Modane - Alpe d'Huez

Distance:109km (68mi)
Total Ascent: 3,600m (11,800ft)
Col du Telegraphe 12km @ 7.5%
Col du Galibier 17km @ 7.1%
Alpe d'Huez 13km @ 8.1% (01:16:0)
5:04:27, 890th out of 6443 finishers

The Etape du Tour is bigger than ever this year, for the first time there are 2 stages of this years Tour de France available for amateurs to ride/race/survive. They turn out to be the shortest and longest stages of this years race, but for me the attraction of finishing at the ski station of Alpe d'huez was perhaps the main attraction of Act 1 of the choice of stages. Initially this would be enough, but a look at the profile for the day shows the main obstacle will be the Col du Galibier.

We arrive at Modane mid afternoon on Saturday, having had a long drive via Geneva, Annecy, Chambery and aim at driving as close to the registration as possible. I knew this was at the ski resort of valfrejus up the hill from Modane, 6km up the mountain around many hairpin bends. Some riders were using this as a warmup, but it just seemed dangerous with so many shuttle buses going up and down the road, and sure enough there was an accident at one point but I don't know how this occurred.
We passed through a vast tented village of sponsors, souvenir stalls and cycle accessories before the registration process. Printed registration form, passport and medical form were all collected and the goody bag was good quality with a nice Rapha t-shirt and bag, etape water bottle being the most useful as well as other tat.
A large crowd gathered to watch the closing moments of the days tour, but without the commentary of Paul Sherwen or Sean Kelly its difficult to know whats going on. Its never been a great spectator sport, but when you get enough people together who know what these guys are going through each day, we all still cheer and applaud the large screen when the riders cross the finish line.
In general, the return journey to Valfrejus from Modane was a waste of time and effort. Certainly glad I hadnt cycled up, and even using the bus system this took several hours to register and return back down to the valley before we could find the next ski resort of La Norma, only 5km from Modane and with far fewer hairpins to negotiate. La Norma is a much nicer resort, very small though, but here would have been far more convenient for all involved.

So you're about to cycle 109km from A to B, across the mountain tops, very good but how will you get back home? The only solution to this is to drive to the finish, leave your car there and get the etape shuttle bus back home.
This is the best thing to do, and although we were advised to cycle via Col du Glandon, we took advantage of the fine weather to check out the course by driving the full route. This was really valuable, and I highly recommend driving the route before any cycle race, but perhaps more so for a big day out in the alps. This was tricky as there happened to be another large cycling event taking place climbing up and over the Galibier, but turning left at Col du Lauteret. Seemed to be a huge number of riders, but I'm very glad to look forward to closed roads for l'etape on Monday.
The descent from Galibier down to Bourg D'oisans just goes on forever. Through several tunnels, then down, down and down again to the foot of Alpe d'huez and the long ascent up to the finish line. From the car, the ascents don't look so bad, but its the massive descent which looks the most troublesome part of the ride to come with over 7000 riders racing down.
The shuttle bus takes over 2.5hours, not the "round trip" of 3 hrs suggested by the organisers, and takes the reverse route of the stage back to Modane, so we get preview the route once more, this time more relaxing as I don't have to drive just be amazed by the size of the mountains and the size of the task we all face the following day. The mood in the bus certainly seemed to be one of awe struck, more than excitement, but everyone in good spirits. We make it back in time for the pasta party, but theres one English guy who hasn't realised the registration is way up in Valjefrus yet, hes not going to get any rest for a few hours yet.
Not sure of the numbers, but I guess 40% of competitors to be British, or at least it sounds like that from the conversations going on anywhere in the village or bus. The rest speak French, and I didnt hear any German this weekend, but I'm sure there are a good number here.
I get a taxi back to La Norma, and in the late evening I can finally check the bike ready for the big ride.


I wake at 5am Monday morning and have a great breakfast of French muesli (definitely not Birchirsmuesli), baguette, melon, coffee and check out. Its hardly cold, so I realise the underlayer will not be required today. Lots of cyclists are staying in La Norma, and as we descend the 3 or 4 bends down to the main road, the rear tyre of one French cyclist explodes in front of me. Too high pressure on old tyres I assume, I offer to help but he seems able to cope himself. Not a good start for him.
This year the etape start is split into 12 zones, which is largely based on expected finish time. I didnt put down a time, so I was happy enough to find I had been place in pen 6 out of 12, no further back down the field at least. Its a long wait for the start, and as the road is bottle necked to 3 meters the process of filtering the riders is taking longer than the organisers expected. It works well however, and once past the start line theres no massing of riders at all as we descend the first 15km. In the car this looked like a steep descent, but riding proved to be comfortably downhill without requiring braking.

Soon enough, the route took a sharp turn left and straight up the Col du Telegraph. Its called that because theres a telegraph station at the top, no other reason. Its a very comfortable climb, no steep sections and plenty of rest so a very nice warmup for the later climbs. Already, I seem to be climbing much faster than anyone around me, I'm slightly concerned I'm going too fast, but climbing is about going your own speed so I keep up the tempo.
Hardly a descent off the top of this climb, but for 5km we generally get a well earned break in the early morning sunshine. I see the first fallen rider on the right here, the gendarmes are warning everyone about the fall and telling us too slow down in a very effective manner. The guy doesnt look to injured, but more upset to have fallen so early in the day.

After Valloire, the 17km marker by the roadside signals the start of the climb up to col du Galibier.  I really like this climb, its my kind of gradient, very similar to the ascent of Mount Fuji via the Subaru line, only slightly steeper. Its only the final 5km when the road turns right out of the valley that it gets steep, and the final 2km when you're feeling the altitude at over 2600m that it saves the steepest section of tarmac. Here a Mavic car is trying to get through the riders unsucessfully as they are possibly unable to respond to the drivers intention to pass, some look quite tired by this stage and I see one guys legs wobbling like jelly as if they are about to collapse. Its a beautiful day up here but I still decide to put on the gilet and waterproof jacket for the descent.
The very top is steep and twisting with no guards at all at the roadside, so I very gingerly make my way down gradually speeding up and using the brakes less as many riders are hurtling past at what must be 80-90kmph. I would have lost several minutes to these downhill speedsters, but I'd catch them again on the climb or at least hope to.
The tunnels beyond La Grave are incredibly dark. For some reason, the first tunnel I decided to find out if I could see with my sun glasses on, the answer was obviously no, so at the next tunnel I had to take them off. Clearly the lights in these tunnels are for guidance, but without car headlights theres nothing to tell whats ahead here, and I was really riding in a blackout at times here.
I was happy to have a decent headwind to slow the speed down for most of the descent here, but beyond the tunnels it was clear that forming a group of riders would be beneficial. A French guy and Englishman locked onto my wheel as I tried to join a group ahead, but we were not making any progress for a long time. Eventually there was a small rise beside a dammed lake, and this was the time to sprint and grab on to a wheel to rest a while for the final climb.
In the end I spent far more energy than expected on the road down to d'Oisans, and I found I was pulling a big train along the final long straight where I flew straight passed the water/feed station and upwards. Looking back, everyone else stopped here, but I found I only needed one refuelling stop today which was back in La Grave. By the end I had drunk 4 water bottles, 5 energy gels and 2 bananas.
Alpe d'huez is steepest in the first 2km, so I see why people attack here from the start. Not that I could of course but this was the place to pedal the hardest. Still, I was flicking between 23-25 chain (38 compact on the front) so its not incredibly steep and there are amounts of respite.
On the lower slopes people were refilling water bottles or drinking straight from waterfalls, but I did not find the heat to be a problem at all.
It was nice to see many people on the slopes, cheering with an allez allez, or hop, and many British flags were flying where people had camped or parked by the roadside. Of course nothing at all like the scenes for the tour, but it was nice to have a small amount of encouragement up the hill.
It is tough, and the toughest climb of the day and as it is at the end of the ride the muscles must be tired and I am on the verge of cramping up in both calves, so I steady the cadence instead of sprinting around people.  
Once in the town, people are sitting by the roadside eating meals and drinking wine so its much noisier up here, and we all speed up the final bump before a short downhill and take the famous tight left  hand bend up to the finish line. We are given a finishers medal, then a bag of food, pasta party and then baggage collection. After that, we are free to enjoy the mountain view as thousands more bikers ascend the famous hairpins of Alpe d'huez.
Compared to 10 years ago, this time it was great to be at the finish line after a well planned ride nutrition wise and with proper training and experience in the mountains. Theres no way to train for a ride like this in Britain, just covering the distance is nothing like the 3500m of ascent which I am sure will break a few bodies today.

After the ride, its clear that this place is a mountain bike heaven as well. 19 euros gets you a lift pass to travel the pistes with bike, and its a very extensive area not just 2 or 3 downhill tracks. Very tempting, but I had my bike with me so the next morning I cycled further up the hill beyond the ski station to a few small lakes, a nice ride before checkout.
Driving down the mountain Tuesday morning, its obvious this hill is climbed by thousands of cyclists every day of the summer. The photographers are well placed, taking photos and passing a ticket to each rider, it must be good business on sunny days like this to record this personal achievement.

So my faith in l'etape is restored. I would say most people here are out to complete the ride, just to finish a stage of the tour de France as I did 10 years ago. But there are many here to race, and the winning time of 3hr 39min will be close to the winning time next Friday.
I will have to see what they decide on next years route, but I would come back for another etape.

As long as its warm and sunny of course.