 Poster: A snowHead
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On Monday a group of us rode the "Etape du Tour", a race designed to allow amateur cyclists the opportunity to ride a stage of the Tour de France. This year 2 stages were offered. "Acte I" which we chose was an Alpine stage from Modane Valfrejus to Alpe d'Huez, a short stage at 109km but containing 2 legendary Tour de France climbs - the Col du Galibier and Alpe d'Huez. For the pros this will be Stage 19 ridden on Friday 22nd July. The profile of the stage is below.
Experience and training wise, our group was a mixed bag, led by Phil, keen cyclist with Etape experience, followed by Matt N, Matt K, myself and Chris who bought his first road bike 6 weeks ago!
We drove over from Switzerland on the Sunday morning, parked up in Modane and took the bus up to the village of Valfrejus to register. Great atmosphere and lots of nervous excitement.....
Matt K's gears were damaged on the plane over so we queued up for advice from the Mavic bike techs
Logistics are a bit tricky as the finish is nowhere near the start. We drove 2 cars over to Bourg d'Oisans nr the finish to have an easy way to get back after the race.
Went over via the Col du Glandon and the weather Gods were looking pretty angry....
With cars dropped we headed back to Aussois, a pretty little ski resort a few km's from the start where we'd found accommodation. Just the one glass of wine to wash down the mountain of pasta...
Up early and the weather Gods were looking happier...
Quick breakfast and down the hill to the start. Matt N, Phil, me, Matt K, Chris. Matt K was riding for the Niemann-Pick research foundation http://www.nprf.org.uk/etape_du_tour.html
Lots of nervous energy with 10 000 riders queueing up in the "cages" for the start.
Start positions were based previous race results so Chris and I were together at the back....
After a short downhill at the start to warm up the legs we were into the Col du Telegraphe. Still lots of smiles at the start of the climb...
We managed to pace ourselves on the Telegraphe and still feeling good at the summit
Now for the 20km grind up the Galibier...
Dramatic Alpine scenery on the way up
Looking down on the Lycra snake
Steep and hot reaching the summit
Pure joy racing down the the other side!
I finally get to La Grave!
Who said romance is dead
After a long downhill to Bourg d'Oisans we hit the 21 hairpin bends of Alpe d'Huez. Brutal in the midday heat with nowhere to hide...
Relief at the finish
Matt and Phil showing off the medals
Rehydrating in Alpe d'Huez
Heading down to Bourg and there were still lots of people on the ascent....
The dreaded broom wagon
We drove back via the very scenic Col de la Croix de Fer. Amazingly we passed Etape riders who were cycling back to Modane. Chapeau!
Riding this famous Tour de France stage on closed roads was a fantastic experience. Alpe d'Huez was brutal in the heat after 4 hours of riding but we all made it to the finish and quickly forgot the pain, pledging to sign up again next year (assuming our cycling widows don't burn our bikes). My highlight was racing down the smooth road through the Col du Lauteret clocking 70kmh on the speedo with La Meije towering above. Chapeau to those who ride La Marmotte, which adds the Col du Glandon and Col de la Croix de Fer to the Galibier and Alpe d'Huez. That would not be for the faint hearted!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well done, makes my 20 odd miles each Sunday look paltry!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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A couple of years ago two 19 year old ex pupils at my son's school rode the whole of the TDF, keeping two days behind the actual tour stage by stage,
An amazing feat considering that all the roads were open and the only support they had was one car with another two mates in it carrying their luggage etc .
They did it for a charity connected to one of their schoolmates who had died.
Their only mistake in my opinion was that they got nowhere near the amount of publicity that such a feat deserved, it really merited proper news coverage and even its own TV show or ducumentary.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| rungsp wrote: |
Their only mistake in my opinion was that they got nowhere near the amount of publicity that such a feat deserved, it really merited proper news coverage and even its own TV show or ducumentary. |
Quite, that must have been an amazing effort. There was a documentary about a group that did something similar the year the tour started in London but that focussed on the couple of days Ian Wright was riding with them. I'd have been more interested in the trials of the blokes that did the whole thing.
bobinch nice one, what was your time? I'm off out that way this week to watch the pros do it and have a crack at a few of the climbs myself.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'm told that road closure prevented us getting a vital part for one of our chairlifts, which was closed for two days as a result. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Swirly, 5h 54
Lizzard, sincere apologies!
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BobinCH, nicely done!
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Well done.
I'm a bit of a cyclist and would love to do something like this someday.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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BobinCH, good work. As usual your TR's just get me really jealous!
i've always fancied a bash at an etape.
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Did you see the pics on today's stage highlights of the Col du Galibier yesterday - up to a foot of freshies up there  - The tour heads over there tomoz...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Chapeau indeed.
Where did you get the cow print jersey? I don't recognise the branding on it.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Sideshow_Bob, he's spending the Swiss Franc so everything is cheap!
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You know it makes sense.
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"Looking down on the Lycra snake" 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Did a few of these climbs over the last week myself. I'll upgrade my "nice one" to damn good effort!
Not as fast as these boys though:
Attack of El Pistolero by Swirly2006, on Flickr
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've signed up as well, it would be good to get some advice over logistics. I'll be staying in our apartment in VT but i'm trying to work out how to sort out cars and driving at the finish.
I guess this means lots more winter early morning cycling than I was planning on.
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FAQ
(Not that I can talk, often commute to work in my various bits of Assos kit)
