Road Climber: N2A - day 13: St Jean de Maurienne to Alpe d'Huez.

Today we ride to the final destination of the first leg of the Grand Tour, climbing up the Col de la Croix de Fer (2,068m) and the legendary Alpe d'Huez (1,815m) with its 21 hairpins.

The Col de la Croix de Fer is 30kms long with an average gradient of 5.1%. The Alpe d'Huez is 13.2kms long with an average gradient of 8.1%.

While it rained hard throughout the night, it had cleared on rising in the morning and it looked like being another great day for riding.

On leaving the camp we went straight into our first climb of the day to the Col de la Croix de Fer summit. I think all of us would prefer to have ridden a few kilometres before starting the climb, however, this just added to the challenge we were facing today. The climb is long and gradual with a short downhill fairly early in the ride and another short downhill section around the midway point. We were riding through Alpine scenery with great views of the Aiguilles d'Arves (see picture) and passing through villages such as St Jean d'Arves and St Sorlin d'Arves. On leaving St Sorlin d'Arves at the 22km mark the climb became steeper with hairpins.

On reaching the Col de la Croix de Fer summit we found it pretty chaotic as a timed cycling event was being run. I had a look around the summit, took some photographs and then decided to descend rather than stopping for something to eat.

About two kilometres from the summit I detoured to the summit of the Col du Glandon (1,924m) to have a look around. I then continued to descend with the aim of stopping for lunch at the town of Bourg d'Oisans at the 68.5km mark of the ride.It was again another great descent and ride through to Bourg d'Oisans, passing a lake and dam at the 38km mark, the villages of Le Rivier D'Allemont (48kms), Allemont (60km) and the Lac du Verney at the the 58km mark.

Nearly all of us had decided to have lunch at Bourg d'Oisans before tackling the the 21 hairpin climb to Alpe d'Huez. Bourg d'Oisans is a mecca for cyclists being at the foot of Alpe d'Huez. It has restaurants, bars, cafes and plenty of cycling shops for souvenir cycling jerseys.

After a nice lunch we mounted our bikes for the climb up the legendary mountain. Some riders had already started up the climb having finished lunch earlier.

The climb up Alpe d'Huez started 1.5kms out of Bourg D'Oisans at the 70km mark. The first two kilometres of the climb are the steepest with an average gradient over 10%. It then eased back to a comfortable 7 to 8% for awhile. There is a sign at every kilometre recording the average gradient for the next kilometre. The climb's 21 hairpins are also named after a Tour de France (TdF) stage winner and numbered from 21 at the bottom to 1 at the top. The stone wall that one sees on television when watching the TdF was on my right and like most of, if not all, the mountains I had climbed, there were names of riders and support messages painted on the road.

There were great views back over Bourg d'Oisans as we rode toward the summit and it was amazing to see the road climb and twist above one. While I have had harder climbs and more picturesque rides, there is something very special about this mountain and I couldn't help reflecting again on how fortunate I was to be riding this mountain and the other great mountains already ridden.

A localised shower started at about the half way mark of the climb and continued on and off for a couple of kilometres. The rain was welcome as it was another hot day and was quite refreshing.

While I would have liked the climb to carry on for a few more kilometres, it was great to find the people who had arrived ahead of us standing in front of a hotel (with refreshments in hand) just before the end to cheer us across the finish line. We then joined them to cheer on the others as they finished, especially the last person across the line.

This has yet again been another a magical day with two further bucket list mountains ticked off. I personally had found the Col de la Croix de Fer the tougher of the two climbs. I don't know if this was because we went straight into the climb, the length or the undulations. I know some riders felt it was harder to get into a rhythm on this climb. Notwithstanding, the Col de la Croix de Fer is, like the Alpe d'Huez, an awesome climb.

We are staying in the Hotel Le Castillan for the next two nights.

STATISTICS

Distance ridden today: 84.5kms. Cumulative total: 1,041.8kms.

Vertical metres climbed today: 3,653. Cumulative total: 25,511m.