Etape du Tour 2012

One word will stay in memory to describe this day - BRUTAL!

The race would include two Olympic gold medallists from the Alpine world – Jean-Pierre Vidal (Slalom) and Fabrice Guy (Combiné Nordique) and double Formula One world champion Alain Prost. The two Olympic champions finished in around 8 hours but no sign of the name Prost among the finishers today.

For me it was an inexplicably bad day right from the start – feeling practically ill but with no apparent reason except perhaps the cold and wet – which apparently discouraged 3000 from even starting. The only sense of achievement was in simply surviving despite all of this. If my 9hrs 16mins seems like a long time then goodness only knows what the last finisher felt like after 18hrs 56mins. He would have been pedalling until close to 3am the day after the start! (assuming he started at close to 8am). I thought that there was a time limit where you were prevented from continuing – but he was not alone crossing the finish line so there appears to be no mistake in the results table.

Diplome Etape Du Tour Acte1

Preparation

The Tour “village” at Albertville was well organised. It basically had to be as there were between 9000 and 10000 people registered for the race. Ultimately only 5688 turned up for the start (and only 4422 finishers). The newspapers report that around 3000 didn’t start due to the bad weather – it was pouring rain at 6am. I’m not sure though if all of them even collected their start numbers the previous day because many would have realised that they hadn’t managed the necessary preparation – and I was very close to being one of them. Entering a race like this under-prepared is a guaranteed nightmare – and yet it appears that most participants were even less well prepared than me.

The day before the race around 3pm I’d arrived at the “Race Village”  and quickly collected my start number. Within minutes Paul spotted me so we had met up spontaneously just like on the JPP a week earlier – good minds think alike. It took a while to wander around and be certain of the depart start procedure for the following morning. There would be a coffee and breakfast stand with toilets in the vicinity but it was a little tricky picking out the route to the start corridors where we would group according to start numbers. Paul would be in group 2 and me in group 3 out of 10 separate start groups that would be located on different roads and with the start staggered over an hour – from 7am to 8am.

We didn’t hang about as it was a 70km drive to la Toussuire where the race would end and where we had chosen to park a car with change of clothing left in the car for after the race. Parking would also have been feasible down in the valley at St Jean de Maurienne but I’d anticipated that we would finish quite far apart in time so it was better to have a vehicle there on site. If the weather had been bad then a descent by bike in the cold after such a demanding event could have been horrific. This didn’t deter some from not only doing that (with a very long detour involved due to the main road being closed for the race itself) but also cycling the rest of the route to Albertville! They would have had a strong valley headwind too. Goodness only knows how they did that.

On our way back home just after leaving St Jean de Maurienne Paul and I spotted a stunning road climb up the side of a steep rock face and we couldn’t resist the temptation to take a detour to check it out. I’d seen this in photographs before but was never able to locate it. Unfortunately this eventually led us to a dirt track – after climbing up to 1650m altitude! We then had to descend back down to 1000m before finding our way back onto the correct route over the Col de la Madeleine to get home. This wasn’t ideal preparation as we had intended to get home and eat early – but it was educational and not a real problem. The food was ready and only had to be heated on arrival. We were able to get to bed by around 10:30pm for a 4:40am rise next morning.

No surprises in the morning and we were on our way to Albertville before 5:30. Well there was one little surprise. It was pouring rain and the sky was black. This was absolutely NOT expected nor was it desired in the slightest. The only decision it affected was the choice of rain jacket to be taken with both of us opting for proper waterproofs and arm warmers despite the bulk. That was a good choice. I left Paul at the car and headed off first because I wanted to grab a coffee and find a loo. Coffee was no problem but the loos had big queues and there wasn’t time for that. I’d anticipated this problem and had a toilet roll in my pocket. It took seconds to find appropriate bush cover. Getting this job right is quite important as it means being able to go through the entire event without even thinking about such problems again.

Finding my starting corridor was a bit tricky as expected but after climbing over a few barriers with the bike aloft I was there. Setting up the sports tracking system had been left to the last minute to avoid draining the batteries – but this caused a few unanticipated problems. After resetting the phone and spending some time setting it up with a spare external battery on the bike I then had to get it to scan for my heart rate monitor – but unfortunately there were about 1000 other heart rate monitors and cadence sensors around me and they all seemed to be picked up. I then had to strip it off the bike again and climb out of the compound to get away from the others to try another scan – but it wouldn’t let go of all of the other sensors. Luckily it seemed to lock on to my own heart rate monitor. There was enough time to chat to a couple of English guys at either side of me and they both appeared to be quite apprehensive – one seemingly having done too much climbing during the week in a mad rush to adapt to the mountains.

For once the timing was spot on – the clock starting with the electronic chip crossing the start line. The final time differing from my own by only 2 seconds.

The Race

 

Col de la Madeleine

Albertville to La Léchère is a very familiar road to me. I know every inch of it. The objective here was to keep a good speed by slipstreaming as much as possible but not letting the heart rate climb and risk going into the red before even getting to the first climb. La Léchère is where the climb to the Col de la Madeleine begins. Thank goodness for the protection from the rubberised waterproof layer. Even with that it was still cold. Sunglasses were stowed in my helmet because there’s nothing worse than the spray of water from other cyclist’s wheels spattering on your glasses. Somehow this doesn’t present a problem for unprotected eyes. I didn’t put them on until after the following descent down the other side of the Madeleine. Oddly enough, despite nasal breathing and controlling effort levels correctly, I didn’t feel good at all. At this point there was just the cold to deal with and a feeling of riding somewhat reluctantly. My stomach felt bloated despite not having eaten much in the morning. The day before I’d eaten chicken curry twice though and it didn’t feel like it passed through convincingly. I had a pocket full of almond squares and another full of powder sachets for drinks. Only one bottle was filled with water to save weight on the first climb with the empty one loaded with powder already. There was a watering point at the top of the Col de la Madeleine and I’d planned to ensure having two filled bottles from there.  Before leaving Albertville there was a level crossing to go over. Normally this is no issue but today there were so many full water bottles lying on the ground and rolling all over the place that it was difficult to pass. If I’d looked carefully I’d have been able to spot Paul’s only full bottle amongst them because that’s where it ended up. Perhaps I keep on losing CO2 valves but my water bottle holders are rock solid. It seemed excessive paying a lot for carbon ones but they were well worth it.

Attacking the bottom of the Madeleine I was immediately too hot. On removing the waterproof it seemed too cold. It was still raining a bit and water was dropping from the trees overhead but I felt exactly like you feel with a fever when it becomes hard to tell whether you are hot or cold. The headache started up around the same time. I know that I react very badly to cold so can only guess that this was the problem. My heart rate had been kept low so nothing appeared to be normal about the situation because I hadn’t been red lining or anything silly like that. The climb of the Madeleine took 20 minutes slower than I’m capable of – though this did include collecting water and replacing the jacket for the following descent. Predictably lots of people overtook me at the start of the Madeleine but this was partially planned. The start is steep and it’s a mistake to force too hard here. I think it was on this portion of the climb that I passed the one legged cyclist. That put a few things in perspective! On this occasion I’m not sure if restraint and control through nasal breathing was capping the speed or if something else was. Nevertheless, towards the end the rest of the climbers had slowed down to my speed and the overtaking had significantly reduced. In spite of this measured ascent I was hit by bad cramps on the inner left thigh during the following descent. This has never happened before so it’s totally inexplicable. Even after a much more aggressive ascent there’s never been cramps on the descent. Not a confidence inspiring situation to be in with another four cols to go!

Whenever I see a workout record where my heart rate never peaks in the 170s then I know there is something wrong. It’s one thing controlling the heart rate – as I did through nasal breathing – but even then it can get up to 170+ without much difficulty. Today the heart maxed overall at 162 and prior to the first climb it had maxed at only 149. Usually at a start I’m at 175 and n a suicide mission – but today this appears not to have even been an option.

About 4km from the top of the Madeleine the sun finally broke through the clouds. I had felt a wet cold until then – being unable to dry out from the combination of rain and sweat so the sun was enormously appreciated. We had seen on Paul’s weather app in the morning that the clouds should pass over during the morning and the sky’s should clear so things were at least going to plan in this respect. The course itself had apparently started out as 135km long and then eventually became 148km. While waiting at the start they wished us luck over the loudspeakers on our “152km” race! I don’t think that many participants would have failed to notice that one!

The descent of the Madeleine was hard due to dealing with cramps threatening to send the leg into a complete spasm. This was my right leg and I found that straightening it out seemed to help. By the bottom of the descent the leg was fine but it had slowed me down a bit on the descent as I didn’t want to bend it for cornering. Mentally I was OK and focusing on line and braking, plus there was the great bonus of having a dry road. La Chambre is the village at the bottom of the Madeleine descent and from here there was a loop of several kilometres on the flat to channel everyone over a bridge spanning the main road. This initially was against the strong adiabatic headwind funnelling up the valley so it was important to get into a peloton to both minimise workload and maximise speed – which is exactly what I did.

Col de Glandon

The entire village of St Etienne de Cuines appeared to be out to cheer everyone on and upwards at the start of the Col de Glandon. Once again I stopped near the bottom and removed the jacket, feeling an uncomfortable overheating again. I was really struggling with temperature regulation and this did not feel normal. My stomach was still feeling bloated and a bit queasy. So far there had been no moment when the event felt enjoyable. It was about to worsen even more.  The sun was now out and already people were starting to seek shelter in the shadows of trees during the climb. I was feeling bad and there was a dominant voice in my head debating the value of doing a U turn and dropping out. With so far still to go this was not an encouraging scenario. Scanning the body there was nothing specifically bad and the cramps were staying at bay with only minor jabs coming from the calves from time to time. I just decided that it was time to take control of the internal dialogue and stop the negativity. If scanning the body showed up no desperate issues then there was no need for any of this inner talk about giving up. The long route ahead was a psychological weight with four cols still to cross – but this would have to be filtered out of the thought processes. To make matters even worse around this time I was overtaken by a guy with a very large belly. My theory about power to weight ratio limiting my performance was instantly destroyed. He wasn’t the only fatty to show me up on this event. Somewhere about half way up the Glandon there was another watering point and I refilled both bottles with doses of electrolyte powder offered by the Tour. This powder seemed a bit too creamy for my taste but  it seemed to help to settle the stomach discomfort. One really positive thing was that despite recent problems with a very sore bum there was nothing more than a general bum discomfort that could be eased by standing  on the pedals for a few moments – and this persisted without any worsening.

Absolutely spot on with my earlier predictions the first victims of the race were at 7km from the col – with the first person spotted walking his bike. This situation would rapidly escalate from there on with people already stopping in the shade of trees and at one point generating a congestion that almost blocked the road. Considering I’d started amongst the stronger riders this didn’t bode well for those further behind.

Four kilometres from the top the tree cover disappeared but there was a head on breeze and the cooler air at altitude. For me it was just a reluctant plod in granny gear but soon the steep wall would have to be climbed and the concern was whether or not the legs could actually cope without locking up in spasm. I was dreading this wall because it would be one of the toughest parts of the day. Immediately it became clear that the legs couldn’t take it and the nasal breathing had gone out of the window a few kilometres back already. This time it was the left inner thigh threatening to lock up in spasm. The plan had been to nasal breathe until reaching the Col de la Croix de Fer but feeling so poorly there was no way to hold on to it – though close to four hours of nasal breathing was pretty good anyway. The only way I could stop the legs from cramping was to change coordination and follow through with the hip on each pedal stroke. Following through transferred the load to the muscles on the outside of the leg instead of the inside. The change was amazing and brought a new lease of life to the legs with no hint of cramps. Pedalling this way is risky for the lower back but it is more powerful. Combining the coordination change with breathing freely through the mouth I actually started to feel normal for the first time in the day. Climbing the wall presented no problems and things went into reverse for a while with me doing the overtaking all rest of the way to the top of the Col.

Col de la Croix de Fer

Despite the impressive name this col is only short extension of the Glandon with a moderate gradient. It’s still hard because you can see the top and it seems to take a long time to reel it in. At the top of the Croix de Fer was was a proper “ravitaillement” or feeding area. I’d managed to almost empty two bottles during the last half of the Glandon so it was imperative to stop there and refill. Here there were bottles of water  lined up and I made a B line for them cutting through everyone and poured my own tangy isotonic powder into my water bottles before filling them. There was a bit of congestion there but nothing unmanageable. Lots of people seemed to be hanging around to recover and I guess that’s where my poor climbing was compensated for in the overall results.  I never stopped for more than a minute anywhere so although climbing slowly this plus good descending gained over 500 places eventually.

Col du Mollard

The race had taken a new lease of life for me but the descent from the Croix de Fer was hard on the neck and shoulders. It was with relief that the next climb up the Col du Mollard began. Things appeared to have settled into a pattern and with following through with the hips I was properly holding my own now on the climb and reeling in quite a few others. The problems with body temperature had vanished and the headache had reduced along with stomach discomfort. Eventually however the muscles on the outside of the leg began to tire so it was time to switch back to pulling the hips backwards during the stroke. Once again the fresh muscles helped and this also took the load off the lower back which was constantly in danger of becoming a problem. Other than a feeling of tiredness in the lower back it had held up pretty well and there was no real backache. Now the game would be to alternate from one style to the other to spread the load over the different muscle groups. Having this option was a great reassurance. At the top of the Mollard I once again stopped to top up with water and used the last of the powders. Just before the steep end to the Mollard climb there was the unbelievable sound of “Scotland The Brave” being played on the bagpipes. One of the locals was out in his garden piping everyone into the village at the summit. That’s was it for me - there was absolutely no way I could give up after that – it would be a fight to the death from now on. I gave him the thumbs up when passing.

During the 15m descent from the Mollard into the Maurienne valley I hit one very nasty pothole which was surprising considering the Tour de France comes through here in 4 days time. After the day was over I noticed that the CO2 tank and Air Control valve had vanished and it was probably that shock that dislodged them. It’s the fourth set I’ve lost so it’s becoming a real habit! Luckily there was no puncture to deal with later on! The descent was otherwise uneventful but fast. Several people had missed turns and were being tended to by emergency services – probably victim of fatigue and loss of concentration. I thought that I’d been eating correctly but although my concentration was fine I’d actually eaten hardly anything – in total only four tiny squares of almond pâte all day (since a meusli breakfast). The queasy stomach had put paid to any efforts to force food down. Several times there was the sensation potential vomiting so food was far from appealing.

La Toussuire Climb

The start of the final 20km climb up to La Toussuire was a very steep narrow side street lined with people. I was still feeling relatively good despite the neck and shoulder from descending so went into the climb relatively confidently. By now the gear changing mechanism had somehow become bunged up – probably with sticky sugary juice splashing around from water bottles and I made a rather serious mistake. The steep initial climb carries on for about 3 or 4  kilometres and I did the whole thing in second gear believing it was first gear due to the stuck mechanism – thus well and truly burning out any energy still left in my legs and body. From this point on the remaining uphill became an interminable grind to the finish. One more water stop was required about half way up at a traditional water trough – no powder left to add but the taste of clear water being well appreciated by now. At no point did I slow to a crawl and the audio feedback was greatly encouraging by frequently reporting back 6mins 30secs or thereabouts – assuring me that progress was better than it actually felt. When you see a sign saying “14km “ at this stage it’s incredibly horrible and you need every little bit of encouragement that can be found. Knowing the route helped a lot too because I knew where the steep bits were and that there was a good long flat section to help to “reset” the system for the final portion. There are kilometre posts at the side of the road but that seems to make the slow progress feel even worse than it already is. “13km”, long wait, “12km” long wait, … Eventually with each turn you are wishing for it to be the finish but then somebody shouted out to me “Only 4 kilometres to go!” – that was not welcome information! The end seemed to go on forever and what looked like the “Arrivée” finish turned out to be the inflatable arc for the final kilometre “Arrivée 1 km”. Crossing the finish line was the ultimate non-event. There had been incredible moral support from people all along the route and especially at the finish line. All that could be felt though was relief that it was over and a desire to forget all of the discomfort. Each finisher was presented with a finisher’s medal on crossing the line – but that somehow doesn’t seem to resonate with me. Getting off the bike at last and walking was much more important. Just there at the finish was John Thomas waiting for one of his clients to finish but I was unable to converse with him because when I started talking I found that I couldn’t breathe. Given the choice between talking and breathing I quickly explained the situation to John and he understood. He himself had badly suffered at the end of the course and described it as “brutal”.

Paul spotted me a couple of minutes later as I was walking towards the car and he offered to take my bike. Apparently I was walking better than he had been at the end because he bonked on the final climb. His suffering was probably over much less time than mine but might have been a lot more intense because a food bonk is seriously difficult to deal with. Paul was a bit upset at losing so much time at the end but to me it wasn’t really a big surprise. I’d warned him about the steepness and length of the final climb but he had probably tried to filter out that information at the time. He did incredibly well regardless and it must be encouraging to know that you could do even better with only a small change in strategy.

After Race

Paul helped me sort out the gear at the car while I changed. He then directed me to the tent where our food would be – but I must admit this was the most disappointing part of the whole affair because there was no tasty meal – only a pack with a banana and a some other unappealing rubbish. I had something to drink and we sat in the shade while I recovered, but Paul had to do all the talking still. It took about an hour before I could speak more than a few consecutive words. Meanwhile my legs were fine for walking and there was no sign of the cramps from earlier on before I’d played about with coordination. I saw one young man crying to himself when walking his bike away from the finish line and I don’t think he would have been the only one to do so on this occasion. We didn’t hang around and just wanted to get away after my recovery and so started the trip down on the evacuation route. It was a very long deviation to avoid the closed road for the course so it took a surprisingly long time to get down to the valley. Had we anticipated that I think we would have had some caffeinated drinks prior to setting off. I don’t think that Paul realised how spaced out he still was but his driving was marginal at best. Ultimately we just continued on our way to Albertville with me keeping Paul on track. My head was OK but my body was wrecked and Paul seemed to be the other way around. Given the detour it must have been at least 75km to Albertville but a crazy few were cycling back. How they could manage to do that I really don’t know- especially against the valley headwind. At Albertville after sorting out the gear we went straight into McDo’s to order large Cokes. The first mouthful was absolutely delicious – best drink on the planet for that first mouthful. We had just sat down in McDo’s when the chap next to us asked if we had ridden the Etape. He had spotted my T-shirt from last year’s Etape. Pierre had come from Canada all the way here just for the Etape and had trained on a tiny hill of about 2km – up and down hundreds of times. He loves the Alpine scenery and is passionate about cycling so his wife and family free him for this one indulgence each year and he travels alone with his bike. As Graeme Obree says ‘My bike is my best friend!”

My bike after the race was, as often happens, completely filthy. Muck from the road combined with isotonic juice sloshed all over the place makes for a right sticky mess. The rear gear changing was almost jammed, probably due to muck and water getting into the hand control mechanism from being kicked up by the riders in front. A squirt of WD40 at home sorted that out.

Worse though was that my rear brake had been rubbing badly and I hadn’t spotted it. This was caused by a combination of little things, the wheel being very slightly out of true, being very slightly over to the left and the brake mechanism being tilted slightly over to the right. I realised that braking the effect was quite strong and it might explain some of the untypical problems I had in the climbs – though I can’t be sure. Perhaps it was just a small factor adding to a lot of other small factors that were not in my favour today.

   

After the race Paul mentioned that he had the rear wheel slide on one turn during the descent from the Mollard but didn’t lose control. The descent was dangerous and that was made clear by the fall of the eventual Tour de France winner Pierre Rolland on one of those hairpin bends.

Chris had a group of 6 American cycling clients (from his chalet) participating and all finished well but one who collapsed 2 kilometres from the finish and ended up on a saline drip. Chris had to go and help and collect his 10,000  euro bike from the roadside where it had been abandoned. Ultimately Chris ended up in one of the sweeper-up busses and then had to find the bike again amongst 1200 others at the end – and somehow get it back without having the participant’s race number with him. It must have been harrowing doing all of that while recovering himself from the day’s efforts.

Results

Me Number:1443 Ranking:1938 th Category ranking:396 th Time:09:15:57 Average:16,40 km/h Rise ranking:2510 Rise time :6:47:29

Paul Number:814 Ranking:560 th Category ranking:71 st Time:07:44:36 Average:19,63 km/h Rise ranking:616 Rise time :5:25:42

Chris Number:1650 Ranking:413 th Category ranking:53 rd Time:07:32:00 Average:20,18 km/h Rise ranking:453 Rise time :5:14:52

Both Paul and Chris did incredibly well – especially Paul because I know that he hasn’t done as much training. Despite feeling at odds all through the day my own final result is what I’d have expected anyway so I can’t be disappointed. I did no cycling during the winter, only running. Spring was late starting due to working daily through Easter and the snow on the cols taking a long time to disappear this year. Losing a key month travelling to Scotland had a significant impact. Altogether getting into the top 30% (counting all race starters) is reasonable enough. I’m sure that I didn’t eat enough and got all sorts of things wrong – but quite simply the level of training wasn’t there. Recovery has been rapid though and next day I’m already feeling good with no physical complaints at all and a good chunk of body fat burned off.

ChiSwimming begining

At long last the outdoor swimming pool at Bourg St Maurice has opened for the summer. I went along to see if I could remember how to swim.

Although I lose physical fitness rapidly when not exercising I find that I never seem to lose any skill – the same with musical instruments. I only wish I could remember telephone numbers and dates a fraction as well. My memory banks appear to be almost entirely directed towards m body and away from everything else. Ask me questions about any offshore job I participated in and I’ll have trouble remembering anything about it. Perhaps this is quite a useful thing then.

Naturally it felt like I hadn’t ever been out of the pool so i could take up my swimming development where it had been left off a couple of years ago. Immediately I wanted to see what might surface from everything I’ve learned from the ChiRunning philosophy.

Kicking from the Spine

I’ve never been able to “kick” properly in the crawl and normally hardly move – or even go backwards. I tried lying on my back to kick and immediately started to move from the spine – rotating strongly around it with each kick. It worked. Not only did I advance strongly but it was easy because the large chain of core muscles was involved. I’d always hated kicking because it felt artificial just kicking with the legs – and now I know why! Trying it lying on the stomach the result was the same. Why couldn’t anyone teach me this? Why is it not mentioned in any of the swimming books that I’ve bought? Danny Dryer (author of ChiRunning) states that “There will never be a ChiSwimming!” and strongly advocates “Total Immersion” – but he’s wrong because there is nothing like this in the Total Immersion system.

Trying to coordinate the spinal rotation with the crawl stroke is another kettle of fish and that’s going to take a bit of work. I’ve always felt “disconnected” between the upper and lower body while trying to do the crawl and I suspect that the answer will lie here somewhere. I’ll have to take what I’ve learned from coordinating the legs, hips and upper body in skiing, cycling, running and walking and try to find the links. I could get coordination correct already but it meant reversing my learned movements and so it felt very insecure for the time being.

Over-Reaching

The biggest problem in both running and walking is over-striding. Due to heels on our shoes we reach ahead with each step and manage to seriously mess up our body mechanics in the process. We develop a psychological need to reach even further ahead when trying to lengthen the stride or speed up. All the time we should be doing the opposite by stopping the feet from going ahead and by extending the stride behind us. It occurred to me that I was probably doing the same in swimming which might explain why I have no strength and end up out of breath and with tired arms very rapidly. I seem to spend a long time reaching ahead and cause a delay because I haven’t even started to pull when the other arm is already recovered. All of my focus was “ahead” exactly as in running. Changing this to focussing on extending behind made everything suddenly feel relaxed, allowed me to access the bigger back muscles and core muscles and also seemed to automatically eliminate the delay in the pull.

I’ll be looking forward to seeing how this develops. The Chi philosophy has automatically brought another level of insight into the picture.

JPP Cyclosportive 2012

Preparation

The previous week I’d only been out twice on the bike – but both were monster efforts with only a couple of days rest in between. Helping Christiane with a concert and various other distractions had stopped me from getting out on the bike again later in the week and this was probably a good thing. Three days off the bike and you begin to worry that you are not training correctly – but rest and nutrition are the real building blocks of fitness.

Driving over the Beaufort Massif to get to Cluses is painfully slow. It seems like political correctness is strongly on the side of utterly useless, chronically slow and pathetic drivers. We pay more and more for fuel so that we can drive slower and slower!  If I could push a button that would eradicate all slow drivers, all solid white lines and all speed cameras I would – including drivers who stop dead at roundabouts when nobody is coming around them. There is now a new rule that we must carry a breathalysing kit in the car or face a fine. I’ll pay the fine if I have to but it’s insulting and stupid to imply that everyone drinks alcohol let alone drinks and drives. Drunk drivers know that they are drunk anyway so nothing will change – they don’t need a device to tell them what they already know. Nobody just on the limit is a significant risk anyway. There should be a limit on the number of rules that governments and local authorities can impose – and each year they should be obliged to remove some. In fact politicians and lawyers should be made to carry a 150lb sack of manure at all times – just to remind them that they are supposed to serve us and not the other way around.

The reception at Cluses for the JPP was basic and dull. Not much imagination there and very little commercial presence. It’s a case of collecting the dossard (number/bib), electronic timing chip and shirt and getting out of there. I didn’t want to leave my car in the neighbourhood close to the race start due to it being in the vicinity of a very dodgy looking council estate.  We drove to the main town to a large floodlit public car park. Rather than waste time in this unattractive town we loaded my gear into Paul’s car and headed straight off to Chamonix 41km away, leaving my car there for the night. Paul’s chalet has great views over Mont Blanc…

Our pre-race evening meal was a very large portion of Paul’s favourite chicken curry and rice – which left me feeling bloated but satisfied. I don’t know how he can eat those portions and yet remain relatively skinny! Up at 6am next morning I had porridge with banana and a coffee. I’d later on stuff my pockets with almond bars for the ride and fill the bidons (water bottles) with the relatively toxic but effective Decathlon Iso+ isotonic sports drink. I thought that we would have plenty of extra time in the morning but we we actually  timed things quite neatly. The cafe I’d expected to be open at Cluses appears to have closed as it wasn’t open at all on the race day – but we found another close to the car park and the town centre. Paul didn’t need a ritual pre-race coffee or bowel movement so while he waited outside I went in to the empty cafe, wearing my Macot La Plagne jersey. I ordered an expresso and asked for the toilet. Surprisingly, considering the cafe was empty, the toilet was occupied and so I waited in the cafe and then out of the loo popped John Thomas also in his Macot La Plagne jersey! I laughed and said that it might confuse Paul when he walks out of the place! John had cycled miles from the race start to find this place because the queue for the toilet there was impossible. Looks like we had made the better choice for our parking. Many people would have parked at the race finish location, Les Carroz ski station at altitude for the finish – but this would mean an early morning descent in the cold. Everything considered it’s probably better to have a cold descent after the race – which is what happened today – not forgetting that this descent consumes another half an hour which is more easily available after the race is over.

At the race start I met John again, his wife Carolyn and Martin Rowe – who just started racing this year and was going on the short course. All are now members of ASC Macot la Plagne. John and Caroline were on the middle course as I was (110km 2160m climbing) and Paul had signed up for the long course (130km 2960m climbing). This is the first race I’ve come across where they have given different coloured bibs/numbers to each of the courses and separated the starts accordingly. I very much approve of this because it’s great to be able to recognise which course people are on so that you can work out tactics better during the race. John explained to me how he was stressed because it had been a busy week and they had arrived later than they were used to. During the week he’d climbed 17,500m leading a group of holiday cyclists – so he had no idea how his race would go – although he’d positioned his bike right in front for a good start. Carolyn had managed over 3000km this season so far but still felt very nervous before the start and her stomach was in knots. My plan was to nasal breathe the entire course and not have my effort load dictated by the race. I felt relaxed and was looking forward to the race and getting rid of the stress of the previous few days – including the idiot drivers and tyrannical driving rules.

The Race

With a few hundred people in front it was a bit slow getting over the start line and I’d started my clock prior to the electronic sensor because of not being sure that there would be one (There wasn’t at La Grande Bo’). When we filed out onto the main road the front peloton seemed to already be disappearing into the distance. In that instant all plans went straight out of the window and I stepped on the gas. The long line of riders would soon begin to break up into groups at different speeds with gaps that would be almost impossible to bridge. The first 20km was a section where a fast peloton would really help so it would be a mistake to just let it go at this point. There were some short climbs but it was important to hang in with the peloton because they were minor climbs. Just when the gaps were starting to appear in front of me one cyclist from the “CC Pringy” club went past at a speed that I could hang on to and still maintain the nasal breathing. CC Pringy was strong and he was on a mission to close the gap completely to the lead peloton. Catching the peloton we just melted into it. The chase was eased by road junctions and sharp bends that slow the peloton down. It’s on long straight sections that the peloton is a real nightmare to catch.

(The route on the official document here is incorrect because after the “Col de Châtillon” we have to go through the town and cross over the route taken at the start.)

Côte d’Hyot

The front of the peloton disappeared definitively from view during the climb up the Côte d’Hyot – which is precisely what was expected. I’m clearly still overweight for holding a high pace on sustained climbs. I can power over hills anaerobically – and pay the price - but can’t shift my bodyweight uphill fast aerobically. Surprisingly I was able to maintain the nasal breathing for 2 hrs 15 minutes – over all the early climbing -  before having to give up on it. It has finally dawned on me that nasal breathing doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing” affair. If the first part of the course can use nasal breathing then this will keep lactic acid levels in check for finishing strongly at the end. This might not be ideal for the best post race recovery but it’s better than nothing. Once you stop nasal breathing it’s almost impossible to switch back so it has to be done from the very start of the race. Counter to this there might also be some benefit in building up lactic acid because the body might adapt better over time to using it as fuel and learn to tolerate it better. The main thing however  is to get to the end of the race strongly and able to attack instead of fading away and plodding while suffering. On the Côte d’Hyot I was passed by CC Pringy again not even having realised that I’d edged ahead of him while tucked into the peloton.

Plaine Joux

The Plaine Joux is a proper climb and so I opted to reduce speed and conserve energy. My audio feedback was confirming each kilometre at around 5’15” during the climb so that was still pretty encouraging as this is a good climbing pace for me on a long event. It was important to be able to focus on form and technique rather than be completely distracted by “competition”. It takes an effort to re-centre your focus internally. Nasal/abdominal breathing certainly helps with this – resembling the way it works in meditation. The weather had turned bad and it was raining properly during this climb, but that was more refreshing than anything else. I didn’t bother with a jacket because it would get even wetter and colder from the inside due to sweat. The rain wasn’t so cold at this altitude that it posed a problem. This was the first time during the day that people started to overtake me. At the summit there was no need to stop at the refreshment stand because I had plenty of almond bars and water left. It was clear the descent would be tricky and dangerous with the wet roads. Everyone was descending slowly – just like the drivers at Mégève who were driving me nuts the day before. I decided to use cornering technique that I’d been working on – leaning the body way over into the turn and keeping the bike upright. This allowed me to overtake just about everybody who had previously overtaken me on the climb, but without expending any energy – and without feeling like any risks were being taken. The technique really does appear to work – though it could be a combination of imagination and a bit of luck! (at not falling) At the bottom of the descent I unexpectedly caught up with CC Pringy. The following 10km before the descent into Mieussy would be hilly terrain and small pelotons were forming and splitting up all the time. At one point just after a sharp climb a cheerful character passed me – the only person I spoke to throughout the entire race and he went storming off ahead as we arrived at another descent. Coming around the next bend I found him lying across the road with his bike on top of him. Yes! The road was still soaking wet and very slippery. He replied to my call that he was OK so there was no need to stop. Another strong descent to the plateau before Mieussy and right in front of me was CC Pringy and one other very strong rider. I sprinted to catch up with them before they organised themselves to work together to deal with the headwind. The flats would be about 35km long and it would be a seriously bad place to become isolated. There was always an option to just back off and wait for others to catch up but when there are a couple of guys right in front it’s clear what you have to do.

The Plateau

After catching the others I rested behind them for about 7 minutes to recover from the previous climbing and the chase. Eventually it became impossible to continue to shirk my duty to go to the front and do some work – though I had no desire whatsoever to do so. Going to the front was slightly daunting because we were averaging about 40 km/hr into a wind and with slight gradients. The first thing I had to do was abandon any hope of continued nasal breathing. From this point onwards the race changed and it was no longer possible to either hide anonymously in a large peloton or ride my own race on the hills. It was now a proper road race where the boundaries between cooperation and competition become blurred. While I was worried about the legs getting worn out on the long plateaux there was a great advantage in the time gained through cooperation and perhaps with a bit of luck the legs would still work at the end of it – keeping in mind the final 10km climb up to Les Carroz ski station. To be honest I really didn’t hold much hope that things would work out positively, but I’d have been ashamed not to contribute – especially with ASC Macot La Plagne plastered all over my clothing. This was all really hard work. Not a single word was exchanged between us but the rotation was automatic – as soon as the front man started to slow with any tiredness the next one would take over and maintain the pace. We must have battled on for about 30 minutes like this before collecting some strong riders ahead of us who were willing to muck in (a little) and keep up the pace. At one point we had collected half a dozen others for a short stretch but I still found myself going to the front to help to keep the pace up. The enlarged peloton blew apart at the next refreshment stand and once again I had no need to stop. After about a kilometre on my own out in front I was reunited with my two companions again and just one or two of the others. The small peloton started to slowly grow again  - to about a dozen - as we advanced relentlessly – until arriving at the last climb before Cluses – the Col de Châtillon.

Col de Châtillon

There was a short descent just before the climb to the Col de Châtillon and goodness only knows what was going through my head because I just kept the power on from the bottom and powered up the start of the climb almost sprinting in a big gear leaving the whole peloton behind. While doing this there was a voice in my head saying “What are you dong? You are going to look really stupid in a few minutes time when they all pass you because your legs have dropped off!” Amazingly that never happened and the big chainring was used all the way up the climb with the lowest speed recorded at 17 km/hr.  Some of the guys chased me and it must have torn the peloton apart. This really did feel like racing for a change. On the descent to Cluses three of the group manage to catch up – including CC Pringy - and also the leaders of the long course went tearing past. Actually a couple of the long course front runners  had passed on the Châtillon climb beforehand. It was great to see how fast those guys are and to be able to clearly recognise them from their bib/number colour. All of the routes had come together for the final 35km or so.

Cluses

There was now a circuit of Cluses to make and a plateau before the climb to the finish at Les Carroz. At the bottom of the descent I got in behind one of the members of the old peloton – wearing red shorts - and we worked together to catch others ahead. All of those guys appeared to be stronger than me and I felt that they were the real cyclists there. It had been strange that I‘d dropped them all on that climb though. CC Pringy had dropped behind again on the descent. Clearing Cluses CC Pringy was back alongside with another guy in black clothing and Red Shorts disappeared behind this time. Our other original companion from the whole long plateau never showed up again after the Châtillon climb. Exiting Cluses we had formed another group but CC Pringy and Black pulled ahead so I went after them and left some younger guys behind that we had recently caught up with. Once again the final plateau was done in a rotating group of three.

Les Carroz

The roundabout at the bottom of the Les Carroz climb was a very welcome sight and I knew it was important to ease off and ride at my own pace on the climb. Someone was standing there holding out small bottles of still water so I grabbed one without slowing down – which was perfect for washing down a recently eaten almond bar and conserving the remains of the contents of a water bottle for the climb. Black and CC Pringy pulled ahead, with Black clearly the strongest. Despite just holding my own pace CC Pringy didn’t manage to pull more than 50m ahead when the gap stabilised. We were overtaking lots of people from both the short and medium courses and the only ones overtaking us were the strongest participants from the long course coming through. We might have been going twice as fast as the ones we were overtaking but the guys overtaking us were twice as fast as us. With about 7km to go and some of the steepest climbing behind us the gaps were about the same: CC Pringy about 50 m ahead and Black about 150m. At this point I had another ridiculous flash of unwanted inspiration and accelerated again. With 7km to go it’s quite scary committing to this level of output but somehow my instinct was correct and I was able to sustain it all the way. With this acceleration I at last connected with my core muscles and could feel the power coming from the glutes and passing through my centre. Watching the others the tiredness and instability in the legs was becoming clearly visible. For me there was a clear switch to using core power instead of smaller leg muscles and that’s how I managed to generate a higher pace and sustain it for the rest of the climb. CC Pringy was quickly swallowed up and within a couple of minutes so was Black. The two younger guys had caught and overtaken us lower down the mountain and before long one of them was reeled in again and left behind. Occasionally there would be a warning spasm from a calf muscle and I’d have to remember to focus on form and keep the ankling working so that the calf muscles would work through a full range of motion with correct coordination. There were loads of people plodding up the hill so it was now a case of reeling in as many as possible before the finish. Even at the finish I saw one guy from the 110 km course about 50m ahead but struggling so I swallowed him up decisively in a sprint for the line. None of this was easy – it was all incredibly hard – but it felt strangely good.

After race

My legs HURT after the race and after drinking and eating a little it was a simple case of waiting for the pain to fade away over the following half an hour. Recovery was all very well but it was getting cold because it was still raining so the best thing was to move on. I put my rain jacket on and headed down the mountain shivering because I didn’t want to wait for the “pasta party” and have an even colder descent later on. The first 5km of descent was unpleasant due to the body having cooled but then the air warmed up progressively with the drop in altitude. It was great to get back to the car in Cluses and changed into dry warm clothing. Any thought of staying there was dismissed as the rain began to pour down heavily and I had no waterproof clothing for walking around town. During the descent I spotted Paul climbing on his way to the finish of the long course. He was recognisable mainly through his high “Lance Armstrong” style cadence and was clearly having a good end to his race. Further up the hill I’d spotted Carolyn on her way to the end – but the rain jacket kept me incognito and I didn’t shout anything so as to avoid disrupting the concentration of the others. I was listening to music during the descent to help distract from the shivering and cold.

Endomondo was behaving strangely with the heart rate monitor signal dropping out prior to the race and I should have paid more attention to that because after half an hour I lost the signal. Everything else was recorded but it’s always very useful to have this data. I felt very tired after the race and could feel the lactic acid “headache” coming on. It wasn’t really a headache but  more like a fuzziness and tiredness. Even driving home was slightly difficult due to the tiredness. Next day the fuzziness was still strong until after midday – but that is acceptable compared to the Time Mégève escapade where it took three days to clear!

Results

My result (110 km) 102nd out of 328 in 4:15:49 25.80 km/hr 20th in category out of 74

Paul        (130 km)    91st out of 245 in 5:04:33 25.61 km/hr 16th in category out of 52

John Thomas (110 km) came an amazing 11th overall and 2nd in his category despite his 17,500m climbing during the week beforehand. That kind of makes a mockery of any training plan I’ve ever heard of. 3:37:53  30.29 km/hr

Carolyn Thomas (110 km) came 4th in her category in 4:48:32

Martin Rowe (90 km) 168th out of 416 in 3:33:32  25.29 km/hr 19th in category out of 83

“CC Pringy” no 575 came in only 1’20” and two places behind me so he must have finished strongly too.

Conclusion

I’m extremely pleased with my result because only two weeks ago I wouldn’t have hoped for anything so positive. The Etape du Tour next week will be a completely different story due to the prolonged steep climbing – which is where my power to weight ratio seems to become a real issue. Lose about 10kg and I’d be laughing – but that’s not going to happen and I’m not sure I ever want to be that skinny. The plan for the Etape will be disciplined nasal breathing until the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer  - no matter how much time that appears to lose me – and then a free-for-all approach until the end – hopefully storming up to La Toussuire overtaking the 1000 or so who overtook me at the start!

Wildwater Canoe World Championships–Aime La Plagne, 2012

 

Route for the Etape du Tour

Col de la Croix de Fer

Despite having only two days rest from the Grand Bo’ it was time to get back out for another monster training session. There wasn’t much choice regarding timing because there is another race on Sunday and leaving it any later wouldn’t give enough time to recover for the race. This was intended to be the final really big session in preparation for the Etape and because the weather was good I decided to drive to the Maurienne and complete the final section of the Etape route that I’d been forced off by a storm previously. The boiling hot weather would also be a good test to see how I’d cope with that and whether any change in strategy would be necessary.

The climbs are hard and relentless – with extensive steep sections. There is nothing easy about this route and I’m sure it will be a very nasty surprise for many participants on the Etape. Nothing prepares you for this because it’s just an unreasonable amount of climbing. This brought my own climbing total  over only two rides to over 7000 vertical metres. The surprise for me however was that my legs were OK! I was tired but functional the whole way – keeping my heart rate in the 150s for all the climbing. I can only attribute that to the use of nasal breathing – which once again I held to strictly for over 4 hours before struggling with it.

Normally after a hard race I’m completely unable to work hard physically for about 4 days – and even then wouldn’t think of tackling something too extensive. It appears to me that the problem has been due to serious metabolite build up (lactic acid plus everything that comes with it). Those metabolites seem to have been disrupting my training and also having a big impact on my morale. I didn’t expect to be able to really tackle such a serious workout as today so soon after a very big race – but the shift to nasal breathing and pace control really seems to have straightened things out. I was tired and perhaps less motivated than I’d have preferred – but the body was basically fine and the ascent of the Croix de Fer was 10 minutes faster than the previous time when I was fresh! I’m starting to understand how people can build up some serious fitness.

This was the first time ever that I’d entered a planned route into Endomondo on my telephone and used it for navigation. It worked perfectly! One single device for sportstracking, navigation, music and photographs – without any hiccups! Pretty stunning really.

The final climb up to La Toussuire is long – between 17km to 18km – and very steep at the start. This will destroy a lot of participants on the actual Etape du Tour. Many of those who push hard at the start of the day simply won’t finish. In the bar at the finish line in Toussuire the owner told me that there are people climbing every day to learn the route and he is glad of it for the business. His little terrier dog was busy chasing lizards and it was really funny until he switched his attention to chasing me! 

On the way home I stopped for a drink and so it was dark for driving the rest of the way. Several kilometres from Aime the road dips down towards the river Isère on a high speed dual carriage way and in my headlights at the side of the road I saw three boys in swimming trunks waving a paddle! This is relly the middle of nowhere on a fast road and I couldn’t stop in time. Knowing the area I pulled off the road further along and went back through the village and uner the dual carriage way to get back onto it and pull over beside them. They had been standing there for an hour in the dark in only their bathing costumes and nobody had stopped for them! I’d been worried in case they had other problems in addition but all was OK. They are here for the World Champion kayak descent competition this week at Aime. I knew there were teams from all over the world here (some with only one member!). It’s just shocking that nobody stopped to help them.

  

Now for photos with a REAL camera and not a telephone…

La Grande Bo’

Billed as 3700m climbing over 135km on the long course it was with a sense of intrepidation that I went to Le Grand Bornand. The Time Mégève event two weeks earlier demonstrated that my fitness level was no where near high enough and that event had finished by being seriously demoralising – yet this one would be much more difficult. There was however a sense of obligation to do the long course because of the need to prepare for the Etape du Tour on July 8th which has almost 5000m climbing. I had considered pulling out of the Etape due to poor preparation (one vital month lost in Scotland) so this race would really determine whether or not to proceed: Another disaster and I’d have to choose to back off and focus on other more manageable tasks while building up fitness.

So how did it go? Well, I don’t think that I’ve ever participated in any event where it went so perfectly to plan – from start to finish! It was great; enjoyable, exhilarating, challenging, extremely hard and yet a lot of fun.

463 people took part in the event and this was spread over three separate courses. Small events like this are not for the faint hearted – they generally attract only hard-core racers, especially where a lot of climbing is involved. My goal was to race my own race and to avoid being dictated to by the event and other participants – but there was a real problem with this strategy. They had introduced a cut-off time for allowing people onto the long course and those who didn’t make it would be streamed onto the middle course. The cut-off was at 90km and this was after two major climbs – the Col de Mont Saxonnex being particularly steep and brutal – and the time limit was only 4 hours. I had a plan but didn’t know if I would be able to stick to it or not.

Preparation

This was the first time I’d tried sleeping in the estate car prior to an event. Basically I don’t like hotels and camping is a real fuss so the simplicity of just sleeping in the car appeals to me. I have a brilliantly compact and comfortable “Mammut” high quality inflatable mattress and the back of the car is long and spacious. The spot I’d chosen was very quiet and had a great view over the town but was only 200m walk from the centre. French towns like this really do want to attract tourists so the public conveniences in the centre of town were spotless and almost as good as in a hotel. There was a great open air swimming pool just below where I’d parked so that would be a definite destination after the race. There was even a small wall just behind the car so there was privacy as well. The bike frame and wheels spent the night in the front seat area – covered over – and I slept well, having avoided the big car parks that would be bustling as early as 6am with people arriving. I’d decided to simply make my own coffee and porridge in the morning, get everything ready with the bike progressively so there would be time to notice anything missing and use the public toilets last thing before going to the race start. Everything went perfectly. I even managed to get the bike vertically into the small toilet room! (not taking any risks!) – and the sun was on us by 7:45am as I arrived for the 7:55am “pre” start. This year I had bought a KMC chain that can be very easily removed and then cleaned properly in petrol. This meant there was no oil on the chain and moving the bike around in the car had been really easy when making space to sleep. The last thing I’d done prior to leaving the car for the race was to apply “ceramic wet” oil to the chain.

For physical preparation I’d done a really hard 90 minute session early in the previous week and then observed that in the following days I couldn’t find enough power to raise my heart rate. This was more or less anticipated so the day before the race I just rested and was expecting to be back to full power by the day of the race. This was correct. It doesn’t appear to matter whether an intense workout is 90 minutes or part of a 4 hour race – that intensity takes the same recovery time. This confirms that I need to do more high intensity work to raise my body’s tolerance. Last year I proved to myself that long rides at lower intensity do practically nothing for my fitness and just wear down the morale.

The Race

The start was behind the big “Maison des Sports” near the ice rink, across the river from the town. The finish would be there too. It was a relaxed start because the official start would be around 5 minutes later in the town itself. I placed myself near the back, thinking that with less that 500 people it would still be quite a tight start – but that was wrong! The start was like a city traffic jam with an accordion effect and everyone spread out over a long stretch. This isn’t really cool because there was no electronic start measurement. They appear to have given everyone the same start time. I started my own timer when I went past the town centre because there was nothing to indicate the “real start”. Sloppy stuff! However, this is my only gripe of the whole day and it’s pretty insignificant – the rest of it was great and I’ve nothing but praise for the organisation – it was excellent.

The advantage of starting near the back is that you then have the morale booster of overtaking others instead of the inverse. A major part of my plan for the day was to try to race while only breathing through the nose. This was particularly important at the start because it was straight into a climb up the Col de la Croix Fry and there was serious risk of red-lining all the way up the climb which would be a cast iron guarantee of a nightmare finish several hours later. What I didn’t know was whether or not I could sustain a competitive pace while nasal breathing. The phenomenal thing about nasal breathing is that you can feel how it forces you to breathe abdominally and therefore much more efficiently. My goal was to stay aerobic, maximise efficiency and to avoid going anaerobic and building up metabolites. I could perhaps afford to go anaerobic towards the end but not at the start.

The other concern was that my bum bones had been sore since the Time Mégève and my saddle is really hard so I was hoping that for this marathon event things had settled down a bit. I could have used a softer version of the same saddle which was at home – but as with the other training effects I was counting on the body adapting in time for this event. At worst there was only mild discomfort constantly through the race.

My water bottles had Isotonic, high carb mixtures – one lime and the other orange and in the right rear pocket there was the entire contents of a box of almond bars with added vitamins and minerals to aid digestion. This is about the only thing I’ve found edible when exercising – and I just hate the sticky mess that gels create when you replace the opened packet or tube back in your pocket. I also had four packets of electrolyte high carb powder (one with added protein) to add to water refills because I know now that drinking plain water is a disaster for the stomach and causes bloating – not just for me but for anyone.  I aimed to eat an almond bar after each climb so as to get the blood sugar back up during the descent and ready for the next challenge. It would be generally a hot sunny day so disciplined drinking would be necessary too and it was not a day to wait until thirst set in. Another advantage of nasal breathing is that is seriously reduces dehydration and I could really feel this advantage during the first 4 hours.

Le Col de la Croix Fry

Climbing the Col de la Croix Fry my heart rate was steady at around 158 bpm. I hadn’t been sure that I could maintain even this level while nasal breathing but it presented no problem. If I’d been breathing through the mouth I’d have let the heart rate climb to near 170 bpm for the whole climb so this was definitely a success for disciplining the effort levels. Most surprising was that I had the fitness to hold my own with those around me on the climb despite remaining in the aerobic performance zone the whole way. I’d been worried about just getting dumped and having to abandon the nasal breathing quite rapidly. Graeme Obree recently published his “training manual” outlining his personal approach to his world records and hour record. Although this was in the nineties and he was largely working things out for himself I was amazed to discover that he had incorporated nasal breathing. His own breathing technique involved inhaling by the nose with the nostrils flared and simultaneously through the mouth but with the tongue pressed up against the palate to force the air to be warmed before going into the lungs. He then did one big abdominal breath, followed by a half breath then a quarter breath – in a repetitive cycle. From studying Buteyko research it appears that exhaling through the nose is also important – the nose being the “breathing organ” – and perhaps the restriction on air intake imposed by pure nasal breathing achieves the same thing as the half and quarter breath. In any case I know that increasing air intake is not the answer – the fastest and surest way to run into oxygen debt and physical trouble is to over-breathe.

Going over the first col I felt really good and went into a fast descent. Descending on a bike is very much like skiing and I enjoy playing with the choice of line and focusing on technique. Currently I’m finding that security is best on longish very high speed turns if the body is shifted to the inside of the turn, but on fast very tight bends the bike has to be inclined into the turn with the body on the outside and all the weight on the outside pedal. Different techniques for different turns – very much like skiing. Generally I find that when the descents get really twisty I catch up rapidly with people in front. I don’t pedal too hard on the straighter sections and just try to streamline the body because I know that I’ll catch people on the bends. Elliptical pedalling technique really helps however when pedalling with the upperbody flattened and low – because it stops the knees from coming up so high – the difference being very obvious. Today my timing worked out really well and when the plateau arrived at the bottom of the descent I landed right in the middle of a fast moving group. This timing was critical because at this point we were close to Annecy and there was a very long and undulating hike around the base of the mountains into the Chamonix valley. Being isolated on this section would be a disaster – especially with a really tight cut-off time at midday precisely at 90km. The challenge now was to stay with this peloton and continue the nasal breathing. We were going fast so absolutely no one was speaking and this is important when nasal breathing. You have to breath through the mouth when talking so I was happy with the silence. One earphone was plugged into my left ear for audio feedback from my telephone/sports tracking device. The great thing about this is that each kilometre I’d automatically hear data about distance, speed, heart rate – without having to look at or touch anything. This also saves battery power on the telephone as the screen doesn’t need to light up. My battery is a year old now so making it last a long race is getting harder. I have a new really heavy duty battery on order but it hasn’t arrived yet. Near the start of the plateau we went past an isolated girl (Sian Mcloughlin No 259) who was moving quite slowly but she responded wisely and latched onto the train. I had no intention of working at the front and there was no pressure to do so – the peloton didn’t become seriously structured due to the undulating terrain so there was no problem. Carrying good speed the peloton grew as we picked up other isolated individuals along the way. The end of the main plateau is very clear because it is when you suddenly arrive at a steep short climb where you are forced to drop down 19 gears from top gear to bottom gear. I’d managed to maintain the nasal breathing the whole time despite being stretched to the limit at points keeping up with the group. It would have been easy to stay with them by allowing myself to breathe through the mouth, but I’d have probably gone anaerobic. It was a real challenge tokeep the breathing disciplined and stay with the group. Something else however would interfere. Changing gear at the top of the climb back onto the large chainring I managed to drop the chain. This is a problem with managing the Osymetric chainring and I’m still learning how to avoid this. I should have just stopped on the descent there and then but sometimes when you turn the cranks the chain can flip back on so I tried that, but at the start of the next climb I had to get off and sort out the chain. Bye Bye peloton! The real plateau was over now anyway so I wasn’t too concerned.

Le Col d’Evires

We had reached the start of the climb up to the Col d’ Evires. One other member of the old peloton had somehow been held up with a similar problem because although he was stronger than the others he had somehow managed to get behind and I was surprised when he appeared from behind. I held onto his wheel for a while but felt it was pushing me more than I wanted so I let him go. Eventually I spotted Sian ahead on her own and having been dropped by the others she had slowed down a lot. Surprisingly she managed to catch on to me as I overtook and despite climbing at a good pace she managed to hang on. When we arrived a the final part of the climb up to the col I decided to be social – nobody had spoken a work to anyone so far today – and removed my earphone so as to hear clearly. We started talking in French only to realise that we were both British – then it turned out that she lives in Tessans – the village 4km up the road from my home and which I pass every time I ride up to Granier. Small world! Unfortunately she was starting to run pout of steam at this point and so I left her before the end of the climb. I had sacrificed a period of nasal breathing but was more than happy to be social instead. There was a refreshment stand at the top and would be her only one as she would soon bifurcate onto the short course missing out the three big cols ahead  - but I didn’t need to stop yet as I still had plenty of water and almond bars. I also knew there were two more refreshment stops – one at the top of each of the next two cols – or just one if I didn’t make it to the next bifurcation in time. To be honest I didn’t have much hope of getting there in time, but pushed on hard just with the hope that it was still possible. Sian continued on the short course and came 1st in her category and 3rd female overall.

Le Col de Mont Saxxonex

Arriving at the first bifurcation it was an easy decision to head off in the direction of the medium and long courses, except that there was only one other rider in sight. Number “3” had eased off to eat a little and was probably also affected by finding himself totally isolated. I overtook him and soon realised that he’d hitched a lift. When people do that you can be sure that they are even more tired than you are. He stayed behind me over the entire plateau. When we got to the climb up to Mont Saxonnex I heard my back brake rubbing against the wheel rim. The wheel must have pulled over slightly and there was no way I wanted to start the next climb with brakes rubbing so I had to pull over and dismount to straighten the wheel. To my surprise I had a peloton of about half a dozen attached to me and had to watch them all disappear as they attacked the climb ahead of me. The climb was vicious – very steep and relentless. I managed to retain the nasal breathing and very slowly but surely started to reel in the guys ahead. By the top of the climb I was gaining in strength and some of the others were clearly waning – including number 3 – so I overtook them quite strongly. Unfortunately at this point the nasal breathing was starting to become difficult to maintain and on the last part of the climb I reverted to mouth breathing. Once over the col I was able to recover the nasal breathing. It’s actually really hard to get back to nasal breathing once you stop. There was now only a descent between me and the final bifurcation and I knew it was very close to the cut-off time but I didn’t even look at the time and just pressed on instead. Arriving at the bifurcation it was still clearly open and it was exhilarating to arrive there in time. I was really happy to make it but at the same time realised that by taking the long route it was like opening the gates of hell. Checking my clock I had made it with only 4 minutes to spare – which meant that I might even be the last one through and so would be in a classic battle to avoid last place. I love those battles – they are every bit as stimulating as trying to win something. The next plateau was a solo time trial with no one at all in sight either ahead or behind. I’d already switched my music on because I knew that I was working on my own now – which always happens when there is such a small field. Music helps to combat pain and isolation.

Le Col de Romme

The next climb would be to Le Col de Romme. If I had any illusions that is would be easier than the Saxonnex they were immediately shattered. At the end of the plateau, straight ahead, the road bent straight up like a vertical wall. I actually burst out laughing when I saw it. My expectations were not deceived. About ten strokes of the pedals into the climb and I had to dismount the bike with my entire left leg going into severe spasm with cramp. The spasm was centred more to the inside of the upper leg – which is amazing because it wasn’t the small quads above the knee which are normally hit by this sort of thing. I’d focussed on pedalling technique the entire way and so was using the bigger muscles further up the leg and the good alignment was soliciting the muscles on the inside of the leg. This is great because those muscles are so important is skiing so it’s great that they are being used properly in cycling – but even those big muscles have their limits. I probably only spent between about 1 and 2 minutes getting through the spasm and then set off again. Standing up on the pedals and getting the body forwards allowed me to use the hip extensors (glutes) and relax the thighs to give the spasms a proper chance to fade away. The right leg also had some minor spasm but didn’t completely lock up as the left leg had done. The legs recovered rapidly but when seated I focussed on pulling instead of pushing for a while just to change the muscle use. Once the climbing was established the legs went back to normal and this didn’t happen again. Looking behind I could see what looked like the red top of number 3 again – so I knew that currently I wasn’t last and that he was definitely flagging. The cramp attack had affected my confidence but soon I was back up to speed. One achievement of the day was that even with stops like this and two stops to fill water bottles there was never a kilometre that went up to 8 minutes. The slowest kilometre was on a really steep section where it went up to 7’50”. When it starts to go over 8 minutes then the game is pretty much over. The climb was very hard both physically and mentally. Adding to the challenge were the rough road surface, a strong headwind from the West, searing heat when sheltered and the relentless steepness of the glaciated valley wall. Knowing there was someone behind pushed me on, then as the valley opened up near the top I glimpsed the white top of another rider perhaps a kilometre ahead. There had been moments when I’d even wondered if I was lost because there were no road markers or any trace of a race. At the top of this col was the first electronic control point I’d seen all day. There must have been one on each individual course. Shortly after the control point there was the final refreshment stand. There were four other riders lingering there so I did a Formula One move to overtake them in the pits. My last powder went into another water refill (previously refilled both tanks at Mont Saxonnex) – but I spent only a minute on the refills. Two of the riders set off before me and being rested they were able to attack the descent better and leave me behind. This meant that I now had at least three people firmly tucked behind me and the buffer between me and the Voiture Ballai (Sweeper up van) was growing.  The last official  transport I’d seen was before the final bifurcation when an ambulance overtook on the Mont Saxonnex and gave me the thumbs up signal to check if everything was OK.

Le Col de La Columbière

Joining the Col de la Columbière was a bit of a relief. Not only was this the final climb but being a main road the running surface was smooth and it was relatively sheltered from the West wind. At this point I found that I wasn’t strong enough to use the second gear properly and had to use first gear – which was a bit frustrating. The jump from a 25T to a 28T sprocket was just a bit too much. I’d have liked a gear between the two so as to avoid losing too much speed. Ultimately I had to use to lower gear because for some time now it had become impossible to coordinate the nasal breathing and it was becoming a fight for survival. I focussed of pedalling technique – to optimise the mechanics and keep a good rhythm. When I could manage some nasal breathing I’d do it for a while. It feels good to get the air deep down into the lungs like this – but it’s a learned discipline that’s easy to forget under stress. I knew that the last several kilometres of the Columbière were steep and hard and so I needed to conserve some energy for that without losing time. Shortly after the start of the climb the two who had set off before me from the previous refreshment point were located standing at the roadside in the shade of some trees. I’ve no idea what they were doing – whether it was a technical issue or physical – but it felt good adding them to my buffer zone!  The steep section soon loomed up in front and now I could start to put some power into using the first gear. My heart rate climbed back up to 155bpm and with it being the final climb there was no worry about breathing and metabolites. Around practically every bend I was surprised to come across another cyclist almost falling off his bike! The Columbière was destroying them. In contrast my strategy had paid off and I was able to work harder, picking them off one by one, the last one being only a few hundred metres from the summit. I wasn’t sure how many had done the long course because the middle course also went over this col – but one I spoke to afterwards had come over the Col de Romme and the Columbière had finished him off. This meant that my buffer zone was a least 6 deep and I hadn’t even seen the highly anticipated Voiture Balai.

The Finish

Descending was predictably tentative at the start after such an effort but there was still 13km to go to the finish and although I’d accelerated past the others at the summit I knew there would soon be a challenge. It took about half the descent to fully recover and then I spotted one of the guys closing in on me. About the same time my telephone battery started to warn me that it was running out. The pressure was now on to get as fast as possible to the finish. I felt good now so flattened my body and used elliptical pedalling to accelerate on the straights. Although my head was slightly fuzzy from lactic acid I was still properly lucid and able to apply good cornering technique and tactics. The finish at Le Grand Bornand is slightly confusing because they direct you with arrows back out on the route that you started off on in the morning. This is slightly disconcerting because you worry in case you missed something and are now starting the entire thing all over again! In addition it leaves you with a 1.7km climb back to the finish line. My legs were good after the descent and I attacked the final stretch all the way, finishing 30 seconds ahead of the guy chasing me.

Results

No surprises here – especially given my fitness. I was just amazed at being able to enjoy the entire thing and finishing strongly after 6hrs 34 mins (official time). I fact I don’t think I’ve ever finished any race of any length feeling so good. There are some very important lessons in this exercise today. My placing was 158th out of 169 finishers - with the last being over 1hr 15mins behind. Remember there was a severe cut off time and not many would have made it after me onto the course. In age category I was 28th out of 31 – which shows that fitness is the main limiting factor – not age. I also think that some cheated at the end and cut out the loop around the town - so three people got ahead of me at the end who should have been behind - though they could easily have done this by mistake. Very annoying when you are already so far down the results table! The overall winner was from my ASC Macot La Plagne club - 2hrs 18mins ahead of me!!!!!!! - and the kid who won the short course averaged an unbelievable 38.26 km/hr.

I hope that ASC Macot La Plagne are pleased to know that they were represented at both ends of the results table.

Aprés Race

I was in time to change clothing, pack the bike safely in the car and get to lunch prior to the prize giving. The lunch was excellent quality with plenty of protein – but I couldn’t eat much. My stomach had been hurting along with everything else on the final climb. Leaving the sports hall I was clearly too tired to drive and felt like doing nothing. Instead I collected my swimming gear and headed off to the pool. It was fantastic to get into the water and be weightless! After drying myself I laid out on a towel in the sun and closed my eyes to rest properly. This rest and the small amount of food ingested earlier did their trick and I recovered very well. Leaving the pool Chris Harrop called to find out how it had gone and I was in good spirits to tell him about it. He had covered about 3000m climbing over the final section of the Etape route the day before and concluded the same as me that the Col du Glandon will destroy people. After another coffee stop I headed off home feeling relaxed and refreshed. My legs were very tired and I could feel them during the night but nothing severe. It’s ultra clear to me now that strategy and skill are everything in long races and they must be adapted to suit fitness levels. You don’t have to be ultra fit to make it work and still really enjoy it.

Le Grand Bornand (prelude)

I'm at Le Grand Bornand ready for the race tomorrow (Sunday) morning. It's going to be hard! It finishes with the Col de la Columbière - 3500m climbing over 148km. I'll try not to bail out on a shorter course! There's only between 300 and 400 participating over three courses - so I have a good chance of being last on the big course. It's one of those races that only attracts nutters so if I ride slowly then I'm on my own! If I ride fast I'll explode and still be on my own. I'm taking my earphones to listen to music - nature's pain killer!

    

I will be wearing  “Macot La Plagne” colours tomorrow like the guy on the front left  - but won’t be quite so skinny or fast.

http://www.legrandbornand.com/fiche-presentation_agenda-193-FR-Y-74GBACT100065_struct-74GBEVE100013-EVENEMENTS-22.html

I'm going to sleep in the car tonight. Have located the public toilets so don't have to use a potty! There's a boulangerie open from 7 am so I can have an extra coffee. I'm planning on cooking porridge in the morning but might just go for a pain au raisin instead - a bit like someone going to an execution would choose his favourite "last meal". 

Went out on my bike yesterday and still had nothing in my legs after Wednesday's powerful workout. It seems to be the anaerobic excesses that knock me out for days - not the basic endurance workouts. I've done both my rides since Wednesday with nasal breathing so as to avoid metabolites and help with recovery. I think I'll be okay for tomorrow morning. I'd like to use nasal breathing in the race but I'm concerned that I'll find myself left at the starting gate if I do that. Either way I'm doomed before the end of it! 

I've been using the tiny Zefal "Air Control" CO2 valves for some time now and already lost two of them on the road due to not having them properly secured. Last time I bought two - one as a spare and the other kept on the bike on a CO2 bottle. Today I realised that I've lost the spare despite never having used it! These things are eminently loseable! I had to pop into a bike shop and buy another - this time one with the tiny red plastic collar that keeps the bottle from being punctured. I'd not have bothered but I was suspicious that I might have broken off the internal piercing mechanism in the one on the bike and needed another to look at to verify this (it was fine). Stopping for fuel and organic bananas plus an Air Control valve left me with a race to get to Le Grand Bornand with 10 minutes to spare to collect my dossard - meaning I don't have to get up so early in the morning and do it then. This is a really nice place here - already busy with holiday makers.