We awoke today to more rain and the prospect of a second down day in a row, but at 11:00, against all weather forecast expectations, the weather broke and Hank and I swung into action. This was just as well, as Hank had been beating me at Scrabble and my morale was at an all time low. We rode up the Col d'Ornan from our lodge and then down the far side to the town of Entraigues where we had lunch. Then we rode back up the south side of of the Col d'Ornan and down the north side into the valley of le Bourg d'Oisans. From there Hank and I made our second assault on Alpe d'Huez, this time going up the back way from the valley at the start of the climb up the Col de la Croix de Fer (the Pass of the Iron Cross) and then off to the left on a steep climb of many switch backs to the town of Villard Reculas. After the switch backs we were on a climbing shelf road with phenomenal views down into the valley of le Bourg d'Oisans and then we popped out onto the main Alpe d'Huez climb about eight switch backs from the top where we got summit fever and continued on to the top. The weather held nicely for us. The road had dried out and we road in warm sunlight. I cribbed the map towards the bottom of this post and our route up Alpe d'Huez was down from Ornan, north through Les Sables, then right at the T in the road and up the route shown in purple. After Hank and I got up to Alpe d'Huez we descended down the its famed 21 switch backs and into the town of Bourg d'Oisans. From there we made the climb back up the Col d'Ornan to the King of the Mountains Lodge. We arrived just in time for dinner. A great day on the bikes with 60 miles of riding and about 8,800 feet of climbing. I am pretty sure that Hank has the only Hed bicycle and perhaps the only bike with time trial type drop bars in the world with a triple crank set in the front and God knows today we needed all the gearing edge we could get.
We awoke today to more rain and the prospect of a second down day in a row, but at 11:00, against all weather forecast expectations, the weather broke and Hank and I swung into action. This was just as well, as Hank had been beating me at Scrabble and my morale was at an all time low. We rode up the Col d'Ornan from our lodge and then down the far side to the town of Entraigues where we had lunch. Then we rode back up the south side of of the Col d'Ornan and down the north side into the valley of le Bourg d'Oisans. From there Hank and I made our second assault on Alpe d'Huez, this time going up the back way from the valley at the start of the climb up the Col de la Croix de Fer (the Pass of the Iron Cross) and then off to the left on a steep climb of many switch backs to the town of Villard Reculas. After the switch backs we were on a climbing shelf road with phenomenal views down into the valley of le Bourg d'Oisans and then we popped out onto the main Alpe d'Huez climb about eight switch backs from the top where we got summit fever and continued on to the top. The weather held nicely for us. The road had dried out and we road in warm sunlight. I cribbed the map towards the bottom of this post and our route up Alpe d'Huez was down from Ornan, north through Les Sables, then right at the T in the road and up the route shown in purple. After Hank and I got up to Alpe d'Huez we descended down the its famed 21 switch backs and into the town of Bourg d'Oisans. From there we made the climb back up the Col d'Ornan to the King of the Mountains Lodge. We arrived just in time for dinner. A great day on the bikes with 60 miles of riding and about 8,800 feet of climbing. I am pretty sure that Hank has the only Hed bicycle and perhaps the only bike with time trial type drop bars in the world with a triple crank set in the front and God knows today we needed all the gearing edge we could get.
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