Dear Sponsors.

Thank you very much for the sponsorship.  At the bottom of Alpe D'Huez after 7 and a half hours plus of riding with a very numb bum, I realised that with my wife and her parents stuck at the bottom of the climb it would have been all too easy to have called it a day and sloped off home.  Except I had asked people to sponsor me for a good cause.  What would I tell them if I didn't finish it?

The day started at 3:30am with an alarm clock.  Big bowl of cereal, then in the car and on the road by just gone 4.  We arrived in Gap just after 6am.  I changed and applied sunscreen.  But not to the back of my calves.  Idiot.  The sunburn hurt later.  With butterflies in my stomach I set off into central Gap and luckily managed to follow the other 5000 or so cyclists to the start area.  Time for a pee.  Not the only one with that thought.  I don't think the bushes and hedgerows along the start area will ever be the same again.

Watched the sun rise above the mountains on the horizon.  Very pretty.  It lit up the 5000 or so cyclists in front of me and the start line.  7am and the distinctive sound off clack clack clack as everyone clicked into their pedals.  Then the same again as everyone unclips and waits for the procession ahead to start moving.  It took just over 20 minutes to get over the start line.

And they're off!  So game plan is take it steady, easy over the first climb, grind out the second and endure the 'Alpe".  Bollocks to that.. jumped onto the back of a bunch doing 35-38km/h.  Wahay!  I did manage to keep my head together and not use up too much juice.  Just got on the back of groups and got a good tow as much as possible.  I think I averaged over 35mk/h for the first couple of hours.  And then the climbs began..

It is around this point that my memory of it all blurs.. the first climb was long.  Very long.  Up and through a ski resort and up and up.  Then the road started winding and it got steeper.  I had been told that people would walk on some of the climbs.  I didn't believe it.  Not over the first one?  But sure enough here they were.  Feet down.  I took some strength from this as I felt pretty good and kept spinning - at less than 60rpm, is that 'spinning'? - and sure enough the top arrived, all 2360m above sea level of it.

Time to fill the water bottles.  There was an official feed station here.  And the previous riders had done a lot of feeding.  The ground was covered with crushed plastic mineral water bottles.  Lots of tables with sports drink mix.  Just no water to mix it with.  I parked the bike and bundled my way to the back of the water truck.  Snagged a six pack of water.  Score!  Refilled and got back on the bike.  Saw David - my Shimoda training partner -  at this point, but it wasn't long before we split up on the fast descent to Briancon.

From Briancon, after a ridiculously steep hill in the middle of town, it was a long 30km climb.  A real grind.  Not particularly steep but very long.  Tried to concentrate on not labouring too much.  It went on and on and on.  David passed me around the 120km mark.  I would have liked to stay with him, but I didn't feel comfortable at his better pace.  Another feed station mare at the top.  One guy filling water bottles from one tap.  I trust that the milky cloudiness of the water was down to natural minerals.  Not too appetising though.

Long, long (notice a repeated use of any particular adjective here?) descent to the lowest point above sea level of the whole ride.  Bundling down the road around 50km/h, blasting through very dark tunnels, particularly after the bright sunshine of the day and the fact that you are wearing sunglasses was pretty exciting.  According to my bike computer I topped out at 72km/h (44mph).  I would imagine it was somewhere on this section of the ride.  Then my wife called me.  So obviously I didn't stop, just got on the phone, in the light, then dark, then light, then dark.  I do remember having a right old swear at someone who got very close indeed on the exit of one tunnel.  Foreigners!  Anyway, Joli sadly informed me that she and her parents had not been able to get up to the finish at Alpe D'Huez before they closed the road.  Too much traffic.  But they were waiting at the last feed station.  Just before the final climb.

Less of a bunfight here and my darling wife snagged a whole pack of crystal clear mineral water.  Wonderful.  I unloaded a few items i didn't want to carry anymore, got a kiss for good luck and much against my better judgement set off for the top.

It doesn't really matter what you read about this climb.  The history, the challenge.  Or the fact that I wanted to get up it after nearly 8 hours on the bike.  It was really difficult.  Soul searchingly difficult.   And really hot!  Luckily I copied many of my peers and reloaded the water bottles regularly from the streams alongside the road.  I was very aware of the heat, but kept an eye on my heart rate and endured.  Then with about 7 or 8km to go, I got off.  Feet down.  I couldn't believe it.  But I was really spent.  Cooked.  I got into the shade for 5 minutes and sipped my way through a whole bottle.  Then sucked down my final gel.  What was I doing here?  Right then.  Now to the blinking top.  Back on the bike.  In the granny cog.  Head down.  Concentrate on each push.  I had started trying to concentrate on the sections between the 21 hairpins.  Now it was just concentrating on pushing the pedal round once more.  Then once more again.  And again.  Then I saw the 4km sign.  Now I knew I could make it.  Couldn't I?

1km to go.  Much flatter now.  Small downhill section in fact.  Phone rings.  Joli again!  I haven't done it yet!  Nearly, but not yet!  Round the corner and uphill for 200-300m to the finish.  Obviously I knocked it up a few gears, came out of the saddle and went for the sprint finish.  Only to stop that nonsense after 75m and take it steady.  Crikey I was tired.  And wobbly.  Funneled over the line, remove the transponder.  See David.  He looked shattered.  Struggled with the Alpe too.  Still manged nearly an hour quicker than me overall.  Exactly as I suspected.  Although I had secretly hoped to have got closer to him.  Next time?  Not likely.

What would I do differently?
1. Eat more.  Both before and during.  Eat much more.  I knew this from training, but I guess I got caught up in the excitement and to be honest I had expected to be able to get more food during the day at the 'feeding' stations than was actually available.  2. Go to bed and get some sleep rather than watching the World Cup final.  4 and half hours of sleep wasn't enough.  Obviously.  Duh.  3. Be part of an organised tour.  Without my darling wife driving for over 8 hours that day I would not have been able to do the event.  Thanks Joli.

Stage Details
Three climbs: Col d'Izoard ('Hors Category' – 2,360m high, 14.5km long, average gradient 7.0% at 86.0km), Col du Lauteret (category-two – 2,058m, 12.1km, 4.4% at 134.0km) and L'Alpe d'Huez ('Hors Category' – 1,850m, 13.8km, 7.9% at 187km).

Results
8500 entered.. 7548 started.. 2145 in my 30-39 Age Category..
the 21 year old winner did it in 6 hours.. yikes.
i had an actual time of 10h7m and an elapsed time of 9h49m.. yes, it took nearly 20 minutes to get over the start line after the official 7am start..
more frightening is the fact that it took me over 2 hours to get up the 15km Alpe D'Huez climb..
i came 4260th overall, and 1233rd in my age group.

Franck Schleck won Stage 15 of the Tour de France one week later in 4h 52m.. crikey.  Superhuman.

Thank you all once more.

A few camera phone pictures here..  http://www.flickr.com/photos/knotty/sets/72157594209404509/show/  Enjoy.