Living 2 minutes ride from the bottom of the Alpe D’Huez climb is pretty cool – but I ride up it at lot less than you probably think. Most of the time I go up only part-way and then head off along a ride the locals call ‘Les Balcons’ (the balconies) – which gives great views of the valley and the mountains.
The reason for not riding it that often is two-fold….
First of all there are so many great rides round here that whilst Alpe D’Huez is undoubtably a legend, and often the first ride visitors want to do (and quite rightly), there are so many other options that it’s actually quite a way down my list of favourite rides in the area.
The second reason is that it’s hard. Not just because its 13km of pretty consistent leg sapping gradient (there are harder climbs round here….although not many in my opinion), but because whenever I ride up I feel obliged to give it everything. I often end up in ‘time trial mode’. To those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of regularly beating yourself up on a timetrial (and your ability to punish yourself increases with practice); think semi-delirious pain / utmost concentration on turning the pedals without letting of any pressure despite the flood of warning signals coming in from your body. This need to push so hard was originally born of wanting to see how my best time stacked up against the pros (not very well), but is now because I use it as a gauge of how fit I am.
You may get the idea that I dont do much sightseeing on the way up the Alpe – usually it’s just a near rabid focus on the next tourist I can catch (which does really help when you are lacking in motivation). So the other day, after I’d finished one of my ‘tests’, I decided to carry on up to a lake 7km past Alpe D’Huez, called Lac Besson. I’d seen it on the map and often thought about going up there, but in the past either didn’t have the time or was too tired after my mammoth effort to bother.
It’s a bit less than another 300 metres of vertical climbing above Alpe D’Huez, so not negligable, but not that much compared to the 1100 metres or so that you have just done. It goes up into the area past the back of Alpe D’Huez and follows the chairlifts and cable cars up into an area which would be full of skiers and snowboarders if you were there in winter. After a slight descent (and the road has a little gravel here but is fine for a road bike if you take care) you get to a car park, and a short walk after, the lake (fine to hobble along in cycling shoes as it’s less than a minute, even with slippy plastic cleats).
The views were pretty spectacular, well worth the extra effort, and at last I was doing a bit of sightseeing up Alpe D’Huez!
Cycling Ascents – Bourg D’Oisans Accommodation for cyclists