This is the 1st of a three part series of my recent travels to France with my friend Mark. If you’re just here for the images just scroll down to the bottom.
Our Journey began a little less than a year ago when Mark mentioned that he had a long time goal of traveling to France and climbing the iconic Alpe d’Huez on a road bike. Let me begin with the fact that this is no small feat. The climb covers roughly 9 miles and 4,000ft of elevation over 21 switchbacks. There is a reason why this climb is one of, if not the most iconic climb in the Tour de France, it’s hard.
Flash foward to this June. The plans have been made, accommodations have been booked and we are sitting at the airport waiting for the adventure to begin. Well Mark was sitting, I was sweating because I had a difficult time finding parking which lead me to be barely on time for our flight. Our flight left Atlanta at 3:15pm and landed in Paris at 6:30am. Like most flights I was sleepless, watching movies, snapping a few photos.
Once we landed in Paris we had a “short” cab ride to the train station in downtown Paris. The ride ended up being the most expensive cab fare I have experienced to date. The croissants we good though so there’s that.
Let’s take a minute to talk about train travel in France. This might not be true for all train travel in France but this is my experience. #1 figuring out what platform your train will be on is an unnecessary last minute decision. You have to sit and watch the arrival screen and will be notified 15 minutes or less before your train arrives what platform you will load from. Why can’t your platform be predetermined? The mad scramble to load each train is pretty entertaining until it’s your turn to board. #2 study up on your train. The carriages are not marked from the outside so you have no idea which car to get in. #3 Strikes. More on this later but it’s a thing and it’s dumb.
Anyway, back on track (pun totally intended). On the train and slipping in and out of consciousness. I know I passed out at least once because I woke up in a violent snort/snore combo that I am sure startled the entire car. By now I have been traveling for 12+ hours and didn’t really care what noises I was making.
3 hours or so pass and we arrive at Grenoble, the gateway to the Alpes. We rent a car, get a free upgrade, grab some food, got schooled on at least attempting to speak french, and hit the road. Challenge #1 of driving in France. Understanding the road signs. It seriously took me 2 days to figure out what a speed limit sign looked like. And the French love to have a sign with a slash through it meaning not whatever is posted. It doesn’t say what you should be doing, just what you shouldn’t be doing, hopefully you remember what you were supposed to do before the change because that’s what you should be doing now. Makes zero sense.
What I can tell you is that the drive from Grenoble to Alpe d’Huez is spectacular. Driving through the valley between giant, spectacular mountains is just breathtaking. The mountains themselves are like a combination of the Rockies and the Appalachians, green but rugged.
I am going to say it was sleep deprivation but as we exit a round about and head up hill I ask Mark to start recording. We notice a ton of cyclist going up this climb but had no idea where we were. It wasn’t until we were 3/4 of the way up that we realized we were on the famed climb of Alpe d’Huez. We were nearly 18 hours of travel deep at this point so needless to say our brains were not functioning at full capacity. We immediately understand the challenge that awaits us. This climb looks tough!
We reached the summit and continued on to our accommodations for the next few days at Chalet Namika. Let me tell you this, if you plan on a trip to Alpe d’Huez for cycling or skiing this is the place to stay. June and Ian, the couple that run the chalet are simply incredible. Very sweet, welcoming couple who make your stay feel more like a vacation at a friends house than sleeping in some rental home. They prepared breakfast everyday, dinner a couple nights, and had beer and wine on hand when we were finished with the days activities. And who could forget about Flash, their hound ala Dukes of Hazard.
Still going strong, I unpack and adjust both of our bikes outback of the chalet. I want to request a update on my current work stand situation to have a view like I had there. Sunshine, bike stand, amazing views, and a beer makes for a great afternoon. I think it was afternoon, honestly at that point I couldn’t tell you what time it was. Bikes built, dinner ate, off to bed because the next day we conquer the Alpe.
The next morning I woke before the sun and went out for a hike around our chalet. Part 2 of my trip will highlight the off bike, landscape photo portion of my trip. If you’re looking for photos of mountains and stuff go check it out. I got back around 8 for breakfast, post breakfast we took a recon drive down the mountain to see what we were up against now that we are rested. The lower portion of the climb was covered in cloud, where the upper was bright sun. Recon done, we get geared up, and begin the ride down.
Let me tell you one thing, descending on my Kona Rove NRB DL is just a ton of fun. The wide road plus tires have amazing grip add to that the Shimano hydraulic brakes and you have a downhill machine. Smiles abound.
Mark and I do a quick warm up loop in the valley, snap a couple photos, and begin our trek up the mountain. From km zero this climb lets you know it means business. Some of the steepest grades are closer to the bottom, and if you’re not careful you can send yourself in the red with no room to recover for the next 8.5 miles. Mark’s excitement was apparent, as he hollers hello at everyone he sees going up the mountain. His pace was great and attitude even better. We counted down switchbacks one by one all while taking in the incredible beauty that surrounds us.
Let me state some obvious things. Yes it was hard. Yes we took a while to get up. Yes we stopped a few times. Yes it was incredible.
As we neared the top and the ski village came into view we knew we had almost completed our journey. A couple more tribulations through road work and steep grades opened up to the downtown where we stopped and had a photo session with the podium. But don’t let the town and podium fool you, there is still a little more climbing left. You have to make it to the arrival sign, which turns out to be a bus station. The town and podium make for a better finish but whatever.
At this point I felt prideful, not just for my own accomplishment but for Mark’s. He just achieved a goal he has had for the last 40 years. I am very happy I was there to experience that moment with him. We take a few more photos at the official finish and then head back to the house for a beer and some snacks. Job done for the day, and what a day it was.
Riding day 2 and our legs were still heavy from the effort up Alpe d’Huez. I decided to head out on a gravel wonder where Mark rode around the Col du Sorrenne. This was the day I was looking forward to, and the reason I brought my bike. I wish I had a little more power in my legs but I was still able to make do. After a quick decent down the Col Du Sorrenne, I jumped on some amazing French gravel. I spend the vast majority of the day exploring the gravel trails and roads far off the beaten path. Once I hit gravel I was the only person on the bike for the remainder of the day.
The sights were amazing! This was truly a #ridebikestakephotos type of ride. More on that later BTW, it’s a side project in the mix. I saw mountains, churches, historic sites, and more wild flowers than you can shake a stick at. Trust me when I say you should bring your gravel bike if you venture to the alpes.
Not wanting be gone for too long, plus my legs were a bit tired I made my way back up the Col to our Chalet. There Mark and I spoke about or ride of the day and enjoyed a lovely dinner prepared by June and Ian. Have I mentioned they are some of the greatest hosts of all time. Good because they are!
Day 3 of riding and our final full day in the Alpes I waffled back and forth with my plans until I settled on riding Galibier. And let me tell you, this was an excellent plan. Galibier is one of the highest passes used in the Tour and reaches a little over 8,000ft. The bottom of the climb was cool but as I gained altitude the temperature continued to drop. Before I knew it, snow was still on the ground, covering both sides of the road. This is June and back home we are already searching for an escape from the heat and humidity.
The climb itself was beautiful but busy. This was Sunday so there were a number of cyclist, motorcyclist, and cars all out to share 1.5 lanes of mountain bliss. Most people on the mountain were polite and I only had 1 butt puckering moment on the decent where I almost went head to head with a vintage convertible. But no harm no foul and I still ripped the decent. Have I mentioned how much I love descending on my Rove? Yeah, it’s awesome.
Up, down, job done at Galibier. Again I wish I had more in me but that’s what I got so thats what I did. I went back to Our d’Orisans to stroll and grab some lunch. It was a beautiful little village in the valley with streams, shops and restaurants. I could spend months going to each and every village I drove through while in the alps.
That night Mark and I went to dinner at a beautiful restaurant. We were a bit worried that since there was only 1 restaurant open the experience would be less than awesome. We were dead wrong about that! This place was incredible. Shoulder season be damned.
The next morning we woke early and begin our travels back to Paris. Car loaded up, goodbyes were said and we were off to the train station. Funny thing about the drive back, it really didn’t feel super familiar. I am not sure if we took a different route or the sleep depression from our drive in made things foggy but the drive out seemed so different.
Arrive at the train station, drop off Mark and our bags and return the car. No problems there and smooth sailing. Things were about to get bumpy.
Remember where I mentioned earlier about train strikes? Yeah, our train was cancelled because of a strike. We scrambled. Mark found a train at 5pm (we got there at 9am) and I began looking for alternatives. I went back to the rental car place, no dice. Feeling that my day in Paris was gone I went to get on the same train as Mark, only to find that that train was full. Flashes of being stuck in France started swirling in my mind. That was until the very helpful lady behind the counter came up with an interesting solution. I would hop on a bus to a neighboring city and then catch a train to Paris. The trick was that the bus left in 15 minutes. Let the scramble begin.
I find Mark, grab my bags, say goodbye and hit the road. I was now all alone.
While on the bus I overhead a couple chatting, in english, and struck up a conversation. They were a lovely couple from San Francisco in France visiting family. Turns out they had a similar situation and were on their way to Paris as well. And as fortune would have it, they were staying in the same hotel as I once we got there. the odds are so low on that probability it’s hard to fathom. Someone was looking out for sure.
After a mad dash to catch the train, we all sit have a coffee and enjoy our travels to Paris. Catch a cab (which was substantially cheaper than the initial ride) to our hotel. I can’t say enough about how amazing Anne Marie and Bob were. Thank you guys! So that leaves us at part 3 of the journey, my whirlwind tour of Paris. Till next time enjoy the photos!
