Tour de France Cols

Monday, May 30, 2011

Lap of Lake Geneva cyclosportive

Sunday saw my first sportive of the Summer with a mega early (4am) start for the drive from Chamonix to Lausanne Switzerland for a 6.30am start line for the lap of Lake Geneva.

It's a fantastic event with a distance of 180kms on an undulating course and spectacular scenery by the lake shore. Passing through Montreaux, over the border into France and through Evian, Thonon, then back into Switzerland and through Geneva for the final leg back to Lausanne.

With 1500 on the start line our group managed to start in the fifth peleton (groups of approx 70) and the group were immediately working well. After 15 minutes the group behind us came screaming past on TT bikes. This is a first for me seeing TT bikes and aero helmets in a cyclosportive! Is this normal??!!?? A few of us attempted to hang on but with my heart rate maxing out it was time to back off. One of our guys Neil McNab managed to hang on to within 20kms of the finish line and finished 10 minutes before us.

One of the problems with a Polar computer is the Swiss Rail overhead lines interfere with it. I knew something was wrong when it said my heartbeat was at 220 and I was doing 150 km/h !

After re-grouping with 3 of us from Team Chamonix staying together, our group was working steadily with some strong riders and about 15 of us taking turns on the front. We started to reel in the groups that had started before us and we were averaging nearly 40kms an hour. Initially I was thinking this was too fast for me with the overall distance but I was feeling great and continued to take turns on the front and staying in the first 15. It was soon apparent that no-one was intending stopping at the feed stations so it was rationing drinks and relying on 5 gels.

Over the cobbles through Thonon and onto a short climb before crossing back over the border and a manic late morning blast through Geneva however the organisation was great and the motorbike outriders did a great job.

The last leg down to Lausanne had a few small climbs and in the last 10kms I was starting to suffer, however managed to hang on the back and finishing in 138th position out of 1500 in 4 hrs 35 mins.

Happy with that as I'd targeted 5 hours.

Eyes down now for the Time Megeve on June 12th - entries still open and we have space in the Chalet This is another great event going over the Colombiere, Croix Fry, Aravis and the Saisies - all regulally featured in the Tour de France.

Think this will be a grudge match for Team Chamonix as there is some serious col training and suggested times being banded about!




Thursday, May 19, 2011

Back in the Alps

Back in Chamonix this week and its been back to Col conquering however fitness levels not quite what was expected after the Lanzarote trip, but the weather has been great all week so that helps.

Monday a group of us did the Time Megeve route from Sallanches over the Col de Colombiere and descent down to La Clusaz and then the climb over the Aravis before looping back around to Megeve and down to Sallanches. 100km loop with 2000M of climbing.

Tuesday we headed of an hour away to Annecy and bagged the Col Leschaux, a gentle rise out of Annecy followed by a great descent on quiet roads back down to the lake for 2 laps and the leg breaking climb of the Col de la Forclaz. This was a new col for me and the Forclaz gradually gets tougher especially 4 kms from the summit however the views of Lake Annecy are spectacular. 105km with 1500m of climbing.

After a day off the bike yesterday, today was the ride of the week. Meeting in Taninges (at the start of the Samoens Valley/Valley Verte) its a short warm up to Mieussy for the start of the ascent of the Col de la Ramaz used in the Tour last year. On quiet roads, again rewarded with spectacular views however just before the ski area the road rises up through the avalanche barriers and the tunnel to around 15%. Its about 14km's to the top and this brutal section takes it out of you, however the descent down through Pra sur Lys, another ghost town ski station , is pretty full on before hammering on the brakes for the 180 degree junction onto the Col de l'Ancrenaz. The Ancrenaz is fairly tame and after around 5kms we're over the summit and with no cars in either direction the road dips town towards Morzine via Essert Romand. After a rain encouraged extended coffee break we headed out from Morzine onto the slopes of the famous Col de joux plane which immediately ramps up to over 11% for the first km before easing to an 9.9% average for the next few k's. With rain in the air, its a great temperature at the moment for climbing and with the legs starting to feel good we passed under the ski lifts at the summit and reached the top in 55 minutes. The descent down into Samoens hasn't been road swept yet so this made for a few 'moments' on the way down into the Valley Verte where it was pretty much full on Summer. Flat roads back to Taninges after 75km's and 2150M of climbing.

With the aim still on the Marmotte its starting to become fairly daunting that its over 170KM's and 5000m of climbing, however with the Time Megeve in 3 weeks and events the following weekends leading up to the Marmotte I'm hoping that some form is going to kick in pretty soon!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Lanzarote Training

So Winter is finally over and the 14 to 16 hour days running our ski Chalet business have come to and end after a 4 month slog!

Jude and I escaped to Lanzarote a week ago avec Pinarello and now trying to balance recovering from Winter and training - all going well!

Weather mixed with some rain but sticking to the training plan. The good thing this year is I did manage to get in some long rides towards the back end of Winter and with the amazing lack of snow in the Alps it did allow for some great rides and skiing took a back step.

Our base at a friends Villa in Playa Blanca is a great spot and whilst the route out of Playa Blanca is a bit boring for the first 10KM's and a bit repetetive, once you are either along the coast or through Uga the Island opens out.

I've planned on this 12 days being a build up on core strength before hitting the mountains when back in the Alps end of next week. Its akinda weird change riding flatish roads but the Lanzarote wind makes for a challenging ride. Its either eyeballs out into it, or a mach 3 return with the wind behind.

Back in Chamonix attention turns to getting some climbs under the belt and with most of the high passes starting to open earlier than usual (seems apart from the Galibier).

We've got the cyclosportive lap of Lake Geneva at the end of May which is a flat 180KMS and then into early June we have the Time Megeve event which Peny Comins Events coordinator for Cycling Weekly and Freelance journalist is joining us - watch out for the Cycling weekly article later in the Summer. We still have some spaces left!

The great thing about the Chamonix region is the amount of cyclosportive events during the next few months all leading up to La Marmotte and then the Etape.

So in the leads up to the 'big two' its the Time Megeve, then Morzine, Le Grand Bornand and a couple of over events before the Marmotte at the beginning of July.