SideBySide
Posts:444
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| 08/26/2015 02:43 PM |
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You are famous! 1:12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxTaKtgsbqA |
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 08/26/2015 03:06 PM |
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brutal.
Looks like that is not a young man's game. |
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 08/26/2015 03:07 PM |
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| or a woman's game. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/26/2015 03:21 PM |
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Posted By ChinookPass . on 08/26/2015 03:07 PM
or a woman's game.
Lot of superfit women here, including ex world champ Emma Pooley who'd disagree with you. Being a tri star now she was seen going for a run after today's stage.
Some more copy, paste from FB:
Yesterday was iTT day up the mighty steep Col du Granon, 12k at 9%. A lot of upsides to the day, the suffering was relatively brief, summer's returned to the Alps, given reverse start order and my lowly ranking there was no massage lineup at the end, and plenty of opportunity for snooze time.
The monster stage 4 is also done. 5am wake up for 7am start. Feeling pretty tired this morning with telltale bags under eyes. The days are starting to wear. By the time we got to start line we'd already covered 6kms in the dark of which 4 were up. Then up the Telegraph which is really just a long gradual haul. Immediately on to the Galibier. By the time we reached the top we'd covered our first 30km of climbing. Still morning chill about 8-10C on downhill. Dressing was tricky today because in afternoon it reached 26C. At the base of Croix the Fer I had to ditch underlayer which then became a nuicanse in back pocket for remainder of day. Croix de Fer is a 30km haul in three parts with some flat and downhill sections breaking it up. Near bottom we passed turnoff for La Toussuire where were headed tomorrow so we'll have to do this brute in reverse again (unreal!). The last 10k of the climb was steep and narrow with bad pavement. But the hardest part was the downhill which is broken up by uphill sections that took a big bite out of me. Was starting to dread tomorrow. But then took it easy in the Bourg d'Oison valley, took some time to recover and stretch and was feeling good on ramps before Deux Alpes climb. With 2.5hrs to spare I parked the gearing in 34x32 and tried to recover on the 9kms up with an eye on tomorrow. We'll have Col de Sarenne for bfast (backside of Alpe), then Croix de Fer in reverse and finally La Toussuire. Only 125km, should be a cake walk!
A lot of superfit riders here. Ranked a lowly 361 at moment but climbed a bit today. 52 out of 500 so far have finished out of one or more time cuts. My buddy is close to top 75 and going well. |
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 08/26/2015 04:34 PM |
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My comment was just in regards to the folks I saw in the video. Grizzled vets mostly.
Sounds like quite the menu of famous climbs. |
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smokey52
Posts:498
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| 08/26/2015 08:25 PM |
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I remain in awe. Keep pedaling, and keep the rubber side down. Best of luck, and best of skill.
Please keep us posted.
smokey |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/27/2015 10:11 AM |
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| Five down, two to go. Sarenne was a brute on tired morning legs. Croix de Fer in reverse went well but I had a flat with 5k to go. Pedaled in anger and caught a lot of guys to top and kept going hard till La Toussuire. Started blowing up w 3k to go but then there was a tractor with hay bales to draft behind for home stretch. My left side which has been causing me all manner of problems this season is starting to act up after yesterday's monster stage. Hopefully massage can fix it and or it will be manageable in final two stages. Easy day today, only 115k and 3500m vertical but a lot of guys against the wall and on side of road. The wear and tear continues. |
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 08/27/2015 03:01 PM |
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Utterly fantastic!
Been watching the daily videos on YouTube - extremely jealous of the fitness and the opportunity.
Enjoy the last 2 stages - the memories will be with you until the end... |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/27/2015 10:41 PM |
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| Fitness is interesting Huck. Fitness level that translated into top 8% times compared to general Garmin carrying cycling population on Ventoux climbs last week only is good for lowly 360 rank out of 500 here. A lot of ultrafit specimens riding around here, boys and girls, young and old. Mostly Brits but overall they come from 50 different countries. |
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SideBySide
Posts:444
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| 08/28/2015 12:07 PM |
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Only the fittest of the fit would attempt the Haute Route. You are now comparing yourself to a very select group.
This is inspiring me to find a longer hill to see what pain is truly like. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/28/2015 12:43 PM |
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| There was a lot of pain today but mostly in my side. Food management is tricky day after day. It lasted 60k which included two major climbs, the Chaussy (in this years tour) and the Madaleine. Other than that those climbs weren't too hard. Its amazing what you can haul yourself over day after day. This was the last hard one, 156k and 3900m of vertical. Tomorrow should be a relative cake walk at only 95k before the parade into Geneva. Views on the Madaleine were stunning but those on the final climb of day (Saissie) were even more dramatic when the glaciered peak of Mont Blanc came into view. In between a lot of rolling valley riding in hot weather, suffered like a dog. Happy to hit the Saissie which at 6% gradient over 14k is my kind of riding. Hammered it despite the heat and then kept going into Megeve, a posh old style ski resort. Came in 329 on day and moved up to 352 overall. Some 80odd of 500 (roughly 20% as expected) have not made one or more time cuts. That includes a guy who went into a ravine today. He was lucky to hit some trees and only break a leg. So his bike along railing and medics trying to haul him up. Some here take crazy risks. |
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SideBySide
Posts:444
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| 08/28/2015 05:06 PM |
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| I feel sorry for people with mechanicals. There was a guy in one video on about stage two with a broken chain. I doubt he was able to replace it and get going to make the time cut. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 08/28/2015 06:33 PM |
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Yikes, Geneva! First they drain all your energy, then you wallet, too!
BTW, if you can get on the CERN tour, it's super cool. A Euro or US PhD with skin in the game will spend three hours with you with their baby.
Good luck with the last laps. Very impressive! |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/28/2015 10:35 PM |
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| They have excellent Mavic support SidebySide. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/29/2015 11:01 AM |
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| Well I wasn't exactly killing it today but got the job done and official haute route alps finish is in the bag. No gas in the tank for Col des Aravis but same could be said for many. Butt hurt from too many days in saddle, over next days I can only sit on soft pillows. No stop at Aravis but straight on to short Col de Croix Fry to at least keep some momentum going. From there on it was 40k of rolling hills. A lot of cow bell going on headed to Swiss. The 20k gradual Col des Pittons was the last obstacle. Finally started feeling better and ended up pacing a Turkish ironman triatlete who's headed for Hawaii this year all the way up the hill. Bit of chitchat with her was good for distraction on the long hill and we had a good clip passing many tired looking faces. Tough cookie, each time gradient steepened she was in a spot of trouble but as soon as things slackened she was right on my wheel again. Just past top of Pittons Geneva with its big fountain came into view. Long downhill to start of parade into Geneva where 500 tired cyclists disappeared into the masses of a sweltering hot city. Final Haute Route party tonight and looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow! |
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