Biking Season in Alpe d'Huez Review

The biking season gets under way early in the Oisans with the Dutch-run Alpe d’HuZes charity event, a huge velo-fest which has grown out of all proportion over the past few years. Originally a rather obscure fundraiser run by a few hardcore cyclists, the event now fills the valley with what seems to be half the population of Holland, and raises getting on for 30 million euros for cancer research. Participants undertake to do the Alpe d’Huez climb six times in one day, starting at some unearthly hour of the morning end finishing whenever their abused bodies call time and keel over.

Generally we’ve barely recovered from that one when it’s time for La Marmotte, a major milestone in the amateur cycling calendar involving ascents of the Cols du Glandon, Telegraphe and Galibier, before finishing with a quick nip up to Alpe d’Huez. This is another huge event, though organisers limited entry to 7000 riders this year, presumably in a bid to limit the potential for carnage all over the roads.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you’re trying to get to work of a morning) the tour itself is giving us a miss this year, but that hasn’t deterred the army of avid cycling fans which marches through the Oisans every summer, clogging up the cols, cheering on their preferred riders in front of the big screens outside every bar and providing a nice little earner for local photographers.

While I wouldn’t recommend undertaking the Marmotte without some serious training, there are plenty of rides around the area which should leave the casual rider only absolutely knackered rather than actually at death’s door.

The easiest entry to the whacky world of hill climbing is probably the road up to Venosc from Bourg d’Oisans. This looks innocuous enough from behind the steering wheel, but once on a bike you discover in short order that it has a significant gradient, certainly enough to make you feel you’ve earned that beer in the Café de Paris when you get back.

Once you’ve got that one down, you could go a bit further and cycle up to Les Fetoules and do a spot of rafting. Or push it further still and carry on all the way up to La Berarde at the top of the valley.

If you want to tackle some altitude without risking running out of steam 30km from home and having to get a taxi at huge expense, try the Col d’Ornon just out of Bourg d’Oisans. And if you can do that, possibly you might be ready to tackle the legendary 21 bends to Alpe d’Huez. I’d advise limiting yourself to one ascent per day though, personally.

Finally, if you really want a challenge, have a go at the Col du Glandon. Haing done it myself this very weekend I can tell you that it is actually possible for a normal mortal, though it might mean you have to confront the question of your own mortality (and indeed sanity) rather sooner than you had planned.