Tales from the Damp Side: The Most Famous Climb of All

L'Alpe d'Huez

It's was the last day of our trip. Tonight we'd drive to Lyon, pack our bikes, and get ready for an early morning wakeup call for our flight to London. After finishing Col du Sabot the day before I'd sworn off any more riding. No no no. It was all about relaxing until we got on the plane. The day was sunny and the skies were blue. Chris had been itching to ride up a narrow road behind La Grave that leads to a village way above, so that was the first order of business this morning.

Ride #10: Col du Meije

For lack of a real name, I'll call this ride "Col du Meije", after the massive mountain that looms over La Grave. It was 3-4 miles up and roughly 1500 feet of climbing. I happily sat in the car while Chris worked his way up.

The climb begins

"Le Meije"

Ride #11: L'Alpe d'Huez

Afterward, we drove one more time toward Le Bourg-d'Oisans, the town that is a base for many climbs in this region. The climb of L'Alpe d'Huez, made famous by the Tour de France, also starts near Le Bourg. The climb is a 'must do' for many cyclists, but it was never on our ride list. There are too many other routes that are more scenic, less hyped, and far less crowded. But, on our last day, it was on the way to the airport and wouldn't require any planning.

So off to L'Alpe we drove, with me still trying to convince myself that I wasn't going to ride. I held firm to this notion until we pulled into a parking lot and I saw all the other cyclists. Ok, ok, I guess I will ride The Most Famous Climb of All.

After changing in the parking lot, Chris and I rode to the base of the climb together, then he rode ahead to keep up with a pack of faster cyclists. He would get to the top and then come back down and finish my climb with me.

L'Alpe isn't a particularly scenic ride, at least not by the high standards set by the other rides on our trip. It was also sort of like a cyclist express route, loads of people coming up and down, compared to relatively few riders elsewhere. So it was a very different feel from our other rides.

The one fun thing about L'Alpe is that all 21 switchbacks are numbered, starting with #21 at the bottom. So you get to count your progress as you go up. The climb is very steep at the bottom. It lets up after awhile but is very much a climb all the way up. The only relief was the slight flattening of the road at each switchback. I took my time turning each of the 21 corners to enjoy a little relief. But it was a hot day and it was the end of a long trip and the climb for me was mostly a grind. I stopped at switchbacks #13, #8, and #5 for breaks. Chris rejoined me at about #7, and from then on I kept telling him how I didn't really care if I got to the top and it was okay if he wanted to turn around and we'd ride back down the hill. Fortunately, he never takes me seriously. At some point I was yelling over to him that I didn't know if I was going to finish the ride, and a woman riding a hundred or so feet in front of me yelled back, "Yes you will!" So I did.