The day I ascended Alpe d'Huez

I am happy to say that my personal project of ascending Alpe d'Huez on bicycle was successfully accomplished. There were a couple of last minute changes (including the traditional oversleeping and missing the bus) but nothing serious to stop me saying this:

I CLIMBED UP ALPE D'HUEZ ON BICYCLE!

more pictures here

I have only three advice for those amateurs like myself willing to do it:

1. The first part of the ascending is indeed brutal and you feel it is endless!, so do not waste energies there, keep it cool and just mind to get alive to curve 16. There you've got a chance breathe.

2. Prepare yourself mentally, so you don't get surprised by how hard it is!!

3. Get a personal reason to do it, don't do it for glory, a personal motivation will pull you stronger than just thirst of glory (at least in my opinion)

Personally I did it for my father, who soon will reach 14 years of death. I know Alpe d'Huez meant a lot for him due to the victory of Lucho Herrera in 1984, and I wanted to offer my ascending to his memory. Additionally the constant pain in my legs reminded me the constant pain and hurdles my mother had to overpass to rise my brother and me just by herself. After thinking about her life of struggling without quitting a single day I couldnt allow myself to stop pedaling. Those were my personal reasons.

The experience was awesome, I think climbing is something almost spiritual. I think the hardest part is in the head rather than the pain of the legs. Pedaling and feeling pain becomes mechanical, it actually becomes a background process that is just there and won't leave until you reach the top.

The real struggling happens in your mind, because there is a moment when you unplug yourself form the body and from the physical pain it feels, and then you start a discussion with yourself that actually holds you during the ascending. 

The struggling is between two parts of your mind. One pushes you to quit, to stop, to give up, it reminds you how painful it is, and the other part denies any of those possibilities, it uses your personal motivation to make you push and push and push until the moment that you realized you are at the top of the mountain. 

Here is my Strava information about the ride.

Even though the most important for me was to get there no matter the time, I have to admit that I was pleased to see that my time of ascending the 21 curves (1h29m38s) was few seconds better than my most optimistic timing (1h30m). I know I know, there is practically no difference, nor it is an amazing time but I don't care! it just makes me happy to know I made it.

If you live in France, in Italy or have the possibility to come, don't hesitate it! it is the Mecca of cycling, if you like this sport, you better come and do it at least once!

Weather and company updates

This morning Julian has confirmed his willingness to die in the mountain, so we have booked a second bicycle for him. Now my ride wont be alone, I am very glad for that. I know he will be a good challenger.

Finally the weather for tomorrow seems perfect, between 16°C and 21°C. Probably we'll bike back to Grenoble instead of taking the bus.

Bike for the challenge: Checked!

The bike I have been riding on is this one, I call it "La Gorda":

A mountain bike Decathlon RockRider 6 Limited Edition with 21 gears, very thick tires and strong grip. About the weight, well mine weights 18.8 kg. Not exactly a route bike...

With a big challenge in front of me (Alpe d'Huez) I have decided to rent a more adequate bike for the climb and enjoy for the first time a route bike:

A route bike 2012 Specialized Secteur Sport Compact, 2.5cm tires, 9.5 kg and 30 gears. I am paying 35€ for one day. More decent bike indeed.

Sections of Alpe d'Huez ascending

I have just made a not-very-strict analysis* of the ascending parts of Alpe d'Huez, but I think it is good enough to be used as a "rule of thumbs" about the different sections of the ascending. 

I did it based on some readings describing the climbing. I included the number of the bends (yellow) and some guide values about the steepness of the segments (white), I tried to simplify the segments by colored bubbles (Red is "hard", Blue is "not-that-hard"). 

Note: Everywhere I read they agree the first part is the hardest, despite the 12% you'll find around curve 9!

Below there is a more detailed graph taken from here:

References: 

- Alpe d'Huez: La Subida

- Altimetrias Alpe d'Huez

- Alpe d'Huez mythical ascent

- Strava Segment: Alpe d'Huez "Vieil Alpe"

* If you see any mistake or have any suggestion to improve the graph, drop me a comment! ;-)

Transport Grenoble - Bourg d'Oisans

The time-table for this year 2012 - 2013 can be found in the page of Transisere, the bus I have to take is the 3000, I can catch it in the train station. It takes hour and a half to get there, these are the times for the following saturday. In bold my target times.

Grenoble - Bourg d'Oisans: 8:10 am, 10:20 am, 14:24, 16:40, 18:00, 19:20
Bourg d'Oisans - Grenoble: 10:25 am, 13:15, 16:30, 19:05

Also it has been confirmed that I can take the bike in the bus. So I can rent the bike on Friday here in Grenoble and then go there in case there are no renting shops there in Bourg d'Oisans due to the autumn.

Personal project: Alpe d'Huez on bicycle

My new personal project is to climb this up the following weekend on bicycle. [update: The day I ascended Alpe d'Huez]

"La mythique montée de l’Alpe-d’Huez" (The mythic ascending to Alpe d'Huez) that's how are known the 11.9km on 21 bends at an average slope of 8.6%*. The segment starts at 720m.o.s.l. and climbs up to 1750meters.
It is the ending part of the Grande Boucle stage at the tour de France. The best time is held by Marco  Pantani "The Pirate" (37'35'') and second one is Lance Amstrong (39'41'' at an average speed of 23.4km/h).

 I have been biking for some days since summer, and without being an expert I think I can make it. Following is a chart comparing some of the climbing I've accomplished and the Alpe d'Huez (being the top-right corner the toughest).

As it can be seen, indeed Alpe d'Huez would be the hardest climbing I've ever done, but I've accomplished some others that are not far from it, specially Saint Nizier and Lans en Vercors (which I did the last two weekends without any inconvenient), those might not be as steep as Alpe d'Huez but are for sure larger and steep-enough.

I feel I am in shape for it, I estimate I can finish it between 1 hour and a half and two hours, but time doesn't really matter to me. Moreover I am planning to rent a proper bike for this. Because I have been biking all these days with a mountain bike, which is heavier and has thicker tires. So a racing bike should in theory ease the challenge.

I still have some logistics problems regarding the bike I have to rent and the way to get there (it's about 50km away from Grenoble) additionally I am kind of under pressure by the weather, it's getting colder and colder and up in the mountains snow is already appearing. So the sooner I make it, the better it is.

This ascending has a personal meaning and I will share it once I accomplish it (even if I don't ;-) ). Still, Alpe d'Huez has meaning for Colombians, because it was there where the first and the only time an amateur won a stage of the Tour de France, beating all the professionals. That amateur was a humble guy from Colombia, Lucho Herrera.

I'll keep updating about fixing the details, bike, transport there, weather. Stay tuned ;-)

*Those are the values of the climbing part, when including the flat part at the top the values are 13.8km at 7.9%
References: La montée de l’Alpe-d’Huez « La mythique »

Le tour du Néron

Le Néron is one of the most amazing city-mountains I've ever seen, it can be seen from many places in Grenoble or any time coming to Grenoble from Lyon, but better a picture about it:

Today I biked the Tour du Néron, which is about rounding the Néron, this is the map:

View Larger Map

Its about 27km from my place in Saint Bruno square, it took me 2.5hours with 20 minutes rest in the top to take some pictures and some water of course!, the elevation profile of the route is something like this:

It's a lovely route, a bit intense in the first climbing, then with a breath before having the second climbing which at some point reaches 22% of inclination. There are great views during the whole trip and few cars running so it makes it a very interesting route for biking!

The route is within the Parc Naturel Régionel de la Chartreusse, indeed one of the wonders you can easily explore being in Grenoble.

the following are some pictures I took...mainly when I was descending:

only a Colombian will understand why I took this picture...

My own Tour de France: 2nd Stage

Saturday 7th of July, my second stage, this time towards the south of Grenoble, I was seeking the Lac Monteynard, about 50km from Grenoble:

Indeed I found the lake, but I was still far from the beach (about 20km more) and it was a really hot day, like 32degrees, so I decided to come back and live instead of reaching the lake and die :P. This stage has a long flat part and then you start to climb up the mountain. I reached about 800meters of altitude this time and it was like 30km one way, so 60km in total, but this time was very tough I have to admit it. I am considering changing the bike because I have mountain bike with very thick tires and I need the opposite, any ways, we'll see. This is the path I followed.

View Larger Map

A proof that I indeed reached the lake, at least the beginning of it ;-)

Next time I think I could rather take a bus to the lake and then make the circuit of it, THIS ONE.

My own Tour de France: 1st stage

Saturday 16th of June was my fist day biking outside Grenoble , at that time I didnt know where I was going so I didnt advance much, eight days later, Saturday 23rd  was the real first stage of my own Tour de France from Grenoble to Lans-En-Vercors, it's 27km one way, thus it was 54km all the way. The highest point is about the 1200 meters of altitude, being Grenoble at about 250meters it means it's a nice slope to climb.

View Larger Map 

There are beautiful sights in all the road, and you can see Grenoble and its surrounding mountains. In my way to the top I caught a tribute they were making to some heroes of the French resistance against the Nazis in the summer of 44. In that area there was a group of Frenchmen opposing resistance to the German army who had occupied France, it seems that in the place where the cemetery is the Nazis shot about 200 people, now in the cemetery there are some of those Frenchmen who died fighting against the Nazis.

My summer friends

I just want to introduce my two friends for the summer.

The daily one: Perfect for going to work, to french classes and other city issues

The weekend one: Perfect for going to the mountains and enjoy the summer in the alps