After Col Agnel, we continued down to Briançon, and west to the gentle pass, Col du Lautaret. I unloaded my panniers and took the spur up to Col du Galibier while Susana was smarter and ate lunch. The climb up to Galibier was great on a lighter bike. From 2058m up to 2646m in 8.5km, the ride took me 58 minutes.

After rejoining Susana we descended down a fantastic river valley to Bourg-d’Oisans, our base for a few days, and the town at the base of Alpe d’Huez. The Tour fever is everywhere and building with each day. Campers and tents are set up on every available patch of land. It’s a mixture of Mardi Gras and Critical Mass — I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place before. Everyone is out riding the routes that the pros will ride in a few days.

Today we climbed Alpe d’Huez, the climb on the famous Tour stage, 13km at 8.5%, and 21 notorious switchbacks. The climb is often a turning point in the Tour, and thus it attracts large crowds. It’s as if the rest of the tour doesn’t matter to a lot of people here.

The climb was tougher than expected for me after my strong day yesterday. There was no warm-up — the climb goes straight up immediately, which didn’t quite agree with me in the heat of the afternoon and cold legs. On the first switchback I told Susana she could pass me and after doing so I didn’t see her for another two hours. But there was a steady stream of every kind of cyclist imaginable — young and old, in all kinds of physical condition, some with dogs in tow. Everyone wants to get a taste of the climb.

Aside from being tough, the ride was amusing — constantly lined with RVs with flags, posters of riders on display, lots of funny hats, DJ’s with booming sound systems, elaborate costumes, karoake, and lots of messages painted on the road with riders’ names, teams or countries, or in one case, “Basso? Ulrich?” with syringes pointing to their names (two of the Tour favorites suspected of doping and suspended from the race).

While I stayed in the granny gear and took over two hours, Susana made it to the top in 1:40, passing many others along the way (some who evidently didn’t like being passed by a woman). We had a great picnic at the top, with glacier-topped peaks in every direction. The television broadcasts don’t focus on the beauty in this area — it’s really wonderful. And I am continuously amazed that a bicycle race takes place here.

I think I spotted a pair of Cervelo-mounted CSC riders doing the climb on the Tour’s day off. We looked in vain for the OLN truck, so my photo with Bob Roll was not to be, but on the way down, we passed “the Devil Guy” and I took Susana’s photo with him. (The Devil guy runs beside riders and has been a fixture on the Alpe d’Huez stage for as long as I can remember).

Tomorrow the Tour resumes and we’ll ride up again in the morning to secure our viewing spots before the road closes, and watch the spectacle with as many as 800,000 other cycling fans.