The ride into Paris (Stage 21 TdF, Versailles > Paris Champs-Élysées, 133.5km (but not really))

Finally it was here, the last day of the Tour.

For many it was a day of mixed emotions - glad that the physical and mental exertions were coming to a close, but at the same time not wanting the journey to end or the all consuming 'bubble' to burst.

The last stage of the Tour of course would finish on the streets of Paris. Unfortunately for us Annecy, as beautiful as it is, is rather a long way from Paris... This meant the day started extraordinarily early, with a coach picking us up at 5am for our six hour transfer to our start point just outside of Paris. It was a pretty quiet coach journey. People catching as much sleep as they could.

Given that it was Bastille Day and large sections of central Paris would be closed off, including the Champs-Élysées itself, our route for the day had been slightly shortened (we wouldn't be doing the traditional laps around central Paris either) and would end at another iconic Paris landmark, the Eiffel Tower.

The shorter route was ideal for all the friends and family that wanted to show their support and ride a stage themselves. A large number of Linklaters riders/supporters made the trip out including Vicky, Nic, Caroline and even Dan's seven year old nephew, Ben, and his elderly father, Peter.

The Pros have arrive... (although note the non-cycling specific sunglasses)

Today was also only the second time I had seen Vicky in the past two months(!) and I had been looking forward to it for the whole of the preceding week.

Our meeting point (and starting point for the ride) wasn't the Palace of Versailles as for the pros, but a goat farm (really!) on the outskirts of Paris. It is seemingly quite difficult to find somewhere in (or even near) Paris that can feed a 100+ people and house all their bikes on Bastille Day.

Mark T getting to know the locals a little too well

The 'day trippers' had been at the goat farm for some time waiting for us to arrive and, after some brief hellos/reunions, set off before the rest of us, with the expectation that we would either catch the majority of them on the road or arrive at the day's only feed stop in Versailles at around the same time.

Being a goats farm, the lunch that was laid on for us consisted almost entirely of various types of goats cheese. Delicious, but hardly cycling fuel.

The first half of the ride passed through some lovely rolling countryside and even included a few climbs with switchbacks (17 switchbacks on one of them I am reliably informed), nothing too challenging and well within the capabilities of our extended party for the day.

It wasn't too long before we rolled into the first feed stop, just outside the Palace of Versailles, where we had taken over a huge area and general chaos was ensuing. It was here that we caught Vicky, Nic and Caroline and after waiting for the entire Hong Kong crew to regroup (and everyone else to leave) we set off into Paris together.

Feeding frenzy in Versailles

Team HK, fed and watered

At this point the roads started to get busier and it wasn't too long before traffic, traffic lights and a (wall of a) climb split to group. Vicky and I were separated and rode the rest of the way together, chatting and catching up.

We were soon directed through a barrier and onto a closed road leading towards the Eiffel Tower. A concert was being held there later that evening and we had the place, essentially, to ourselves.



Team HK; TdF done. Questionable framing....

Paris! Boom!

Much congratulating, hugging, shaking hands, kissing, photographing and posing ensued as everyone, from the Lifers through to those who had just ridden one or two stages, soaked up the atmosphere and sense of achievement.

Once the photo shoot had wrapped, the Linklaters group headed to a nearby cafe/bar and enjoyed a few beers in the sun whilst watching the world go by.

The day was rounded out by a party on the top floor of the Montparnasse Tower with its commanding views over all the major landmarks of Paris. Prime position for the Bastille Day fireworks with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop. Impressive stuff...

And so, as the party continued into the night, another Tour de Force drew to a conclusion; another great experience with more unforgettable memories!

Look out for a Restrospective sometime soon....

Amazing, Awesome, Alps – The Alpine Triple (Stage 20 TdF, Annecy > Annecy-Semnoz, 125km)

These blogs are getting pretty boring to write. I am running out of superlatives to describe the scenery that we have been treated to each and every day. The hills in and around Lac d’Annecy were no different. Exceptional, yet again!

After a massive day previously the shorter distance for this stage, just 125km, was welcome news. Just 125km…. easy. Well if the distance was easy, that was the only easy thing about the day. We would still be climbing in excess of 3,500m, ending the day on a tough HC climb.

Rumours that Janice has received a little more than just saline solution the night before were confirmed when she arrived at breakfast, fully lycra’d and ready for the days stage. Unfortunately the previous nights doping didn’t boost Pt and Janice’s navigation skills and they spent much of the early part of the day lost.

A short transfer took us to the shores of Lac d’Annecy where, due to the early hour of our departure, we were treated to sunrise over the lake. More superlatives.

Setting off in the morning light

It wasn’t long before we left the flat shores and were tackling a Cat 2 and a couple of Cat 3 climbs. Up and down all the way, the pace was yo-yoing as there were a lot of leaden legs in the peloton from the day before.

The first feed stop was a very relaxed affair, departure times slowed significantly by the availability of good coffee from a road side café. As we chilled and took a welcome caffeine hit, Baggy snuck off stealing almost 30 minutes on everyone else and Pt and Janice cycled in circles somewhere in the French countryside.

Yet another cafe stop!

Immediately after our refuel we were straight up again, rising over a short Cat 3 climb before a fast descent into Saint-Jean-D’Arvey. From here it was 17km up to Mont Revard, not a steep incline, averaging 5-6%, but certainly an interminable drag. For all that the road was boring the views over Lac du Bourget and Aix-les-Bains we were treated to were spectacular. Many more superlatives.

Our feed stop and the road leading into the descent were not quite at the top of Mont Revard and we had been told it was 400m up a side road to the top. Given the views we had seen as we climbed to the feed it was definitely worth taking the small diversion even though it turned out to be more like an additional 1.5km of climbing!

Boring, rubbish views over Lac du Bourget and Aix-les-Bains

Another great descent was followed by a short drag as we traversed across the valley. Alpine scenery – lakes, cottages, mountains, foothills, cows with bells – all around.

Soon we were at the base of the last climb of the Tour. On reaching the summit all the hard work would have been done; just a glory ride into Paris to follow. For the Lifers it would be an emotional milestone.

The climb started (in reality) with 15km to go, rather than the advertised 11km. The additional 4km of climbing were not exactly welcome and I was heard cursing not so quietly under my breathe. A, barely noticeable, dip took us to the 11km road marker and the official start of the Annecy-Semnoz climb – a final HC climb

Luke and I rode together (managing to shake off some annoying old woman that insisted on riding 10 metres ahead of us for some time) as we tackled the first 4km of the climb. We had been told to expect these to be tough, hovering around 10%, but that the remaining kilometres would ‘level off’.

The 'levelling off’ never came. At every kilometre marker we passed we were expecting to see a 6% or even a 7%, but were instead greeted, almost without fail, with a 9%. The climb was unrelenting. We cursed. Its only saving grace the fact that once it was done there would be no more climbing for this year’s Tour.

As we got to within 200m of the top we passed a mountain top café with riders that had finished ahead of us quaffing beers and cheering on every finisher. Spotting Baggy just up the road I jumped out of the saddle and, for a bit of sport, sprinted him to the line – calling the victory for myself as I narrowly crept past him (although there may be differing accounts of this…).

All the climbing done! I did half expect this sign to say "9%"

After taking in the view at the summit I headed back down to the café and joined the beer and the cheering.

Janice and Pt arrived (in that order…), having completed the three toughest days cycling I am sure they will ever want to do, relieved and exhausted. Pt was sporting arm warmers despite the burning heat of the day – choosing to boil alive rather than burn his un-suntan lotioned skin. Janice could barely walk.

Once the last of the Linklaters group were in (i.e the last man of the day) we headed back down the climb for one of the best descents of the whole trip – mixing fast and sweeping corners with some technical hairpins and turns. Totally brilliant as we dropped like stones down the side of the mountain back to our hotel (or more correctly, motel) on the banks of the Lac d’Annecy.

A day in the Alps (Stage 19 TdF, Bourg-d'Oisans > Le Grand-Bornand, 204.5km)

The middle day of the “Alpine Triple” was the longest (205km) and involved the most amount of climbing (5,000m). Arguably it was the Queen stage of the whole Tour and, other than the Ventoux stage, was the one that most of the riders were concerned about / fearing. No matter how you approached it, it was going to be a long day in the saddle!

The briefing the night before was detailed and the tension around the room was palpable. People were already feeling tired from having been up Alpe d’Huez twice within the last few hours… to be told they would be going up two more HC climbs, from the harder sides, within the first 80km of the stage wasn’t necessarily welcome news.

A big day meant an early start. Breaking from the traditional format of all regrouping at the first feed stop we were offered the opportunity to set off from Alpe d’Huez at anytime between 7 and 7.30am. Today everyone would be going at their own pace. The slower riders being urged to set off as early as possible.

I set off at around 7.25am with a bunch of the Linklaters crew. Pt, Janice and JK had set off and were down the road already.

Whilst the official Tour route would leave Bourg-d’Oisans we started from our hotel atop Alpe d’Huez and descended down to join up with the route at Lac du Verney. The views as we left the hotel and started our descent were magnificent, the morning sun lighting the clouds that sat below us in the valley. We descended the first 4km of the climb and took a right at the village of Huez along to Villard-Reculas giving great balcony views of the valley and the legendary switchbacks of the Alpe d’Huez climb.

Not a bad view to wake up to....

Another fast descent, through the clouds, took us to the base of the Col du Glandon / Col de la Croix de Fer climb and our first HC climb of the day – 22km to the top of the Glandon.

Knowing that another monster of a climb was to come and that the rest of stage was no walk in the park either, I tapped out a very comfortable pace and slowly worked my way up through a number of the earlier starters.

Epic Alpine mornings...

Cycling in the cool and crisp mountain air as the climb took us first through tree lined forests before opening up to rugged green pastures and mountain vistas (yet again) provided breath-taking scenery, making even such a long climb thoroughly enjoyable.

Standard

Looking up towards the Col de la Croix de Fer

Another fast descent took us to our first feed station, halfway down to the valley. Following a quick coffee and some food we set off again with the second half of the descent delivering us directly to the base of the Col de la Madeleine. Phil had described this 19km climb at an average of 8% as the hardest climb of this years Tour.

It was true that the climb was relentless (it maintained its 8% gradient for the entire 19km), but taken at a comfortable pace again it was nothing to fear. The views were fabulous and it wasn’t long before I was at the summit, the second highest point of this year’s Tour (by just a metre!).

Almost the highest point of the Tour

The second feed stop of the day was in the car park at the top and I waited for others to arrive whilst refuelling. I was keen to set off, but others were faffing for quite some time and I opted to head off on the descent with Luke and JK on the assumption that if we slowed in the valley below others would soon catch up.

An awesome 26km decent later (I was pleased to be going down this side, having winched my way up it in the 2010 TdF) I slowed at the bottom, having lost JK and Luke (not renowned for the speed of their descending). I soft pedalled a while, but there was still no sign of the others. As I continued on I was faced with a 20km solo ride across the valley floor into a block headwind – not the most enjoyable 45mins of the day!

I finally caught another rider who had loitered less at the feed stop and rode with him up what should have been on paper a simple climb, but in the heat and after the headwinds was a little tough. At the top we stopped for lunch.

After lunch I headed out with the Lifer that I had caught along the valley floor. All that we had between us and the end of the stage were two final 1^st category climbs – the Col de l’Epine and the Col de la Croix Fry.

Spoilt for views all day long

Whilst they looked simple in comparison to the first two climbs of the day they were still tough climbs – particularly with the number of kilometres already in legs and that they would be ridden in the heat of the day. It was another scorching hot day!

I rode the Col de l’Epine at a steady tempo and waited at the top for my companion before we both descended to the final water stop of the day and then hit the Col de la Croix Fry.

The Croix Fry was a tough little climb, with some really tough sections of well over 10% in the middle, but with the end of the stage in sight it wasn’t too difficult to push on to the summit where I stopped again to wait for my riding partner. Whilst taking a photo I somehow managed to drop my chain only for the guy I had been waiting for at the top of every climb to just ride straight past me and race off down the descent towards the hotel. Odd, but in many ways not unsurprising, behaviour…

The final bump of a massive day (thanks for waiting)!

The final descent into Thones (a town just beyond the official finish in La Grand-Bornand) was very fast and we arrived back at the hotel, together, as the second riders in.

I took advantage of my early arrival to have a (very painful) massage for my weary legs before watching people slowly come in over the course of the next few hours (JK arriving back as the first girl of the day, by some margin, and ahead of the vast majority of everyone else).

We eagerly awaited news of how Pt and Janice had fared during the day and soon learnt that Janice had been really struggling up the Col de la Madeleine, arriving at the top completely dehydrated, exhausted and vomiting. Poor Janice had been forced to get in the van for the rest of the stage and was put on a saline drip in her hotel room to help her recover. Pt meanwhile had been helping Janice up the Madeleine and as a result had lost a lot of time. He arrived at the base of the Col de la Croix Fry too late to be allowed to go over it and had taken a shorter route back to the hotel. Over 30 riders failed to make it over the last climb! Even not making the last 20km loop, Pt had still cycled over 180km (the majority of which as done on his own) and climbed 4,300m – as tough a day as any other stage of the Tour and an awesome achievement.

A blatant disregard for the no needles policy...

As for myself, I had an absolutely awesome day and felt great throughout. The contrasting climbs and scenery and the sheer magnitude of the day encapsulated everything that I love about cycling.

The Double d'Huez - (Stage 18 TdF, Gap > Alpe d'Huez, 168km)

Pt and Janice had arrived in Gap the night before and, jet lagged, were being thrown straight into the deep end.... starting with Stage 18 the Tour would spend three massive days in the Alps, promising exciting racing for the pros and long days for us mere mortals.

Much confusion trying to figure out the bike bags... Pt managed to avoid tyre issues for the first time though

The route for the day would take us over the Alpe d’Huez, twice! It is the first time the Tour has gone over this iconic climb twice in one stage. The day was going to be all about the Alpe...

We started the day by climbing out of Gap up the Col de Manse, they way we had descended in two days previously. I rode with Pt and Janice, it was a good introduction for them - a climb that barely registered on the days profile that was longer and steeper than their training hill - the Peak.

Ready for a long day in the saddle!!

The scenery once at the top of the climb was worth it though. Glorious sunshine with a layer of cloud below us in the valley.

After the first feed I headed off in a slightly faster group and as we comfortably ticked along over the Rampe du Motty and on towards the Col d'Ornon.

Off to the Alpe

After another brief rest we again headed off and climbed the Col d'Ornon at a decent pace before a cracking descent took us all the way down to Bourg-d'Oisans and the base of Alpe d'Huez.

A quick refill of the water bottles and it was every man for himself as we all picked our own pace to climb the 12.3km hors category climb. Knowing the hill well, and that we would be doing it again in only a matter of hours, I rode relatively conservatively. Today certainly wasn't the day to try and beat my best time up the mountain.

Halfway up the Alpe

At the top we stopped for lunch and headed out of the town an onto the Col de Sarenne. It was a short climb, but a pretty punishing one, with lunch still settling and the searing midday heat.

The Col de Sarenne is wild and beautiful, with some stunning scenery again. However, its 'wild' nature unfortunately translates to the quality of the road surface on the descent. A very narrow, steep and technical descent was made even more sketchy by an uneven, potholed and gravel covered surface. The bails of hay with red and white tape on them at cliff edges, corners and posts did nothing to make you feel safer. How in gods name the pros are going to race down that road I don't know!!

The road was so dodgy that my a bolt in my Garmin mount came lose and fell off, I had to stop and fix it and then continue to descend like crazy to catch back on to the group I was with.

Before a final loop back towards Bourg-d'Oisans we stopped at a small café and had an espresso and ice cream before rolling back out for the final climb – the second ascent of the Alpe d’Huez.

Round once more...

The effort going up the second time around was pretty much the same as the first time, except this time in far greater heat. The times for the two climbs were similar, if not anywhere near my best – nice and steady…

Arrivee!!

On hitting the top we had a quick photo and then headed back down into the main village to find a bar to watch the rest of the riders come up and give them a cheer for the final 2km. We settled in and had a few beers and coffees.

Much to my joy there was even a Rapha pop-up shop right across the road.

To feature in the next Rapha catalogue

JK, the birthday girl, hit the top a little later than we had expected having somehow contrived to take a wrong turn and a 10km diversion shortly after having to stand on the side of the road whilst Matt F tried to change an inner tube for 45 minutes.

Birthday girl hits the top (after she found it)!!

Pt and Janice were someway back (having caused a minor panic by not signing into the last feed station so no one knew where they were) and arrived back at the hotel as dinner was starting, broken but having both completed (by far) their longest and most punishing bike ride ever! Awesome.

Stunning mountain time trial (Stage 17 TdF, Embrun > Chorges, 32km ITT)

Stage 17 of this year’s Tour was the second individual time trial. A short 32km blast from Embrun to Chorges with the blue waters of Lake Serre-Poncon as a stunning backdrop.

Again, a shorter day meant a later start - a very civilised 8.30am departure time from the hotel in Gap for a transfer to Embrun. The day, whilst short, included two category 2 climbs so was by no means a ‘recovery’ ride.

Playing it cool at the start... contrary to suggestions - magenta is not my new favourite colour!

From Embrun we were set off at 30 second intervals. The staggered start times were less to simulate a real time trial and more to ensure that we wouldn’t be riding as big groups on narrow twisty roads and technical descents. You wouldn’t have guessed it though from the way a number of people set off (although thankfully we were spared some one coming down in a full skin suit this time… ). [The difference in attitude/approach of the participants as compared to 2010 is something I have found noticeable/interesting and am sure is something that I will touch upon at some point in a later blog]

Frankly, those that did set out to post a time (most likely) missed out on the truly picture postcard vistas we were treated to today. It almost felt like every corner you’d stop to take a photo of the view, only to go round the next corner and be forced to stop again as the view was better.

Awesome!

Again, contrary to suggestions this is the only selfie (so far)

The first of the climbs was the Cote de Puy-Sanieres followed by a narrow steep and technical descent. Great fun and great views. As soon as we hit the bottom of the descent it was straight back uphill again for a slightly longer climb to the Cote de Reallon, before a fast winding descent into Chorges – barely needing to touch the brakes.

I really can’t wait to watch this on the TV in a weeks time!

The length of the stage meant that we were finished by 11.15 and had time to change and stroll into the main square of the town for a coffee and some cake in the sun. Exactly what cycling in the Alps should be.

A short transfer back to Gap meant that we had the afternoon to ourselves. A chance to rest up and relax for the next three days…