Huez brave enough to ride it?

This is the most intimidating climb in the Tour de France. It is classified as HC which stands for "Holy Cow!" which is what the riders say when they see it. No, not really, it stands for Hors Categorie which means "beyond category". There are some more photos of it here: http://www.grenoblecycling.com/Col-AlpedHuez.htm They didn't include this in the Tour in 2009 and 2010 so everyone's excited about the fact it is included again this year. Well the spectators are excited and the riders who wear spotty jerseys de temps en temps are, the riders who haven't learned how to take drugs and not get caught, not so much. So anyway, they'll be riding this on Friday 22 July which should be fun to watch! Unfortunately I may have the small inconvenience of a career to attend to once I'm home again but I'll be sure to check the Alpe D'Huez even if it's just on Youtube later. (by the way you pronounce it Ulp Doo -ez...which is why my title for this post is funny).

So I looked at this crazy mountain pass and then I remembered I had ridden it not that long ago! Ok, well, it wasn't actually Alpe D'Huez but it was pretty damn close. I did my first and last crazy mountain time trial ride that nearly brought me to my knees near the end of last year, called Jonaskop. I have written about it here. (Note to self find link). And when I compared the two, guess what!!!

Statistics:

Alpe d'Huez.
Length: 14.5km
Height Gained: 1150 metres
Average Gradient 8%

Jonaskop:
Length 15 km
Height gained: 1200m
Average gradient: 8%

Wow. So I investigated a little further:

Alpe D’Huez:
According to the local tourist office, the record for the climb is 37 minutes 35 seconds set by Marco Pantani in 1995. However, other sources such as CyclingNews suggest the record was set in 1994 when Pantani climbed it in 36’40″

Jonaskop: fastest time in 2010 was 1h02 (Carl Pasio). Slowest time: ME! At 2h30 mins

So according to my calculations (which are sometimes suspect) Marco Pantani was climbing at 24km/hr and I was riding that mountain at 6km/hr. mmm. But in my defence I was on a mountain bike on tar and actually got off the bike at least 15 times, when I sunk to my knees to ask God when it would be over, then tried to walk until I realised it was less painful to ride. So the Tour de France guys are only riding 4 x as fast as I could before I ever developed any cycling muscles at all! I won the coveted toilet seat award for the slowest rider. It was good for my ego to come last at something, for the first time , although it won't be the last.

On Friday when I watch them ride Alpe D'Huez at least I will have some idea what it is like to feel your lungs burning as the hill just keeps on coming and coming and coming....Bonne Chance!