After a short descent into Valloire we started up the Galibier for the second day in a row, only from the opposite and steeper side. The previous day's 5%ish average was pretty mellow, just took a long time. But today's 6.8% average had quite a few sections in the 10% range. It wasn't too easy, but I plug away as the rain started down.
We knew that because of the stage finish at the peak the same day that dad wouldn't be able to drive over the top, so we sent him on a two hour detour via Grenoble. The plan was to meet him on the descent or at the latest by the base of the Alpe-d'Huez. Unfortunately, for the first time in France, the gendarme weren't letting bikes through at the top either! This day's climb was to pass through a small 100 yard tunnel to the other side for the descent, just below the real summit. I'm not sure why, but they were only allowing people pass on foot, and walking with a bike wasn't an option! It seems a little ridiculous, but I don't really know what their reasons were. In any case, I had no phone signal at the top, so I had to gear up for the cold wet descent back into Valloire and call dad back from there. He was a couple of hours away making his way to Grenoble... and running out of gas in the mountains. So he had to refuel and double back, and I missed out on a fun 40km descent and had to settle for 20km packed with spectators making their way up the mountain for the day's finish. Luckily I found a nice little bar and had a couple of coffees watching the race on TV while the weather passed. Once I warmed up I went and watched it outside on a TV in the square. It was an exciting race to watch so I'm not really all that disappointed... but I had to miss the last 30min because dad showed up.
We packed up quickly and slipped into the police-escorted publicity caravan that was making its way from the summit of the day's stage. So we rode back over the Col du Telegraphe in the middle of a convoy of floats! That was pretty funny. People on the road all wave to the caravan so we obliged and waved back and honked etc. Had a great time. Then we took the toll highway and ripped to the base of the Alpe-d'Huez in time to get up before sunset.
So after about 4 hours off the bike I was a little stiff, but rested. I didn't think they'd be letting cars up, so expecting a cold and dark descent back down, I loaded up on layers etc. and set off. I had to stop twice in the first 5 or so minuted to take off layers, but I eventually had it sorted out and had a good ride up. Ended up doing the climb in around 62 minutes, after predicting I'd be closer to 90min, so i was pretty happy about that. On top of that, the road wasn't closed so I didn't need to navigate the mayhem on the descent.
A bit about the mayhem. Probably double the number of people per km compared to the previous summit finishes I'd done. No idea where they'd all come from or where they were staying, but it was hectic. Tons of fun too. The dutch took over for the basque fans, both in wearing orange and being the most fun. They had a huge turnout, especially in one particular area where about 60 of them were all waiting to get close in and cheer just like they do for the pros... pushing, yelling, cheering! So much fun! The only trouble was a car trying to get through in front of me and I almost got pushed into the back of it when it stopped. Overall though, great atmosphere, lots of people offering encouragement to everyone trying to climb up on bikes. Never gone up the side of a mountain like that either, and the views were unreal.
In the end I lost about 20km in descending on the day, but I think I still had a little banked from detours earlier in the Tour and the descent would have only served to increase my average speed. 78.93km in 4:41:16 for an avg speed of 16.8km/h and total climbing of around 10000ft.
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