beat in the final few kilometers
18:22 Europe time 03:22 California time
Julian Alaphilippe, king of the mountains
18:25 Europe time 03:25 California time
Peter Sagan, best sprinter
10:33 Europe time 19:33 California time
Tignes Dam on the Isère river, looking south / uphill
11:56 Europe time 20:56 California time
12:34 Europe time 21:34 California time
the town of Val d'Isère
12:51 Europe time 21:51 California time
Looking northeast, Lac du Chevril is in the distance
14:00 Europe time 23:00 California time
The top!
And its starting to sprinkle, and I'm 48km from my car!
