Alpe d'Huez and meeting Jens!...the photographic evidence

Here are some little piccies of my most exciting trip to the Tour. I had the best time and would recommend the Alpe d'Huez experience to EVERYONE. It has to be done if at all possible, but a word of warning, if you camp, take a very large fleece and a very woolly hat......

Right, well, the trip started not with Le Tour but with a spot of Paris-Roubaix geekery. I mean, the forest of Arenberg is only just off the motorway so why not take a trip? Amazing how a load of old cobbles have the power to make me so excited!

Here is the view from our tent on the Alpe. Glorious weather, noisy Basques to the right, noisy Norwegians to the front and to the left a Dutchman who slept OUTSIDE!!

Here we have a massive crowd in front of the big screen watching John Lee Augustyn fall off the road (amongst other things). It was at this point that I got my embarrassing sunburn...note to self: never leave the suncream in the tent again!

Alpe d'Huez on the morning of the stage. Madness. Quite a contrast from the quiet starry night a few hours earlier when, for fear of contracting frostbite, I retired to the car to sleep, just round the corner from here. I woke up to find someone hammering the flamme rouge into the ground right by my head.

View of Huez from near the top. We walked down there for the stage but, being lazy, got the cable car back up.

Quite seriously, beautiful:

Here is the Basque teevee van. These lovely people gave us way more 'cider' from Tolosa than was good for us (man it was strong!) and also cooked us a full meal! The cider had gone by this point to be replaced by beer brought by an oldish German gentleman. The teevee worked for most of the afternoon but we did eventually have to resort to hitting it.....good times!

And then came the race! Here are Arvesen and Tony:

Somebody with Oscarito (Barredo??):

Ballan and friend:

A medium sized group:

And finally....the autobus, starring Pippo, Millar, O'Grady, Quinziato and friends:

Then came the craziness of the evening. Bascially, I had a friend staying in the CSC and Leakygas team hotel (!) and brazenly walked in past the security lady saying that I was meeting a friend for a drink (which happened to be true actually. Said drink took place in an absolutely rammed bar where I almost chucked my wine all over Bjarne Riis). And then, who should appear but......JENS! Youn will also notice the cameo appearance in this piccie of Big Schleck.

(ok, totally appalling picture of me, but in the circumstances, it simply MUST be posted here!)

And then there was The Hair himself, who was I must say very charming indeed:

Schlecklet in profile. He didn't stop for long, declaring he needed a shower, which in the circumstances would seem to be a reasonable requirement:

And look at this! They actually POSED for me. Can things get any better?

Unfortunately I missed Sastre but I did capture his winning bike:

After packing up the tent, we headed down to Bourg d'Oisans for stage 18. It was VERY hot. Never have I been so keen to get my hands on one of those extremely unflattering hats given out by the men on roller blades! A general view:

Here's a contemplative Sorensen:

General peleton shot:

Sastre and friends!

P1010139 (via Albertina2008)

All photos from Flickr (via Albertina2008)