Alp D'huez - Anyone done it?Advice time!

safc3

I holiday in France every summer but have never taken a bike. I really want a challenge and have been bitten by a bug to cycle up Alp D'huez.
Is is a realistic goal? I'm a 42 year old male 5ft 9in weighing 12st 10lbs. Only been back on a bike for a year and weekend cycling only for maybe an hour at a time.

I'd be looking to go for it in july 2008. What prepartion should I be doing, and should I be preparing now? Will training on a turbo trainer help?

I have a triple and I'm not ashamed to say that I'll be using that granny ring!

Any advice is appreciated.

feel

Think you need to get up to Weardale and practise on some of the banks up beyond Stanhope. You'll need to be up, down several times and then some more. ( A bit like S'land really) BTW i'm a Mackem as well

thatlondon

I rode the alp this year and i can honestly say i have never ridden a hill like it. 13km at 1in 10 gradient, it has to be seen to be appreciated.

I don't know your level of fitness but you will need to put in the miles, as for a turbo trainer, if used with road miles it will help build your fitness. Unless you are racing up the alp you will want to keep your heart rate at about 80% max if you build lactate climbing in the alps there is no flat untill you get to thetop.

The first few corners are the steepest, turn 7 has a magnificent view and going the long way round the corner has the lowest gradient.

Enjoy

Nic

Brian B

Done it a few years back and whilst not as hard as some cllimbs in France it is still quite a challenge to the weekend warrior cyclist. I feel that if you go really easy to begin with as the first 4 or 5 switchbacks are the worst in the climb the 2nd half of the climb is not as bad and your body will have ramped up the cardoivascular system to the max and you may even might begin to enjoy it.

P.S. The local cycling community try to get under an hour and depending on your fitness anything from 1hr 10mins to 1hr40 mins is a realsitic goal.

kmahony

Take it easy at the start and you should be fine.
http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Co ... untainID=5

hammerite

I'm also going in July, staying a week, so going to watch a few days of TdF and get in a few days on the bike (family permitting!).

Was going to attempt Alp d'huez, not sure if I'll manage it from reading some of the responses. I'll have the fitness, but not sure I'll have the ability/practise on big hills to make it very far up!!

richa

hammerite,

If you have the fitness and the gears - a triple would be a good idea - then you will get up. I don't think that ability/practise on big hills will come into it.

mrushton

Of course you'll do it. You need sensible gears and practice on long climbs. The first few kms to the first bend are imo the toughest and after that the gradient varies but use the outside of the bends to recover (they are flatter). You can stop and get your breath and/or have a drink. it helps if you are cycling it with someone. I've done it on 36/25 and 36/26 but would happily go to 39/27,34/25 or have a triple. For me the heat is the test. i did the Alpe this year in over 80 deg of heat having come off the snow-blocked Galibier a couple of hours earller. For what it's worth, my girlfriend rode up the Alpe on a steel bike in 90 mins (with a triple).
Everyone fears Alpe d'huez, but I find the Colle San Carlo near la Thuile in Italy harder. 10.5 km at av.10% gradient and NO flats on the bends with a 13% start. It's called a 'Chronotest' as you can time yourself over each km which is marked off and tells you the average gradient for the next km and counts you down to the finish. I've done it twice and vowed never again (but the descent back to La Thuile/Pre st.Didier is fantastic)

zebedeecp

Having ridden uo the Allpe on a CTC tour in 2006 in it self it is not that hard a climb to do it at theend of a 100 mile sportive would be tough though. I did it with a 34/27 and im not exectly Lance Armstrong in 1 hr 17mins. I did it first thing in the morning just using the ride from Bourg as the warmup. As others have said the first few bends are the toughest but it doeas get easier around La Garde 2 or 3km up. In fact its famous hairpins are the godsend because they give you something to focus on and because they are flat a chance to catch a breath. I was gob smacked at how frresh i looked on the photo of me climbing about half way up. Its only if you look close enough that you se the sweat absolutely driipping off me.

ut_och_cykla

32/32 and two hours got even chubby/aged (BMI 26, closer to 50) me up the alpe in relative ease.
Work up to being able to do a hard 2 hour ride. at as fast as you can hold for two hours non-stop. Do some hills - repeat as intervalls. Turbo sessions based around the much touted 2x 20 min at a cadence that feels ok for speed and knees.
You'll love it!

heavymental

Its just a climb. Not really harder than any of the other big climbs in the Alps or Pyrenees. I did it in an 1hr3mins this summer with a short warm up from where the car was parked. If you're reasonably fit and have low enough gears you'll get up there fine. Don't get me wrong, its demanding and I was very happy to get to the top drenched in sweat so don't take it lightly but also, don't back out, its a great feeling to get to the top of an iconic climb. Get plenty of miles in between now and summer, hit the turbo and practice going up your local beastly climb and then go hit it.

pneumatic

Yeah, if I can get up there, you can. Agreed that it is not the worst climb on the planet, but it should be respected.

tip of the day: focus your eyes a metre in front of your front wheel and don't look up (it'll only depress you), enjoy the views on the way down instead.

also, banish all negative thoughts, they drain energy. Try a little mantra or silly repetitive tune. Mind over matter really works.

Finally, you'll feel fantastic when you reach the top. It's an achievement.

martincroxall

Try riding it the day before the Tour when it's full of cyclists from all over the world. It's really enjoyable and you've always got someone you can catch although there'll also always be someone who is catching you!

Once you get up past Huez village it starts to open up and you get some nice countryside to take your mind off things. Oh and look out for the photographers so you can look slightly better than death as you get your piccy taken.

celbianchi

It is a great experience and especially close to race day in the TDF as the mountain is busy, plenty of campers up there already. I found the first time quite emotional. You will get up it, I guarantee you that.
I have ridden D'Huez about 6 times over the last 4 years.
I am a 3rd cat roadie, first time I had a 39/25 as bail out and used it on the first Km of the climb, thereafter for me it is around a 19/21/23 dependent on the section. I was over again in the Alps this summer and only had a 39/23 as my bail out, it was fine.

timewise - fastest is 59'01 - when just rode down from Allemont to Bourg as a warm up then tackled the climb, longest was 1'14 after I had done the Izoard and Lauteret and decided to do D'Huez for fun, just to see how much longer it would take.

There are plenty of harder climbs around the region e.g. The Glandon or Crox De Fer from the maurienne valley, the Galibier, and some great 'unknown' climbs like the Luitel which is hard.
Make time to try a few others, it is fantastic and what riding a bike is all about.

hammerite

Thanks for the advice. My bike is a triple so should be ok there, my fitness will start with marathon training with one long ride and a swim a week up until April. then I'll cut back on the running and pick up the cycling and swimming.

My problem at the moment is that I use all my gears on the small hills round here (Bedfordshire), so I reckon I'll probably run out going up Alp. A couple of months ago I decided to have a go up a steep but short hill on the way home from a 30 miler, I had to get off and walk the last 50yds (although I can make it up the hill earlier in rides), that's what worries me! I'm just bad on hills.

I am planning on going up to the Peak district with a mate who has got in Etape so that should get me in better shape for the hills. Really looking forward to attempting it though!

heavymental

If you want to get better at hills there's plenty of old threads here, on Knowhow and on Training with some good advice. Long rides are good but make sure you don't spend the whole ride pootling. You need to have put some welly into your training at some point. I won't try and offer any advice because there's better people to do that but going out and working hard is key....not just going out and pootling.

richa

hammerite wrote:

I'll have the fitness

hammerite,
I expect the hills round you are steeper than the Alp. You have a triple, you have the fitness, you will get up it fine.

safc3

Reading all the advice on here has made me more determined than ever to go for it this summer. Hopefully i can get over the for the day before the TDF gets there.

Already stated working on some stamina on my turbo, its just so boring. Should get out at the weekend weather permitting. Got a few hills round here, nothing like the Alps though! I reckon a few trips up, down and back again are called for! Or maybe as suggetsed earlier by a fellow SAFC fan a trip up the dales.

Thanks for all the advice.