As a twist on the usual Alpe d'Huez hill climbs, a group of us from the chalet did the inaugural hill climb event from Bourg d'Oisans to Maronne yesterday - an 11km climb, taking in the first 5 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez to La Garde, then right towards the balcony road, followed by a sharp left from Armentier le Haut to Maronne, a beautiful, secluded spot that links to the Alpe d'Huez ski area in winter - a real hidden gem!

Our guest Greg was on the podium and Helyn was first lady too!  James too, was doing his first ever Alpine event and enjoyed his day thoroughly. I was deep in mid-table obscurity as usual but very happy to see somewhere new! 

See pics attached.

Guy
PS: Alpe d'Huez triathlon takes place tomorrow (long course) and Thursday (sprint) so that should be fun.
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

We had a few super-versatile journalists here to stay for one night only the other night.  Stu Bowers and Hannah Reynolds from Cycling Weekly and Ben Smith from MBR, along with freelance photographer Rupert Fowler.  They had all been out for the Megavalanche race in Alpe d'Huez (from the top of the glacier to the valley (including the snowy bits)) and had all done well there (and avoided serious injury) and were just tacking on a little "Road v MTB downhill" feature, using the Alpe d'Huez, les Deux Alpes and our local hill, the col d'Ornon.

These guys are some of the most versatile cyclists I know.  Stu in particular competes nationally on a XC mountain bike and a cyclocross bike, did a 7 hour Marmotte time last year and is also happy lining up for downhill races like the Megavalanche!

The challenge was to race a road bike (on the road of course), ridden by Stu, against a downhill MTB (on trails).  The feature will be in MBR at some point in the future.  "Roo" got some great snaps (see panel) too. 

We look forward to seeing them here again soon.

Guy
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk