By Sally McCleverty
After a trip last year to see the Tour de France and cycle a few famous Cols, my husband and I are hooked on climbing the most famous climbs of the Tour. So this year the main aim was to climb L’Alpe d’Heuz. So here is a short resume of our trip.
Bourg- d’Oisan
This is the perfect place to explore this region of the Alpes. We pitched our Caravan on a campsite 30m from the base of L’Alpe d’Heuz! But we managed other climbs as well.
Croiz de la Croix de Fer.
27.km long, average gradient of 11%, climbed on a day of over 30degree temperatures.
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On the Way Up.....
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Views from the top.......
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We really did make it!!
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On the way down.
Alpe d’Huez
13.2km long, average gradient 11%. An amazing climb with 21 bends all with a plaque commemorating previous winners of the stage.
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We then continued over the top and towards Col de Glandon. We made our decent, v,v,v,v slowly in my case as it was very steep.
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Les Deux Alpes
10km, 11% gradient, climbed on a Saturday where 100’s of mountain bikers were using the ski lifts to cycle down.
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We also climbed Col d’Ornan, 11.1km with a 9% average gradient.
We then moved onto Chatel. This is a beautiful Alpine ski resort close to the Swiss border where I had my only opportunity to swim!!
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We did one small but very steep climb in freezing rain.
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Col de Bassacheux is not a Tour climb, but we had to do it for the views, but there weren’t any that day!!
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I did Col du Corbier on my own as my husband was ill. 6km long with 11% gradient and amazingly Geoff Turner did it on the same day!!!
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On the way down the other side.
I hope you like the pictures.
We're hoping to go to the Pyrenees next summer......