CYCLING
BY KIM STUBBS
A
Velo Tours day begins at 5:30am
with the smell of fresh coffee and
toast filtering through the house
located in Le Bourg d’Oisans as
tour host Kim Stubbs sets out the breads,
juice, cereal, fruit, yogurt and spreads for
the first house guests to begin wandering
down the stairs for breakfast.
Meanwhile, tour leader Kerry Stubbs
is down in the garage restocking the
electrolyte and spare tubes, putting out
the bike pumps and filling the water
containers for the support van before
heading back upstairs to join the breakfast
rush. The dance begins around the kitchen
as everyone ducks and weaves around the
food bench, greeting each other with the
odd beauty sleep wisecrack or compliments
of a great effort on the previous days’ climb,
while filling bowls and oading toasters to
then disperse to the dining room or out
onto the deck to eat their breakfast and
enjoy the morning sun. The banter that fills
the room always sets a great mood amongst
the group as the anticipation builds for
another amazing day on the bike.
Once everyone is pressed, dressed and
out the front on their bikes, Kerry addresses
the group with a rehash of the day’s route
and nominated marshalling points along
the way before clipping in and calling for
the group to roll out.
Henk Vogels joins the tour for a couple
of days and though he hadn’t climbed the
mountains since his last Tour de France,
he faced the 2016 challenge like the true
professional he is.
Day one: Alpe D’Huez, Col de Sarenne and
Les 2 Alpes....piece of cake!! This was backed
up the following day with the Galibier and
the Lautaret and then again the day after
26 | MULTISPORT MAGAZINE
with the Col du Glandon and the visually
daunting Lacets du Montvernier.
"I have just had THE best
three days riding in a long
long time. Velotours.com.au
have an incredible Alps and
Pyrenees cycling experience.
Suffered like a dog up the Alpe
d'Huez, Glandon, Les Deux
Alpes, Lautaret, Lacets du
Montvernier. Great food, great
people, Kerry Stubbs and Kim
and Tim Stubbs, well done
and thanks for having me
along for the ride."
Henk Vogels,
Alpes Ventoux 2016
By the end of Day 3 we had 248km in the
legs, and after a feed of pasta in Saint Jean
du Maurienne, we all piled into the vans to
head back for a recovery soak in the river
before dinner, and Henk’s snoring drowned
out the car radio all the way home! Henk’s
company on the rides and at dinner of an
evening was a true highlight. His hilarious
stories filled the restaurants with laughter
while the three-course dinners arrive (and
are demolished) and the beers flow and is a
once in a lifetime experience for all.
Throughout our itinerary we arranged
for a morning trip into the old city of
Annecy on the way to the stage finish of the
individual time trial in Megeve. We arrived in
the ski town of Megeve in time for lunch and
a wander around the team buses before the
final 30 riders crossed the finish line.
At the stage start in Albertville, another
stress free day started after parking the
vans and walking a kilometre into town
to the Tour de France epicentre where we
commandeered a café on the main street
as our rendezvous point and bag drop.
Everyone headed off to get amongst the
action while staff looked after all the gear.
After watching the Tour Caravan and
the peloton roll straight past our tables we
were home in time to watch the rest of the
stage on the television.
Once the Alpes region was conquered,
we packed up and movedonto the
penultimate climb of the tour – Mont
Ventoux. We arrived at our accommodation
in Vaison la Romaine in time to attempt a
run at ‘The Beast’ that afternoon, only to
be thwarted by a severe thunderstorm 10
minutes into the approach.
Our second attempt early the next
morning, on our final ride day of the
tour, was worth the wait. The conditions
were so amazing you could’ve held
a candlelight vigil at Tom Simpson’s
monument without a single candle being
extinguished. The amazing setting and
the awesome achievement experienced
by all created high spirits for the last leg
of our journey together to the medieval
city of Carcassonne for our final night and
farewell dinner of the tour. The amazing
French cuisine, the local wines, awards
presentations and great fun had together
under the old castle walls was the perfect
finale to another fantastic seven days in the
Alpes with Velo Tours at le Tour de France.