Yes but not big ones - followed by the 2009 tour on the Pontalier - Verbier stage as far as Yverdon les Bains. Its a really good way to ride into Switzerland and the descent from Ste-Croix is awsome if a little scary at mission speed with panniers.
Bike Forum
Tour de france climbs.......done any?
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Posted 10 months ago #
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I did a few between school and university, the three hardest consecutive days were probably:
Col d'Aubisque
Col du Soulor
Col du TormaletCol de Aspin
Col de peyresourde
Col de Mente
Col de Port d'Aspet (edit: this could have been 2 days, the pain is too much to be able to remember)Col de la Core
Col d'Agnes
Port de lersPosted 10 months ago # -
Col de Petit Saint Bernard on a Heckler with coil shocks and 2.5" super-tackys!
Is you willy not getting a bit cold from all the waving your doing there?
Posted 10 months ago # -
Col De Farthing Common, probably every 3 or 4 months. So i can honestly say have ridden a TDF col at least 100 times
Posted 10 months ago # -
Done Alpe d'Huez, Madeline, Telegraph, Laurent Galibier but most enjoyable was les Deux Alpes in 2001. Rode it just before the Tour went up. Wasn't expecting the road to be open but when I saw some people going up I went back to the car and got the bike. Totally not expected to be able to do it. Was about the last rider the police let through. The crowds were fantastic and gave me special attention as I was wearing a yellow tee shirt ......... and baggies and a floppy sun hat. The Dutch were really partying. Think I got on Danish TV as I kept up with some minor celeb who was being filmed while riding up. He was obviously being helped/encouraged by the former pro Bo Hamburger who was doing the chatting to the celeb, camera van, crowd etc. Nice block with perfect English. Hardly breathing as he chatted while I gasped. Magic day apart from the descent after the stage was spoilt by the crowds walking down blocking the road.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Col de Petit Saint Bernard on a hustler and draggy tyres. Had been hoping to do Alpe D'Huez later this year but looks like we are going else where instead.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Just the Col de la Ramaz and the Joux Plane. Tough going never mind the heat. My Scottish body doesnt know what to do when it gets above 30 degrees!
Posted 10 months ago # -
Col de Petit St Bernard on a moped that had run out of petrol so had to pedal the whole way. Slow puncture on the back but no supertackies
Forgot my packed lunch so had to ride back down & up again, too
Posted 10 months ago # -
I did Alpe D'Heuz on my Rockhopper. That beer at the top was the most satisfying ever. I'd recommend it to anyone, make sure you take your MTB, the VTT trails are ace.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I did Alpe D'Huez many years ago on a mountain bike. It took most of the day and it nearly killed me. I'm not fit enough for that kind of thing.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Alpe D'Heuz, and Ventoux twice.
When we went up Ventoux in the car the brakes were cooking so much on the descent had to p*** over the wheels to keep them cool! Wife was not impressed, best descent on a bike ever though.Posted 10 months ago # -
Done the Col D'Izoard. Twice. In winter. At night.
Ok, I was on a skidoo. It was cool!
Posted 10 months ago # -
Col de Petit St Bernard on a full sus.
took the road bike this year on our tour of france.
didn't ride alp d'huez as the rain was immense and i had no jacket.
didn't ride ventoux as after riding out 30km the hill was shut for a car rally! very angry after that one!Posted 10 months ago # -
Just out of interest what gear ratios did people use up Alpe d'Huez?
The only time I did it was when I was about 14 on a £100 Raleigh road bike. I was struggling to turn the pedals but passing lots of people on decent road bikes spinning away.
Did you use 42 at the front or 39? and what rear block?
Posted 10 months ago # -
Tourmalet, Aubisque + Souler, Aspin, Peyresourde, Portet d'Aspet, Marie Blanque, la Core, Jau, Portillon, Port, Pailheres, Mente.
All a couple of weeks ago, 8 day trip in the Pyrenees.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I can confirm I was using a 22 at the front and something equal or larger at the back when I went up Alpe D'Huez. Like I said, I'm not built for climbing!
Posted 10 months ago # -
Soulor
AubisqueTourmalet
Hautacam
Luz Ardiden.Posted 10 months ago # -
From the West, Souler is barely a bump in the road on the descent off of Aubisque. From the East, it's a bit more real. We did it from the West...
I'd like to do Hautacam and Luz Ardiden - they were the two main ones we missed out.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Done a fair few of them by motorbike on touring hols. For a change of pace sometimes hire a bike for a day so have done Alp d'Huez on a road bike and the Stelvio (sometimes part of the Giro) on a full suss, deffo the wrong tool for an 1800m road climb
Posted 10 months ago # -
I'd like to do Hautacam and Luz Ardiden - they were the two main ones we missed out.
They were magnificent
Did them both in the same (hot) afternoon. Stunning, stunning climbs. And descents (Le Tour never rides down them cos they're both dead-ends) Posted 10 months ago # -
Not enough, but a few...
Just the Port, Portet d'Aspet, Menté and Bales in the Pyrennees (I have unfinished business with the Peyresourde).
And Ey, Fontaube, Notre Dame des Abeilles and Ventoux in Haute Provence.
Farthing Common. In Kent.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Galibier and Alp D'huez on a stag do!
Our quickest time for the Alp D'Heuz hairpins was around 55mins whereas I think Pantani holds the record at about 37mins.
Obviously Pantani did it at the end of a hard TdF stage whereas for us we did it after breakfast in a cafe at the bottom! Mind you he probably had more than coissants in his system!
Posted 10 months ago # -
Mind you he probably had more than coissants in his system!
Oh yeah, that explains the discrapancy then
Posted 10 months ago # -
Did the one up to Deux Alp from Grenoble. I was on a fully loaded Kona mtb (front and rear) panniers.
Oh, and fat knobbly tyres!!
Got some looks from the roadies.Posted 10 months ago # -
Quite impressed by some of the times here - roady elite level stuff and then I am going to assume the riders are not fully charged on EPO
(Ventoux, Alpe, croix de Fer, the one next to Croix de Fer, alpes maritimes climbs eg Vence Eze etc)
Someone asked about ratios - I did an event up Alpe last year was completely owned by a load of U23 whippets - they all had 34:27/28/29 - there's nothing macho about using a big rear sprocket now people are not riding loaded with drugs and extra blood
I've just put a 29 on the back of mine for this Summer - it will be a life saver on that horrible relentless bit in the middle of Ventoux
Posted 10 months ago # -
Ratio wise 39:23. Traditional road setup.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Ridden a few, hope to do more this summer.
Done the Col de la Joux Plan from Samoens several times - never gets easier. Last time combined it with Morzine - Avoriaz and the Encrinaz. That was a big day by my standards.
Also ridden Cormet de Roselend from Bourg St Maurice, and been up Mont Ventoux in 2009 (Bedoin side). All hard, but not as hard as some offroad climbs I've done, but then I am not racing on them. All on a road bike with a triple.
Joux Plan is probably the worst - steep but uneven so hard to get any rhythm going, and the end is steep and straight so you can see where you're heading for a long time. Pretty brutal really.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I wonder... Of those who've done it, how many don't really want to do any more? For us it was a means to an end and quite a nice thing to be able to say "I did a TDF climb on my 6" bike" but the actual experience was just crap- doing something unpleasant and tedious, for a very long time. The descending was possibly worth it. But probably not.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Doing them on a road bike is sufficiently stupid - why would you want to make it dumber by doing them on a 6" MTB - and the descents are way more fun on a roady too
Posted 10 months ago # -
winterfold - Member
Doing them on a road bike is sufficiently stupid - why would you want to make it dumber by doing them on a 6" MTB - and the descents are way more fun on a roady too
Um, why do you think I'd ride up a mountain on a mountain bike? Descent wouldn't have been much fun carrying a road bike down it...
Posted 10 months ago # -
Alpe D'Huez cooked the clutch of my car on the way up, the brakes on the way down, exhaust cooked on the drive back to Calais. Sold the car a month after getting back. Didn't actually ride it as I as there for the Mega and was camping in Bourg D'Oisan in the valley.
Did ride the Col delle Fenestre (Giro) on a really crappy Scott hire bike (I'd knackered mine by getting the front wheel stuck between two big rocks).That cooked the V brakes too.
Really should take my road bike out.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Tourmalet from Bareges, but carrid on to Pic de Midi du Bigorre (2,800). That was on a rigid MTB
Also done the Col de Aspin
Posted 10 months ago # -
Without a shadow of a doubt some of my fondest cycling memories involve road riding in the high mountains in France.
5 years ago I went to the Pyrennes and, riding alone, covered the Col d'Aubisque (I seriously overheated, shaking, the lot), Col du Soulor, Col de Perysoude, Col de Tourmelat (nice glass of red at the top), Col de Port d'Aspet (a minutes silence at Fabio Casatelli's memorial), Col du Port (lovely quiet climb but not after two huge bowls of cassoulet for lunch!). Rode a Crosscheck and did none of the descents (I had the fear for descending so bike went in the back of my mates car).
2 summers I headed to the Alps with my 7-11 Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra, fear for descending at bay but not fully tamed. What followed was 7 days of joy with over 12km of vertical ascent. Among others managed Alpe d'Huez, Col du Galibier (in a HUGE thunderstorm, visibility about 10 feet at the top), Col du Glandon, Col de la Coix de Fer, Les Deux Alpes, Col du Telegraphe etc. The quiet 'back way' up Alpe d'Huez was wonderful if less iconic than the Tour route). The descent off the Col du Glandon was particularly memorable as, in a moment of fancy, I latched on to some French guys and went with them all the way down. And the quieter side routes are almost better than the famous climbs, no cars, just tree lined climbs, rhythmical breathing and then glorious relaxing descents. Magical.
Happy, happy days, makes me want to book a holiday immediately!
Actually, anyone have experience of the Giro climbs, particularly the Stelvio and Gavia? Any recommendations?
Posted 10 months ago # -
Alpe d'huez, Galibier, Ventoux and the three in Kent!
TBH I didn't find the Alpine climbs that hard as whilst they are long they are often not more than 10% so just pick a gear a spin up them (obviously very different to racing!).
However the road over the Lecht and Hardknott and Wrynose passes were in a totally different league for me - MUCH harder. They may be shorter, but just getting up a 33% climb nearly killed me!
Posted 10 months ago # -
I've ridden the Ramaz as well thinking about it.
Wot boris said - UK climbs are very different, shorter and steeper. Alps more even and to a large extent you just try to keep a rythym going for a long time.
Posted 10 months ago #
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