Etape 2012

Well yes you guessed it, all that pondering after last year’s Etape should I or should I not hang up my cycling gloves or what to do for amusement, I did it again! When I saw what the route was when announced in October it was quite clear it was IMPOSSIBLE. Stage 11 of this years Tour de France had 4 huge climbs instead of 2,5 –and 4700 metres instead of 3300 50% more metres in fact - and 141 kms instead of 120. Irresistible??!! It was clear doing it on the official race day would be out of the question – broom wagon and so on – so back to finding some mad friends who might want to do it with me? Had hoped I could get the same team as last year but two decided to climb Everest and two others were having babies but Simon and Alf were up for another go and with the addition of a lovely ‘new and young’ couple from South Africa who I only met in August Alistair and Caryn plus Mike, Liz’s ex-boss from South Africa, we were a team!

All we needed then was some training and a support team. Fortunately good old Tony and Pascale were up again to hiring a mini bus and motoring down from Beaujolais to collect us all from Lyon Airport where we hired a couple of cars one for Lisa to support me and Alf, and one for Deborah to support Simon. Meanwhile Mike decided he needed some extra miles training so he cycled from Henley to Beaujolais on his sit up and beg bike and then wife Annie hired a car from Lyon to support him.

My back started to play up last August and my osteo eventually said I might not be able to make the Etape, which prompted me to change osteos. Brenda found me Fred Roscop who hardly touches you but somehow manages to sort everything out! Thus I came to the starting line with no pain and no injury. However, he had told me I needed a new saddle and a bike fit as there was pressure down there with the crown jewels. He was right about the bike fit and I was still testing saddles as I went up the first Col of the Etape but seemed to be OK. I did get myself some assistance though in the form of some expensive new SRAM Apex gears which gave me an extra gear or two and that was money very well spent.

So after training for 3990 kms, 185 hrs, 39,000 metres climbing over the last twelve months I reckoned I was ready mentally although not sure my 66 year old body would hold out for the whole trip let alone my precious seat. I needed to focus on the correct food and drink taken at the correct time. We all motored down to Albertville for the start into a very obliging and comfortable hotel. Forecast was 24C and cloudy which was infinitely better than the clear skies and 35C of last year. We set off after a 6 am breakfast in cloud and 15C so it was quite pleasant and had a 15 kms flat run in to the first climb of the day the iconic hors categorie Col de la Madeleine 25 kms long and 2000 metres high. Took 3 hrs 11 mins to get to the top where it was very cloudy and cold 10C.

I must say when I reached the top I felt quit tired and wondered how I would make three more similar climbs. I had kept my cadence and heartrate at a fairly low level so I was crawling up the mountain to save energy but still felt a little tired. Anyway photo call at the top and a good feed and the donning of waterproofs for the descent. Unfortunately my stomach having behaved more or less thus far decided I needed a dash for the summit restaurant, the staff of which were thankfully very accommodating. I am sure this is psychological as Mike told me about this restaurant and potential pit stop as he had driven to the top the previous afternoon. Anyway it is amazing how much lighter I felt for the rest of the ride!

The descent was freezing but exhilarating about 25 kms of sweeping roads and a break up of the clouds so it got much warmer down the bottom. By the time I reached Lisa in the town of La Chambre at the bottom after about 62 kms I felt really good and the descent had revived me so I thought there might be some hope. Tony told us we had to go another route to the next climb as there was a huge hole in the route we wanted and workmen wouldn’t let us through. No worries as this cut out 7 kms of boring flat so off we set to ascend the Col du Glandon another HC mountain even steeper at the top than the Madeleine, but made it to the top feeling totally knackered the last 5 kms were really steep and cold having been in the 30s on the way up. This time it was ‘only’ 21 kms climbing up to 1967 metres and after a feed and photo call there was still 2,5 kms to go to the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer just over 2000 metres as the two merge together this side. Once again at the top I felt it would be difficult to do more climbs. At this point I had just exceeded the total climb from last years Etape and only 100 kms in so no disgrace to give up at this point.

However, I had decided that I was managing my speed and heart rate well and feeding myself well so there were no dramas and if I felt good after the shortish 14kms descent I might be OK. So off I went freezing again down the back of the Croix de Fer till a sudden right hand fork took me onto Col No 3 the Col du Mollard which although only 6 kms long was still pretty steep. Anyway got to the top of that after an hour and met Lisa for another feed, must have been the fifth official pit stop, lovely views again. I then decided that I didn’t really fancy the last mountain, which potentially was another 2 or 3 hours climbing which would take me into the night! I was prepared for finishing late as I had ordered dinner at the hotel for 2130 which they were kind enough to agree to but still it was cooling down and my legs had 10,5 hrs of cycling in them.

Once again I talked myself into saying that I would see how I felt at the bottom, as it was a very technical descent with lots of switchback bends and dodgy road surface. 20 mins later I was at the bottom and a left turn at a roundabout started me off suddenly and steeply to the last climb. It rather took me by surprise as I expected a bit of flat first but it didn’t come. Maybe that was a good idea as I was already on the climb I figured I should see how far I could go and I was feeling pretty good. After all it was only 18,5 kms to the top!


8 kms from the top I saw a fork in the road which said La Toussuire 5 kms which was a turn off the plotted route. I was a bit elated and thought I’ll take this and cut out 3 kms, I wouldn’t lose the total altitude climbed as the finish was the same for both routes. So off I went and it kicked up quite a bit, and gradually it dawned on me ‘idiot, of course it is going to be steeper than the plotted route as it has to get to 1600 metres in a shorter distance the other way’.

It got dark about 45 mins from the top but I couldn’t stop now as I was so close. Lovely Lisa finally found me and drove behind me headlights ablaze for the last half hour or so till I cruised on half a km about the only flat bit into the hotel nearly 14 hours after starting!

For those interested my stats were:

Cycling time 11,5 hrs
Elapsed time 13,75 hours
Max speed 59,5 km/h
Avge speed 12,3 km/h
Cadence 51
Calories 4141
Average power 102W
Average heart rate 130 bpm max 153.
Distance 141 kms
Elevation 4703 metres

What to do now? 

Well not sure there is much point in doing the Etape next year as I ran out of daylight so probably have reached my cycling daily limit but we’ll see what the route is at the end of October. Must find some sort of challenge though, any suggestions?

My thanks to my great fellow mad people, Alistair, Caryn, Alf, Simon and Mike and our brilliant support team Lisa, Tony, Pascale, Annie and Deborah, not forgetting trainer Tom.