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We set out to complete the ride as planed on Saturday 18 July having driven through the night of Thursday 16th. With hindsight the planning of the ride, although logistically quite difficult, was by far the easiest aspect of the event. I knew that it was going to be a really hard, challenge and that completing it wasn’t going to be a gimme at all, but I also knew that I can be very stubbon and that I don't like to give up or give in. It would certainly be interesting. I was most worried about the climbing, the longest climb that I had every done was under a mile yet our first climb of this route was to last for 35 miles and would be up an Alpine Mountain. Yet no matter how much I anticipated what I thought the ride would be like I simply could not appreciate the sheer magnitude of what lay ahead. Even now I can not fully appreciate just how difficult a route it was, and looking back at it over a month ago I still find it incredibly difficult to try to oralise the sheer brutal nature of the ride and the physical emotions and experiences that we went through.
The first climb, to the top of the Galibiere set the scene, 4000 feet of climbing just to reach the bottom of the first mountain! It was here that we were greeted by a head-on snow blizzard and 35 miles of uphill mountain, - 3 and a half hours in the granny gear trying to keep my heart rate below its maximum. Despite it being mid July the very top 400 feet of the mountain was closed due to snow and a temperature of 1 degree C.
The descent was absolutely horrific, dropping through the clouds at 45mph + while soaking from the snow and sweat meant that we both experienced the coldest cycling of our lives. Jason began to go into anaphaltic shock as his tongue began to swell making it difficult for him to swallow and I was shivering so much that I couldn’t keep my bike stable.
The approach to the second climb, - the d Cruix d Froix-, didn’t go too bad, the sun was coming out and we were drying out. We could most definitely feel the effects of the climbing already done, - so far, we had climbed a greater altitude during the first 60 miles of this ride then in any other previous ride yet we were still barely a 1/3 into the ride.
The second of the three main climbs does not seem to get much press, it's not talked about a great deal and was not supposed to be anything other than an energy sapper before the horrendously infamous Alpe d Huez. However the next 3 hours were without doubt the single most difficult physical thing that I have ever attempted to do. The climb went on, and on and on. It never stopped. After over 2 hours and in a state of complete exhaustion I could see a ski village way off on the vertical horizon. “There is no way that I can get up there, that’s way to steep and too far away” However as the road went on I found my self getting closer and closer to the said village. Unfortunately for me this village proved only to be the start of the mountain proper.
This one climb had lasted for 6700 feet, it was meant to be the easiest of the three mountains yet it just defied logic and common sense. On reaching the top all I could do was get off the bike and physically cry for a couple of minutes, probably due to a combination of sheer exhaustion and bloody minded frustration / disapointment as I knew that I didn’t have the energy to cycle up a curb let a lone the remaining “flat” 35 miles followed by Alpe d Huez, the steepest and hardest of our three climbs.
I chose to carry on, expecting to have to quit at any point soon. 7 miles of descent helped but the next climbs out of the valley brought me oh so close to quitting. Not sure if it was physiological or psychological but I was certainly spent. These climbs came and went and I began to see signs for Bourg d’Oissan. "Ok, so I’l get there and have to quit at the bottom of the Alpe. That’s not too bad, most people cycle one of these out of category mountain climbs in a day, not all three"!
As I approached the 21 hairpins of the Alpe I had experienced a change of mind. My body was completely and utterly exhausted but I felt that I had now come too far to give up. I had no idea how the hell I was going to ride up it but I was also pretty certain that no matter how long it took, I was going to get up. Right to the bloody top.
I knew from reading and listening to others that the first 3 hairpins were the steepest and that the last 3 were supposedly flatish. That only left 15 in the middle to struggle through. With hindsight none of that previous sentence is true. The first three are steep but I didn’t notice it get easier there after. Also the French can not bloody count! The hill went on and on, déjà vu right! My speed dropped from 9, to 8 and then to 7 and 6 mph. a sign stated that there was only 6 km to Alpe d Huez village, just over 4 miles, but 4 miles where each 100m is its own mountain and its own challenge. What the sign failed to say was that the finish of the ride was 3 km above Alpe d Huez and when you have used every thing in your power to get you to a destination to be told that you need to carry on still further, well that was the point to seriously consider getting off and calling it a day.
The finish line came and went. 11 hours and 15 minutes of cycling time. I was exhausted, freezing and felt sick. My heart rate had been dropping for the last 30 minutes so I knew that I was on borrowed cycling time but on completion I didn’t really have a sense of achievement. I hadn’t really known what to expect on the ride and so now that it was over I didn’t know really what to feel. I did know that I was unsure as to how I had actually completed it, all of it. But felt certain that chatting away to for the last couple of hours had made it possible. And got me “up the road”
I know that Jason was and is absolutely gutted that he didn’t finish the ride, however he did complete 100 miles of Alpine cycling over some of the hardest terrain in absolutely diabolical conditions, had he not been suffering with a viral infection for the proceeding month then there is no doubt in my mind that he would have completed the ride.
Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – “seize the day and place no trust in tomorrow",
To cut to the chase I and a friend are committed to attempting a pretty serious challenge and hope to raise money for a charity called Roadpeace along the way. Roadpeace, as their title suggests, attempt to help victims of, - including the families of victims-, road traffic accidents. They do this in many different ways such as lobbying of members of parliament, providing 24 hour counselling, - including bereavement counselling, assisting with the preparation for life after a serious road traffic accident what ever that might mean. Etc.
It seems as though the more poignant the cause the greater the degree of suffering required when trying to raise funds, well if that is really the case then our challenge meets the criteria. On Saturday 18 July we are planning to cycling from Embrun in to the top of Alpe D – Huez. That is a total of 132 miles of cycling but perhaps more importantly a total of almost 42,000 feet of ascent. We will be cycling up and over the Col D’Lauteret, The Galibiere, the Col D’ Telegraph, the Col D Cruix Foix and then finally up Alpe D Huez.
I know that cycling for over 10 hours, over altitudes of over 9500 feet, trying to consume 10,000 calories while riding to sustain energy levels is our choice, - as all of these type of challenges are- however it is perhaps 50 – 50 whether we will actually make it and complete it in one ride. Yet the knowledge that people who have experienced huge personal loss on or as a result of the roads can not simply “get off and walk” when it gets tough is both sobering and an incentive to continue.
Our own personal suffering will not directly help anyone, but any money that we can raise and any additional awareness that we can generate that might help to prevent other families having to live through the experiences that my own family has had to endure would make our ride seem very much worthwhile.
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Many thanks
Gavin Roberts
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