2012 Day 10 in France - Sometimes we get lucky!

I think a lot of the time we have the false impression that we never catch a break.  I try to make note of the times in my life when things are going better than I expect them to go.  For example, last year I was lucky enough to get to spend a week or so riding with my friend Lenny Allen out in California in the Bishop area of the Eastern Sierras.  Up and down the Owens Valley from Bishop there are some of the greatest road climbs in the US.  All of the rides up into the Sierras begin with a long climb up a two to four mile ramp that is the deposition zone at the foot of the Sierras. They are consistent climbs witht about a 7% grade at a guess.  What Lenny and I immediately noticed was that we always had a tailwind pushing us up the climb.  Every time we rode up those hill frm the valley floor we had a  tailwind pushing us along.  So life is not always waged against a headwind, like my ride back to the KOM lodge yesterday.  I think we all often catch breaks like that without realizing that things are going our way.  That is not a small thing to notice and it is worth remembering.

Another example of catching a break was today.  Today it was suppose to rain hard all day long.  That was the forecast, anyways.  But it didn't.  It drizzled, and then it cleared by 10 AM.  So I got to do one of my favorite rides here once again: the back way up Alpe d'Huez, via the town of Allemont and the road up to Villa Reculas which eventually takes you into the town of Huez about 300 meters below the top of the classic 21 virages climb up to Alpe d'Huez.

Here is my Garmin map of the climb after the fact:

The line off of the loop bottom left is my ride down and up the Col d'Ornan.  The squiggles at the top are the switchbacks up to Villa Reculas.  The squiggles below that are the climb up Alpe d'Huez from Huez and then the descent down to Bourg d'Oisans where it looks like I did a victory lap around the town.

Here is the view down the street as I left the King of the Mountain Lodge.

And the view down the col from Le Rivier d'Ornan

And below a look at where I am heading.  It looks promising.  You can just see the balcony road in the clouds.

Below a view of the snow in the mountains from Bourg d'Oisans

Below a view of Allemont from the road on the dam above town.  The climb up to Villas Reculas begins at the end of the dam road.

The Climb begins.

It's hard to see in the above Photo but I swear I could see a snow covered peak in the opening in the trees above the road.

   

Things got foggy.  But I broke out of the fog somewhere along the balcony road.  When I rounded the bend and the town of Huez came into view I could see all the way up and down the main Alpe d'Huez road.  It was clear and the road was dry.

The Town of Huez

And the town of Alpe d'Huez about 300 vertical meters higher up.

I got a nice round of applause from a large table of Dutch cyclists at the bar/restaurant at the false Finish Line in Alpe d'Huez.  I am not sure if they were clapping because I was wearing an orange Patagonia top over my jersey (Orange is their national color and figures in all their cycling kits) or if they were impressed to see a Clydesdale-sized rider finish (there are plenty of larger Dutch riders - they no how much work it is for the more portly among us to get up the hill) or some happy combination there of.  I went all the way up to the actual Tour de France finish then enjoyed the ride down.  Fun, fun, fun!

Virage 11 on my descent.

Then I rode back up the Col d'Ornan.  We still had snow up high on the Ornan.

So I had another fantastic day on a day where it looked like I might not get to ride at all.  I caught another break.  The weather forecast missed by a mile.  42 miles of riding, 5,800 feet of climbing.  To quote Dr. Seuss, "I did it because it was fun and fun is good."