La Marmotte 2011

Well the Marmotte is now finished and what a day.

100 miles, 5000m of climbing and 11hrs 30 mins of cycling.

Roy and I met up with another friend Alan from Edinburgh at 6.30am and headed off on the 7km warmup to get to the start line. It was 5oC and felt freezing. We headed to a cafe in Bourg D’oisan to get a hot chocolate.

Our start time was 7.50 so we stood around in our start pen with 3000 other people waiting on the sun coming up. Just before the start time we heard the now familiar click of thousands of people clicking into their pedals and we are soon rolling through the start line.

For the first straight 10km the road is closed to cars and with both sides of the road available people were soon flying past. We had decided to take it steady knowing what was ahead. We shortly passed our campsite where the families were waiting outside to cheer us on.

It didn’t take long to start a small climb. Alan had done a recce the day before and said once we got up to the reservoir it was a short staright and then the Col du Glandon will be upon us. By now we were plenty warm enough going up the hill and it was a quick stop to get gillets and arm warmers off.

The Glandon was a pleasant climb but a reminder to your legs what an Alpine climb is all about again. The length compared with anything in the UK can only be appreciated once you’ve done it.

Once at the top of the Glandon there was the usual Sportive type scrum at the food tent, though what was on offer was very good compared with previous Etapes. Gilets back on due to the cold at the summit and it was time to go again.

The descent of the Glandon had been neutralised as it is so dangerous. The road is rough, twisty and has steep drop offs. It wasn’t long before we saw the first ambulance treating someone though. Roy who was slightly behind got a coupel of minutes delay as the road was closed to load the rider up.

We continued the descent, passed another ambulance, kept going until eventually the road smoothed out. At the bottom Alan and I stopped to take gilets off again and let Roy catch up. After what seemed a long wait there was still no sign off him. we didn’t know if he had gone passed and we missed him or something had happened. We eventually carried on.

At this point we also met Andy, Alistair and Stuart from Glasgow and joined them in a large group along the main road to the Col de Telegraphe. Andy had already fixed a broken chain!

By the time we got to the Telegraphe the temperature was up to 30oC. Again Alan and I paced it up the climb. The total climb here was actually to the top of the Col de Galibier so 34km in total. Survival rather than speed was the concern.

We expected to see a food stop as we came into Valloire half way up but there was no sign of it so we stopped at a water fountain to fill our bottles. As we were waiting Roy appeared. He had had a puncture on the descent of Glandon.

Back as a group of three we kept going and found the feedstop 1km later.

Off and up again to the summit of Galibier at 2660m. It was all going well and as we came to a “flat 5%” section we looked to the right and could see the snake of riders going up the mountain on some very steep looking roads. Galibier was unrelenting all the way to the summit.

After getting more food at the top it was Gilets on again and start the 30km descent. The top section was again twisty but as you got through the summit of the Col de Lauterat the roads jsut opened up.

This was a fantastic descent easily maintaining speeds of 60km/hr+ with little effort and not to much concern. For anyone doing the Etape it is worth playing safe and Glandon as you can really go for it off Galibier. Combined with the experience of going through the long mountain tunnels in the dark (take your sunglasses off) it is one to be remembered.

As we got back onto the flat large groups formed up and stayed together to the foot of Alpe d’Huez. One climb to go and one of the most famous in cycling. 21 hairpin bends all helpfully numbered for you counting down so you know how far to go. It is only 15km but with 10 hours alraedy of cycling it wasn’t going to be a fast 15k.

The first 2km are very steep around 12% and the heat hadn’t died down. We continued at a steady pace and even at teh slow speed we were doing were still overtaking lots of people. I could see Roy still looked reasonably comfortable and told him to head off if he wanted, which he duly did. 11hrs 9mins was the silver medal target for our age group and he headed off to get it. Unfortunatelty he was to miss out by 2 minutes.

Using the outer hair pin bends you could give your self some respite at the corners but it didn’t last long. There was also a steady stream of cyslists coming back down the Alpe as a constant reminder they had finished already.

With 3km to go I saw my heart rate beginning to drop. I knew from previous experience this was due to lack of energy rather than supreme fitness and finsihed off my last energy gel.

Finally the sign for the village of Alpe D’Huez, but still 2km to the finish line. Through the main village with poeple sitting out eating in the roadside cafes and under the bridge. Finally onto the last flat 500m. I met a Dutch guy I had chatted to earlier so we had another quick blether of congratulations.

You have seen pro’s racing sprinting this section on the Tour de France so it was get into a big gear and sprint for the finish line so we both did. Flying around the roundabout will bring back many memories next time the Pro’s do it.

What a feeling to finish. 11 1/2 hrs is a long time to spend on a bike!

We all met up for the provided pasta party. The beer that came with it seemed all wrong but tasted very right.