From the Library: Alpe d'Huez

Who ever we are, where ever we call home, we all have a local must-do climb or two. They all have a history, and stories of exploits that have unfolded on their ramparts likely abound. How ever much we might elevate these climbs in our own minds, they pale in comparison to the lore of Alpe d'Huez. The story of the Alpe, as told by Cossins, spins like a strand of DNA, warping and spinning around itself. The central rungs of the ladder are the 1976 battle between Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk, and Belgian Lucien Van Impe. Spiraling around this central story are the history of Alpe d'Huez, the town, and how it came to be intrinsically tied to the Tour de France, and stories of the other Tour stages that have ascended the most iconic of climbs, beginning with the first in 1952, and ending with Thibout Pinot's victory there in 2015.

Although it took me more than a year to get through the book (I lost my first copy at LAX), its 282 pages are a quick read, and may leave you ready to plan your next trip to France just so you can turn your wheels up those twenty-one switchback turns.

 Cossins, Peter   Alpe d'Huez: Cycling's Greatest Climb   London: Aurum Press, Ltd., 2016