Etape, anyone going to try either?

2 Wheels Good

Etape, is anyone going to try either?
Any suggestions, go entry only or do a package?
L'Alpe d'huez seems the nicer stage

petethedrummer

Meself and Bernard were just talking about doing this. We'd be interested in getting in on any boards group going.

Diarmuid

For those who haven't seen the news yet

Looks like nice bookends to a weeks hols in France

CheGuedara

Would love to do the 109km stage - gotta finish writing up, submit, get a viva out of the way, avoid the looming spectre of emigration and get a job sorted but once that's done it's *almost* a sure thing...

billaustin

I would love to do the shorter but more challenging stage. Been sick lately and this would get me back on track

mahoo

109 km with 50% of it at a 7% gradient. hmmmm. don't like those percentages but it sounds like a good challenge...

cormpat

Do the Marmotte instead. The Alpe D'heuz Stage is the Marmotte without the Glandon. Would be a lot cheaper as well that doing L'Etape as you start & finish in Bourg....

2 Wheels Good

cormpat wrote: »

Do the Marmotte instead. The Alpe D'heuz Stage is the Marmotte without the Glandon. Would be a lot cheaper as well that doing L'Etape as you start & finish in Bourg....

Would do the Marmotte, but it's just the chance to say "I did a stage of the Tour de France!" (I know you could just go in your own time and do any stage)

paddymacsporran

Did the etape in 2009, finished on the Ventoux. In all honesty I was nowhere near fit enough - You just can't do it on 160k training a week. Did the first 160 miles in 6 hours, was brilliant, every road closed, towns lined with people cheering and everyone clapping, was a great spin, then I hit a brick wall - Ventoux. took me 3 hours for the last 27 or so km's, 9:04 total time, that includes every stop, and there were plenty on the Ventoux, feckin 'ell........!!!!

The heat was over 35c, no water for the last 27k from the village of Bedouin, it was brutal. No shade either, I was stopping at motorhomes parked at the roadside, and asking them for water - and then getting them to push me to get me started. A dark dayin that sense - but the sense of achievement was, and still is, immense. I did it.

Words of caution - Don't believe the climbing stats - Double it and you'll be about right. They only measure the categorised climbs, anything smaller doesn't count as metres gained.
Prepare properly - Get a coach, join a club, get the miles in, plenty of sportives and long rides beforehand. And then some more miles.
Just before - Ensure you can eat well the night before and in the morning too, town we were in, restaurants ran out of pasta the night before, and had to get a lift to the start at 5am so no brekkie at the hotel, did it on bars and gels which did not help me on the last climb. The heat is a killer, I lost count of the bottles drank, still was dehydrated.

ventoux

Hi there,
A few of us wre looking into the etape on the alpe but then they changed the date from 17th to 11th so we are still looking at heading over from
16th till 23rd. Our plan is to cycle the stage and a few other cols and then watch the tour at end of week. We have a chalet in Vuajany with a couple of beds available as some of gang want to ride the official one.

Daithi BC

pat_hurley@yaho wrote: »

Etape, is anyone going to try either?

I am definitely going to enter either the ADH Etape or the Marmotte. At the minute I'm leaning towards the Etape, simply because I'm only going to be starting serious cycling training after I retire from marathon running next weekend.

If there was a group being put together for accommodation, I'd be interested.

cormpat

pat_hurley@yaho wrote: »

Would do the Marmotte, but it's just the chance to say "I did a stage of the Tour de France!" (I know you could just go in your own time and do any stage)

Believe me, the Marmotte is a fine achievement as well! It only costs €40 approx to enter & as long as you book accommodation early you can do it reasonably cheap as well, much cheaper the L'Etape as you don't have to go through booking agencies & there's no transfers - you start & finish in Bourg.

There's a marching band in the middle of Bourg to cheer you off at 7am, loads of people on the side of the road & up the climb on Alpe D'heuz as well. I remember half way up the Alpe at the end when I was absolutely hanging there was this absolutely stunning looking French girl standing on her own whispering words of encouragement. I wanted to get off the bike & fall into her arms!

neris

would love to give them a go in a 3 or 4 years time when ive built my fitness and finances up. good challenge and somthing you can look back on with pridejut to get to the finish

trek climber

cormpat wrote: »

Believe me, the Marmotte is a fine achievement as well! It only costs €40 approx to enter & as long as you book accommodation early you can do it reasonably cheap as well, much cheaper the L'Etape as you don't have to go through booking agencies & there's no transfers - you start & finish in Bourg.

There's a marching band in the middle of Bourg to cheer you off at 7am, loads of people on the side of the road & up the climb on Alpe D'heuz as well. I remember half way up the Alpe at the end when I was absolutely hanging there was this absolutely stunning looking French girl standing on her own whispering words of encouragement. I wanted to get off the bike & fall into her arms!

Any idea how much is the L'Etape to enter ?

2 Wheels Good

trek climber wrote: »

Any idea how much is the L'Etape to enter ?

Seems to be €225 (in Ireland, slightly cheaper elsewhere) to get an entry only.
No packages up yet for accommodation, transport and entry

trek climber

pat_hurley@yaho wrote: »

Seems to be €225 (in Ireland, slightly cheaper elsewhere) to get an entry only.
No packages up yet for accommodation, transport and entry

Bloody hell......

paddymacsporran

Cost me 150 sterling for entry only in 2009 for the etape, the company I got the entry through aren't doing entry only this year, seems entry only tickets are limited, its all packages via French cycling holidays. They get good reviews incidentally.

You will also need to spend some cash on a doctors certificate saying you're fit enough to do it, a racing licence isn't acceptable anymore. Every foreign entrant needs the full medical certificate.

cormpat

paddymacsporran wrote: »

You will also need to spend some cash on a doctors certificate saying you're fit enough to do it, a racing licence isn't acceptable anymore. Every foreign entrant needs the full medical certificate.

You shouldn't need to pay a doctor to sign a medical form. I just dropped mine (for the Marmotte) into my GP's office, asked the secretary to get him to sign it & picked it up the following day.
Doctors are supposed to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Cycling up large mountains in France is part a healthy lifstyle. Having to pay them to get them to sign a form smacks of taking the Michael.

Anyway for the Marmotte, they didn't even look at the medical forms. I reckon you could have written anything on it.

Daithi BC

trek climber wrote: »

Any idea how much is the L'Etape to enter ?

They seem to have changed the entry system this year. First 3000 entries are available online at the official website for 75 euro, the next 3000 entries are 95 euro. The rest have been sold at "premium" rates to tour operators - these are the ones that you pay 225 to 250 for.

Hope their servers are feeling healthy on the day they open online entries.

Daithi BC

Sports Tours International have just released details of their trips:

http://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/cycling/etape-du-tour-2011-act1-modane-to-alpe-dhuez-two-centre-val-frejusval-cenis-and-alpe-dhuez

Minumum cost of 733 euro pps excluding flights to Lyon/Grenoble, which puts it well outside my budget. As far as I can work out the only affordable way to do it is to get one of the entry only places, then try to meet up with someone else (or a group of others) to sort out shared accommodation and transport.

Not sure if it would work out or not, but it should be possible to hire a van, sail to Le Harve, and then it's "only" 8 hours down the autoroute to Modane. Saves taking the bikes apart, and means you have transport when you get there.

If anyone's interested, let me know!

paddymacsporran

cormpat wrote: »

You shouldn't need to pay a doctor to sign a medical form. I just dropped mine (for the Marmotte) into my GP's office, asked the secretary to get him to sign it & picked it up the following day.
Doctors are supposed to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Cycling up large mountains in France is part a healthy lifstyle. Having to pay them to get them to sign a form smacks of taking the Michael.

Anyway for the Marmotte, they didn't even look at the medical forms. I reckon you could have written anything on it.

One of the lads I did it with is a GP. That was handy, eh? Saved me a few bob - At the time I did it I lived in the UK and GP's there generally charge about £50.

nak

paddymacsporran wrote: »

At the time I did it I lived in the UK and GP's there generally charge about £50.

I wasn't aware that GPs in the UK had started charging patients? Was always free in the past. Can't really complain about charges here then if that's the case.

Think I'll wait for the 2012 Etape, to save the pennies and put in the miles.

Planet X

Daithi BC wrote: »

Sports Tours International have just released details of their trips:

http://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/cycling/etape-du-tour-2011-act1-modane-to-alpe-dhuez-two-centre-val-frejusval-cenis-and-alpe-dhuez

Minumum cost of 733 euro pps excluding flights to Lyon/Grenoble, which puts it well outside my budget. As far as I can work out the only affordable way to do it is to get one of the entry only places, then try to meet up with someone else (or a group of others) to sort out shared accommodation and transport.

Not sure if it would work out or not, but it should be possible to hire a van, sail to Le Harve, and then it's "only" 8 hours down the autoroute to Modane. Saves taking the bikes apart, and means you have transport when you get there.

If anyone's interested, let me know!

Sailing to Le Harve from here or UK? I do France by car most years and you're talking about 1500+ for ferry / cabin / 5 people to Roscoff/Cherbourg July time.
Yeah, wouldn't mind driving it, more time etc to adapt, get a few spins in, camp. etc

velo.2010

Marmotte is definitly the one to do next year. Its handier and cheaper to be located in and around the same area for the event. I'll have to pick the brains of my brother, who is something of a travel expert, to advise me on accommadation.

seve65

I had a quick look at la marmotte. Not convinced I would be able for it though !

Could get flights Dublin-geneva for 150, bike carriage 60, entrance 40, camping @ 5 nights 75, car hire 200, parking @dub airp 60 comes to just under 600 without food etc. Not too mention some of the s**t u need to take camping, so plane might not be a good idea, havent thought it through properly. Looks like you would be looking at about 750 plus flights if you took a 4 night package which includes B&b, pickups and some support.

cormpat

seve65 wrote: »

camping @ 5 nights 75, car hire 200, parking @dub airp 60 comes to just under 600 without food etc. Not too mention some of the s**t u need to take camping, so plane might not be a good idea, havent thought it through properly.

A word of advice; I would not go camping! The heat during the week I was out there for the Marmotte was averaging about 35 degrees - no chiling out in the tent & believe me you'll want a nice comfy bed afterwards:D

Daithi BC

Planet X wrote: »

Sailing to Le Harve from here or UK? I do France by car most years and you're talking about 1500+ for ferry / cabin / 5 people to Roscoff/Cherbourg July time.
Yeah, wouldn't mind driving it, more time etc to adapt, get a few spins in, camp. etc

The Irish Ferries site only goes up to the end of the year ATM, so I'd checked for two people in December from Rosslare in a "car-derived van" with a two bed cabin and it came out at €396 return (less than 200 per person).

Against that I reckoned I wouldn't have to buy a bike bag/box, wouldn't have to take apart and put the bike back together twice, and wouldn't be leaving the bike in the hands of baggage handlers.

It does make it into a bit more of a road trip, which may or may not suit people.

Guybrush T

cormpat wrote: »

A word of advice; I would not go camping! The heat during the week I was out there for the Marmotte was averaging about 35 degrees - no chiling out in the tent & believe me you'll want a nice comfy bed afterwards:D

Another word of advice, don't listen to this. It's cool enough at night and you'll have no problem sleeping after the Marmotte

Planet X

Daithi BC wrote: »

The Irish Ferries site only goes up to the end of the year ATM, so I'd checked for two people in December from Rosslare in a "car-derived van" with a two bed cabin and it came out at €396 return (less than 200 per person).

Against that I reckoned I wouldn't have to buy a bike bag/box, wouldn't have to take apart and put the bike back together twice, and wouldn't be leaving the bike in the hands of baggage handlers.

It does make it into a bit more of a road trip, which may or may not suit people.

Once schools out, as they say, the fares rocket and I mean rocket.
€1480 to be exact, last June 28th. three adults, one kid, Jeep, 4*cabin (:))
July, more expensive.

cormpat

Guybrush T wrote: »

Another word of advice, don't listen to this. It's cool enough at night and you'll have no problem sleeping after the Marmotte

Different strokes for different folks and all that, but personally, after the Marmotte & a few pints there was no way I'd be sleeping in a tent.

Whatever you're into, but I like beds.

2 Wheels Good

This is really looking like something you can't do on your own, you've to at least go in a group to have some chance of doing this.
It's a lot of cash to splash for just a week away

Onyourbike pricing below
Sharing rate: € 1590
Sharing rate including flights Dublin to Lyon: € 1820
Single Supplement: € 225
Entry Only Race Registration: € 225

Sportsoursinternational is £399 (plus £119 supplement for singles) for just 2 nights.

Going by ferry will be expensive that time of year too so unless a van could be arranged can't really justify it for one or two people.

Daithi BC

pat_hurley@yaho wrote: »

Onyourbike pricing below
Sharing rate: € 1590
Sharing rate including flights Dublin to Lyon: € 1820

Just got that email from them as well. It is a week long trip, but 1800 euro is just a bit too expensive for me.

I've literally woken up at 3 in the morning thinking about how to do this DIY. I've since discovered that there's no ferry to Le Harve any more, so you have to sail into Cherbourg which is another hour and a half of driving.

Assuming you and your bike can get on a flight to Lyon/Grenoble/Turin, then you could hire a car/mini-van and drive to somewhere like Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne (20km from Modane) and stay there Saturday night. On Sunday, you drive to Modane, register and then drive to Bourg d'Oisans. You leave the van there, and get back to St-M-d-M. Then it's a nice flat warmup ride of 20km on Monday morning, do the Etape, downhill off the Alpe to Bourg and drive home via the road that won't be closed because of the Etape. Sounds relatively simple, but I haven't yet worked out how to get from Bourg back to St-M-d-M on the Sunday, and I'm sure there are a few more holes in the plan somewhere.