Day 3 — September 3 — Bourg-d’Oisans to Alpe-d’Huez

by | Mar 22, 2017 | France 2002

I’m still not sleeping well.  Fog and clouds burn off by 9:30 Tuesday morning — same with the weather outside.  The hotel at Bourg-d’Oisans was a quaint little establishment.  They cater to cyclists — room to store bikes, bike stand and pump out back, nice heavy beer, etc.

Day 3 - 1

Here’s Terry filling his water bottles with whatever powder he can find in the back of van.

Day 3 - 2

Now we heard that the US Posties stayed in this same hotel some time in the past couple of years during the TdF, at least that’s what the proprietor said.  Maybe he was drumming up business?  Here’s the door to the room LanceA allegedly stayed in.  I rubbed my jersey on the door — I’ll never wash it again.

Day 3 - 3

We’re off to Alpe-d’Huez at 11:00 am.  10 K warm up, then start at bottom at 11:21.

I didn’t stop for the 12 km of 21 switch backs.  The advertised grade is 9.8%, but some portions of the route are not quite that steep, which means some sections are 12 – 13%, especially at the bottom.

I finish at TdF finish at 12:38 (1:17 time).  But, ‘official’ ascension top is early in town, probably 5 minutes faster.  I hear Lance and the boys do this climb with a 39 tooth chainring and a 21 tooth rear cluster gear.  The shortest gearing I had was 39 – 25.  I decided I could use at least one more gear.

Terry is about 90 seconds behind me but takes a different route through town to the TdF finish (it is not really marked) and Dick beats him to the finish.  Dick and I both start searching for Terry and Robin.  Dick finds them and guides them to the finish.  Dave is some minutes behind Robin and Terry.

Here’s Dick.

Day 3 - 4

Russ.

Day 3 - 5

Terry.

Day 3 - 6

Robin.

Day 3 - 7

Sorry, Dave, but I can’t seem to find a picture of you finishing at Alpe-d’Huez.  We’ll just have to do it again next year.

That’s it for the day — 10 k of warmup, 12 k of Alpe-d’Huez.  Done by 1 pm.  We all took a loooooong lunch at one of the few cafes open in town.  Alpe-d’Huez is, you guessed it, a ski resort.  Without snow, it’s pretty much a ghost town, except, I suspect, when the TdF rolls into town.

The hotel was perfect; the Madame took very good care of us.  She washed our clothes (for nothing) and made sure we had large portions for our meals.

End of day 3.  Statistics:

  • Start: Bourg-d’Oisans
  • End: Alpe-d’Huez
  • Distance: 22 km
  • Climbs: Alpe-d’Huez
  • Total gain: 1140 m