7/18/06 - Day 2 - Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez. Mythic.

Actually it was pretty cool. We started the day with a 12 mile fast descent from our hotel to the start of the climb.



After that you pretty much know the story: 8 miles, 21 switchbacks, 3,500 feet of climbing. It's tough. It's not the toughest climb we did but it varies in grade so much through the switchbacks that it's tough to get a rhythm going.

It was kind of erie because the road was packed with RVs and campers and tents but there were few people. We climbed it at 6:00 am and I think everyone was asleep.

I have only two disappointments about the entire trip and one of them is that I didn't get to meet the devil. If you don't know who he is I can't tell you because I gave away my copy of Bicycling magazine which contained his profile. I wore my ASU Sundevils jersey and I was going to stop and get a picture with him.

We got to the top but they stopped us about 50 yards from the finish. That's me on the left with Doug. My ass really isn't as big as it looks. I had a couple cameras with me (one of which I dropped and broke) and some cold weather gear.

At the top there was a bit of a traffic jam. Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin of OLN TV got stopped in it for a while. They were cordial at first but Phil looked like he was ready to chew somebody out for making him sit out there so long.

Afterwards we had 8 to 10 hours to kill in Huez before the ride came through. This is where the Trek Travel people really shined! They took our bikes and handed us our day packs. A quick shower and change and we were ready for the day. You've seen the picture with me, Doug, and Lance already I guess but we got this other one as well.


Doug was like a groupie walking around showing everybody the picture.

We had a fantastic lunch with the other Trek Travel teams and some people from Discovery Channel and OLN.

Later we watched the race finish from a special Trek Travel only area. Nice but really the race viewing aspect of the trip was the weak point. It's like going to a golf tournament and sitting at one hole all day. It would have been nice to have had a TV there with OLN.

After the riders came through the Gendarmes closed the road down so we had to take a different route down. Try to picture 7 miles of switchbacks dropping 3,000 feet and then ascending 2,000 feet over the next 8 miles all in a freezing rain. That's what the afternoon was like. And let me tell you it was AWESOME!