etape 2008....check

Heres a pretty long account of our trip to the Pyraneese to do the Etape du Tour back in July. If your not into cycling, might be best just to check out the pics...


The boys pre-ride:Thomo, Ian, Tom, Billo, Gav and Dickow


pre race shave-down..

After a massive carb fest cooked up by em and annabel and a last minute decision to shave the legs to get into the spirit we woke at 4.30am to the sound of heavy rain! so all our well laid plans over the last 6 months were sort of thrown into disarray with the realisation that we hadnt bought rainjackets! Suddenly our pink and white lycra outfit choice wasnt looking too appropriate either! After some last minute kit adjustments, i filled my jersey with 9 gels, 6 energy bars and 7 drink sachets to keep the energy levels up during the ride and we were in the car on our way to the start line. 7000 riders decended on the smallish french town of Pau and despite it being just 5.30am the roads were packed with riders on flashy bikes all making last minute adjustments (and impromtue toilet stops!) before the ride kicked off from the Pau Hippodrome.

At 6am the first gun went off for the start but we didnt get going till about 6.45am, only 163kms to go... Thomo stuck in a bike traffic jam

Despite the constant rain, it was a great feeling to be finally on our way riding in a 7000 person peleton on smooth roads with no traffic. The first 100km's went realy well, i was riding with Thomo and Billo, there wern't many hills and we had all avoided punctures (we saw people get punctures as early as the first 500m of the race!).

Stopping for some mid race provisions provided by Annabel and Em in the team support car

We had been taking it realtively easy in order to try and save ourselves for the 2 big mountains coming up and after 100kms and 3 1/2 hrs riding the first one finally arrived, the Tourmalet.

The Tourmalet as it normally looks (without the cloud!) the day before the race

It was a wierd feeling as soon as you start climbing beacuse suddenly all the noise that had been going on for the previous 4 hours suddenly stopped, no chatting between riders, no gear changes (we were all in our bottom gears!), no bikes whizzing by, just an eiry quietness as hundereds of riders pushed themselves against the steep 8-12% slopes. The first few ks felt good and i was surprised and spurred on by how many people i was passing, but after 10ks my legs were starting to feel the burn! The number of people walking their bikes started to increase, and the temptation to join them increased with it! But i was pretty determined to make it to the rest stop 3kms from the top. The mist and rain also made it hard to keep going, as there were no distractions and you had no idea how many more corners you had to go.when i finally got to the old ski station at La Mongie it was chaos, people everywhere trying to get energy drinks, bananna's and sandwiches, and bikes and bodies scattered all over the place. i grabbed a bananna and drink and collapsed on a heap on the floor for some rest.

The next 3 kms to the top felt like it took forever, but finally i made it to the top... and i was stuffed! after a 5 minute break stretched into 15 i decided it was time to take on the decent.

Dickow at the top

I was pretty disapointed in how long i'd wasted on my 2 stops and was determined to make up some time. Easily said, but with just a little guard rail seperating you from a steep rocky drop off the side of the mountain it takes a while to get your confidence up! But the hardest part wasnt the corners but the temperature. After 5 hours riding i was saturated and the temp at the top of the Tourmalet wouldnt have been much above 5 degrees, so as we decended all i could think about was how cold it was! As we got further down the mountain the roads started to straigthen out and the speed increased. At one point i got up to 75 kph, but was quickly bought back to earth when 2 frenchies flew past me at what must have been at least 85. Apparently the pro's get close to 100kpm!I managed to find a mid sized peleton at the bottom of the Tourmalet and sat on the back and slipstreamed to try and save energy for the last climb. I knew i needed to keep eating and drinking to get energy on board for the last mountain the Hautacam but the taste of the my 5th choc chip energy bar of the day was starting to loose its appeal and i was so sick of the sickly sweet taste of my energy drink and gels.

Having said that i was quite enjoying the scenery as we cruised through the valley, with rock cliffs on one side and a beatiful river running down the other side, and more importantly not needing to peddle very hard and getting sucked along by the peleton .

the picturesque ride along the valley

Just as i started to feel better the Hautacam came into sight. The crowds of spectators started to grow and the early part of the climb made u feel like a pro with people either side of the road chering you on. The excitement of being almost there was dampened pretty quickly though as the road steepened. The Hautacam is a bit shorter at just 16kms but way steeper than the Tourmalet and the signs on the side of the road that tell you the gradient of the next km are pretty deceptive. We rode past one sign that said next km av 12%, thats fine except for when you start going downhill for the for the first 200m and realise that the next 800m is going to be much steeper than 12%!Despite having to stop twice for cramps in my legs i finally got to the 1km to go mark and found a sudden burst of energy and stood up on the pedals the whole way to the end. It was a great feeling to ride under the finish banner and be finally done! 168kms, over 2600m of climbing and 8 and a bit hours later its all over!

almost there..

Despite the sore legs and a mild case of hypathermia it was definately a great day.

It was great to see everyone at the end and we had a great night eating high fat food and chatting about all the highs and lows of the day.The next week the pro's took on the same course in the Tour De France with Cadel Evans taking the yellow jersey after completing it around 3.5 hours faster than us!

Bring on la Marmotte 2009!

http://www.sportingtours.co.uk/events/marmotte.html