Inspired by some of the various postings I've come across regarding riding La Marmotte, I've decided to dip in and provide one of my own, which, who knows, may ultimately provide useful to someone out there taking on a similar journey.
For those coming across this not knowing what La Marmotte is, it is believed to be the first cyclo-sportive, and arguably one of the toughest one day cycling events around. It is 175 km (110 miles) with just over 5000 meters of vertical gain. During the 10+ hours of riding, you get to take on classic Tour de France cols: The Glandon, Telegraphe / Galibier, and then finish the day with l'Alpe D'huez.. It takes place the first Saturday of July, and has about 7000 starters.
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| La Marmotte - Route |
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| La Marmotte - Profile |
Some initial background. After many years away from the bike, I got reacquainted with cycling this year, just ahead of my 40th birthday. Friends have a place in Bourg D'Oisains in the French Alpes, at the foot of L'Alpe D'Huez, so pretty much a Mecca for cycling. We spent a week there this summer, and I was very inspired.
I'd cycled back in secondary school and university, and at the time it was very important to me...I loved it. I did a bit of racing, but mainly it was lots of rides for the fun of it. Then a series of bike thefts, various replacements, a move to mountain bikes..,.and then real life took hold and cycling fell by the wayside. So....something that had been my main 'hobby' / 'passion' just fell aside as work and life took over.
Fast forward 20 years.....I'm in the French Alpes thinking what a shame. Back in Canada, in my late teens / early twenties, I could never have imagined even getting to Alpe D'Huez. I'd wake up very early to watch le Tour de France and dream of one day being able to ride those same roads. Now, here I am am coming on to 40, staying 2 Kms from the mythical climb ...yet certainly not in an condition to take it on. I couldn't help but think what I would have given 20 years earlier to be where I was at that moment, yet there's was little I could do with it.
In fairness, there was a bike ( a decent one too) in the garage of the house we were in. I had no gear, so bought a pair of cycling shorts, managed to find an old set of toe-clipped pedals out in the garage, and took it out for a bit. First time on a road bike without shifters on the down-tube, had me confused for a while! I seemed OK on the flats, so thought, "why not give the first few bends of Alpe d'huez a shot".
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| My previous road bike - Sekine....it was an old bike even 20 years ago when I had it! |
What a lesson!
Even when I'd been into cycling when I was younger, I'd never really done hills. I come from the middle of Canada, where it is exceptionally flat, so'd never really gone up at all....anyway, here I am, 215 lbs, totally out of shape, trying to go up Alpe D'huez...it lasted about 3 minutes...
But I was inspired.
This was July.
In April, I'd started a bit of a diet, and had managed to take my weight down from 255 lbs to 215. I was happy about this, but it had me feeling like there should be more than diet involved. I wanted to eat again...and cycling seemed like the perfect solution.
On our return to the UK, I bought a bike. A Giant Defy 1 with aluminium frame; not one of these carbon wonders (I figured, I've got 50 lbs to lose...a couple of lbs savings on the bike probably isn't the most important thing at this point). It's been great over the first few months.
I really got into it, riding it to work and back (10 miles each way) with longer rides on the weekend. I was getting back into it like I had been 20 years ago. Nice thing though about where I live in the UK (in the Chilterns) is that there are any number of hills to take on in any ride, so my hill riding / leg strength has gotten stronger. The 2013 season ended with a longish (for me) Sportive, called the Wiggle Circuit Breaker. I did the Epic route which was about 90 miles (145 Kms). We did it on an incredibly windy day, ahead of what would be one of the worst UK storms in recent memory. Nevertheless, it was a great experience, and despite crashing ( completely of my own negligence) I unexpectedly came in with a silver time.
Anyway, I've been inspired by cycling, and hope to use it to enter middle age 'well'. To that end, I've managed to beat the rush and get registered for La Marmotte 2014. As part of my training, I'm also in the Dragon Ride (222km / 3000 meters of climbing) over Welsh hills in early June. And, I will be signing up for a few more spring sportives to help get me ready.
So 33 weeks to go. The plan is to lose another 40-50 lbs (gravity is not my friend!) and put in 5000-6000 miles of riding between now and July
Here's a quick look at a draft plan.
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| Draft 'plan' to get ready for La Marmotte. (apologies for the rubbish quality....can't see to fix it...new to Blogger!) |
With winter settling in here, getting out to ride is a bit harder, but I've bought myself a Tacx Satori, and have entered the world of Turbo Training. Picked up a couple of the Sufferfest vids, which are exceptional. Did the 2 hour ISLAGIATT yesterday, and legs were pretty tender this morning.
See you next time.
