Category Archives: Tdf trip planning

Information on seeing the Tour de France in person, including the process I go through myself each year- figuring out the TdF route, finding places to stay, rental cars, trains & more.

Tour de France 2013- Planning for the Alps

Posted on by
Reply

This is not going to be an easy year following the Tour de France. In fact, it may be the toughest-yet for me, due to the unexpected near-total cessation of train service in the Alps this year (due to a massive modernization project). The original plan, which has worked out very well for a number of years, was to work out of a single city for as long as possible, getting close to the nearby stages using the train when they weren’t close enough to ride to. So with that in mind, I set up reservations in Avignon (to see the Ventoux stage, which simply can’t be missed despite being out of the way and accessible only by car) and Grenoble, from which all of the Alps are, theoretically, accessible.

Theoretically. We should have been able to take trains to places reasonably close to each of the stages, but that plan’s now shot. Here’s what’s in store for the Alps-
This is the most-heavily-affected stage. It’s a two hour drive, in good traffic, from Grenoble to Chorges, and on the day of the TdF, could be a whole lot longer. In all likelihood it could be a totally-jammed road, with time trials being very popular and there being so few roads in the area.

Time Trial, Wednesday, July 17th.The plan will be to drive from Grenoble to Veynes, about 100k and supposedly 90 minutes over very twisty roads. This is the toughest stage to catch, because there are so few roads into the area and it carries huge interest because it could determine the final winner of the TdF. It’s not very long, just 21 miles or so, but all of it up & down.
View Larger Map

The beauty of driving to Veynes instead of Gap is that we’ll be taking a route that virtually nobody else is. Traffic congestion should be minimal, and no problem parking at the Veynes train station.

From Veynes, we catch the 11am train to Embrun, arriving right at noon. We then try to intersect the course somewhere on one of the two main climbs, using local roads whose suitability is in question (but that’s never stopped us before!). For the return we ride 30 miles back to the Veynes train station to pick up our car, sine the last train out of Chorges (at the end of the time trial) leaves at 5:25pm, likely too early by half an hour or so.

Alpe d’Huez, Thursday, July 18th. Traffic isn’t an option for this one, it’s assured. There’s only one route from civilization to the base of Alpe d’Huez, a narrow road that starts in Vizille, about 10 miles out of Grenoble, and climbs relatively-gradually for 20 more miles. It would be nice to ride from Grenoble to Alpe d’Huez, but that would preclude doing anything but going up & back. The route below has us parking about 2 miles short of Bourg d’Oison (the base of the mountain), riding further up the valley and then taking one of the amazing “balcony” roads that intersects the main climb just a bit up from the bottom. Then we ride to the top and descend down the back side, the Col de Serenne, and back to the car where we will be waiting in traffic… forever.

Col du Madeleine, Friday, July 19th. Drive from Grenoble to Chamousset and do the loop shown below-


View Larger Map

And so it begins (2013 Tour de France trip planning)

Posted on by
Reply


View Final road stage TdF 2013 in a larger map
It’s still six months off, and the actual routes haven’t yet been announced, but there’s enough information out there to figure out where it’s going, how to get there, and where to stay. Above is my first shot at figuring out the final road stage of the TdF.

The plan is to leave on Thursday, July 11th, arriving in Geneva the next day, then take a train to Avignon, a couple hours to the south. Saturday I’d like to do a short ride up to Orange and visit one of the best-surviving Roman Amphitheaters and shake the legs loose before the biggest ride of the trip, Mont Ventoux, which takes place on Bastille Day, a the French version of our July 4th. After that we travel to Grenoble where we’ll be positioned for the various stages in the Alps, including the one shown on the map above. The three biggest days for us (“us” being my son and I) will be Ventoux on the 14th, Alpe d’Huez on the 18th, and the Col du Madeleine on the 19th. From Grenoble we should have access to all stages from the Time Trial in Embrun on the 17th to the final road stage in the map above… using a car only for the Alpe d’Huez stage. The secret? Local trains! A concept we’ve proven on several past trips. I would love to dispense with a car entirely, but the Alpe d’Huez stage would be difficult; it’s 50k from Grenoble to the base of Alpe d’Huez, and then another 13k UP! Which actually doesn’t sound that bad…

Do the needs of the many justify the sacrifice of the few (or the one)?

Posted on by
Reply

Once again sitting in a metal tube, hurtling through the air at an elevation where the outside temperature is -40 and yet if anything, I’m too warm and wondering, just 8 or so hours into this ordeal, if it’s survivable.

52 hours from when I started I’ll be back home. In the meantime, I’ll have been on 6 flights, covered 17,891 miles, and not stayed in any one place more than 6.5 hours… and that will have been in the middle of the night.

San Francisco. Seattle. Tokyo. Singapore. Tokyo again. Las Angeles. San Francisco.

Where is the SST (Concorde, super-sonic plane capable of three times the speed of the planes I’m traveling on) when I need it? For that matter, where is my sanity? Why would anyone do this?
Continue reading →

TdF 2013 Trip Planning

Posted on by
1

The 2013 TdF route poses some interesting challenges for someone who would like to see the final mountain stages and finish. Not that we know of anyone who’s made a habit over the years of doing exactly that! First step is to visualize things, which I’ve done here, using information from the official LeTour.fr website.

SUNDAY, JULY 14TH – STAGE 15 242km Givors / Mont Ventoux

TUESDAY, JULY 16TH – STAGE 16 168km  Vaison-la-Romaine / Gap
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17TH – STAGE 17 32km  Embrun / Chorges

THURSDAY, JULY 18TH – STAGE 18 168km Gap / Alpe-d’Huez

FRIDAY, JULY 19TH – STAGE 19 204km Bourg-d’Oisans / Le Grand-Bornand

SATURDAY, JULY 20TH – STAGE 20 125km Annecy / Annecy – Semnoz

SUNDAY, JULY 21ST – STAGE 21 118km Versailles / Paris Champs-Élysées

More photos from the last days of the TdF

Posted on by
Reply

It’s bad enough that my son is killing me on the climbs. Looking at his latest photos (not those here; I’m going to post his later), he’s getting better at photography too! And I think I know why. I’m here in O’Hare airport (Chicago) waiting for the final leg home, and managed to snag a shower at the United lounge (long story; I’ll get to that later). They gave me a shower kit, complete with about 6 tubes of various lotions, including, of course, shampoo and body wash. Only one problem. I left my glasses with my son in the lounge area, and couldn’t read the labels. Seriously. Fortunately, the small bag I had my change of clothes in also had my pocket camera, so I took a macro photo, then zoomed in on the result so I could read the label. Again, seriously.

It’s going to be nice being home. The daily grind isn’t so bad, and it was quite clear that while I don’t mind being at the shop 6 days/week, that’s a talent/defect not shared by my wife or daughter, who are in serious need of relief. Me? I’m in serious need of serious sleep.

We stayed until the end… it was worth it.

Posted on by
Reply

Details shortly; for now I’ve got to get a few hours sleep before catching a flight home tomorrow morning. Suffice it to say Kevin and I were in the right place at the right time when the riders did their honor laps around the Champ Elysees. Yes, they do come over when you yell to them, as you can see here!

Posted on by
Reply

The present, past & future of cycling. Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans and Tejay Garderen.


7/21/12 Bradley Wiggins wins the final Time Trial in the 2012 Tour de France, sealing his victory. Cadel Evans, defending champion, conceded even more time, and Tejay Van Garderen at just 23 years old, comes in a remarkable 5th place overall. The scene was chaotic; half of the UK must have come across the chunnel in the past day or two to cheer on Wiggins, the first-ever Brit to win the TdF. It was not unlike the Lance Armstrong years, when thousands of Americans would invade France for a week or two in July. I came, I rode, I took pictures. Same as it ever was, but different. It’s time for the older to pass things on to the younger, and nowhere was that more apparent than on my rides in France with my son. First time I’ve been totally on the ropes and he was flying. It’s a good thing. Right? –Mike

Last big day in the Pyrenees… it’s all downhill from here

Posted on by
Reply


That’s my ride. The last big ride in the mountains for us; Riding from Lourdes over the Col du Aspin, then nearly all of the Peyresourde before detouring up to Peyregudes, where today’s Tour de France stage finished. The afterward a mad dash down the mountain because we quite literally had a train to catch. More details soon, including how Kevin had quite the run-in with the Gendarmes, or at least one of them.

Tomorrow morning (Friday) we catch a train to Paris; this will be as close to a “rest” day as we’ve had. Then Saturday we take a train from Paris to the final time trial in Chartres, back to Paris that night, Sunday the final stage, and Monday we fly home. As goes the title of a Calvin & Hobbes collection, the days are just packed!

Epic fail on Tourmalet today

Posted on by
1

Thankfully, most of the ride went fine, just the climb up the Campan side of the Tourmalet. An “easy” 100k ride to see today’s Tour de France stage, only it appears I have some issues when it gets really hot. Dang, I used to do pretty well when it’s hot, and I still do fine (better than fine, actually) on the flats and even into headwinds when it’s hot. But today on the Tourmalet, that was not my finest two hours.

Kevin had no such issues; he could ride at whatever speed he wanted up the hill. But starting at about 8k from the top, I was sweating more than normal, I was losing power, and finally had to do the unthinkable. Yes, I actually walked about a kilometer up hill.

At least I didn’t lose anything permanent, like Cadel Evans did today. Another 4 minutes off the pace, so there’s no way Cadel can even hope to make the podium in Paris this year. Me? I just lost face to my son, although there was some measure of redemption on the return when we hit quite a headwind on the gentle lower slopes of the Tourmalet, and I had quite a train of riders drafting behind me for quite a few miles. That, I’ll admit, was fun.

This is what happens when you improvise

Posted on by
Reply

There’s no mystery to this spot; it’s as steep as it looks. Maybe steeper. Col d’Andorre it’s called.

Ouch. It was going to be an “easy” day between two pretty tough ones, a loop from Lourdes up the valley to Argeles Gazost, with a little kicker up D102 for fun. Looked like about 800 feet of climbing on that loop. Which would have been fine, except, at the top, there’s a tiny little orange sign next to a water faucet (and it’s 94 degrees so you’ve definitely stopped for the water!). Col d’Andorre, 6km. Hmm. How bad can it be?

Gravel… again!

We went just far enough to ensure that it was, in fact, gravel forever.

Pretty darned bad, and without even the satisfaction of completing it, thanks to it turning to gravel after about 4km or so. Steep? Yes, it’s Sonora Pass steep. Great views, little traffic, but wow. Did get us KOMs for that piece though, primarily because only one other Strava person has ever dared to try it before.