Les 21 lacets

[Dr Frigo]

So we (Joel, Phil and Walter two Irish friends of his, me and Cyril a French friend of mine) are in l'Alpe d'Huez.
We've done three races over the weekend.

Saturday a 48km cross-country (very badly indicated so we ended up doing 54km). 1600m of climbing including some so steep we had to walk. Very very hard. We lost about 30" but were still 30" behind the winner. Phil who used to race on the World Cup circuit, loses an extra 3" looking for his Ipod, then catches me on the last big climb and finishes 6" ahead as I lose willpower to ride. Joel who got lost too but not so badly finishes between us two. Walter lost an hour and rode an extra loop.

Saturday night short track 9km race on a motor circuit + a couple off-road section. In the wet as it'd rain just before. We start late as the time indicated was wrong (bloody French), so just race between each other. Walter who has been doing 35 miles of road every day for the last six weeks finishes ahead of me Phil Joel and Cyril.

Sunday four downhill stages which also included big hills to climb, totalling 3600m vertical decline. Some of it is wet from the night's rain. Very rocky and rooty. Joel on his new full-sus bike (hear that Marco!) falls into a rocky river and injurs his rib and elbow. Walter injurs both of his knees. I get some good runs including a 3rd, a 6th and 9th place. Overall place for the event 11th and Phil is 15th.

Monday is our last day and we're planning to do the Megavalanche route: 30km of downhill starting at 3300m on the glacier and ending at 720m in Bourg d'Oisans. But the lifts shut that very day, so we can only get up to 2700m. We do this run down to l'Alpe once then go up again, for a 2000m vertical decline off-road run to Oisans. Stupid steep sections and hairpins galore.

We are having a quick lunch there, in a place that could boast records for the most unfriendly staff, and the largest sandwich in the world. A couple Leffes later and we decide to ride back up instead of taking a coach. We have massive rucksacks full of gear but hey.
1h22 and 21 hairpins later, I make it to the top! The others were ahead, I just took it easy. Seems fairly easy after the previous days' effort, but then again my average speed was just 6mph! Pantani's record is an unreal (hum) 37"35 for the 14km ... glad we chose to ride it, there was even a photographer near the top!

More photos to come ...

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/citadelle/21lacets.jpg[/img]

[Dr Frigo]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... alpe08.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... alpe06.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... alpe04.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... alpe07.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... alpe01.jpg

[kieran]

Well, that route looks.... like fun

[Elliot M]

Unbelievable (Joel getting a new bike I mean)

[Dr Frigo]

And not a lousy one!

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/citadelle/alp15.jpg[/img]

[Dr Frigo]

XC race:


Joel
http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

Cyril
http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

Phil
http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

Walter:
http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

Sylvain (note tongue):
http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

[Dr Frigo]

Climb to l'Alpe:

Walter http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

Joel http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

Phil http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

Sylvain http://www.photobreton.com/documents/FT ... reen.jpg?0

[John the old'un]

Hi Sylvain,
Jealous because I didn't manage to get there this year.
Been there every year since 93 but only for paragliding.
Only tried the climb on the bike last year and crawled up it.
Have flown off the Pic Blanc (3,300), 2,800 and 2,700 many times and its a hell of a lot easier.!! Watched the Megavalanche a few times. They're crazy.

[Dr Frigo]

Yep ...

[img]http://www.dirtmag.co.uk/news_pages/newsimages/august01/SnowWeb.jpg[/img]

Want to do it sometime, maybe next year.

[Will]

i'm planning on doing that next year

(of course, i'll do all the planning a week before )

[sid_day]

Nice to see you have got your stem the right way up and you're using risers Sylv

Rather than the terror of the Megavalanche does anyone fancy a trip to do the Pass Portes Du Soleil?
http://www.portesdusoleil.com/
(info under events)
It's along the old Free Raid route I think.

Lift assisted and loads of single track.

I've wanted to do this for years but not had a group to go with.

[Dr Frigo]

Stem was down and with flat bars for the xc race Simon

Ergon grips were great except those really tricky fast downhills where you really had to get a full round grip on the bars and brake at the same time.

Could well do the Pass'portes next year. Did the Freeraid a few times and really missed it the last couple years. Doing a few DH runs last week was great fun.

I can accomodate 2-3 people in a studio in Avoriaz + flats to let are cheap there in the summer.

How was Verbier then Simon? Did I hear the Cristalp was rained off once again?

[Will]

I've tried to do the Passports route for the last 2 or 3 years, and have failed each time

First time was because of a late start, a plague of punctures, and some fella being on a DH bike...

Second time was because of a one part of the group riding off ahead and getting lost (and they had a GPS!) and then the rest of us stopping to help some kid who had fallen off and broken some combination of his finger/arm/leg, and also protect the kid from his dad who was on the verge of beating him up for having had the audacity to fall off

I'm quite tempted by this (although logistically it would be tough)...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=f ... a_freeride

I would probably skip the bit where Hans rides down the side of the waterfall!

[Will]

Was the Cristalp really rained off?! I didn't realise that sort of thing happened!

What happens then? Does everyone just go home?