the birm*

30 seconds less per switch back…

Well during a day off I got on the bike and bolted to l’Alpe d’Huez. When I say “bolted”, I mean I got to the foot of the famous climb as quick as possible, bearing in mind I’d have at least an hour’s worth of hard labour before some rest. It was cool to climb this “hill”, especially with all the names freshly painted on the road. I did it in 1h15, which is more than what I’d hoped, but still, it’s a good start.

I returned a week later, during family camp, as the families were going to the top for lunch. I gave my lunch to Candide and grabbed the bike. This time I knocked off a good 6 minutes, getting to the finish line in 1h09. I figure if I can knock another 30 seconds (average) per turn, then I’ll break the hour… we’ll see what happens.

What I didn’t plan this second time was that the picnic spot was actually 400 vertical meters higher than the finish line, so it took me another 40 minutes of climbing to get to them (waterless and foodless). Needless to say I was happy to see Candide when I got to the top…with a jacket and my lunch :)