One of the pleasures of road cycling is our ability (admittedly sometimes short of breath) to ride the same famous climbs that have become synonymous with he Grand Tours–names that resonate like the Alpe d’Huez, the Galibier, Mont Ventoux or the Tourmalet—in the wheel tracks of pro racers. For amateurs there are ways to get that race feeling by participating in organized Gran Fondos, like l’Ėtape du Tour or the Alpenbrevet, competing against other riders as the clock runs. But these are single day events. What would it be like as a good amateur to be racing (not just riding) in a week long stage race on those same cols? An interesting series of YouTube videos by Dutch rider Jasper Verkuijl recounts his experience at the Haute Route Alps last year.
While riding up the Alpe d’Huez has always been (somewhat) easy to do, producing videos and being able to distribute them to a worldwide audience was an impossible challenge for individuals until the advent of services like YouTube and Vimeo. Whatever your interest, there appears to be a content creator willing to share stories and the world of cycling is no different.
Jasper Verkuijl has 100,000 subscribers to his channel of cycling experiences. His biography indicates that he began cycling at the age of 5 and raced in the BMX discipline, participating with considerable success at the national and world levels. In 2013 he switched to road cycling and in 2017 began racing. A family man and an airline pilot in real life, his enthusiasm for racing and everything related to it is palpable. He has covered training, diet, equipment and so forth from the perspective of a mid-30s amateur who has the dedication needed to make the most of his talent.
The Haute Route series offers several multi-day events each year, designed to give participants the feel of riding in a pro race. All the trappings are there, including daily briefings, pro mechanics, marked routes, feed zones, medical assistance and even gendarmes on motorcycles for escort. The stages vary and in the longest, the seven day Haute Route Alps, there is even an uphill time trial.
From images of the Haute Route events it seems that participants are not all there for the same reason. Riding through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the cycling world is reason enough for many but there is also a hardcore contingent wanting to race and determined to win. Jasper Vekuijl, while loving the rides, also loves the competition and his videos would be useful for anyone looking at this competitive aspect of the Haute Route.
(A completely unrelated note: The 2017 Netflix documentary “Icarus” begins with the American director Bryan Fogel describing the Haute Route and how he planned to improve his time through full-bore doping, shamelessly admitted. The film then went off on a completely different direction and is well worth viewing but that opening is just an indicator as to the lengths some Type-A people will go to beat others in a race where there is no prize money or fame but you actually pay 2100 Euros just to register).
In each of his six half hour videos of the event, Jasper Verkuijl begins with an introduction covering a particular aspect. For example, in the first he tells of his preparation upon arrival at the event, while in the second the opening is about planning nutrition, not only what to eat but when. He speaks of his goals for each of the stages, talks about his bike and his clothing—in all, pretty much everything that someone wanting to do this kind of event might want to know.
Unlike what we see in real Grand Tours, the rider in this case has no team support but has to do his own planning for the day, arrange his food and equipment, and work out his strategy. This is already an accomplishment in an event that has six stages totalling over 700 kms and nearly 20,000 meters of climbing. Just as impressive as is Meneer Verkuijl’s strong riding is the fact that he produced these videos—from shooting to editing to narrating to adding music—entirely by himself. Although the Haute Route Alps is held in August it is hard to imagine that there are enough hours in the day to complete these very hard rides AND still produce programming for a YouTube channel that is both informative and entertaining.
A fluent English speaker, Verkuijl shares his enthusiasm for cycling in an irresistible and sometimes (particularly for someone who flies Boeing 747s) in an engagingly goofy manner. YouTube videos can wildly vary in quality but these are nothing like bad home movies. There is quality content here, with strong images and a structured and well thought-out narrative. This is not about professional racing but rather about trying to find the best parts of that pro experience. And if not the best, well at least the most memorable because, boy, some of those stages look brutal!
- Jasper Verkuijl’s series on his 2023 Haute Route Alps experience can be found on this playlist on his channel: www.youtube.com
- For more information about the Haute Route series: https://hauteroute.fr/
# All photos taken form the video. #
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