We just had Helyn's Dad out to stay and we did something we have wanted to do for ages - take a flight with our mate Jaques Porte (part time woodyard operator, part time pilot) from the Altiport in Alpe d'Huez.  It was amazing.  And hot.  And noisy. But we loved it.  Check out the gallery - http://picasaweb.google.com/kingofthemountainssummer/TheAlpsFromTheAirAugust2008

Guy & Helyn

www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

We currently have 2 Kenyan riders in the area.  They are called Zakayo and Samwel and they come from Eldoret, an elevated town in western Kenya, which is also home to many of Kenya's finest distance runners.  They are aged  25 and 23 respectively and are seriously talented climbers.  After 2 years of visa wranglings, they are finally here in the Alps, with a  view to  getting a good time on the board for the Alpe d'Huez climb so they will have a relevant benchmark to show to the rest of the world (and any pro team bright enough to spot the potential) that they are the coming force and that they can do for cycling what they have already done for marathon running.

I am really excited about this because:

1.  They are really nice guys.  No egos; just bags of enthusiasm and very broad smiles.
2.  They have huge athletic potential.
3.  Cycling has been a very white northern European-centric sport since it's inception.  And it needs a good shake.
4.  With cycling suffering from one PR disaster after another, largely caused by doping scandals, these guys are inherently clean - where they come from, there is no electricity, never mind fridges for blood doping and access to the pharmacy of illicit substances that it would seem that many, if not most, pro cyclists have been using since (at least) 1904.

Check out http://www.theafricancyclist.com/ for more info.

They are staying in nearby Venosc with our friends Brian and Michelle and are entering all the local hill clmbs, including the regular Thursday morning Alpe d'Huez time trial and are winning most of them.    On the morning they arrived, they got in at 2am and went straight out to ride the Alpe d'Huez that morning.   It was their dream to get out there and have a go. Without any competition, they posted 46 mins to the Tour de France finish.  Just amazing.

Look out as this story progresses and maybe, just maybe, we'll start to see a few more Africans on our TV screens in major stage races as part of the pro scene.....

Guy
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk