Climbing to Alpe d'Huez

A day of cycling about as perfect as it can get. We set off from Le Grave at about 9.30 am to descend to le Bourg-d'Oiasans and the start of the iconic climb of Alpe d'Huez, a ski village which sits about 1000 metres above the valley bottom. It was complete chaos, but also enormous fun. We estimated that we were climbing with 10,000 other riders on the road at the same time. It's something of a Mecca for any road cyclist and the day the tour arrives is the day everyone wants to do it, to share the same pain that the pros are going to feel later in the day. My time for the 14km ascent was 70 mins and I won the King of the Mountains contest among our group of five! Could probably shave a few minutes off that without having to weave through all the traffic, but wonderful now to say that I have done it.

After a coffee and crepe in the village we descended via the beautiful and wild Col de Sarenne, a rather sketchy road at the top, but becoming fast and exciting at the bottom. We then traversed around on a minor road above Bourg to station ourselves about a third of the way up the Alpe d'Huez climb to watch the tour come through. The day belonged to Andy Schleck who now has the yellow jersey and has redeemed himself in my eyes over the last two days with his aggressive style. This is another shot which tries to capture the atmosphere and colour of the tour. This is just one short stretch of the climb. Imagine these crowds stretched out for 14km and you have some idea of the number of people on the mountain. It's an incredible celebration of life and what the human body is capable of ... hopefully, this year, clear of any suspicion of drug use.

The climb back up to Le Grave was tough, but I managed to finish in good enough style after a 70 mile ride. Tomorrow, if the weather holds, we have an even bigger day.

Good in large, especially for the geologists amongst you! Some amazing folded strata on the other side of the valley!