I have created this blog with the goal of keeping a record of my bicycle climbing adventures in this the summer of 2010. This blog begins in medias res, as I have already been riding and climbing a lot this year and for years past. I have already had a fantastic road biking trip to Moab and a great week of riding in Aspen (me, pictured right at the top of Independence Pass this spring,) not to mention a ton of great riding right here in Boulder, Colorado, my home base.
But for the next two weeks I hope to chronicle my climbing by bike adventures with my pal Hank Branjdten and his soon to be bride, Ki, in the French Alps. (They are getting married about an hour from when I am typing this. Congratulations Hank and Ki!) We are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday, the 13th of June, where we will await transport to our home for the next two weeks, the King of the Mountains Lodge in Rivier d'Omon, a small hamlet about 10 KM from Bour d'Osians at the foot of the Alpe d'Huez climb. We plan to ride not only Alpe d'Huez, but many of the other classic cols of the Alps that have been featured in the Tour de France. Pictured below are the "lacets de Montvernier" the seventeen hairpin turns at the start of the climb up the Col du Chaussy.
Guy and Helyn the owners of the King of the Mountain Lodge are originally from the UK and have been very incredibly helpful in setting up the logistics of the trip. We hope to tackle many of the great bicycle climbs of the French Alps. Hank's bicycling nom de guerre is 'the Grinder.' He has proven his ability to grind up pretty much any bicycle climb that he puts his mind to despite his clydesdalesque build. I, too, am a clydesdale type rider. To be honest, a clydesdale and then some type rider, as the clydesdale rider is 200 lbs and up and I am 250 lbs and up and therefore very safely ensconced in the clydesdale division.
When I think of Hank and I riding up the famed cols of the Tour de France, I, of course, think of the Hannibal and his war elephants crossing the Alps from what was then Gaul into Italy in 218 BC. If Hannibal could get his elephants up over those high cols, I figure Hank and I should be fine. I imagine the roads are much improved now, and at the top of most of these cols where Hannibal found rockslides and had to break his way through using vinegar (I have no idea how that worked) we are going to find little bistros where we can take a well-earned break and buy omlettes, frites & cokes.
