Writing from Alpe d'Huez

Those who follow cycling and the Tour de France will know the significance of the Alpe d'Huez climb in the history of the Tour. It is rated as "HC", meaning "hors categorie" or "beyond categorization" - 13.8 km, 21 hairpin turns, average grade 8.5%, up to the village of Alpe d'Huez. Ed and I both made it up this climb yesterday - pretty good considering we've both not been feeling well and the temperature was in the mid-30's (at least) when we were riding. 2 hr riding time for Ed and 2.5 hours for me - just don't ask about the time of our rest breaks ;-) .

So, today we watched the stage over the Galibier from the hotel bar with a bunch of Aussies, all cheering on Cadel Evans when he tried to stay with Contador's attack and when he finished 3rd on the stage for 4th overall so far. And we explored the town.

Tomorrow, we drive on the bus to Avignon. Trying to meet up with a DP forums member who's staying near there at the moment, we'll see if we manage to get together.

(and, FYI, when I get back I do plan to write more about our trip in terms of details of how our riding went, logistics of travelling with bike cases, etc ... just don't have too much time right now when we're paying for internet by the minute. I really wish I had a small enough laptop to have brought along as all our hotels so far have had WiFi, mostly free.)