Cycling forum Raid Pyrénéen trip 2012

Captain Havoc

lennymc wrote: »

im bringing my ipod tho.

Probably best, you really don't want to hear ten hours of my excuses on why I'm not with lead group today.

ROK ON

Day 2 & 4 and 5 I don't much care as they are short. So I will row in with whatever.

Day 3 given length and difficulty and heat, I am going to try and start at 6-6.30am and stop at 12-1pm an rest in the shade until about 3.30pm. I can then hope to finish at say 8.30/9.00 pm.

I want to avoid cycling in direct midday heat at all costs.

I think given the heat we could think about a buddy system. That is make sure that 2 people are never more than 2km away from each other on the climbs.

Just to make sure people don't get too dehydrated.

thebouldwhacker

It's all getting very real for ye now, I hope the last few weeks of training go well for ye.

lennymc

8 weeks today!!!

Captain Havoc

I'm doing this for charity again so tell all your friends to donate to my charity page. As per my previous trips I'm doing it for the Susie Long Hospice Fund. The boards users have been very generous in previous years and the bulk of donations have come from this forum and the Kilkenny City Forum.

Just to the other guys, would ye be interested in setting up a fb page with links to our charities etc. on it?

Oh and give money to one of our charities or ye're banned!!!!*


*not really

manafana

Yeah facebook page wouldnt be bad idea for us really,

iv got a blog and a charity page going.

http://www.cmrf.org/sponsorshipPage/show/889 im riding for crumlins children's hospital, over 500euro with 8weeks to go will have make another push soon to get some more donations.

heres my blog for my training http://gghofman.blogspot.com/

Planet X

Lads,
Any plans for the Bank Holiday Weekend?
Anyone up for midweek cycles, plan to go out Wednesday 5pm and Thursday afternoon, as last week.
Wouldn't mind stringing a couple of 100k.+ cycles over the weekend.


???

lennymc

im doing the tour of louth this sunday, gonna try to get out local saturday and monday, have things to do that weekend. ill be doing local spins and a couple of commutes during the week.

Captain Havoc

I've set up a facebook page which is aimed at raising money for our charities. If people could spread the word and hopefully we can raise a few quid more.

Planet X

Going to give Elliott & Slieve Mann a bang on Saturday morning. Dundrum 8am. Anyone fancy it?

AstraMonti

Too early .. I am going out tomorrow night.

lennymc

i was talking with Stephen in work here, and he hasnt been getting as much training done as he would have liked, so he has come up with a plan b. He has suggested flying over and hiring a car. He will stay in the hotels with us, and his bike will go in the van, however, he may only do selected climbs, and not complete the full challenge. He also said he would steal our water bottles half way up a climb for the laugh.

Anyway, it will be nice to have another backup vehicle, just in case.

AstraMonti

That would be totally awesome!

lennymc

AstraMonti wrote: »

That would be totally awesome!

should i tell him to hire a mini bus?

AstraMonti

haha with showers please and pizza oven!

ROK ON

lennymc wrote: »

should i tell him to hire a mini bus?

No need for that, but if he could hire a massuse that would be splendid.

manafana

2nd on the massuse,

yeah its closing in on the d-day now, plan another big one monday.

Captain Havoc

lennymc wrote: »

i was talking with Stephen in work here, and he hasnt been getting as much training done as he would have liked, so he has come up with a plan b. He has suggested flying over and hiring a car. He will stay in the hotels with us, and his bike will go in the van, however, he may only do selected climbs, and not complete the full challenge. He also said he would steal our water bottles half way up a climb for the laugh.

Anyway, it will be nice to have another backup vehicle, just in case.

I haven't done as much training as I like either but I intend on using the day. I think you should tell him to reconsider. I'm praying the three sportives I'll be doing at the end of the month will be enough to give me that extra little bit.

I took a wrong turn last night on the way home from work.

Also we've managed to raise a good few quid and thanks to everyone who's donated so far, I only opened my page last week and I've raised €405 (mostly from boardsies ) The facebook page also seems to have been a good shot in the arm for us.

ROK ON

Capt. I think that one can over estimate and fixate on training.

Yep, it would be great if we didn't have lives, responsibilities etc. Then we could train hard and get fit.

But we do.

We will get thru the Raid on the training that we have, because that's all the training that we will have.

You have done a similar trip for several years, fully loaded. So this year will be easier as you have company and carriage.

Day 1 is a sportif.
Day 2 is 75km to the top of Tourmalet.

Day 3 is tough.

Day 4 will be easy after day 3.
Day 5 - 90km downhill. Smell the med and an ice cool desert wine in Banyils sur Mer.

The hardest part will not be the climbs, but the heat.

Bring it on. We will all be fine.

velopeloton

A little taste for yea. 100m from the summit of Col du Tourmalet this morning.



Col du Tourmalet.

A few of you have mentioned the heat. I know it is July but you will also need to be prepared for extreme cold. 2 years ago I had a group of 16 doing the Raid from east to west, the first week in July, 11 packed on the first day because of the extreme weather. It was 38c along the coast and by the summit of Mont Louis it was only 8c and heavy hail, by Col du Puymorens it had fallen to 1c with snow. Heat is more likely but you should be prepared.

manafana

I plan to bring arm warmers and gilet with my at all times, and look at forecast if i may need more, gilet is key for descents.

ROK ON

manafana wrote: »

I plan to bring arm warmers and gilet with my at all times, and look at forecast if i may need more, gilet is key for descents.

If the temp drops as Velopeleton says it could, then you will need more than that.

I was in a cafe in La Mongie (Tourmalet) two years ago. Snow still on sides of the road.
A girl was lying in the corner being attended by medics. She was semi comatose, and was suffering from exposure. Core temp was dangerously low.

I descended down wearing more clothes than I have ever worn on a bike - once I reached St Marie de Campan, I turned around and started climbing simply to warm up.

If the temp drops it can get very dangerous.
I will bring one full set of winter gear.

manafana

ROK ON wrote: »

If the temp drops as Velopeleton says it could, then you will need more than that.

I was in a cafe in La Mongie (Tourmalet) two years ago. Snow still on sides of the road.
A girl was lying in the corner being attended by medics. She was semi comatose, and was suffering from exposure. Core temp was dangerously low.

I descended down wearing more clothes than I have ever worn on a bike - once I reached St Marie de Campan, I turned around and started climbing simply to warm up.

If the temp drops it can get very dangerous.
I will bring one full set of winter gear.

yeah will have to see like i said il be checking for frecast each day, i tend to wear less than most even on cold days, thermal long sleeve and stockings, the cold will be nice for way up but pain in arse going done no doubt.

manafana

crc seem have good prices this week on ultegra blocks

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=1094

any suggestions which gearing would suit for the trip?

lennymc

im bringin 50/34 compact with 11/28 cassette. should cover most bases.

manafana

iv got figure out what iv got on mine currently, same on front anyway compact 50/34 or near enough, but think il need something bit lower on back to spin away in the saddle.

lennymc

11 28 will give you the broadest spread, but the biggest jump from certain gears.

manafana

lennymc wrote: »

11 28 will give you the broadest spread, but the biggest jump from certain gears.

yeah id prob go 12- 27 myself, will have better look at route and see what we are coming up against in terms of gradient.

ROK ON

manafana wrote: »

yeah id prob go 12- 27 myself, will have better look at route and see what we are coming up against in terms of gradient.

The last climb on day 1 is the Col du Marie Blanque.
The final 3 kms of this 10km climb are at an average gradient of 11%. AFAIK there are only two 11% climbs of similar length in Ireland:
Mullaghanish (3.3km at 10.5%)
Mt Leinster

Both are private roads to RTE masts.

I have tackled Mullaghanish 3 times. Twice with a triple and an 11/25, and last time (a few months ago) with a compact and 11/28.
I needed every last gear that I had. It was simply unrelenting.

The only time I have cycled in France I had a triple with an 12/27. I mostly cycled in the 21 or 24. Some of the main climbs are on reasonably good roads. While the gradients are challenging (ie 7% +), I found them to be consistent. So once I was in a rhythm, it wasnt too bad too simply keep going.
I should say that it was cool, so that helped.

The climbs that I hate are the ones where the gradient shifts all over the place. Climbs like that really leave me fubar.

I would say that a compact and a 25 should be okay for many folks. For the heavier rider a 27 or 28 will be highly useful.

BTW Manafana - those cassettes that you linked too are 9 speed. Are you sure that your groupset is 9 speed?

lennymc

id rather have the 28 and not need it than not have the 28 and wish i did