La Marmotte 2017

secman

A couple of my cousins did it, hoping to get a report from them tomorrow, the eldest of them did all his prep work on Sally gap, Wicklow gap, mount Leinster, the younger buck lives in Canada near enough to Wisper Mountain where he did all his prep work.

Kyran7

Lads,
This might bore you but if you are interested please feel free to read on. Will add some detail at the end but just need to sign off now.
Ok, so this is how it all worked out. Please bear in mind that this is my 4^th effort at this course. 2^nd time at the official event and 4^th time in all. The other 2 occasions, 5 of us went on separate dates to the official event. All previous attempts have resulted in glorious failure. DNF’s for me.
Until this time!!
On this occasion, 5 of us flew out to Lyon on Sunday, landed at 4;20pm local time. On this occasion we hired to car/vans, which couldn’t have been better. Citreon Berlingos Multispace to be exact. 1.6 L Diesel Engines that were great on the hills, must have had a lot of training in the mountains.
From here all roads led to the top of Alpe D’Hueze, where we had to collect our rented bikes at Rocky Sports by 8pm. Bear in mind it’s a 2-hour drive from Lyon Airport to Bourg D’Oisans and another 25 mins up Alpe D’Hueze. We have rented from Berni (Shop Owner) in the past and he agreed to keep the shop open for us in order to collect the bikes. We eventually got there at 7:55pm. He had 5 Lapierre Sensium (2017) waithing for us, fully equipped and ready to go at a cost of approximately 45euros per person. We got the bikes in the vans and scampered down the hill fairly lively. We got a local Supermarket down in Bourg D’Oisans and topped up with groceries, Water, Bananas, cereal, Milk, Butter, bread etc.,etc.
We had a late check in arranged with our accommodation in Les Deux Alpes so we decided to get a bite to eat. Found a lovely Restaurant in Bourg D’Oisans (we ate there last year also) right in the middle of the town. Pasta all round with lots of nice crusty bread. A few of us even had a glass of wine. A lot of nervous conversation around the table but everyone was in good form and looking forward to the next day.
After the meal, we headed for Les Clarines Hotel way up high in Les Deux Alpes. About a 30-minute drive from Bourg D’Oisans. This was a crazy drive where the road up is literally on the side of a mountain. By the way I wanted to stay in Bourg D’Oisans or Alpe D’Hueze but I just couldn’t get anything there and I’ve been booking this since way back in November. But Les Clarines was fine, bit rough around the edges, you wouldn’t be trying to woo your girlfriend there but for what we needed it was fine. The guy at Reception told me that there were around 30-40 guys already there who were doing the Marmotte also. They even had an early breakfast organized for 5:30am which was good. Still too late for us though. We were all officially in for the last wave off but in an attempt to beat the 6:15pm cut off time at the bottom of Alpe D’Hueze, we decided to try to get out with the 7 am starters. We failed miserably with this but gave it a go anyway.
So, a little bit of setting up the bikes back in the Hotel late on Saturday night. We all brought our bike measurements with us so we attempted to set up as close as possible to our own. I felt my bike was a little big for me. I ordered a 52, should have went smaller but no turning back now. Our toughest decision was what to wear. As I said I’ve been here before at this time of year but it’s always been sweltering hot, this was different. It was bitterly cold!! As a result we all used extra bike bags along with the existing saddle bags. I would never use these at home but I’m delighted I did. So, saddle bag had tubes etc. and on Top tube bag-just behind stem, I had all of my gels, bars, summer mitts etc. I really really don’t like gels. I’ve had a bad experience with them last year where I literally had to stop every second KM on the Galibier where I was empty reaching but couldn’t throw up. Since then, I’ve used very little gels. I was well aware of this in my training this year and I found that the SIS Expresso flavor kind of agreed with me, but I still used very little. For the Marmotte, I packed only 4 of these (1 for each mountain if required) in my bag along with some Fulfil bars (don’t like anything else) and some electrolyte tablets. Again, with me, I don’t like having tonnes of stuff in my pockets, just annoys me so the bag was good. I had a bandana/neck scarf, cycling cap which I love because the sweat rolls down off the peak rather than down my face, where in the past I would rub with my gloves and end up scratching my face, which on an event like the Marmotte can become extremely painful after a long day and basically piss you off. Also had my arm warmers and long fingered gloves which I wouldn’t call winter gloves but were pretty close. I felt more like a Sherpa than a cyclist but in my opinion and I can only speak for myself, I got it just about right. I saw a lot of people the next day who got it very wrong. Everything from having way too much to not wearing enough and freezing their balls off coming off the summits. I decided not to wear the leg warmers, a few of the other guys brought them, but I rarely feel cold in my legs. Was wondering about the shoe covers alright but decided against wearing them, which worked out really well for me. Oh, and we also taped on the route profile/check points to stems. I always like to know where I am, where I can push or recover etc.
So, on to the morning of the event. Wake up call for us was 4:45am. I thought a little too early but I went with the flow. I slept ok. Still felt tired though, I always do anyway. We had groceries so we just made our own breakfast. I was last out of bed I think. Didn’t eat a huge breakfast, some Museli, bread and Nutella, Orange Juice, and started to hydrate with water. Wasn’t feeling nervous or anything.
I had a plan in my own head for the day. Wasn’t too gung-ho about finishing it as previous efforts suggested that maybe I couldn’t. In saying that there were two big differences from previous years, I’m well over a stone lighter and we weren’t going to be cycling around in 40 degree heat. So, my plan was to get up the bastard that is the Galibier in one piece and take it from there. After all, you have a 40 km downhill to recover from there. In a few simple words that was my plan. That bastard had broken me twice on previous attempts and I mean “broken”.
We headed off in our 2 car/vans at 5:30am. The plan was to register (we missed the 7pm cut off night before) and leave one car at the bottom of Alpe D’Hueze and one at the top. This was just as a safety net for us. Worked out well. So, we registered at 6am, organized the cars and headed over to the start area. Dry and overcast and also fairly cold. Thousands of cyclists buzzing up and down, lads ****ting in ditches, you know the story. The 5 of us rolled over to the start area. We were stopped in our attempts to get away with the first wave as the did actually visually check our numbers so that that was that. We just knuckled down and accepted that we would be away with the 7:50am group. Nice buzz in the area, lots of people out and about. I think we got through the start banner at pretty much 8 am on the button.
And we were rolling. We were quickly up to 30 kph while rolling to the bottom of the Glandon. I had no intention of racing up the Glandon. So, just kept a little eye on my HRM which was reading nicely. At home, on events and training rides I would push my HR into the 180’s, 190’s, but had no intention of going near that on this endurance event. Just wanted to finish within the time limit. The Glandon is a 26km monster and loads of people were obviously pushing way too hard. 4 of our group stayed together on this, the other guy went a few mins up the road ahead of us. I don’t really like the Glandon, it feels a little closed in and dark, nevertheless it also falls into the bastard category, for me anyway. I rode well within myself up here, more worried about what was to follow. Heart rate in the 140’s, 150,s. My HR max from testing is approximately 191-193. We eventually got to the top with our group of 4 intact and we met our lone Ranger at the feed station. Feed station was a bit crazy, but fine. We had planned on not spending too long at the feed zone, so after a little food and water top ups we were away down the crazy decent off the Glandon. And it really is crazy. We descended as five. It was freezing cold and misty at this point but when we got down out of the clouds it brightened up. It’s a brilliant decent, we saw a few guys in the ditches who had obviously over cooked it. There was a horrible smell of burning. My buddy and I thought it was one of our bikes but it was the poor guy in front of us. I wonder did he make it down without a tube going?
We were quickly down and on the trip to St Michel where we would have 81km on the clock. I was well aware to the let a few of the big Belgian boys pull us along during that little boring stretch where you are on the big main road. Don’t want to work too hard here. Still all together and feeling good when we got to St Michel. Our biggest problem here was that a few of us really needed to use the toilet and by that I mean not to take a leak. Very very annoying. I would have to wait another while for this breakthrough.
So, on we went to where I think, for me anyway, the Marmotte really starts – The Telegraph. 12-13km of a grind averaging at over 7%. Around 2-3 km into this I didn’t feel all that good and I was thinking to myself, oh no, here we go again. Had been eating ok, but hadn’t taken a gel yet. So, at the start of kilometer #4, I popped my first SIS gel, not sure if I would start feeling unwell again as the previous year. I just sat at the back of our group and slowly popped the gel while sipping the water to help keep it down. Not sure if it’s just in my head or not but within a few mins I was flying it. I had slipped nearly 20-30 m behind the lads and was in no rush to just push on so I just gradually pulled up to them. I actually felt really good now and we just kept on pushing up to Valloire. Our group of 5 had broken up here and 3 of us pulled into Valloire together. The other 2 guys were fine and were just a little bit back. The 5 of us got the arm warmers/gloves sorted and dropped into the food stop at the bottom of the Galibier.
We stopped here for a few minutes. The stop was just beside a nice little Restaurant/Hotel. We bought a few coffees here and I paid the nicest visit to a toilet that I’ve ever made.
After a nice food and drink top up I was feeling really good and strong. We again set off as five. We split fairly early on this and soon it was myself and one of the other guys with our pals just a little back. Wwe really were flying up here (well in my head anyway), but we were and we were actually passing a lot of guys. We soon reached that nasty turn with 8 km to go where in the past I would look up and say how the f*** am I going to get up there? This was my third time going up this mountain and as I said already, I have been totally f***ed going up here, having to stop every 2 and even 1 km or so. I got it into my head that I didn’t want to stop, so I didn’t. My pal suggested that he was going to stop at the 5 km marker. He was in a good way so I was happy that he just wanted to have a drink and just get ready for the last 5 km. I just kept going, I even stood up out of the saddle when passing the photographers. In the past I would have stuck up my two fingers – If I had the energy. I felt great. It was 4pm at the 1k to go marker where my Garmin gave up on me. At the bottom of the Galibier I had set a little target to myself to be at the top for 4pm. I was only 7 mins behind. I eased up the last km, pulled into the sign at the left hand side, took a selfie by the sign post, arm warmers and gloves back on, zipped up the Gillet and took off. I don’t even know where the food station was. I knew I had enough on me and I was actually a little excited that I could make the 6:15pm cut off at Alpe D’Hueze. That’s the first time I experienced that as on other occasions I was just happy to get up there.
The descent was just brilliant. It started to warm up and the sun came out, we had a little head wind but it didn’t bother me. I went pretty hard on the down hill, but anyone who has done it will know that it is pretty much down hill all the way for 40km, technical at the top but then opens up into wide open roads. I came on what looked like a nasty accident near the bottom. I could only see the bike which was in bits, the guy was being loaded into an ambulance. I drove on and enjoyed the tunnels. At the bottom where it levels out I started to push really hard for the first time in the day. I couldn’t calculate in my head how much time I had to spare to make the cut off so I drove a little harder. I managed to ask a couple of Dutch guys if we were ok for the cut off, they told me we were, but for some reason I kind of didn’t believe them so I drove on. No Garmin and phone was in back pocket so wasn’t 100% on the time. I rolled in under the banner at the roundabout at Bourg D’Oisans at 5:20, delighted to be 55 minutes ahead of the cut off.
The last time I did the official event in 2015, there was a timing mat under that banner. On this occasion this confused me as there wasn’t any. I asked a few of the guys (Marmotte officials) and they assured me that I was fine. My intention was to sit here for a few mins, take on some food and recover. So, I relaxed here based on what they told me. Two of the other guys rolled in at 5:45ish, I told them they could relax. Only then did I realise that the check point was around 300 yards up the road past the banner. I was a little pissed off, because officially I hadn’t passed the check point yet. I have no idea why the check point was there. Anyway, in that time two more of my group arrived in. We all passed the check point together, then three of us started to slowly make our way up Alpe D’Hueze.

The sun was out at this stage. I’m guessing around 26-28 degrees but could be totally wrong. Our idea of leaving one car at the bottom was a great idea because we could offload all of our extra gear. I was back down to normal kit, bike bag off, took one gel and only one bottle. I took my third and last gel at around switch back 4. I actually enjoyed the climb. We didn’t go hard, just slowly made our way up, but we were fine. It was very busy, a lot of bodies struggling. We split on the way up, two of us carried on together, the other guy a little behind with the final two of our group back a little more. Really enjoyed near the top, there was a great gang at switchback 1 making  loads of noise and the final kilometer was just brilliant. Up through the town, lots of people having a few beers and cheering us on. We all made it, which was just great, topped it off nicely. My official time was 10hrs 56 mins. I’m sure the wait at the bottom of Alpe D’Hueze before I actually managed to cross the checkpoint cost me loads of time but I wasn’t too bothered about that.

dogsears

Great report kyran7, and well done!

paulie gaultieri

Second that - great achievement.

Pity ye couldn't get into the 7am pen - maybe because ye were trying as a group. No matter though.

secman

A quick text from my 2 cousins , " John, It was easily the toughest challenge me and the brother have ever done or probably ever will ! Alpe dHuez is a hard one alright especially after 160k and 3 HC Cols. It was Amazing to complete it and the scenery was spectacular."

Hopefully I'll get the "novel" version when they get back, I'm sure they will have some tale to tell.

shamcfc

Well done kyran7 great read. No need to call over now

The Noble Nudge

Hows the recovery now?? Are you back on the bike...

Kyran7

Haven't been on here in a while so late with reply. Yep, back on the bike. Took a week off after the event where I didn't even get on the bike. Was back out in France two weeks after on family holiday. Took the bike with me (travelled by ferry). Went for a few nice spins over there. Just signed up for the Sean Kelly. 

And YES, it looks like we are going to go back for La Marmotte again next year. And just to be aware, accomodation is already starting to fill up in the area. Until next year.........

The Noble Nudge

Alpe D'huez 97% booked out on booking.com for the week starting 28th June....
In my noseyness I booked a non refundable room for said dates only found out it was non refundable afterwards......
Guess im going next year too!

Kyran7

Hope to see you there, we've booked accommodation also, let the fun begin!!

Waldo_Fenix

Kyran7 wrote: »

Hope to see you there, we've booked accommodation also, let the fun begin!!

Hi,
I've enjoyed reading the reports / insights into the Marmotte.
I'm planning to do the it in 2018.
Any idea what date it will be on next year?

Thanks.

Chumpski

Its usually on the first weekend in July i believe, around the 4th.

Next year possibly the weekend of the 7th/8th.

Kyran7

Yep, the feeling is that next year it will be Sunday, July 1st, almost 100% sure of this date

MediaMan

Kyran7 wrote: »

Yep, the feeling is that next year it will be Sunday, July 1st, almost 100% sure of this date

Does anyone know why they switched from Saturday to a Sunday this year, and looks like next year too?

fat bloke

Christ you'd want to be sure if you're booking accommodation!

I did the Marmotte a couple of years ago and, while a part of me would love to do it again, I'm always wary of the one - day, all your eggs in one basket thing. A bit of bad luck mechanically, or health wise or weather wise and you could have an expensive and disastrous day for yourself. I'm just on the way home from 5 weeks holidays in St Jean de Maurienne, which is certainly the other end of the holiday spectrum and it was fantastic to be able to do all the famous cols many times and discover others which do not feature at all in the tourist maps. But I also got an appreciation of the weather in the area. Summer storms are frequent, and you can can get some absolute write-off days - cold, wet, thunderous. Mind you, the day I did the Marmotte was 40 degree heat.

Anyway. Kudos to anyone who has done or is intent on doing, but don't forget the alps are there all year round, not just the 1st of July and outside of the Marmotte dates there is absolutely no rush on or paucity of summer accommodation!

The Noble Nudge

MediaMan wrote: »

Does anyone know why they switched from Saturday to a Sunday this year, and looks like next year too?

Closing the roads was easier to do on a Sunday for the ones they did close I am sure the lads told me.

The Noble Nudge

Kyran7 wrote: »

Yep, the feeling is that next year it will be Sunday, July 1st, almost 100% sure of this date

Im near sure I seen it advertised somewhere for the 1st of July 2018...

DATE SUBJECT TO CHANGE....

http://www.sportive.com/events/la-marmotte-granfondo-alpes-2018/2018-france/2704/cycling

Kyran7

Lads,
 Sunday, July 8th has been confirmed as the 2018 date.

The Noble Nudge

Kyran7 wrote: »

Lads,
 Sunday, July 8th has been confirmed as the 2018 date.

Not that I doubt you Kryan do you have a link?

Just had a quick google and a few tour sites have the 8th of July...
Nothing on the main site so ive emailed them as I have accom booked.
One of the lads said it wont be confirmed until the tour is announced. Letour sayin there is a big meeting 17th October....??

Kyran7

Just check out Sportivebreaks.com

Chumpski

Entries open today for entering multiple events. Next Monday, the 13th for single entries.