Post Tour.....

So back in Chamonix after an epic week over in Bour D'oisans with the Ridestrongbiketours.com crew and after some horrendous weather in the Alps the last few weeks (50cm of snow on the Galibier the day before the Tour got there!) its no surprise that I've been laid up with a cold this week. Not full blown man flu luckily.

So back to the Tour! Ride of the week has to be from Serre Chevalier over Montegenevre and then down into Italy and up to Sestrierre. With fresh snow above 2200M, the back drop for the day and the TdF stage was amazing and we had a great view just below the summit at Sestrierre.

Stage of the week has to be Alpe D'Huez. We set off early with the threat of an 11.00am road closure and headed up the ADH. Bourg D'Oisans and ADH are a bit like the Isle of Man at TT week only without the leathers. There's the posers in full team kit team bikes, the once a year cyclists with a few bob in their pocket, decked out in Assos, overweight and then there's the old timers, on steel frames and toe clips.............then there's the Dutch! We reached Dutch corner at around 10 and the party was already in full swing with some weird deckchair dance going on to a tune that translates as They have their own radio station set up, plus bar, food, seating and its clear they'd been partying all night!  We opted to stop at Bend 1 (2.2km from the finish) and after climbing the banking we had an amazing view 3km down the valley. Being their early we eventually were invaded by the Vikings (again) with half of Norway joining us.  I think the Norwegians gave the Dutch a run for their money at this years Tour complete with the Norwegian equivalent of Borat in his Norwegianmankenneee.

We had Rolland attack Sanchez and Contador right in front of us to go on and take the stage win, and also Cadel making a move on the Frandy Schlecks.

Saturday turned into another rainy day on the Galibier. 4 times this year and twice its been throwing it down (bit like the IoM at TT week again) however I was well impressed being only a few minutes slower than my Etape time. Garmined up, its surprising to see the actual gradient. I'd have never said that the drag up to Plan Lachat was 8% average - I thought it was nearer 5 or 6. And then the last KM to the summit ranging from 14% to 5%.

Thanks to Julie at Ridestrongbiketours.com and also to Rob for the best decision of the week to sit at bend 1 ADH!

Back to reality....with the Marmotte and the Etape over need to find a big bag of motivation and a goal for the end of the season!