La Marmotte

MartinM said:

Just registered for this ride on www.sportcommunication.com

Go for it! It's excellent.

Here's my report of my ride in 2004:

http://www.cliftoncc.org/static.php?content=marmotte04

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM said:

Just registered for this ride on www.sportcommunication.com

Go for it! It's excellent.

Here's my report of my ride in 2004:

read it thanks; very inspiring.
on a practical note, how do the other climbs compare with Huez (having
only done the latter)?

MartinM said:

read it thanks; very inspiring.
on a practical note, how do the other climbs compare with Huez (having
only done the latter)?

Croix du Fer is just very, very long, and the descents where the road slip
break your rythm. Mind, the bits were it climbs back up to regain the old
road after said small descents are pretty steep.

The Telegraph/Galabier is hard. The top of the Galabier is steep enough
to hurt and high enough that most people will notice the lack of oxygen.

L'Alp just hurts because of where it comes in the ride 🙂

It's very hard to sensibly compare 40km of the Croix du Fer done when
fresh at the start with 15km of L'Alp at the end. The main thing is
to take it easy until near the top of the Galabier.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM said:

read it thanks; very inspiring.
on a practical note, how do the other climbs compare with Huez (having
only done the latter)?

Croix du Fer is just very, very long, and the descents where the road slip
break your rythm. Mind, the bits were it climbs back up to regain the old
road after said small descents are pretty steep.

The Telegraph/Galabier is hard. The top of the Galabier is steep enough
to hurt and high enough that most people will notice the lack of oxygen.

L'Alp just hurts because of where it comes in the ride 🙂

It's very hard to sensibly compare 40km of the Croix du Fer done when
fresh at the start with 15km of L'Alp at the end. The main thing is
to take it easy until near the top of the Galabier.

thanks; will do. I intend to do more training for it than last year. A
Mr Supremo could well help in that quest.

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM said:

read it thanks; very inspiring.
on a practical note, how do the other climbs compare with Huez (having
only done the latter)?

Croix du Fer is just very, very long, and the descents where the road slip
break your rythm. Mind, the bits were it climbs back up to regain the old
road after said small descents are pretty steep.

The Telegraph/Galabier is hard. The top of the Galabier is steep enough
to hurt and high enough that most people will notice the lack of oxygen.

L'Alp just hurts because of where it comes in the ride 🙂

It's very hard to sensibly compare 40km of the Croix du Fer done when
fresh at the start with 15km of L'Alp at the end. The main thing is
to take it easy until near the top of the Galabier.

thanks; will do. I intend to do more training for it than last year. A
Mr Supremo could well help in that quest.

MartinM said:

thanks; will do. I intend to do more training for it than last year. A
Mr Supremo could well help in that quest.

Maybe. For my money AUK events, while fun, aren't necessarily that useful
as training for something like the Marmotte. For starters, they have cafe
stops in.

Events like the Dales Grimpeur 200km (4AAA) are good training, though
not as hard as the Marmotte. I would look up how much climbing it has
(4000m?) but AUK in its wisdom has decided that you have to be a member
to look that far ahead.

Also get some speed work in. You'll be climbing for several hours, and
working hard while doing it some some shorter fast rides are good for
this (say 10 or 25 mile TT's, idealy on a sporting course)

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM said:

thanks; will do. I intend to do more training for it than last year. A
Mr Supremo could well help in that quest.

Maybe. For my money AUK events, while fun, aren't necessarily that useful
as training for something like the Marmotte. For starters, they have cafe
stops in.

Events like the Dales Grimpeur 200km (4AAA) are good training, though
not as hard as the Marmotte. I would look up how much climbing it has
(4000m?) but AUK in its wisdom has decided that you have to be a member
to look that far ahead.

Also get some speed work in. You'll be climbing for several hours, and
working hard while doing it some some shorter fast rides are good for
this (say 10 or 25 mile TT's, idealy on a sporting course)

Thanks, will do (but just on the courses not in actual TT's, not a time
I wish to revisit) I have some fellow cycling commuters who are being
thrown off the train as well who go a lot faster than AUK speed.

BTW AUK events are visible to the general public just by clicking on
the month letter.

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM wrote:

Quoted message said:

Events like the Dales Grimpeur 200km (4AAA) are good training, though
not as hard as the Marmotte. I would look up how much climbing it has
(4000m?) but AUK in its wisdom has decided that you have to be a member
to look that far ahead.

Starting from: Pateley Bridge
Date: Saturday 3rd June 2006 Time: 08:00 Distance: 215 km

AAA: 4.5 Climbing: 4596m

looks good, will try to get up there

Arthur Clune said:

Also get some speed work in. You'll be climbing for several hours, and
working hard while doing it some some shorter fast rides are good for
this (say 10 or 25 mile TT's, idealy on a sporting course)

I found moderate application of intervals to make a considerable
difference to my overall fitness. Basically, in a 90mins or so evening
ride I'd warm up for 5-10 miles (gets me to the nice open flat quiet
roads) and then (using an HRM though alternatives exist) either pick a
couple of points about 200m apart or use a stopwatch or use a sheer
'hit the wall' method, start at point A and sprint like mad, no gear
changing, no easing up, absolute eyeballs out for the duration
(typically about ten secs) then back to really gentle till the HR drops
to a steady state level (in my case I use a cutoff of 140bpm - works
for me but you will be different) and repeat. And repeat And repeat.
Then another 5 miles of moderate pace before repeating the set. If you
can then manage a third set you are quite fit;-)
This is not a substitute for all other training and should only be
attempted by those who know they are not at risk of sudden heart
problems, and in short doses throughout the season.

Alternatives: find a hill (doesn't have to be big, just steady) that
takes about 5 mins to ride up at a good pace and treat that as an
'interval', riding up as hard as you can without blowing up then coming
back to it and repeating several times. My local hill (Dundee Law) is
good for this, about 750 m with 75m height gain to climb with a
recovery loop of returning down the hill and riding round it for about
2k before repeating. On the MTB it takes about 7-8 mins per lap
according to the chavs who timed me one evening and pointed out that I
had taken longer the second time (ie between the second and third
times) than the first. Then again they seemed impressed that anyone
could even do it once. My rules are no stopping. If I have to stop to
put a foot down I go home.

The third alternative is the big climb - find a climb of 20-30 mins and
ride it once.
A colleague in Norway used to ride up Holmenkollen twice a day - about
400m climb - which was very much at the top end of that. Ouch.

And the long gentle rides at the weekends to get the miles (and cakes)
in..

...d

Arthur Clune said:

Events like the Dales Grimpeur 200km (4AAA) are good training, though
not as hard as the Marmotte. I would look up how much climbing it has
(4000m?)

4596 metres, 4.5 points

but AUK in its wisdom has decided that you have to be a member

Quoted message said:

to look that far ahead.

True, but if you google for "dales grimpeur 200 site:audax.uk.net" you
get taken directly to the info page, bypassing the login.

Or you can just follow this link:
http://www.audax.uk.net/cal/calsolo.php?Ride=287

d.

MartinM said:

Starting from: Pateley Bridge
Date: Saturday 3rd June 2006 Time: 08:00 Distance: 215 km

I should be there - let me know if you go and I'll say hi!

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM said:

Starting from: Pateley Bridge
Date: Saturday 3rd June 2006 Time: 08:00 Distance: 215 km

I should be there - let me know if you go and I'll say hi!

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

DO NOT COUNT ME IN !!!!! I think I'm washing my hair that weekend.

Thanks; all sounds very complicated but will try. I did L'Ardechoise
last year with no real training, I found the hills almost all very easy
compared to over here, was only caught out by the heat and my own
unfitness, however the Alps are much much steeper so just doing audax
pace will not do. I do have a very good local hill up to Ashdown Forest
which I can do at least twice a week when the evenings get longer, plus
will be going into work over the north downs which has a couple of
short sharp shocks.

MSeries said:

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM said:

Starting from: Pateley Bridge
Date: Saturday 3rd June 2006 Time: 08:00 Distance: 215 km

I should be there - let me know if you go and I'll say hi!

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

DO NOT COUNT ME IN !!!!! I think I'm washing my hair that weekend.

did you do it last year? I see there is also a Tavistock one that
weekend which _may_ be easier to get to.

MSeries said:

DO NOT COUNT ME IN !!!!! I think I'm washing my hair that weekend.

Why every not? Your stomping ground isn't it?

It really is a beautiful ride.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

MartinM said:

MSeries said:

Arthur Clune said:

MartinM wrote:

>Starting from: Pateley Bridge
>Date: Saturday 3rd June 2006 Time: 08:00 Distance: 215 km

I should be there - let me know if you go and I'll say hi!

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

DO NOT COUNT ME IN !!!!! I think I'm washing my hair that weekend.

did you do it last year? I see there is also a Tavistock one that
weekend which _may_ be easier to get to.

No

Arthur Clune said:

MSeries said:

DO NOT COUNT ME IN !!!!! I think I'm washing my hair that weekend.

Why every not? Your stomping ground isn't it?

It really is a beautiful ride.

Arthur

Pately Bridge isn't *that* close to Morley, though I have been know to
travel further for a 200km randonee. Its those bloody hills, too savage
for me, I prefer the long Pennine drags, which IMO are more similar to
the Alps than the short sharp hillettes in the Dales. Anyway I'll be
having an easy weekend that one after 300s and 400s throughout May.

MSeries said:

Arthur Clune said:

MSeries said:

DO NOT COUNT ME IN !!!!! I think I'm washing my hair that weekend.

Why every not? Your stomping ground isn't it?

It really is a beautiful ride.

Arthur

Pately Bridge isn't *that* close to Morley, though I have been know to
travel further for a 200km randonee. Its those bloody hills, too savage
for me, I prefer the long Pennine drags, which IMO are more similar to
the Alps than the short sharp hillettes in the Dales. Anyway I'll be
having an easy weekend that one after 300s and 400s throughout May.

thanks for that, saved me! yes hills I need but not savage little
English ones
(at least not 4.5AAA's worth of them).

MartinM said:

thanks for that, saved me! yes hills I need but not savage little
English ones
(at least not 4.5AAA's worth of them).

The trouble is that if you want practice for La Marmotte you need
to work towards 5000m climbing in 170km.

The Dales Gimpeur is one of the few AUK routes with enough climbing
in to get near. Even then it's 4,400m in 200km so easier.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune