Wanted - Bike box for Sale or Rent

Quigs Snr

Doing the etape next month and need a bike box. Suitcase type (going on the plane).

Anyway, anyone got one they would like to rent to me, or sell to me or know where I can pick up a good deal on one. Thanks.

Enduro

When next month exactly?

Mucco

10th July
http://www.letapedutour.com/

Quigs Snr

Yep 10th July, although I will be gone from 7th to 17th. Cyclesuperstore have a big ugly blue box case thing for 275 that is described as a touring bike box, personally I'd like the smallest box possible that I can fit the bike into if I was buying one.

cerebus

I'm afraid I have no help to offer on the bike box front - just wanted to encourage you to post about the Etape experience afer the fact!

Anyone going along to take photos so you can give us a blow by blow account?

Enduro

That big ugly blue box is a lot smaller (in terms of fitting in a bike) than you'd think. I'll be using mine up until the 8th July. It can be borrowed after that, but thats a bit tight on timing from your point of view. If you're still stuck though, let me know.

Quigs Snr

Thanks Enduro. I'm heading out the 7th, so I wont be able to do that but thanks for the offer.

Cerebrus, I will need all the encouragement I can get. Been ill for a few weeks, training not going great as a result, at this stage I would be very happy just to beat the elimination time (I had been aiming for about the 8hr mark). Girlfriend coming too, but in all likelihood, will not get that many pics because the course will be closed to traffic. Hope she gets a few on the Alpe D'huez, she should because I will be going plenty slow enough. Will post up an account here when done.

cerebus

Quigs Snr wrote:

Thanks Enduro. I'm heading out the 7th, so I wont be able to do that but thanks for the offer.

Cerebrus, I will need all the encouragement I can get. Been ill for a few weeks, training not going great as a result, at this stage I would be very happy just to beat the elimination time (I had been aiming for about the 8hr mark). Girlfriend coming too, but in all likelihood, will not get that many pics because the course will be closed to traffic. Hope she gets a few on the Alpe D'huez, she should because I will be going plenty slow enough. Will post up an account here when done.

So, you have had a week or so to recover! How did it go?

I heard it was tough this year with the heat. (Not to mention the Izoard, the Lautaret and the Alpe d'Huez!).

Tell all - very interested to hear how it went.

Quigs Snr

Hi there, only back today, will write a full account of the whole experience and post it up in the next day or so.

But yep, in summary, far tougher than people will tell you !

Quigs Snr

Ok this is quite long, but I hammered it out in a hurry, not sure if I should put it in its own thread, and its not spell checked..... here is my recollection of the etape. It was my first time doing it...


There are really 3 challenges in the Etape Du Tour.

1. Getting an entry in the first place.
2. Getting you and your bike out there, fed, watered and in good enough condition to complete the course.
3. Completing the race.

I started thinking about doing my first Etape, back in October. I had started cycling that April to train for the Wicklow 200 which
I duly completed and felt like another challenge. About 2 weeks after the etape route was announced and I heard that it was the
very same Alpe DHuez stage that I had dreamed of winning since childhood (back in the days when local hero Kelly and of course Roche
were still around), I just had to do it. Stage 15 of this years tour, 191.4km, 2 hors categorie climbs, plus a cat 2 in the middle.

I had left it two weeks too late. There was not an entry to be got, I emailed trailseekers, the official irish agents, plus the UK companies and
even a few websites, no joy. Later in December, one of the websites got back. They had 2 entries and would have a quiz to decide who won
the right to purchase them (for £100 each). Somehow, I got one. Game on.

Then the hard part. A couple of months later, trailseekers got back to me, they had a cancellation, I didn't need the entry but did arrange to
buy a package (transfers from airports, to start, finish etc.. plus hotels and meals etc....). Over the winter I had been building a bike for the
event, a super lightweight, sub 15lb carbon fiber, dura ace kitted out beaut. With (and this is very important ..) a compact chainring on the front
and a nice small gear at the back to make my easiest gear a 50-34.

There was a lot of messing in April with Aer Lingus and getting bikes on a flight, so many were booked that they couldn't be sure they would all fit
on the flights to Lyon so eventually after much toing and froing I decided to go to a different airport to be sure. With that out of the way it was down
to the business of training. I had done a little over the winter but not a lot. Trailseekers ran an excellent 3 day training camp at the end of april in the
west cork and kerry mountains, this was a great base. I started doing some leisure events like the cystic fibrosis Limerick Dublin Cycle (great event
run by a great bunch of people). I had stopped training with my local club as they were all race guys doing short sharp efforts rather than long
sustained efforts, not that I could keep up with them anyway !

By May it was clear training was not going well. I had barely 1600km done for the year ! A karting accident and illness had cost me a lot of time, so
I stepped it up a gear, between mid may and the end of June, I did the Mt Leinster Challenge, the wicklow 200 plus 4 or 5 160km - 185km solo efforts
in the local mountains. Painful stuff and boring to boot. Midweek I would go out for a sub 50k crawl. Basically, I had done very little training by the time
I got on that plane compared to what I promised myself I would do. 3200km for the year (and about 3400km last year).

Last minute faffing about trying to get a bike box notwithstanding I was on my way. First day in france the group of 50 or so Irish I was with went for
a wee 70k warm up spin. Unfortunately with one 1600m climb in the middle, my first alp. It was a tough experience. I blew about 8k in and crawled the
last 4k desperately trying to save energy for the big day, 2 days later. Next day it was a 50k ride to gap with a 1200m Col to get over en route ! The
start village was where it started to sink in. Lots of cyclists, all the big bike companies there, very impressive. I left my bike in the cages, picked up
my dossard and goodie bag (backpack rucksack with etape logo and date on it, bottle, t-shirt and a few other bits and pieces)
and was ready for action the next day. We had to be up at 3:45am to get to the start. Of course didn't France and Italy had to go to
penalties in the world cup final to ensure I only got 4 hours of sleep !

Race day, up at 4 for a big breakfast and onto the bus. Got there, got the bike and made my way to the start along with 8000 other cyclists. No bangers
here, all tanned and toned continental types on Carbon dream machines ! I was begining to feel a bit intimitaded. Sitting at the start for half an hour I
had plenty of time to reflect on my total capitulation on the climb 2 days earlier, the derision of some of my fellow cyclists on the bus that morning when
they heard my gear ratio, apparently a 27 would have been better on the back for this particular etape, or better yet a triple. When some seriously good
cat1 and 2 racers tell a newbie like me something like that, I get worried ! So worried I left my shades on the bus. Dammit anyway.

Anyway, soon enough we were off, out of the gates like a bat out of hell into the blinding sunrise. The first 50k from Gap to Guillestre were mostly flat on
average, some downhills, some slight uphills. I got into Guillestre at an average of 37km/h, swept along by the bunch. To avoid elimination I need to average
19km/h, so I had already put some daylight between myself and failure, a good start.

Onto the first climb, the Col'dIozard, some 2350m. It started gradually enough, sweeping valleys with rushing whitewater rivers and tunnels for the first 18k or
so, no problem. Then a sign and a sharp left turn, 14km to the top. This is where things took a turn for the worse, the speed dropped coming through the
village of arvieux, deceptive really, 10% but looked nothing of the sort till you glanced at your speedo, this is where I first saw some cyclists begin to walk,
the fountain in the village was full of cyclists refilling their bottles. Spectators were out cheering everyone on. They love their cycling over there !

Onto the switchbacks, and it felt like it was getting steeper, I was climbing fine, holding back from giving it full throttle, trying to conserve, I could see all
the other cyclists stretched out for miles on the valley below and on the snaking road above. Eventually I ground my way to the top, there was a welcome
downhill section to the spectacular and totally out of place casse desserte which looks more like Arizona or mars than france, and then uphill again past the
official photographers and towards the summit. The last 14k were something like a 7.5% average.

At the top and the water station was like a the scene when you throw a pork chop into a pirhana tank, I eventually fought my way in to refill the bottles, later
cyclists would find that the water had run out ! Onto the truly terrifying descent on excellent roads towards Briancon, I am a lousy descender so took my time
here, cautioned by the pools of blood and pieces of broken bike I was seeing all over the place, one pink stripe on the road was the obvious aftermath of
some poor sob losing a pound of fat from his backside. Anyway, safe and sound into Briancon where a ton of spectators and a marching band playing
blues classics cheered us over the thoroughly unpleasant 11% climb out of town. Onto then the 27k ascent of Col Du Lauteret. 4.5% Average for the last 12k
or something like that. I was told I could nearly stay in the big ring, and that was almost true. Almost. I got into a nice sized group of friendly frenchmen who
I couldn't understand but kept smiling and talking to me anyway and cruised along into the headwind at about 25km/h taking time to admire the spectacular
surroundings and the rather bizzare sight of an entire family dancing to vanilla ice on the roadside.

8k to go and feeling the pinch a little I dropped it down a gear, my chain didn't quite get the message and dropped the whole way off. I had to stop, it was wedged
between the frame and the chainset, eventually I got it sorted, but my group was gone. I passed cyclists, some passed me but I couldn't get comfortable in
a group again. All of a sudden I was on my own into the headwind and struggling. With 3k to go my legs blew and I crawled to the top, no foodstop, so I nipped into
a cafe (still in the saddle !) and got a sandwich and water which I had to discard on the descent after half killing myself on a bend ! The next 40k were fast downhill,
whipping along gorges and dams, through long tunnels (where you had no sensation of speed), down to the flat before Borg Doisans. 176K done. Legs not too bad,
I decided to fill up on water at the water station before the attack on the Alpe.

Quigs Snr

And Part 2....

Around a left bend and I saw the italian beside me look up and bless himself. I looked up too, it was the start of the Alpe. First things first. Forget what you see on the
web, forget what you see on TV. When you are sitting on a bike, tired, hot and terrified, the Alpe looks an awful lot steeper. I had hoped to get up the Alpe in an hour.
Maybe I will go back one day and do just that, but not this day. Straight away cyclists abandoned. The intervals between the first few harpins are much longer than you
think. Cyclists were walking everywhere. 14k of 8% just too much to contemplate for them, I knew how they felt. The heat was rising, I later found out that the
still valley air and late afternoon sun combined with the baking rocks to raise the temperature to 44C near the bottom of the climb. I was cooking alive. I saw a spectator
pass out. I was climbing steady in my lowest gear, cycling along next to other riders, every few minutes a rider I was cycling with would just pull in and get off. We
started zip zagging across the road if there was a bush, tree or any kind of shade for a moments respite from the sun. I was going to cook alive and my spirits were
dropping, the sunblock was melting and sweat was pouring from me, the top tube of my bike was stained white with the salt and sunblock mixture now pouring down
my face and into my eyes. (My already damaged eyes from the amount of insects that I had hit on the descents, I was cursing myself for forgetting those glasses !). The 21
hairpins start and 21 and count down to 1, by 19 I was hurting bad. By 16 I was in serious trouble. I was drinking on the bends where it flattened out, and pouring
water on my head to cool down, trouble was the water was hot too, I would normally drink my tea at that temperature. I started to curse Ireland for having no significant
climbs and being so cold in comparison, it was impossible to prepare for this in Ireland I thought to myself.

I thought back to my Wicklow 200 cert "Its like a mountain stage of the tour de france!", it is nothing of the sort, by comparisson the W200 is a gentle meander down some
poorly surfaced roads with a few pimples pretending to be hills enroute. By now I was starting to feel the first symptoms of heatstroke, my mind was wandering, I was getting
shivers up my spine despite the heat, I passed a cyclist lying on the ground with a drip in his arm next to a medic, I saw an air ambulance lift off further up the mountain. A
cyclist next to me vomitted on himself and pulled to a stop. Another stopped pedalling and collapsed. Further up the road another cyclist ground to a halt, legs unable to maintain
enough momentum to keep him upright. Cyclists lined the side of the road on the bends, others jumped into the little streams and waterfalls to fill their bottles or cool down.

I was determined not to stop I had dreamed of doing this as a child, I had trained for this, I was not getting off, there was no shame in falling off, wasted, but no way was I quitting
I soldiered on. After turn 15 the gradient eases apparently, I didn't feel it, the heat had emptied my reserves by then and every stroke of the pedals was a hardship. The next hour
was a blur, some kind hearted local had put sprinklers out onto the road, the cold water providing temporary relief. As I got further up the climb there were more spectators
screaming at you like you were the yellow jersey in the tour ! Courage Monsieur screamed one, Chapeau ! another, every now and then one would run up to you with a bottle
filled with cold mountain stream water, I would nod my head and the water would be dumped on me, the shock was like diving into the sea on a cold day, but it brought you out
of the trance. These people were angels. Eventually I saw the 5km to go marker. Now I could see the whole road to the top, it seemed like a million miles away, I put my head
down and grit my teeth. 500m later another sign for 5km to go. I audiably screamed. Every metre counts when you are cooking in your own juices, at this altitude it had cooled to
a mere 37C or so.

3km to go, was that a slight cramp I felt in my thigh ? I had been losing a lot of water and salt in the climb, why yes it was ! For half a k I was in that state where your leg half cramps
but not quite on every pedal stroke, it was a race against time now, it was getting worse. Hairpin 2 and there she blows ! Full on cramp in the left quad. I refused to stop, standing,
sitting, twisting every way I could to try stretch it out. I couldn't believe it, all that time and money and now cramp was going to take me off the bike with the finish in sight. I got angry.
I shouted every expletive I knew in french and english, not now, not like this ! This got the spectators going a bit, who seemingly took this as me pysching myself up and started joining
in my tirade !

It wasn't long before another spectator cooled me down instantly by ambushing me with a ton of cold water in the face, gasping for breath and trying to clear the water from my eyes,
the official photographer got a snap, damn it, thats not one for the album. A few metres on and another photographer, my leg is cramped, I'm in pain, better make it look good for the
cameras, around the bend, in the drops, standing up, mouth closed picture came out well as it turns out ! Then I realised, when I stand, in the drops, the cramp goes away !
Great ! 2 seconds later, I realise that this is tiring me out pretty quick ! Damn it. I get the hairpin one, whats this ? Another 2k to go uphill ? Enough of this, get me off this bike ! I started
to wind it up, I figure I am going to hurt anyway, may as well blow the bank, and I started to push hard, in that last 2 I must have passed 100 cyclists to the encouragement of the crowd,
I passed the final turn in the town, swinging wide on the barrier nearly hitting it and sprinted my heart out over the finish line to finish with a ride time of 8h 57m.
Overall with stops about 9' 30 good enough for about 3500 place. It tok me 1' 42 to get up
the last climb, I had hoped for an hour, maybe if I hadn't done 177k before that in the baking sun, maybe if it wasn't 44C, either way I was glad to get to the top without stopping !

I hopped off the bike legs like jelly, had my chip taken off me and a medal put in my hand before being shepparded off to get a goodie bag and plate of pasta. I stood for a while to
cheer the other irish on, trying to take a few pictures where I could (if anyone reading this did the event in an ireland cycling jersey and on a condor bike, I have a photo of you crossing
the finish !). Some of the Irish didn't make, it, many did before the elimination time. I felt bad for the ones who didn't make it, they were down, but there was no shame for anyone who went
out and gave that a go on the day, no shame or dishonor at all in my eyes. It was one of the hardest etapes in recent years according to the vets in our party. But the feeling of elation at
end was tangiable, it quickly gave way to relief then pure fatigue. I don't know if I will do another, but I do know I will never forget this one. To do a tour de france stage, especially the Alpe
D'Huez, on closed roads, with thousands of spectators, organised by the organisers of the tour, with some of the best amateurs in the world alongside some chancers like myself was a
once in a lifetime experience and a must for any cyclist. Its not cheap and its not easy, but if you want to do it, here are my tips.

Entries are published in Velo magazine in October. Call Sean O'Leary in trailseekers and book early. Go on a package deal, it is the only way to do it. You have enough to worry about
without trying to find accomodation, transfers, getting to the start, back from the finish etc... its great value and you get to do it with a bunch of great people. The people in my group
were fantastic, there was a real sense of shared experience, many of us were newbies, some were vets of this event, there was lots of good advice on offer and the extremely cheap
training weekend in Kenmare was fantastic.

Put a triple on your bike or a compact put a 12-27 on the back. I saw plenty of race cyclists lying on the side of alpe d'huez with their 7000 euro bikes equipped with 53-39 / 11-25. You
won't feel so tough after 190k in the baking heat ! Better to have a bail out gear. I would have traded a family member for one more gear on the alpe dHuez.

Book your flights early and make sure you specify you are bringing a bike.

By your bike case early, almost everywhere had sold out of them when I tried to get one. Many places rent them too, staggs cycles, wheelworx, cyclesuperstore, book early. Don't bring
your bike in a padded bike bag, lots of people did this, most got away with it, one in our party though now has a broken 7000 euro bike in need of a new carbon frame.

Do a few races before you go or go out with a large club group a few times. Near the start the bunches are huge and you will be elbow to elbow with riders hammering down a hill at 70k !

Be able to ride the distance comfortably, do the wicklow 200 and as many 150k plus leisure events you can, there are plenty of them !!

Bring your own food and money on the day, the feed stations are unreliable and slow to get through, its nearly better to stop at a shop and lose 5 minutes than go to the offical stop and
spend 20 minutes fighting your way through the crowd to find there is no water left......

Quigs Snr

By the way, did anyone else on this board do the etape ? Wondering if I am a softie or did anyone else find the heat on Alpe dHuez tough..

stanbowles

Thanks a lot quigs ... great and inspiring account of what sounds like an amazing adventure. Saw an article in Sunday Trib last year by somebody who by his own account was more of an amateur than yourself. He gave the impression of going up a Pyrennean mountain etape on a rusty dawes racer with no aim other than to beat the elimination time (15 hrs?? ..I cannot quite recall). He just made it.
My question: is it reasonable for somebody, 40, reasonably fit, whose veins pop on a jaunt from d6 to the sallygap to consider going for sthing like this ... with a year of good intentions thrown in? Or is it really for regular, experienced, club cyclists?
Thanks, Stan .... and well done!

Quigs Snr

Elimination times are more agressive.... you had about 10 hours to finish this year (well about 10.5 to 11, once you got on the Alpe Dhuez they let you finish for the most part.....). So about 19kmh. Sounds easy, but its not when you take into account that you have to eat and also stop to refill bottles etc.... Well it wasn't for me anyway.

I am no pro thats for sure, never raced and have done very little compared to most, when it comes to riding on the flats and downhills I am slower than erosion, 30 years old. I found the accounts on the web to be deceptive, its always some chancer that got on a bmx after 50 years off the road and just about makes, it, exaggeration, but you know what I mean, I think it gives a false impression of whats required. I did about half the training I planned to, but that being said, found it a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. That being said a mountain top finish in that heat was the killer, if it was any of the other last 3 or 4 etapes I would have found it a lot easier I expect.

Your age is no problem thats for sure. A lot of 40+ guys and most of them faster than me.... I would say if you are doing it, start training now when you have good weather, join up a club, preferably a touring club, you don't need to go fast, but you need to get used to a bunch and it motivates you to get up and go out in the morning...

No secret really, keep going up that sally gap and slieve mann all winter, keep getting the miles in consistently (don't 'cram' like I did) and it is quite achieveable for you. First thing to do is get a triple of the bike. There is no climb you won't make it up on the etape with a triple. The killer over there is not the gradient, its the distance and heat, if you can put the bike into a 30-27 gear and spin like mad going nowhere, you will get up any hill on the tour. After that, you just need to do a few distance events, there are tons of them, look at Paul Kavanaghs Cycling Webpage, I recomend, Limerick/Dublin in April, Mt Leinster Challenge, the Hilly 125, the Wicklow 200, Slieve Bloom Challenge, The one held by Carlow CC that goes over Mt Leinster..... the ring of kerry, etc... theres plenty of them. If you are already on your bike, already grinding over the sally gap, and are motivated then absolutely yes you can do the etape next year. But don't slack off, you need to take it seriously. Its not as easy for us as the continentals, we don't have high mountains and heat to train in.....

My advice.... do it, you won't regret it till about halfway through the first climb, but when you get to the finish, it feels great !

kincsem

Wow. That was some report. Thanks. It was a great read.

Quigs, you are a saint or a martyr or both. You have single-handedly put all of Irish cycling off doing the etape. Ever. We are not worthy.

What a day of torture you had (some people would pay money for that).

Congratulations on surviving the etape. I read on the net that 3,000 failed to finish / were eliminated in one of the toughest years ever.

Respect.

cerebus

Indeed - sounds like an epic.

Chapeau!

Quigs Snr

The last thing I want to do is put anyone off ! I thoroughly recommend the event, its the tour de france after all ! You feel like a star, the crowd get behind you and then you get to see the pro's make a mockery of your suffering a few days later !

I probably wasn't all that well prepared relativley speaking, I would for example get dropped pretty consistently on a club ride.... Its just a different animal, the distance, the heat etc... I am told that this year was not representitive of previous years and not since Mt Ventoux back in 2000 has it been so tough. But then again, you do it because its tough ! e.g. last year, most of your major climbing was done half way through and you could get pulled along more or less the last 50k, or at least thats what I am told.

Now get out on those bikes and restore some of the honor I lost for Ireland. Actually a few lunatics in our group did the marmotte two days earlier and thats supposed to be far worse.....

Quigs Snr

The last thing I want to do is put anyone off ! I thoroughly recommend the event, its the tour de france after all ! You feel like a star, the crowd get behind you and then you get to see the pro's make a mockery of your suffering a few days later !

I probably wasn't all that well prepared relativley speaking, I would for example get dropped pretty consistently on a club ride.... Its just a different animal, the distance, the heat etc... I am told that this year was not representitive of previous years and not since Mt Ventoux back in 2000 has it been so tough. But then again, you do it because its tough ! e.g. last year, most of your major climbing was done half way through and you could get pulled along more or less the last 50k, or at least thats what I am told.

Now get out on those bikes and restore some of the honor I lost for Ireland. Actually a few lunatics in our group did the marmotte two days earlier and thats supposed to be far worse.....

Gavin

Well written and well done !

Gav

randomname2005

Fair play, well done.

wahlrab

you should submit that to some papers and magazines or have you already done so?

Quigs Snr

Hell no, they wouldnt be interested, plus its too long and rambling. The spelling and grammar is all wrong and the post is too old for me to edit and correct it.

Hopefully it will serve its purpose to inspire other average joes like me to get on the bike and give it a lash. Wish I had kept it up, in 2 weeks I've already lumped on a great big belly....

Robin1982

Quigs, that was the most enjoyable piece of reporting I've ever read. I'm off to start training.

Raam

Well written! I enjoyed reading that.

P

vigos

Quigs Snr wrote:

Near the start the bunches are huge and you will be elbow to elbow with riders hammering down a hill at 70k !

You dont want to put people off? That line alone was enough to do it for me!

In fairness though a great report and very inspirational. Is there pics posted anywhere of the event?

Quigs Snr

Ah to be fair, if you don't want to be elbow to elbow you can always just pull into the right and do your own thing, hold your line and let them all come flying past.. its only the pack fodder like me trying to get a tow along to get a headstart on the broomwagon that get stuck into the middle of bunches.... that or the real serious guys working in a team. There are various pics out there alright lots of accounts around with pictures of it as well.
The offical photographers site is here.....
http://www.maindruphoto.com/advanced_search_result.php?cPath=181_182&numbercompetitor=3291&submit2=Search&&language=en

Nice pictures but taken on the mountains when you are mostly on your own, makes sense I guess, they try to isolate you in the pics so they can sell them to you, the downside is that you get no sense of occasion.

Theres a great report and a few pics here : split into 4 sections, there are even some videos, actual on bike footage from the day somewhere on the same site !

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/?id=/features/2006/marksharon_letape1

spiderman1885

But what's the story with Bike Boxes!