Marmotte 2015

fat bloke wrote: »

Man, I can't wait to get this over and done with and get back to normal training. This heat business is really freaking me out. It's the major unknown for me. I've never cycled in that those kinds of temperatures.

No point freaking out, the temp will be whatever it is, you can't change it.

Having ridden up the Alpe in 37c before I know all about how the heat can simply suck the power out of your legs. I have suffered from dehydration before, although I didn't realise it at the time. I was convinced that if I stopped I wouldn't get going again and just ploughed on. Stupid.

Take advantage of any water stops and any fountains along the route. These are the fountains someone posted up;

WATER fountains
St Columban des Villards (51km) (tourist info, on right)
Albiez le Jeune (88km) (at X-roads, by white phonebox, on right)
St Sorlin-D'Arves (108km) on the right just after Mairie/Post Office
ADH (160km) hairpins #16 and #7

Even if you don't need water take a minute to cool yourself down. Whenever you get a change refill the bottles. Better to have too much than be caught short with no water for a few k's.

Make sure you have two large bottles with you. One at least with water only so that so you pour it over you if you are getting too hot. Over the back of the neck is apparently the best place. Whatever drinking you do on the bike over here will be greatly increased in the heat.

Apart from that there really is not much you can do but hope that you can get into the shade as much as possible. But sure it only adds to the awesomeness of the achievement you are about to do!:D

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow

Stay safe in those conditions guys. Really enjoy following this thread, and hope you all hit your targets. Looking forward to the reports when you've all completed and recovered.
Onwards and Upwards.

Back and starting to feel somewhat normal again.
That was bloody hard. Heat was intense, my garmin reading 42 at the bottom of the alp.
With the new route its hard to compare but I got gold so haapy with that.
7.50 official time (ex the descent ) and a total time of 8.17.
I let somebody with better prose try to explain just how hard a day it was

Leroy42 wrote: »

With the new route its hard to compare but I got gold so haapy with that.
7.50 official time (ex the descent ) and a total time of 8.17.

Wowsers :eek: That is indeed an absolutely extraordinary time Leroy42. Myself and my Usher compatriots, all Marmotte virgins, managed to finish. We weren't sure if we could or would keep the trio together for the duration of the event but we actually managed it which I think was an achievement in itself. On the one hand it probably slowed us down overall cos every individuals stop became a collective stop. So one man's nature break or slight mechanical or water stop meant we all stopped, and at the end of the descents the lads ahead stopped to regroup. But on the other hand it was great to have a bit of company going around to "shorten the road" as the man said . We met Jim Stynes around the Croix de Fer, (going well fair play to you Jim) and he was delighted to have someone to say hello to! It's a daunting day to undertake all on your own for such a long time. Sorry to hear you didn't finish Jim but sure you had the most of the climbing done at that stage.
We regrouped again at the foot of the Alpe d'Huez and from there it was every man for himself and we retreated into our own worlds of pain to get to the top. We all got well inside the silver medal finishing time, which was really nice I must say, and unexpected. I finished in 9 hours 35 and <ahem> the lads came in a little bit after me .... (It's not a race, but it's a race ). It really was quite an emotional thing to cross the finish line, and I'm not the emotional type. But afterwards we got to chatting about where we could make up time to get a gold medal and I have to say, I really don't see it. We none of us have trained harder or more specifically for any one event than we did this one and we did our best on the day, had no punctures or mechanicals really, no unnecessary stops really. But to make up a full hour!!! to get under 8.39 (39-49 cat) would be a very big ask, and puts starkly into perspective Leroy42's achievement of an hour quicker again, that's really astonishing, you must have been well up there in the overall category placement and up near the top of your category surely. Well done man .
For ourselves, I suppose at the Croix de Fer feedstop, we must have been there 20 minutes, by the time the three of us had fed, watered, urinated and then found ourselves again, and hit the road and of course there's a bit of time-wasting but thoroughly enjoyable banter to be had. We could have saved 15 minutes there but then maybe that bit of physical and psychological rest is what enabled us to finish.
One thing certainly that was encouraging was that the following day we were all fine, we weren't spent or exhausted or sore. So we were well fit and well prepared in that sense and it's great to have done it and it's great that it's over and done with too!!

It's a funny day in a way, in terms of pacing, and in comparison to how you would climb a hill at home. Because of the sheer length of the climbs, and then the event, and then factoring in the heat, I found I had to ride ultra ultra conservatively. At no point could I give it socks for fear of blowing up later on. I know how long Wicklow gap is so I can climb it as hard as I can, I can mete out my efforts and spread it the length of the climb and arrive at the top heaving but happy and satisfied with my effort. But over there you just can't do that, it's tortoise over hare. I remember going up the Croix de Fer and commenting to the lads how unglamourous it was in a way, despite the awesome Alpine backdrop, as in our pace was not one to be proud of. But it's the nature of the beast. So in a way the best part of the day was the 2k to go sign at the top of the Alp and for the first time all day I thought "right, fcuk this" and clicked down a load of gears, outta the saddle, big ring through the town and it was great to finally throw caution to the wind for once. . Though we all climbed the Col de Mollard really well, we were all feeling strong and we kept a good pace from bottom to top and passed a lot of people – amazing actually even at that early point how many super fit looking lads were panned out in the ditch, or draped over their bikes, a long way from home . The absence of soreness in the legs the following day shows how aerobic the effort was, at no point all day were we out of breath or cycling anaerobically, we could always chat to each other in normal voices. It's the day long weariness, and all over body weariness that had us fcuked at the end. Oddly, my hands and feet were really sore in the latter half of the spin. My palms are actually still chafed and sore typing this, and my lower back was really starting to get at me going up Alpe d’Huez so I started a 3 minutes in, 2 minutes out (of the saddle) routine to stretch the back and keep my focus.

Right, that's enough from me, I'm only blathering at this stage. Well done to all, it's a mammoth day, it's almost impossible to describe to anyone who hasn't done it, but I now understand completely and chapeau and hats off to everyone who travelled over and pedalled or cleated to or close to the finish. Tis a big black tick in a big red box, to be sure, to be sure. :cool:

And ah.... never again. (maybe):pac::D

Exactly what Fat Bloke said. I knew somebody would come along and be able to put in into words better than I could.

The distance and meters climbed stats say the course was roughly the same, but I think the nature of the course along with the exceptional heat, made it far tougher. Certainly the finish times, along with the sheer number of people who had to abandon, would seem to back it up. Ended up 451st overall and 138 in my Cat (E 40-49). To compare that to 2013 (the last time I did it) that time would have placed me 1050+ overall.

As FatBloke says, it is so different from the cycling we do here. You look at your power/hr/speed or whatever and there is never a chance to go at the levels you would over here. The Lacets de Montvenier was a lovely climb, Short (<4k) meant it was closer to the length we are used to but the Mollard was 17k and then the CdF was another 14k more! Just relentless stuff. Its all about accepting whatever situation you're in and battling through. Lots of people passed me but you just ignore them as there is nothing you can do, you are very much on your own. I also think that the lack of the extra 600m in height from the Galibier meant that we missed out on the cooling effect we get up there. Even the top of the CdF was still scorching.

I saw one woman, who I had been passed by/passed all during the day, suffering from what I think was heat exhaustion on the Alpe. She was in a bad way either way and I heard later that she had been taken to hospital. Another bloke simply fell off his bike about 4k from the top of Alpe. His legs cramped and he simply couldn't get his feet unclipped. Loads of the spectators ran to his aid. Of the roughly 7500 starters only 4678 actually got a finishing time. In previous years that been closer to 6000!

There is simply no way for us Irish to train for that. The length of the climbs is a problem but place the heat on top of that and it becomes almost impossible.

Jim Stynes wrote: »

First thing is to get rid of another stone and half. Half the people doing the event looked like they had eating disorders!

Lol'd. I'm with you there. It was the first thing we noticed when we arrive and started asking around for directions. Skinny scrawny fcukers everywhere!

Bloggsie wrote: »

Fantastic effort by all of you who took part.

I'll second that. Sounds like a fantastic experience, have found it really interesting following all of your progress on here.

It may just be the adrenaline kicking in after reading FB's last few posts but seriously considering giving this a go next year!

See you in the 2016 thread ...

Ye probably know this already but photos are up on www.photobreton.com and www.griffephotos.com

They're awfully expensive. 19 euro each per downloaded copy. I can appreciate the costs of printing and posting but emailing???