Etape 2011

Well was it third time lucky? Well I did it a different way this year. Because the route consisted of 3 iconic climbs and one descent only having taken all the normal flat and undulating bits out it was quite obvious that I would be swept up AGAIN so what would the point be?

So I rallied 7 mates around and we went off and did it the week before the official race. So no traffic jams, no rip off hotel rooms, no bottlenecks, no sitting in coaches for 5 hours and no waiting 2 hrs for my bike in the cold!!

Instead logistics. Organising hotels, food, water and support cars for 8 riders, not so easy especially as I had 2 riders coming from South Africa.

So instead of starting from Modane which is a bit of a dump I booked us into Aussois which is 8 Kms further back up the mountain which added a nice downhill to the route as a start so it became 121 kms.

On the way up to the hotel I noticed a half km of gravel laid on the road which could have given us punctures to start with. It needed to be taken carefully so imagine my astonishment when I saw Simon bombing down like a bullet past us all straight into the gravel hairpin and ending up smashed against the barrier. He sustained lots of cuts and grazes but fortunately could continue on. The weather was fantastic cloudless skies about 10 degrees at 830 when we started. The scenery was stunning with the whole valley laid out before us as we bombed down the mountain into Modane and from there it was 10 kms of downhill along the Autoroute till a left turn took us over a bridge to the first climb Col de Telegraphe.

Well you know my toiletry problems from previous years and I was determined to avoid a repeat of those. Even though I wasn’t cycling against the clock it is very uncomfortable. So I had been eating 400 gms of extra carbs per day during the week to store energy and had a really good breakfast. I thought I would give us an hour or two to digest before starting to give things time to work through. This worked to a point but sadly became rather persistent even after the start so spotting a Toilet sign at the base of the climb I stopped. Well the closest thing it resembled was the long drop on Kilimanjaro. You can imagine how much use it gets! Anyway that must have wasted quarter of an hour straightaway but well worth it.

This year I really concentrated on on my food and water to get it right and no burnout especially as it would get hot later on.

So to the Telegraphe a climb of 800 metres over 12 kms. This was a lovely start and got the legs turning so no problems to the top. From there is a short 5 kms descent to the first feed station before the big one.

Well refreshed I set off again to tackle the Col de Galibier. This is 17 kms up to 2656m with the last 8 kms very steep and full of hairpins. Got well fed at the bottom of that bit and felt great climbing these hairpins and I was determined not to stop even though the last km was very steep. I really kept the pace down and my heart rate to 144 bpm as I heard this was the secret of finishing the whole route. The top is beautiful and you got a huge sense of achievement when I there. Couldn’t walk properly for a while so hobbled along to get some photos taken at the top.

Then donned a waterproof and some winter gloves for the descent. Got lovely Lisa in my support vehicle to follow me and two mates down the hairpins as it was steep and windey so quite dangerous. We descended for 50 kms or so which really tested the breaks and our wrists from braking. Through a few tunnels and then out at Bourg d’Oisans last feed station before the Alpe d’Huez classic climb.

So off we went straight into 2 kms of 11% or so which are the steepest bits. By this time the temperature had reached 32 degrees, some even said 37 from the reflectance from the road as the mountain is very exposed. There are 21 hairpin bends each numbered with names of famous Tour riders. Actually there is a bend 0 at the top! So you come round to the next bend and sometime it doesn’t actually count in the 21 which is a bit demoralising and the road kicks up steeply as far as you can see to the next bend the only respite is the hairpins themselves which are much flatter. After half way there is a beautiful view point by the wall where you can look down and see 10 hairpins or so below you, quite beautiful. About 5 kms from the top my right foot was really sore because my shoe was quite loose so I pulled over sat down on the wall and tightened it up. It was so good to sit down so I stayed a few minutes meanwhile Lisa appeared out of nowhere and filled my bottle so I got going again non stop to the top and the beautiful sight of the hotel. I had climbed Alpe d’Huez pretty much non stop so I was really pleased with myself.

All in all there was actual moving time of 8hrs 12 mins and elapsed time of 10 hours. Couldn’t believe how much downtime there was but I suppose with 6 feed stations and stops for photos, toilet, clothes change and a puncture it all mounts up. Anyway one thing is for sure I would have been swept up in the official race probably before the top of the Galibier. Interestingly though I averaged exactly 1 km/h faster than the sweeper bus time so if I had stopped for only the 25 mins or so that is allowed for in the ride I would have made it. But quite frankly it was more fun stopping  at feed stations manned by good friends and having a chat and taking photos and not stressing out about the sweeper van. That way I was able to pace myself which is frankly the key.

So what’s next? Have I got it out of my system? Well I am going on holiday at the end of the month and I will ponder on it. My trainer suggests I get a triple gear set instead of the compact I have which will give me extra gears which might open up new challenges that I could attempt, who knows. Suffice to say I am thrilled with the achievement and having such a wonderful team of people to do it with made all the difference. My thanks to Carlos, Mike, Jez, James, Simon, Deborah and Alf for participating and achieving their own excellence (we all finished  albeit at different times) and our brilliant support teams of Tony, Pascal, Lisa and Alison without whom we would all have experienced burnout and probably a helicopter home!

Official Etape tomorrow keep an eye open for blogs.

Watch the Tour de France do it on July 22 – after they’ve read this blog!