Alpe d’HuZes | Bike Rebel Without a Cause

Alpe d’Huez Guide: Routes, Dutch Corner and Tour de France History

Ah yes, Alpe d’Huez…

What could I possibly add to the many, many pages dedicated to this particular climb?

One that’s on the bucket list of nearly every cyclist who dares to venture into the Alps…

A climb that is imprinted into the memory of Tour de France followers as being ‘pivotal’ in many a stage, if not decisive to the overall win.

Which, at the time of posting this page and looking at the ‘hard evidence’, has only been the case in 7 out of the 29 times the Alpe has been included in the TDF…

Alpe d’HuZes 2012

On this page you can find all information about my participation in the Alpe d’HuZes challenge 2012, Bike Rebel WITH a cause for once.

(Nederlandse versie hier)

What is it?

Alpe d’HuZes is an initiative to raise funds for cancer research; the participants help fight cancer by cycling up the Alpe d’Huez a maximum of six times one day. They raise funds by finding sponsors that are willing to donate money; this can be either a fixed amount or for instance an (increasing) amount per climb they accomplish.

The name, Alpe d’HuZes, is a contraction of the Dutch word for six – ‘zes’ – and the name of the mountain. It is endorsed by the KWF Kankerbestrijding (the Dutch Cancer Society), LiveStrong Foundation and Inspire2Live.

The dream – the ultimate goal – is for cancer to evolve from a deadly disease into a chronic illness. The guys from Team AD6 Tweets share this dream and for that they participated in Alpe d’HuZes 2012.

“If at first an idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it” – Albert Einstein

Alpe d’HuYes – report of our AD6 week

(Nederlandse versie hier)

With the announcement that 32.231.747,35 Euro has been raised, the 2012 edition of the Alpe d’HuZes (in Dutch) came to a close last weekend (Oct. 7). A staggering amount and one to be very, very proud of – and I am / we are!

This year’s edition was the one of Team AD6 Tweets and 7,892 other participants, countless volunteers and even more supporters – all in all more than 25.000 people were involved during this week. I am proud and happy to have been part of this event – read on about how a year of preparation culminated in ‘one week of Alpe d’HuZes‘…

Alpe d’HuZes – Final Notice

This day next week around this time I hope to be ready to start my 3rd climb up the Alpe d’Huez during Alpe d’HuZes.

Deemed physically impossible by those who have a medical degree, I (still) beg to differ. As stated before, I may – or will – have to come to terms with the idea that six climbs will be impossible, but to not try is not an option.

We will leave for France tomorrow morning and I will have some time to ~~run~~ cycle a final test or two. As we do not have Internet in the apartment, this may well be my last post untill after D-Day. We do have Wi-Fi in Le Bourg-d’Oisans and probably around the ‘Alpe d’HuZes area’ too, but that means some Twitter or Facebook posts at best.

So, needing all the help I can get, keep your fingers crossed and I will try to defy science 🙂

Alpe d’HuZes – Two Weeks Notice

In two weeks from today, I will be struggling on the flanks of the Alpe d’Huez. Some 5.000 fellow (crazy) Dutch cyclists will be attempting to climb up that famous alp as many times as possible. The ultimate target being six (6!) times, which means that you will conquer around 6.400 altimeters in approximately 79 kilometers of climbing…

This craziness is called Alpe d’HuZes, “zes” being the Dutch word for six and we do this to raise money for cancer research, so that one day cancer will be a chronic illness instead of a deadly disease. June 7 is not the only day we’re doing crazy stuff on the alp – the Wednesday is reserved for some 2.500 more lunatics, running, skating and also cycling (but not six times) up the mountain.