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This is Topic: La Marmotte - 174km cycle, 5180m ascent
Following are the News Items published under this Topic.
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Warning this report rambles madly and goes on and on, a bit like the Marmotte itself.
If you want to see the route, and what value for money you got for your sponsorship money, just head to this link where you can play the whole route, and watch my heart-rate hit the roof: Click here for the Route Player
Then watch the last two videos of us ascending the Galibier, and you'll get some idea of how knackered we were at that point :)
Note: It just leaves me thank Roddy for talking me into this craziness with his "It will be a laugh" line. Thanks also to John, TC and Mike for the organising. Thanks to the guys at Geoffrey Butler Cycles for helping this novice with the great Plant X bikes. And of course Dee for putting up with all the training rides! Also thanks to all the spectators at all points along the route. It really made the occasion, and the encouraging support was fantastic. Lastly thanks to all generous sponsors who managed to help me exceed my target and raise £2,138 for EveryChild, with hopefully a few more late donations to trickle in (hint hint)
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Almost wiped out after crash descending Galibier, almost boiled due to 38c heat up Alpe D'Huez, but now back home with silver medal after conquering the Marmotte :)
Full update to follow soon, thanks to all who generously donated to EveryChild.
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On Saturday the 4th you'll be able to see my progress updated live on this website (My entry number is 148423, but my race number is 6032 which is the one I think you need to use)
And now you will be able to see video near-live (3 mins after passing) at three spots (Valloire / Bourg d'Oisan / Alpes d'Huez) here. The video may be near-live, but I'll be going at a snail's pace so you get plenty of time to see the agony :)
Just starting to panic somewhat now.
Forecast is 31 C and 40% change of rain & thunder...
I've uploaded the course GPS route here: GPS route
Note: Updated to add links to tracking and near-live video
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 Cycled in & out of work all last week. On Saturday I did my last training ride to Geoffrey Butlers bike shop in Croydon to get my free first service for the bike.
So the bike should be all go for the big race. Not sure about the rest of me though!
Unfortunately I spent the rest of the weekend doing paperwork. OK, well I did manage to go to Chantal's bbq birthday party, but apart from that it was all boring paperwork. Might just make the filing deadline
I just hope the time spent wearing Chantal's thigh length kinky boots doesnt affect my cycling... or that she has any photos of that. Even worse the barbie was also my last beer until the Marmotte is over. Not sure where I'll get my carbohydrates from instead...
This week I'll actually have to find some time to figure out what I need to take, pack my bike box, drag it from Epsom to work, and take a proper look at the actual course I'll be riding.
Will fly out Thu after work.
Reached 88% of the target now, see here; thanks to all those who have helped me reach it.
Wish me luck for Saturday,
Menno
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 70% of the target and only a few weeks to go! If you haven't yet, you can help me reach the target here. Thanks to all of you who got it to 70%, EveryChild will be well chuffed.
Things have been super hectic lately, so not had time to update my exciting training blog. But in a word, cycling! All free time has been cycling :)
Two weeks ago, along with my cycling buddies from work and some fellow Marmotters, I successfully completed the HighClere sportive. That was a long time in the saddle, almost 8 hours and after 205km it was nice to see the finish line. But with heavy rain predicted all day, thunder & lightning all night and pouring rain while we drove there, we were really lucky it stayed dry, apart from a short spell of hail.
The route climbed 2500m, so not a bad training ride for the Marmotte. Since then I've just been cycling into work as much as possible.
No other training rides planned yet, but not long to go, and after all this cycling I think I did slightly underestimate how much training was involved to even attempt the Marmotte!
PIctures to follow soon.
Rides done in Switzerland can be seen at the below links, any excuse for a new gadget :)
Day1 (includes half km from velodrome next day, as I was figuring out how to
reset the route...)
Day2
Day3
Day4
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Swiss mountains
Posted by: menno on Sunday, May 31, 2009 - 11:55 PM (351 Reads)
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Thanks to all of you who have generously donated already, >50% of target reached so far. If you haven't yet, you can help me reach the target here.
This weekend I spent most of it swashbuckling through the undergrowth in my garden. It has been neglected due to all the cycling. So not a single minute on the bike this weekend. I shall be making up for it by cycling into work in the coming week.
Last weekend was a different story however. A posse of us flew to Champery in Switzerland to get some real mountain training. 4 days of cycling and 355km later, I slowly came to the realisation just how difficult this Marmotte malarkey is going to be...
About a month left now, and a lot more training is required. The Swiss climbs were tough, but great training, and getting experience of the descents was also valuable, and scary! 70km/h downhill was the top speed reached.
Will post a map of thr route and photos when I get time. Things have been a bit hectic the last month.
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Thanks to all of you who have generously donated already, 50% of target reached so far. If you haven't yet, you can help me reach the target here.
Last Sunday I put a stop to the road cycling craziness and returned back to mountain biking madness, just for the day. Together with Kean, Sam & Dave, I entered the Bucks offroad sportive, 121km of undulating climbs, and some great singletrack. Gav and Susan also joined and did the 67km route. Was a looooong day, 9 hours from start to finish. We did stop off in a pub for lunch and a quick pint (it would have been rude not to!)
The last week has been a bit of a write-off in terms of training. Last minute trip to NL due to family crisis meant I didn't get to do much riding into work, or sleep. So decided to rest and recover this weekend.
Friday was the only day I could cycle into work on the bike. Typical then, that the heavens opened up on Friday evening, along with a howling gale. To top it off a car overtook on a downhill, turned left, cut me up, leaving me with nowhere to go, but sliding along the side. The driver switched on his indicators as I hit the car, and the only time he looked at his mirror was as I slammed into it!
Luckily managed to stay upright, and no damage done, part from a bruised shoulder where I hit the mirror. Did explain to the driver the need to look out for cyclists, especially as he just passed me, indicate, use mirrors, etc. Passenger asked why I didn't break faster!
Ten minutes later, a girl clad in ninja-black and high-heeled boots ran through moving traffic, direct into my path. Rather than running onto the pavement, she just saw me and froze on the spot, leaving me with nowhere to go, as I had a car next to me also slamming on the brakes. Luckily managed to not skid in the rain, and came to a stop right in front of her.
She was so shook up, she actually grabbed hold of me after I had stopped. I think she was about to topple over on those high heels. I told her to be more careful next time, but just got abuse back, as she rushed into the kebab shop, more worried about getting rained on than getting run over.
That's the joy of London traffic for you!
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Editors note: Bit of a long post, short version is that I completed the race, it was tough, but this was nothing like what I will face in the Marmotte.. Quite frankly I am wondering what I was thinking when I signed up!!
Firstly, for full disclosure, I realised I forgot to mention last week that I completely bonked (aka ran out of energy) on the last hill just coming back to the Epsom Downs. Was most annoying, only ten mins away from home. I struggled up that last hill slower than a snail.
Luckily that didnt happen on the Forest of Dean ride. I was feeling quite lousy in the morning. Have been suffering from a cold all week, which meant I didnt do any cycling to work; Thursday's ex-Iris drinking session probably didnt help matters :)
To top it off the meal the night before didnt go down very well. That and the cold meant a very restless sleep. We ate at the Harvester next to the Permier Inn we stayed at. Surf and Turf was my choice. Kieran & Chris did tell me steak was a bad idea, because it's supposed to digest slowly, but hey, when did I ever listen to them.
The morning's three trips to the toilet to empty my stomach might mean they're right though... It could have been the three pints of Speckled Hen as well though.
Anyway, started the cycle off feeling real lousy, but managed to ride through it and felt much better after the first hour. The next five and a half hours, described below, where tough, but went fine. I did keep thinking that there were an awful lot of hills though!
Met up with Roddy & Ross, my Marmotte mates, at the start. They'd been waiting a while (I was some time in the toilet!) so they set off few mins ahead of us, but we caught up. Stayed together for a while and then Chris sped off ahead. Must have been his special jelly beans. Kieran went for the slow and steady approach, and I rode most of the way with Roddy and Ross. We started taking turns at the front and then droping back like you see real pros do, so we're getting there :) Their families surprised us about half way along the route, lots of encouraging support and sarnies, grapes and biscuits, which was great.
It was a sunny but windy day. Cold wind. I didnt have the right clothing. Was far too hot on the climbing, but cold coming down hill, so couldnt take of my winter windproof jacket. Think I lost too much in sweat. A windproof gillet, will definitely be my next purchase. A useful thing to learn for this novice roadie though.
The last two hills slowed me down somewhat. Roddy & Ross were ahead off me after the second last hill, managed to catch them up again after a very windy road, which was tough going without anyone to ride with. The last hill was very steep, and narrow, with loads of traffic blocking the road, and with my now tired legs I zig-zagged up it. My 25 teeth sprocket just wasn't large enough, and I will definitely get a cassette with 27 teeth, for when the legs are tired.
Unfortunately I had no idea whether it really was the last hill, as I hadn't seen any signs; there was a bit more uphill to go, but luckily it really was the last hill before the final descent back into Monmouth and over the finish line.
Very tired, but finished, very finished. My first sportive under my belt. Great training.
But it is now starting to dawn on me, just what I signed up for. And just how much I am going to suffer, considering this was 137km and 2370m ascending, whereas the Marmotte is 174km and 5180m...
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Legs are mush
Posted by: menno on Saturday, April 25, 2009 - 10:54 PM (382 Reads)
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Cycled to Dorking this morning to meet up with the lads in lycra for the next instalment of my conversion to road cyclist.
A few too many pints on Friday night, and cycling into work during the week, made it a bit hard to get going, especially as I was not paying attention and managed to go under the M25 without noticing it, and missed my turn off. So ended up cycling a bit more going to Dorking via Box Hill.
Did another great loop of the Surrey Hills. But this time the pace was a bit faster, led by keen Chris.
Kieran managed to go further than the 23km last week (his excuse then was putting on too short a chain then and busting it). This time he managed a better excuse half way round, coming off his bike going downhill at speed after hitting a bump in the road. Was lucky he had his helmet on, saved his head from a nasty knock. But he got some nice grazed and bleeding elbow and knees. Lucky the rest of us managed to avoid a big pile up. Who sais road cycling is for wimps?
Next Sunday we'll be racing the Forest of Dean Spring Classic
This is the elevation graph for it:
So should be entertaining!
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Experiment to go boozing till 2am and then cycle 100km at 9am succeeded; conclusion, booze is good for you...
The route was great, very scenic and some leg-burning tough hills.Roadie cycling is not as bad as I thought, although mountain biking still rules :)
Too tired to write more... waiting for the Chinese takeaway to arrive
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Yesterday, after work, I picked up the 2nd new bike. Another beauty, carbon-fibre this time. It may sound extravagant having two bikes, but I actually got this frame free in a special crazy one-day-only deal Planet X where doing.
And you all know how I love a bargain. A free carbon frame, it doesnt get much better than that really. So much so that a lot of people thought it was an April fool when Planet X advertised it.
Of course it was pouring with rain on my ride home, and coming straight from work, riding in jeans with no mud guards was fun.
Today I am resting the legs, as tomorrow Kieran, Chris and Khanh, experienced roadies from work, have invited me on the Legs of Steel 82km, 1500m ascending route around Box and Leith Hill. See here for details. Ie they are going to turn my legs to mush.
Lets hope the weather clears up.
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Just in case you havent yet got my spam invite to part with your money, sponsor me here
Last Thursday I picked up my brand spanking first ever racing bike from Geoffrey Butler Cycles in Croydon. Great bike shop, they were really helpful getting my setup right. The 9 mile ride home was fantastic.
I've been cycling into work and back the last couple of days. Tuesday, the first attempt, got into the office a tad late as my freezer defrosting the night before had not completed overnight, and had to finish it off in the morning with a hairdrier! [Note to self, defrost before the antarctic is in the freezer and the door wont close] So my plan to use new bike got shoved to save time and cycle in with the electric bike. But that plan was foiled as it had a puncture, so got to use new bike after all. But was actually faster on new bike, although a lot more knackered!
New bike is great, now I just need new legs...
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La Marmotte 2009
Posted by: menno on Thursday, April 09, 2009 - 04:39 PM (566 Reads)
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On the 1st of April as a true fool I decided to enter La Marmotte in July.
Sponsor me here
Those who know me, know that I have always held that road cycling is for wooses, and mountain biking is where it's at. However this race may change my mind on that! I am not a roadie, and have just three months to turn into a road cyclist.
It is 174km and involves 5180 metres of vertical ascent (eek!)
La Marmotte is probably the most famous - and one of the the most challenging - Cyclosportive in France. 174 kilometres (108 miles) and 5,180 metres vertical ascent (16,995 feet)!
It includes three legendary hors category climbs: Col de la Croix Fer/Glandon, Col du Galibier via Télégraphe, and finishes at the top of one the most famous Tour de France climbs, Alpe d’Huez.
The charity EveryChild, which you are hopefully going to contribute to, helps children in the worlds poorest countries.
I chose this charity because during my travels to many of these countries I have met and seen many children who are in need of help. I will never forget walking through a village in northern Laos affected by a yellow fever outbreak, with children lying dying of a disease which they could have been inoculated against; or the numerous times I have seen children and whole families sleeping rough on the streets of India; or the children disabled by mines in Cambodia; or the kids picking through rubbish tips in Myanmar to eke a living from recycling.
Hopefully these memories and your donations will encourage me to pedal up the mountains.
Many thanks,
Menno
PS Training updates (ie whinging) will be put on the www.jansz.com website.
PPS I'm paying for the flights, entry fees, accommodation, etc. so all cash which you donate will go to the charity.
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