Posted by: Kyle

Today was the second cool, cloudy day in a row, but unlike yesterday it wasn't raining this morning, so after breakfast we headed out on our bikes. Our ride today started up the road to Alpe d'Huez, but only for the first four switchbacks or so to the town of La Garde en Oisans. There we turned off toward the town of Auris en Oisans along a road know as Les Balcons d'Auris. It was a similar sort of sketchy mountainside road to the one we climbed up yesterday on the other side of the valley.

After a long climb along the mountainside, the road descended toward the town of Freney en Oisans.

From here we headed up the Vallee du Ferrand for the long climb up to Col de Sarenne.

We climbed into and then up and out of, the clouds on the way to Col de Sarenne.

From Col de Sarenne we had a cold downhill into Alpe d'Huez, where we had what I think can only be described as the lunch of champions. A bacon, egg, and cheese buckwheat galette.

On the way down the road from Alpe d' Huez to Bourg d'Oisans we had a little more time than when we were racing up it last week, so we stopped for a few photos. This guy is the Alpe d'Huez mascot. He's a coypus, kind of a local French beaver - he's not only the Alpe d'Huez mascot, he's also a local delicacy.

Each of the 21 switchbacks on the road to Alpe d'Huez has a sign celebrating past champions of Tour de France stages that climbed up this road. Turn 11 is dedicated to the Frenchman, Bernard Hinault, for his victory in 1986.