Marmotte 2011

06:15 last Saturday seems an age ago now, but descending from Alp D'Huez to the start of the Marmotte in Bourg D'Oisans the reality of the day ahead started to sink in.  7000 competitors, 174km, 5000M of climbing. Over £21M of bikes, half of Holland seem to be here and after our last attempt on the Galibier thankfully the weather is kind.

It was a very cool start to the day with the temperature around 7 or 8 degrees at the start, so with the band playing (!) we rolled out of BDO behind the superstars of the priority start in the first group proper.

After the gallop of the first 12kms or so the first 'hill' is up the face of the dam before joining the road up the Col de Glandon which gets more spectacular as you approach the summit. Over the top in just under 2 hours from BDO, and taking things easy on the neutralised technical descent, I started to think I'd overcooked already when I got dropped from a group on the main road up to St Michel de Maurienne and with the temperature rising I opted to take it very steady on the Telegraphe and passed through Valloire in 4 hrs 17. In hindsight I should have stopped here for more liquids as reaching Plan Lachat at the point where the Galibier really ramps up I had to take stock before pushing on. Nearing the summit I was struggling to raise my heartbeat above 150 when I normally climb at around 160, however down the other side and with a very strong headwind I managed to hang in a fast moving group for the hour plus descent to Bourg D'Oisans. If you are doing the Etape be super careful in the tunnels as the first one, and the third one(??maybe 4th) are super dark even without sun glasses on.

So with the last climb to Alp D'Huez and the day now getting much warmer it was a super slow grind up the Alp crawling over the line just before 9 hours, with an official time of 8hrs 32m after the Glandon descent is deducted. So after 5000M of climbing, and 174KMS on the road somehow I end up with a gold award! Gotta be happy with that at the first attempt....back next year!

So to the Etape. One week to go and significantly easier than the Marmotte, missing out the Glandon, but the same route over the Telegraphe, Galibier and ADH. Easy week this week and try for under 5 hours remembering to drink and eat a lot more!

Thanks to Mrs B for holding the Chalet Annabelle fort and support and patience over the last 5 months and also thanks to Steve and Anna at http://classiccyclingtours.com/ for great food, accommodation and general motivation!