Zuhlsdorf.com When you have a last name this weird, you can own the domain

Great news:: Warren got a new passport. With that we jetted out of Paris and headed for the Belgian border, for the famed cobbles of Paris – Roubaix.

The riders hit seven sections of this nasty stuff. And it is nasty. My sunglasses almost disappear into a random gap in the Pave.

Lance was on the scene!

Today we climbed into the morning fog, to tackle Luz Ardiden.

This is the place where Lance and Iban Mayo crashed when a spectator’s bag hooked Lance’s handlebar.

We reenacted the scene:

Then we did some final velo-herding.

After this our final Pyrenees ride we went to Paris for a get Warren a new passport.

Today we planned on riding to Spain via the col du Tentes. The day started out warm and humid. Here you can see the steam wafting off Warren.

We had the road almost to ourselves. Passing only two other cyclist on the way up.

Near the top the road was blocked to car traffic, with rocks on the road.

We made the top:

And the view back at France from Spain:

We wanted to do the Soulor and Ausbique, but we were totally socked in IRF (instrument flight rating) conditions.

I had read that there were wild horses on the mountain. There were!

Between the truncated ride and the start of the TdF, we sacked a castle!

We have landed in Pierrefitte-Nestalas, in the High Pyrenees. This is home base:

To get the nasty taste of Marseille out of our mouths, we decided to tackle the Tourmalet, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. The Tour de France has used this mountain more than any other in this range.
It is long and difficult. We rode up and over and back for a total elevation gain of over two miles.


The Tour de France will do both sides of the mountain this year, as it is the 100 anniversary of the inclusion of the Tourmalet. The names of the top riders are painted on the road for miles.

There are sheep all over the mountain. Tourmalet cheese comes from them. Mmmm. Also there are wild yaks and donkeys.

Warren has misplaced his passport. So we leave the alps for Marseille France, where the US Consulate is supposed to give him a new passport.

The drive to Marseille was nuts!!! We went over a huge mountain on an 8 foot hide goat path. Nice views though.

Bye bye Alps.

Marseille is a total ghetto, overrun with odious bands of Algerians and Moroccans. The world would be a better place if a Katrina washed this place into the sea.



And it has epic traffic that I will not try to describe, for you would not believe it. Let me just say that I felt like I was in a game of dodgeball for 2 hours.

And at the end of the day, NO PASSPORT! That will require a trip to Paris…

This is the last day in the Alps and the last day at the Hotel Cassini.

We today we climbed road only the locals would know about. It dead ends behind the mountains of Les Deux Alps ski station. Nice views.

This mountain has been used 15 times in the Tour de France, with the stage most often ending up Alp d’Huez. We approached the summit from Le Bourg-d’Oisans. The views along the way are amazing.



Each village or townlet in France seems to have a public spring fed water stop. Very friendly for cyclists.

You can see here how an ancient goat path between villages later became the road.

The top:

A nice warm day and a hot climb of the Telegraph turned into a lightning, rain and hail drenched day on the Galibier.

I stopped to buy a tube at ski village town below the Galibier and Warren carried on to buy a sim card for his iphone. When I started the climb, I thought we was ahead of me because my tube purchase and bike shop visit was prolonged. So I hammered up, chasing he who was behind me. Things got progressively worse.

Nice to ugly (weather) photos:

Distant lightning turned into local rain. It was pouring so hard near 8200+ feet top top that the road was washed out in places. I had to walk my bike, which is difficult to do with numb feet in carbon fiber soled shoes.

I stopped at the top, at a chalet. Warren was no where in site. Hot coffee hit the spot but made little dent in the cold. There were a bunch of Brits and a dutch guy there. The Brits decided to wait for a ride because of the hail, rain and cold. Me and the Dutch guy bought jackets and decided to go for it. He was very familiar with the area, so I followed his wheel.

It was your generic 8+% decent, rider with freezing hands, wet brakes, terrible visibility, narrow unfamiliar rough roads, and aggressive French drivers. Note: SHIVERING causes you to steer erratically.

The highlight was the 40mph downhill through a long dark tunnel, my rain and gook covered glasses making it almost impossible to tell where walls and road where. Numb feet and hands further blur the ability to gather information about the spacial relationship of bike to road. And a small bus passed me(!) half way through. Three more tunnels followed.

One of the tunnels:
Galibier Tunnel vid by someone on a motorcycle

But, we both made it back alive. The wine tested especially good tonight.

7800 ft of climbing. It felt like more.

Every great champion must eventually face the Alpe d’Huez in a race. Each of its 21 switchbacks have the name of a past Tour stage winner posted, as well as the height to go to the 3100 foot top. Today I pretended the part of great champion.

Lance’s first victory here was in 2001 when dropped Jan Ullrich. Lance’s next moment of glory on this steep was in 2004, when he won the individual time trial, passing Ivan Basso in the route to victory.


Now that breakfast was burned off, it was lunch time at the top.

We then road home via a road off the back of Alp d’Huez. The views were pleasant.

Here is some perspective on the scale of the Alps, showing me riding down an improved goat path.

We then hit the climb to the ski resort Les Deux Alps, where the late great Marco Pantani took over 8 minutes out of defending Tour champion Jan Ullrich.

I punctured my rear tire at the foot of the climb and took some crap from few passing French cyclists. My revenge was fixing my tire, catching them and dropped them all by the top.

What a great day (if your are cycling-demented). How can you top this? Stay tuned.

We made it to France.

At the begging of the tollway to Lyon, a nice girl gave us a bag o goodies that included a can of spray-deodorant (underarm). Now that is French civility.

Smelling good, we climbed a back road from Freney d’Oisans to Alpe d’Huez.

We rode to – but not upon – the hallowed ground of l’Alpe d’Huez. That will be today’s story….

Welcome to Zuhlsdorf.com. This is post number one.

We are t-minus 24 days to the tour de France. Training is back on track, thanks to a cortisone shot in my knee. For the next three weeks the training will be focused on long rides with long climbs on the weekends and short rides on the steeps during the week.

Meet my new bike:  Ritchey Cross build with Campagnolo 11.  FSA SLK 165 cranks with Rotor rings.  A 12-29 cassette will help smooth the steeps in the Alps and Pyrenees.  Wheels (not shown) are IRD cadence built on American Classic Micro front and Campy Record rear. Vittoria Evo Cx 320 tires, mmmm.