Alpe d’Huez by Peter Cossins is a cycling history of the famous Alpine climb. The book looks at the dramatic moments on Alpe D’Huez which have featured in the Tour de France. It also looks at some of the winners and the factors that make Alpe d’Huez such an iconic climb. It also examines the combination of myth and reality behind the great climb and examines some of the criticisms of the climb and whether it has become a victim of its own success.
I received a copy of Alpe d’Huez by Peter Cossins on my way to the Pyrenees a few weeks ago. It was good timing because riding up the Pyrenees gave a much more vivid understanding of the attraction behind real mountains. As Cossins mentions towards the end of the book – a succession of doping scandals in cycling has caused a shift from a focus away from riders to the actual climbs. Modern day magazines place less emphasis on just the cycling personalities – the climbs themselves have become much more central to the interest in cycling. Witness the explosion in books about climbs and mountains. Riders come and go, but mountains are always there. Mountains are 100% reliable – they don’t have skeletons in the cupboard, but are a permanent feature on the landscape – tantalising any cyclist in the world to ‘come and have a go.’ As it is often said, it’s hard to have a knock around on Center Court, but anyone with a bike can ride up Alpe d’Huez and compare their times.
The Giro d’Italia has been great to watch – beautiful Italian scenery, exciting, unpredictable racing – and as stage races go a lot of drama and excitement. If the Tour de France could replicate that intensity, we could be in for a treat. Hopefully, if the main contenders stay safe in the crazy first week, there will be many more people to seriously challenge for the lead.
One of the abiding images of the Giro was watching Alberto Contador dance up the Mortirolo climb picking off the straggling peleton like he was a pro coming across a Sunday afternoon club run. It was a really great stage. Similarly, it was just as good to see Contador suffer on the last stage. – Expect the unexpected with this Giro.
I’m a great fan of the Corinthian endeavour – amateur ideals of sport and all that. But, the thing with professional cycling is that it is often the badly timed crash / puncture that really lights up the race. If the main protagonists stopped racing every-time someone came a cropper, it would become more like a charity ride, than a race. I guess you have to take the rough with the smooth. The sportsmanship in pro-cycling that really matters is riding 100% clean.
Still, the ever-unpopular UCI rule makers should revisit those rules about fining riders who swap equipment from different teams. I think it’s good if rival team mates want to offer a spare wheel out of friendship or sportsmanship. It’s always good to have rules that outsiders to the sport understand. Unless you have spent many late nights reading the UCI rulebook you will probably struggle to understand the two minute penalty give Porte and Simon Clarke (BBC link) for nothing more than a wheel swap.
The one shadow over the Giro is why they have to always commemorate Marco Pantani as the great hero of cycling. To me, he never will be. The abiding memory of Pantani is (apart from his ridiculous Heamocrit levels) was leading the peleton protests (photo) against ‘proper drug enforcement at the 1998 Tour de France (the Tour of the Festina scandal)’. Pantani was a tragic life, a cautionary tale, a man who perhaps deserves sympathy, but, I struggle to feign admiration for any drug users – be they Pantani, Armstrong or Ullrich.
Finishing on a more positive note – another highlight of the Giro was seeing a new generation come through, like David Formolo’s successful win from a break. That was really good. Hope to see him keep progressing for next few years.
I remember when I was 11, I owned a shell suit and thinking it was the greatest thing since Marmite. I’ve now expunged all photos of me cycling in a shell suit (good job no flickr.com in those days). It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now…
There are many things that seem like a good idea at the time, cycling is no exception.
The all over skin suit
I believe under this skinsuit is Dave Lloyd
In the 1970s, these all over skin suits were all the rage in the time-trialling community. Apparently, dressing up in this figure hugging lycra piece was a couple of seconds more aerodynamic over 25 miles. The sad thing is that I’m drawn to the quality of the number pinning, which may well negate all the effort of that lycra onesie.
Dressing all in black
For many years in the UK, the RTTC had a regulation that cyclists must only wear all black whilst racing on British roads. The idea was to make the cyclist look less conspicuous – and so hopefully prevent anyone from noticing that we were doing something as rebellious as ride a bike.
These days, we go to the other extreme and wear fluorescent jackets and the like.
For any commuter cyclist, waterproof trousers are essential. I remember the first two years of working in town, I was too tight to buy any waterproof trousers. When it rained I would teach by standing by the radiator waiting for trousers to dry. Happy days!
Then I got a pay rise and bought a pair of waterproof trousers from an outdoor shop. They weren’t very good. Firstly they were too short and so your ankles got very wet. So I bought a pair of walking garters to fill the gap and stop the trouser getting stuck in the chain. I’ve been meaning to buy a proper pair of cycling waterproof trousers for several years, but I never seem to get round to it. There’s always a new deep section front wheel to buy.
waterproof trousers
For the past two years, the elastic waist broke on my old trouser. So it meant when I got off the bike, the waterproof trousers would start to fall down. A bit embarrassing, even if there was another pair of trousers underneath. Anyway when I was offered a pair of DHB waterproof trousers to review, I was pretty happy. Anything was going to be a big improvement…
I got them a couple of months ago, and to be honest there haven’t been that many wet days. But, when it has rained, I’ve put them on and they have done a good job in keeping my dry.
Perhaps there is a second career as a cycling model.
This post is inspired by a recent visit to France.
France is a marvellous country, and I had a really fantastic time in the Pyrenees – but for a country which prides itself on its cuisine, breakfast is really hopeless – and not at all good for cycling.
We stayed in a typical French Gite, very nice owners, but what do you get served up for breakfast?
A small croissant, white bread, butter and jam. Coffee. (breakfast was not even on a plate, just on the table. very French)
I was in such a state of shock I didn’t take a photo of my French breakfast. But, this is essentially French breakfast – white croissant and jam. If you stay in a five star hotel, you may get a sliver of cheese or ham to go with your white bread.
This is the worst possible breakfast for a cyclist. It is just high GI glucose which will raise your blood sugar levels, and then when you start cycling, the blood sugar will drop off. Eating French bread is nutritionally similar to eating a plate of jelly beans.
Graph describing the rise of blood sugar after meals Chriss
Let us look at the GI Index of some different breakfast possibilities.
Low GI less than 55
Medium 55-70
High 70+
Generally, unprocessed foods – food with fibre will have a low GI index.
List of foods
French baguette, white – 95
Whole wheat bread, average – 71
100% Whole Grain bread (Natural Ovens) – 51
Oatmeal, average – 55
Instant oatmeal, average – 83
Mashed potato – 81
Old fashioned porridge – 51
Fat free milk – 32
Muesli average – 66
Honey – 61
Banana, ripe – 62
Apple – 39
Raisins – 64
Raspberry – 26
Blueberry
Brown rice, average – 50
lentils – 29
Dates – 100
GI index of foods can vary. You will see slightly different measures depending on where you look, but it is interesting. (GI Index)
Firstly GI index is a measurement of how foods effect our blood sugar levels. Some foods like white bread will have an immediate effect on the blood sugar levels in our body. These have a high GI index.
Other foods, with the same amount of total carbohydrates, will have a lower and more sustained impact on blood sugar levels. These have a low GI index.
Advantage of low GI breakfast
Sustained energy release throughout the day.
Avoid spikes and troughs in blood sugar levels.
Avoid the feeling of hunger when blood sugar drops.
You will feel fuller for longer – helping to avoid overconsumption of carbohydrates. Fibrous foods help you to feel full for longer. Highly processed carbohydrates make it easier to pile on the calories.
High GI foods can be addictive – to meet sugar crashes, you later want a donut, a few hours after breakfast.
Low GI foods, high in fibre are good for other aspects of health, such as colon cancer.
Good cycling breakfasts
oats and fruit with milk (on right) is a good breakfast.
Porridge – with milk / soya milk. Porridge made with rolled oats, will give sustained energy over time. You can sprinkle some fruits like grated apple, blueberries e.t.c on top for some natural low GI sugars.
Muesli (no added sugar varieties) – similar to porridge, oats, wheat flakes, barley e.t.c. With nuts and fruits. This is slightly higher GI than porridge, but is a tasty way to start the day. I mix my own muesli with a higher proportion of big oat flakes to get lower GI.
Some multi-grain bread – If you fancy some slices of bread, choose multi-grain, wholemeal.
Protein bars / protein drinks. Sometimes on the way to a race, when you want a snack, I go for a protein bar / protein drink, as this is a way to get a moderate GI index.
Pasta? When I started cycling 20 years ago, the super cycling food was pasta. I thought the best thing for breakfast would be to eat cold pasta. I stopped this a long time ago. Pasta from wheat is a little harder to digest. You don’t want to overwork your stomach in the morning.
French breakfast. It should be noted that the French breakfast was not the end of the world, I still managed a five hour cycle ride, without noticing much difference, but next time you visit the continent – don’t forget your supply of oats – That’s my top tip for the day.
After riding in the Pyrenees, everything else seems a bit of an anti-climax. Today was a 100 mile time trial on the H100/8 over the A31. It meant five circuits of a dual carriageway circuit, which is quite rough and ready in places. As you might imagine -a bit different to climbing the high mountains.
There was a full field of 120 riders plus 10 reserves – a good field for another excellent Hounslow promotion.
My preparation was nice and relaxed. No need for an hour on the rollers before a 100. The main thing is checking food and hydration and get yourself sorted. I was able to lend a spare training wheel to number 92 Harry Walton from Cheltenham, who got a last minute rear wheel puncture.
drinks-for-100-mile-time-trial
My bike was loaded with 2.1 litres of water and quite a few energy gels in that pouch on the top tube. (Though the gels were popping out of it on the A31 ridges – I lost one and caught another…)
British roads were not built with smooth cycling in mind. We throw a road on the hill and hope for the best; hairpins are a luxury rarely afforded – at best we may get a quarter hairpin so the gradient is kept below 25%. The gradient is never constant, but nearly always variable. You can’t get into a rhythm but will find you are constantly changing gear or wishing you had a lower gear to go into. To add insult to injury, the road surface is invariably rough and potholes create an added challenge.
The Alps and Pyrenees by contrast are wonderfully engineered and manicured climbs. You can have a climb with an average gradient of 8%, but the maximum is 10%. In England, an average of 8%, usually means a maximum of 18-20%. On the continent, the road surfaces are usually something we can only dream of – smooth and well maintained. The other defining thing about the Pyrenees is that the climbs are long 17km, 20km climbs. We just struggle to comprehend how long the hills are. It’s like doing a 10 mile time trial uphill at an average gradient of 9%.
Luz Ardiden is a ski resort built in 1975 and has featured several times as a summit finish in the Tour de France. It starts from the same town as the Col du Tormalet – to the north east of Luz Saint Sauveur in the Midi Pyrenees, It is a classic Pyrenean climb – averaging 8% for a height gain of 982m, with frequent hairpin bends. It offers some stunning views from the top.
The Col du Tourmalet was first featured in the Tour de France in 1910. Since then, it has featured in the race over 73 times and is one of the most prestigious climbs on the Tour.
1926 Lucien Buysse on the Tourmalet
The early intrepid riders were climbing poor road surfaces on heavy two speed bicycles; in those days, to climb a Pyrenean pass like the Col du Tourmalet was a herculean task. With lightweight bikes and good road surfaces, it is a little easier than for those early pioneers, but it is still 2,100m to ascend.
Eventual winner Octave Lapize walking up the Tourmalet in 1910.
In the Tour de France, the Col du Tourmalet is often the penultimate climb of the day. It is conveniently situated near many mountain top finishes like Luz Ardiden, Hautacam. There are no shortage of other climbs in this part of the world. One thing always guaranteed with the Col du Tourmalet is that the peleton will be split into little pieces with perhaps twenty or thirty minutes between the front and back of the peleton.
The Col du Tourmalet can be climbed in both directions, and offers a similar gradient and challenge.
It is the third consecutive year I have ridden the Charlotteville 50 mile TT on the Bentley (A31) H50/8 course. It is also the first standard distance, ‘non-sporting’ time trial I’ve done this year.
Even for a relatively fast dual carriageway course, it’s still a bit lumpy – 1,545 feet over 50 miles.
I finished in second with a time of 1.43.59. I was a little surprised with the time; it was quicker than expected. I have many memories of doing 50 mile time trials on this course and really struggling over the last couple of miles. Today, I seemed to have a little left in tank to go even harder in last 10 miles. I think it was a pb for a 50 mile TT, (if you exclude the superfast A50 course)
Alpe d’Huez by Peter Cossins is a cycling history of the famous Alpine climb. The book looks at the dramatic moments on Alpe D’Huez which have featured in the Tour de France. It also looks at some of the winners and the factors that make Alpe d’Huez such an iconic climb. It also examines the combination of myth and reality behind the great climb and examines some of the criticisms of the climb and whether it has become a victim of its own success.
