Page 75 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
Atop the behemoth ‘Col de la Croix de Fer’
With the bit between the teeth, the peloton paraded French towns who celebrated our arrival with ever-increasing enthusiasm: ban- ners, baguettes and bon bons marked our route. Did the reputa- tion of the Royal Lancer Rouleurs, quite literally, precede us? The team kit was certainly flashy. The strava uploads, not least, were impressive. As we pedalled into St Jean de Maurienne, the reason became more apparent. Voilá, the French were excited to receive our Yorkshire brand of cycling in support of their namesake pro- tour race: Le Tour de France. The atmosphere was electric, as we brushed handlebars with the world cycling elite. After caching as much TDF stash as our saddlebags could carry, we waved off the Le Grand Depart and made haste to the mecca of French Cycling: Alp D’Huez.
Alp D’Huez [ADH] set our first target of serious scalps of the climbs in French folklore. At 13.2km long, and 1071m vertical ascent, ADH is not the hardest climb. However, each of its 21 pedal pushing hairpins is steeped in cycling history. The pelo- ton chewed it up in a morning’s work and garnished a taste for ‘haute cuisine’ tarmac, in the most literal sense. Tprs Willis and Kwiatowski put in some mammoth efforts to finish just shy of the coveted ‘hour’ ascent.
In the following week, the peloton felled further alpine behe- moths: Cols Croix de le Fer, Lacets de Montvernier, Chaussy, Mollard Bluffy, Tamie, Troussiere, Essérieux and Glandon. The two weeks of giant-slaying achieved 14,213m of total ascent over 604.8km. The team statisticians worked out that this amounts to 580 croissants worth of calories per person. No ‘pain’, no gain.
Ex FREEWHEELING LANCER 19 gave us one final conun- drum addressing the age-old question: If a tree fell in the for- est, but nobody heard it, did it make a noise? And so, if no ride is uploaded to strava, did it really happen? Capt Jibb pained to
Hanging on up Col du Glandon
Le Grand Depart in St Jean de Maurienne
Alp D’Huez switchback
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