If it's Tuesday, it must be another HC climb

Last Tuesday, we climbed Mont Ventoux. This Tuesday, we headed to l'Alpe d'Huez. The Alp (as Rob likes to call it, as if there were no others) might be the most famous climb in cycling after Mont Ventoux. Some may argue that it's more famous. Maybe that's why I felt I needed to climb both.

We started off the morning at the top of Col de la Madeleine, where we dropped off Lance and Rob. I'm still not sure why, but they wanted to ride down yet another world-famous climb. Within seconds, they were out of sight! The top of la Madeleine is pretty open, but we still couldn't see them amongst the switchback. It took us half an hour or so to make it down the twisty-turny mountain road. We found Lance and Rob sitting on a bench outside a cafe at the bottom. I'm not sure I want to see the video Lance shot of the descent. I know his mother won't be too happy to see it, either!

Lance and Rob ready to race down la Madeleine

Next stop was the top of the Col du Glandon. The Tour de France passes over the the Glandon in a couple of days and fans were already camping out in giant RVs and little tents all the way up.

One of the many trailer parks that pop up
when Le Tour climbs a mountain.

It's about a 13 mile descent from where we parked to the valley that leads over to l'Alpe d'Huez. Thirteen nail-biting miles (if you could take your hands off the handlebars long enough to get a bite, that is)! The views of the valleys were breathtaking. Waterfalls. Mountain lakes. Cows!

We eventually made it safely down and had a great ride through the FLAT valley over to The Alp. Unlike Mont Ventoux, l'Alpe d'Huez starts immediately at 10%. There's no easing into it. Luckily, the 10% only lasts about 3km. By the time we got to the third switchback, the grade dropped to "only" 7%, which felt surprisingly easy. The next 21 km and 19 switchbacks averaged 7% to 9%. An hour and eighteen minutes later I reach the top. Paul and Barb finished a few minutes later. The Alp seemed easier than Ventoux, but it was still exhilarating to climb such a famous route that I've been watching on TV for so many years. Both climbs are certainly highlights of the rides so far.

So many switchbacks

I bet we'll have close to 30,000 feet of climbing before we leave. But that's only half the story. While the climbs have be exhilarating, the descents have been harrowing! All you read about in the press is about the epic climbs and the battles between climbers to reach the summit first. If you ask me, the ones who can descend quickly should be the ones getting the press. Any one can climb. Maybe not fast (I'm exhibit A!), but it's not particularly scary to go up hill. But down hill, that's a whole nuther story. These long, twisty, steep descents are jus plain scary! Terrifying in some cases. I'm not sure I'll ever get up the nerve to take them "at speed". On a flat road, I've got no problems going 25-35+ mph or faster. But on these long descents, 25 mph feels like 100mph! I bet I stopped more times going down hill than up on this trip. I truly do not know how anyone could be comfortable going down these mountains at 50+mph!

So, a long story short, it took some of us so long to descend the Glandon that it was readily apparent that we'd never make it up and back down l'Alpe d'Huez and back up to the van before dark. So Lance sent me, Barb, Paul and Rob up The Alp while he went back to get the van. After climbing The Alp, buying l'Alpe d'Huez jerseys and descending the 21 switchbacks, we found Lance enjoying a scoop of gelato at a sidewalk cafe in Le Bourg d'Oisans, the village at the base of the mountain. We joined him and recounted the difficult climb and harrowing descent over a couple of cold ones. Beer truly tastes better after an epic ride.