16 July

16 July

Happy Birthday Teri!!! (my sister)

Well, it was off to the Alps today, via train.  Besancon>Lyon>Grenoble:  Transfer to Bus and travel to Le Bourg d’Oisan.  Hard to say goodbye this morning, I already miss Jen.  Not that she would really want to go ride Alpe d’Huez, but we always do everything together…twice seen is twice shared.

I made all connections today! Woohoo.  

On the bus to Le Bourg d’Oisan I met a half dozen Austrailians with Wide Open Road Cycling Tours who were headed to the same region to cycle some of the major Cols. Very nice folks, all with luggage and bike boxes.  I was a little concerned that  I was the only person without a bike box (user risk if you don’t I guess) but it all worked out fine.  Just threw the bike into the storage compartment under the bus with my panniers et al, and off we all went.

Took my time getting ready to ride from the bus stop to the campground, wanting to get my bearings a bit…and not just from the Garmin.  Only 1.72km to the campground:  LaPiscine (The pool).  I was hoping they had a spot because of the tour coming through on Friday.  Lucked out with a campsite, #104…a great little spot!  But, no luck for next Friday, everything is booked, and I actually got lucky only needing one night…the rest of the week was completely booked.

I knew heading to the Alps at this time would be crazy, so I was good with camping on the side of the road if need be.  Just needed to be sure I had food and water.

Got the tent up and laid around til about 1730.  I arrived and got set up around 1600….lazy day!  Time to go find my ‘dinner in a can’ at the ‘Casino’ store.  They sell it all!  Sporting goods, hiking equipment, clothes, food…A Euro Wal-Mart, though I didn’t see any ‘people of Wal-Mart’.  The store was CHAOS!!!  Looked as if the place had been looted and was currently in the same state…people were 5 deep at the meat cooler, the beverage aisle was completely ransacked!  There must be something big happening in town!  Ahh yes…the Tour de France, but NOT FOR ANOTHER WEEK!  I know how it goes though….

 

 

 

Survived the Casino experience and made it back to the campground.  Interesting fact about ‘LaPiscine’; the registration office used to be the booth where riders would have their ‘ride card’ for Alpe d’Huez, punch a clock and take off up the mountain and have to punch in at the top for an official time.  They now use timetoo and it’s run through the Office of Tourisme and uses GPS.  Well, I used GPS too, so no need to use theirs.  (could have gotten a certificate, but I can make my own if I need it)  I have my own results and pictures.

Trying to be up and climbing by 0800 at the latest.  No rush, but I’d like not to be in the mix of all who come to climb this seemingly mythical beast.   Should be quite the experience!  Hoping the rain holds off too, supposed to come sometime tomorrow afternoon.

1943 right now and I’m thinking about showering and seeing if I can drift off to sleep.  Bought too much food so I’ll have some extra weight tomorrow; not horrible, but enough to know it’s there.

Well, off to the shower and bed.