My best mate Mick, was working for a creative firm in London and they had put together a team of their staff that would train for and enter the 2009 L’Etape du Tour (a sportive event that allows amateur cyclists to race over the same route as a Tour de France stage – usually the hardest/hilliest stage of that years tour). So, Mick was keen as mustard when we hatched a plan to spend some time cycling in the alps ahead of his Étape attempt – only problem being that I had a very young family and very few windows of opportunity for cycling – I had literally been on my bike once every 10 days or so to ride pathetically slowly to work and back. Mick was especially keen to get this ride in as his wife was pregnant with their first child, so, his windows for cycling would also soon become very narrow.
I set to work planning the trip and trying to get a bit of fitness back. We decided on train travel down to Grenoble – Eurostar from London to Paris, then TGV from Paris to Grenoble. We could do this with our bikes in bags. We would then stay a night in Grenoble, before heading out to Bourg d’Oisans to base ourselves there for a few day rides in the surrounding mountains. Perfect.
As usual, time flew by and soon we were prepping for the trip. As my bike would be going in a bag, the seatpost would have to be removed so that the bag could be zipped up. I knew that the seatpost on my bike was pretty firmly lodged within the aluminium frame, so before even attempting to move it I soaked the tube and frame area with penetrating lube. After a few nights, I had a go at trying to move it. No bloody chance. I took my bike into work to see if I could utilise some work tools and other options for getting the post out, and again I left it for a night or 2 soaking in lube to alleviate the seemingly welded structure.
Last Minute Mechanical
Departure day was upon us and I would be heading to London on the train after work to meet Mick and stay the night at his. I still hadn’t been able to free off the seatpost, so tougher measures were needed. I had to engage one of the big guys at work – to begin with, he was unable to move it either, but he wouldn’t let it beat him and his continued twisting and pulling efforts resulted in the seat post actually shearing off above the frame! I had a horrible feeling in my gut, this was already a nightmare and it had just taken a turn for the worse.
I tried to tap the outer parts of the seatpost inwards to create clearance between the remainder of the post and the frame, this would allow me to get more lubrication down towards the bottom of the post, and although gradual movement was gained it was still not coming out. I drilled out the bottom of the seatpost, this helping to further free off the post, but still it wouldn’t come out. I had to call time on it as it was nearly time to get the train. With the movement we had managed to get in the post the only viable option was to remove the bottle cage bolts and drive the remainder of the seat tube downwards within the seat tube of the frame. Fortunately, this was successful and I was able to re-mount the bottle cage on the seat tube. Not ideal at all, but at least I could now go about getting a new seatpost. But for now, I had to get on the train.
I was a bit bloody stressy with all this nonsense, and a sharp lesson for the future was learnt – periodically take your seat post out and lubricate it. I would have to swing by a bike shop in London to get a new seat post that evening. Mick met me in London Kings Cross with his car and we drove back to his with me explaining the situation. He said that his wife Ruth’s, bike had a seat post that would fit and that I could use that. Nice one! We arrived at Micks and the first thing I did was fit the seat post. All good. We were operational again and I was very relieved. We spent a nice evening together faffing around with bikes and bags, eating and drinking, very much looking forward to heading off
Eurostar // TGV
We were up early and in a cab off to Kings Cross to catch the Eurostar, I was excited as I’d never been on it before. Everything was plain sailing, bikes in their bags went into a carriage at one end of the train, then me and Mick got coffee’d up before taking our seats. Quality journey over to Paris Gare du Nord, then it was a transfer with bikes over to Paris Gare du Lyon to pick up the TGV. Getting across Paris on the stale piss smelling underground Metro was not very much fun with these bikes. My shoulder felt as though it was going to be sliced off by the hoop of the handle, whilst Mick had wheels on his bag! We had a bit of time in Gare du Lyon as we waited for the connecting TGV.
The TGV journey was as good as the Eurostar to be honest and we enjoyed travelling through the vastness of France down towards that south east corner. We arrived in Grenoble during the late afternoon and it was off the train and then off to find a place to stay for the night. Mick waited with the bikes while I went off towards town to secure a hotel and within ten minutes I’d found a place for us where we could stay, and also leave our bike bags at for a return stay on our final night. Easy. All we had to do now was decide where to eat.
Day 1 // Bourg d’Oisans
With a reasonably leisurely start to the day we had breakfast and then got our bikes sorted out in the underground garage of the hotel. All we had decided to do today was ride out to Bourg d’Oisans and get settled in there. We had booked a hotel in advance for the next couple of days riding and Bourg d’Oisans, at the foot of L’Alpe d’Huez seemed like a good place to base.
We cycled from Grenoble out to Bourg d’Oisans through the city and out onto the valley road. The only things of note being my bike wheel getting stuck in a tramline in Grenoble, causing me to have a little spill, and us noticing an interesting road up towards Lac Luitel that we could investigate on the last day.
We checked into Hotel Oberland on the outskirts of the town, a place that sells itself as a cycling hospitality base. It was comfy enough, certainly better than the last place I stayed at in Bourg d’Oisans – which was full of cats and fleas. There was another cyclist staying at the hotel who was significantly older than us, he was very lithe and very tanned. He looked like he’d been cycling for years and he was also here for a few days to ride the local roads.
We didn’t bother riding any more for the day, instead we walked around soaking up the town and scoping places for dinner. We had a few beers and got ourselves an early night. Our plan for day 2 was to scale le col de La Croix de Fer, and this would be Mick’s first alpine pass!
Day 2 // Croix de Fer
Breakfast wasn’t up to much at all considering this place was selling itself as a cyclists hotel, a couple of bits of dry bread and some small croissants weren’t going to do the trick for me. Anyway, we loaded up on as much as we could and then got ready to go. The weather was lovely, pleasantly warm and pretty much perfect for riding.
I had never ridden up le col de La Croix de Fer, so like Mick I was keen to experience it. Now, at the best of times there is a significant delta in weight between me and Mick, he is a smaller package than me and is pretty light on his feet. But, when you factor in my lack of recent cycling fitness, this makes for a tortoise hare scenario. We rode together on the route to the start of the climb and on the lower slopes for a while, but Mick was desperate to fly so he pressed on up the pass whilst I slogged on cursing my lack of fitness.
We would meet up periodically to have a catch up and a banana together, Mick would stop at the side of the road and await my arrival. This was working out very well and we were both enjoying the ride. The climb itself was a challenge, not only because of my fitness level but because of the variability of the gradient – it wasn’t consistent and made for uneven efforts. The higher slopes saw us passing old wooden huts and riding next to icy cold lakes whilst looking up to the mountain tops we would see a lot of snow. It was obviously a lot colder up towards the summit.
Mick’s first alpine pass was a success, he had loved climbing up it and we had unlocked a passion inside him for riding in the mountains. Mick also loved the descent, which went on for a good deal of time. It’s not unusual to be descending for 30-40 minutes with you neck and shoulders taking the brunt of the braking forces. On the way down we saw a roadside café/restaurant on the lower slopes of the climb, we stopped here and had a lovely omelette and frites. We headed back to the hotel as I was in no state to line myself up to go and climb another mountain, I’m sure Mick could have done but he was ok to head back with me to the hotel to get freshened up and chill for a while. I was keen to take advantage of not having to be a parent for a couple of days and for me that meant lying around post exercise – doing nothing and then finding a beer and some food.
Day 3 // L’Alpe d’Huez
Breakfast hadn’t been enhanced at all overnight so we ate the same as the previous day before heading out on the bikes. Plan today was to haul ourselves up l’Alpe d’Huez, made famous through multiple summit finishes within Le Tour. This would be the second time I had ridden it, the first time was during an alpine cycle tour in 2007. It was exciting to be riding it, especially for Mick, and I was looking forward to riding off the top of the climb as opposed to coming straight back down the same road.
We had decent weather and we got some great photos looking down onto Bourg d’Oisans from the climb. I can’t recall too much about the ascent, other than Mick being ahead of me and it taking longer than you always think to tick off the numbered hairpins. Arriving into the ski station at the summit we found a café and had coffee and pastries to toast our efforts, and chat about the ride.
We rode through the ski station and a few big hotel blocks to find the start of a small gravel road that would take us up and over the col de la Sarenne – the only way off the summit other than going straight back down the main road. The climb over the pass was nothing, but the views were great. It was such a nice and peaceful place to be. The descent was a bit dangerous due to the road condition and me going a bit hot into one hairpin, locking up and only just avoiding a potentially nasty spill. We took a few minutes to calm it down and then carried on towards the towns of Besse and Mizoën to meet up with the main road back up to Bourg d’Oisans. We headed back to the hotel to get washed and chill out. Great day out on the road.
Day 4 // Lac Luitel
Same breakfast again, followed by us loading our bikes up with the kit we had brought with us, which wasn’t much but would have an impact up the climbs for sure. Upon checking out of the hotel we headed back up the valley road towards Grenoble, and as we approached Sechlienne, we were curious on the climb we had seen up to Lac Luitel, so we took the turn and started up the Col du Luitel. It was bloody steep and as the gradient increased the rain started to pour, we got a soaking but we weren’t too bothered as we were enjoying the riding a lot.
Upon summitting the Col, we could see an interesting Réserve Naturelle building – obviously closed! We imagined it would open for hikers in the summer and skiers in the winter, but for us there was no option but to press on to the ski station of Chamrousse.
By this point the climbing and the previous couple of days riding were definitely taking their toll on my unfit legs. I was very much looking forward to descending the rest of the way to Grenoble. On the descent we would pass through Uriage Les Bain, a lovely mountain spa town where we stopped and took on some food and drink. We were still soaked and very much welcomed a rest in this lovely place.
Finishing Up
We cycled back into Grenoble and found the hotel where we had stayed a couple of days ago, we had made sure with the owner hat we could stay here again to pick up our bike bags that we had left there.
We got checked in and cleaned up and then waited for the weather to brighten up before we walked into Grenoble for some food. We wandered around the centre for quite a while, spoilt for choice for places to eat. We settled on a bar/bistro place a little way out of the centre, it had a nice vibe with some great music playing. We had a very decent salad vert, steak and frites, washed down with a couple of beers.
We’d had a great trip and it was good to be heading home the following day. Same journey back, TGV, Paris Metro, Eurostar, UK trains back home.
