In the car up from Le Bourg d’Oisans on the Monday prior to the event we were all very impressed with the steepness of the famous road to the top of this mountain village. Many well know Dutch riders like Joop Zoetemelk, Peter Winnen, Steven Rooks, Gert-jan Teunissen have established their name as true climbers, winning a stage in the Tour the France mastering the 21 hairpins. Most of us had never climbed the Alpe DuHez before so this first encounter was every intimidated and with very turn it became quieter and quieter in the car……….we were all thinking the same: “this will become a very tough exercise on Thursday”.

The next 2 days we spent on the top of the mountain acclimatizing and fearing the day that would have to put our physical and mental fitness to the test on this 14KM long clime for multiple times on the same day. Being on the mountain we also took the time to attend some of the specific sessions that were organized by the Alpe DuZes organization. These sessions made us aware why we were all on the mountain that day and what would happen with the money that was raised. These presentations, mostly presented by cancer or ex-cancer patients and researchers were extremely impressing and inspiring.

We all came to the conclusion that it is really incredible what this foundation has put together with the Alpe DuZes event. The combination of dealing with cancer, raising money to cure and control this disease and cycling is a very strong formula.

After spending 2 days on the mountain we knew the next day it was D-day for all of us. Our adventure truly started on 04:30 on the 9th when our team passed the starting line to commence our first ascent.
Fortunately the weather was good for cycling on the 9th because the days prior to the event the weather was very foggy, cold and wet. That was not the type of weather for any of us to achieve our personal goal to reach the top 6 times. Fortunately, on the day itself it was dry, partly clouded with little wind. It was however very cold, especially in the descents. Only after about 14:00 the sun came through and we had to change in a different set of clothing.

I guess we can speak on behalf of our whole team that, despite of the fact that we spent over 10 hours on the bike, we all thoroughly enjoyed this day. Especially the first climb was very special. It was pitch black around us when the road beneath you all of a sudden starts to climb. You cannot see it but you feel it. All you can do is switch to the smallest gear and survive. All is dark and silent except for each other breathing and the rattling of chains and gears. Furthermore, all of the 21 turns were lid by hundreds of candles that people had put there in memory of their loved ones. It was very special to pass these turns in the dark.

It was tough and at some point to a lot of things (knees, lower back, shoulders etc) start hurting, but luckily everybody made it through the day. For most of us the trick was to really divide your energy, and to make sure your heart rate stayed within a certain threshold all day long. All other KPIs, which are normally really valuable like speed, average speed, distance, time, altitude do not matter anymore. You just have to keep on going. All in all most of us spend more than 10 hours on the saddle that day.

A manner of survival was also to count the turns. Turn 21, 16, 13, 10, 7 and 3 were important landmarks. In many of these turns and all along the climb many spectators were cheering us forward there ongoing support really made life a bit easier.

After the last turn it was great to enter Alpe Du’Hez itself because you know you almost have finished one more climb. Especially the first part in Alpe DuZes was really great. Very loud music, lots of people and the first piece of road where after + / – 13 km of non-stop climbing you momentarily go down. Only 1 kilometer to go to the finish where hundreds of people were cheering for you and the 4300 other cyclist that day!!

Finally, we are really happy to have participated Alpe DuZes 2011 and we are proud to have shared the Alpe DuZes 2011 experience with so many other people that day. Training and willpower are things you need on a day like this and willpower is something we most definitely shared with the many cancer patients we have seen during this week.