Alpe d'Huez!!

Looking down on the Bourg d'Oisans from Alpe d'Huez



The podium and the climbers' jersey at the top



Each switchback has a name...and this one has Lance Armstrong conveniently behind a fence



There were so many people climbing the mountain (and it happens every day). These are two very young boys making the trek

July 9 Alpe d’huez-La Grave

We woke up early today and set out to climb the legendary Alpe d’huez. The climb is full of relatively steep grades and 21 switch backs (each named after a famous cyclist). When we started out we were astonished to find that we were actually gaining on some cyclists and were able to pass the ones that had stopped. We actually started out early enough that no cyclists caught us on the climb. It was fun to see each switchback labeled and it gave us something to countdown. By switchback number 11, we ad been climbing for about half an hour. We then started pushing to try to make the climb in an hour. It turned out that we weren’t quite at the halfway point then, but we ended up finishing our climb in an hour and ten minutes. (We had to stop just short of the top because of a market that was in place for the day). We stopped and talked to an Aussie who had just finished the climb and he told us that there was actually a big banner and the actual finish for the Tour climb up the hill a little ways more. Nate and I decided to go up and take pictures of the podium and signs. There was also a huge downhill bike race going on too. It seems that every climb we do, there are festivities going on at the top. Anyways, settled in for our descent and headed back to pack up camp.
I think it’s safe to say that we lost all motivation for packing up camp when we got back down. It was super hot and we were trying to beat our check out time plus trying to use the free internet that we hadn’t been able to work the night before. We packed, ate lunch, and headed down towards La Grave which would be base camp for our next day of passes. The road to La Grave was a gradual uphill, but we only had about 30k more to go. The heat made the day seem to pass very slowly, but we finally made it to La Grave and stayed in the first campsite we laid eyes on. It was right next to La Romanche river which was very very nice for our legs after our many climbs. This campsite included many characters including a crew of drunk French people ogling my water filter as I was trying to get drinking water. They had no idea what it was, and I had no idea how to explain. It was quite comical…for them and me.
We went up to town for a bit to sit in a café that said they had WiFi, but the signal was short of functional. They did serve us our first crepe in France which was delicious. We also went grocery shopping and enjoyed some live music from a trio at a café catty corner to ours. All in all, it was a good night, that got us ready for the next day.
~55k
Mo