Cyc'd European Tour 2014 - Day 8 Col du Telegraph, Col du Galibier andAlpe d'Huez

The blog post today is pretty hard to write, simply because the ride today was such an epic conclusion to a fantastic 8 day (or 10 days) of riding with the most iconic of climbs Alpe d'huez.

The group was in high spirits despite the threat of cold and a wet morning, possibly because it was the iconic climbs or possible because we knew we didn't have to get back on the bike after today. 

Some were keen to set good times on the climb and the talk started at breakfast as to who would attack and when. Stephen who had ridden the mountain before could hardly contain his excitement at trying to better his last time. 

We all donned our tour kit for the ride, and headed off to conquer our highest peak ever Col du Galibier. 

Of course being the French alps there is alway another climb to conquer and today that would be Col de Telegraph. Surprisingly most of us felt fresh on the climb after 7 days of solid riding. The shortened day turned out to be a blessing in disquise and we had "slightly" rested legs.  I managed to find a good rhythm on the climb and moved away from the other riders keen to take it easy. Soon Neil, who had taken off early, came into view much to my surprise. Those who have ridden with me before would have heard about the "red mist" and the sight of Neil within chasing distance set the red mist into full swing. With only 2 km of the climb to go I managed to pass him only to be passed again soon after. With 1km to go Neil pushed the pace, I managed to hold on and with 600m to go put in a massive sprint to pass him and take the line honours for the first col of the day. 

After stopping for a photo, put on our vests for the short descent to start the long grind to the Galibier. 

During the descent my feet went numb and I found the first few km of the climb really tough going. Matt soon caught me, but shouted a few words of encouragement for me to stick with it.

 Fortunately that was enough to get me going and we rode together though the landscape which at times resembled a moonscape with the mountains rising high on all sides. 

We continue on as the tempurature started to drop and the altitude made it noticeably harder to breathe. It was hard to work out if the views or the altitude was more breath taking. 

Just as we were starting to struggle we came across a guy from Germany who was riding from Munich to the Côte d'Azur. We chatted to him for the last few km which made them just fly by. As we neared the summit the air got the slight better of Matt and we managed to ride apart a little just prior to the sign for the col. 

The summit was freezing with the road lined with snow. Our new German friend very kindly gave us some warm gear so we didn't freeze before our support van tuned up.

From there it was the fun part. All rugged up we plummeted to the coffee shop at Col du Lautaret for a welcomed warm lunch break, where we devoured our body weight in burgers and fries

We claimed our bonus col, Col du Lautaret making it 4 for the day before we made the long descent to the start of Alpe d'huez. 

The rest stop was tense, layers of clothing were dropped, water bottles removed and every non essential item stored in our bags looking for every gain we could get on the last climb of our tour. 

The climbers rolled to the base for a neutral start and it wasn't long before the road turned skyward. 

It was not long before the first attack occured, with Matt and I pushing the pace on the first switchback. The switch back attacks continued until the group splintered and Neil, Matt and I were on our own. Neil set a cracking pace putting in attacks on the tougher sections. Matt yo yoed off the back but stuck with it. There was no time to take in the view apart from my stem as we looked for everything from our legs. Sadly at turn 18 on overtaking car put a split between Neil and I and it broke my spirit in the chase and I couldn't get back on. Matt and I continued the tussle as the 12km TT markers came into sight. With 300m to go we launched into a sprint to take the line honours in the TT section (and trying to break my goal for an hour to that mark).

Sadly the sprint would be my undoing as my rear wheel came out of place and jammed against my frame. Matt got away for the last 2 km to take the official TDF win and I soon rolled across second. The  most epic finish though goes to Flynn and Jason who put in a full sprint battle for their place on the leaderboard both collapsing as they crossed the line. 

The Cyc'd group stayed at the line cheering "Allez" for anyone nearing the finish all swapping stories of how they conquered the epic mountain. 

It truly was the perfect way to finish our amazing 8 days touring France!