Etape 2008

niedermeyer

kmahony wrote:

I had a horrible day. Was really unwell, making a tough day even tougher.
Finished (some how) in about 9:50.

Pleased to complete, but didn't enjoy the day. The weather was worse than expected. Couldn't see much more than about 10 metres in the mountains.

Etape organisation was brilliant. Tour operator not so good.

What were the issues?

whiteboytrash

niedermeyer wrote:

kmahony wrote:

I had a horrible day. Was really unwell, making a tough day even tougher.
Finished (some how) in about 9:50.

Pleased to complete, but didn't enjoy the day. The weather was worse than expected. Couldn't see much more than about 10 metres in the mountains.

Etape organisation was brilliant. Tour operator not so good.

What were the issues?

Two companies to avoid are Graham Baxters Sporting Tours & Bikestyles. Woeful the both of them. I met so many people who had lost bikes on the Sporting Tours trips. They just add more stress to the event when going on a Tour group is meant to take that away.

IanTrcp

whiteboytrash wrote:

What were the issues?

Two companies to avoid are Graham Baxters Sporting Tours & Bikestyles. Woeful the both of them. I met so many people who had lost bikes on the Sporting Tours trips. They just add more stress to the event when going on a Tour group is meant to take that away.

Was it the tour operators fault that bikes were lost or the airlines / airport baggage handlers? This seems like an important distinction.

I booked accomodation and entry only through Sporting Tours, and was enormously impressed with the effort that their rep in my hotel was putting into getting people their lost bikes back. He seemed to have a good flow of information (from his colleagues who were located at the various airports in France and back in the UK) about when bikes 'should' be landing, and was driving his rented van up and down the autoroute to collect them at all times of the day and night. I'd want this level of practical support on hand to resolve the situation if my bike had been mislaid by an airline.

popette

Phew - what an amazing day, even for me as a spectator.
After a 5am breakfast, I saw Mr P off and then loaded the car and drove into Pau.
I started watching on a bridge just after a tunnel. The first riders arrived at about 3 minutes past 7 and they were FLYING. In fact, everyone was flying along - it was absolutely amazing to watch. I was with the cyclomundo guide for the day so we walked back to the hotel, and drove in convoy, across some stunning french countryside and through tiny villages to our next viewing point which was just before the foot of little bump at Loucrup. There was a decent sized group watching so you might remember our whooping and clapping. Ken Night, were you wearing a shirt like your avatar? I seem to remember seeing you go past, chatting with other riders. After watching you all go past we retired to the minibus for a picnic of french cheese, bread, sausage etc - the food over there is just superb. You can taste the strawberries just by smelling them. While we were sat there with the rain pouring, we saw the ominous sight of a Norbert Dentressangle with a couple of trailers and a convoy of coaches!!!! so that's what the broom wagon looks like.
Our next stop was the foot of Hautacam to the Cyclomundo Gite. By the time we got there, the first people had finished so we watched a good couple of hours of cycling. I was stood by the water stop and helped a few to refill their bottles. I took stacks of pictures, which you can look at here. The first lot are a little blurry but I was trying to capture a sense of the speed you lot were going at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/popette74 ... utacam2008
It was nice to meet a few of you out there - kmahoney there is definitely a picture of someone in a shirt like yours and i suspect it might be you. Someone did ask me if I was the lady from Pro Cycling and I said no - I didn't engage my brain quickly enough to think that you might have meant cycling plus. I felt really awful about that afterwards.
There were some gorgeous bikes (and cyclists) and it was just such a joy to watch it.
Unfortunately, Mr P didn't manage to get to the top of Hautacam. I was so gutted to see that yellow flag go up and knew that he hadn't gone past me. He got to the water stop at 3.15 and they shut the road around 3.05. He did so well though to get to that point though. . I think he felt a little relief that he wouldn't have to go up Hautacam - that really is one hell of a climb.
The photo album shows a few photos of me climbing Tourmalet on the Saturday. We woke to cloud in Pau and I thought it would be ideal climbing conditions but as we got closer to Campan, the sun broke through and it was roasting. Mr P had to keep showering me with water from the mountain streams to keep me cool. I had to abandon my climb with 6km to go. It was just too hard for me, my HR spiked a couple of times to 250 but then it went up and I was breathing hard and my monitor was failing to read anything at all (I know it's bad when that happens and with my condition, HRs of 300 are possible) so I thought I'd better call it a day. So, crying my eyes out, I got off the bike and put it in the back of the car. At this point, I decided that I hated F**king france but that mood soon disappeared after i'd had a bath and some more gorgeous food.

Cyclomundo were fantastic I thought. Throughout the whole process, I felt they looked after me really well. The places we stayed were great and I met some really lovely people, particularly in the hotel in Saint Sevin once we were drinking wine and the pre etape nerves had dissappeared.

Ohhh, I can't wait for next year's etape now

whiteboytrash

Agreed. Some of it is to do with the airlines. My problem with these groups is that they are run by people who love cycling. That’s doesn't make them good organisers. Often the guides are volunteers who get a free trip for their time. This generally means as in Sporting Tours case they are in their 60's and over the hill. So many times on the tours you are left to your own on devices. On my tour you'd think they would have done a reccy of the town we were staying for a bike shop. But no and 30 cyclist had to go out and find it on its own. If I ran a tour group I would inform the entire group of where the bike shop is, the best place to get coffee and so on and so on......... this is just my opinion and I think for the money that is paid you can do so much better. Like you I think the best option for etape 2 onwards is to book it yourself.

IanTrcp wrote:

whiteboytrash wrote:

What were the issues?

Two companies to avoid are Graham Baxters Sporting Tours & Bikestyles. Woeful the both of them. I met so many people who had lost bikes on the Sporting Tours trips. They just add more stress to the event when going on a Tour group is meant to take that away.

Was it the tour operators fault that bikes were lost or the airlines / airport baggage handlers? This seems like an important distinction.

I booked accomodation and entry only through Sporting Tours, and was enormously impressed with the effort that their rep in my hotel was putting into getting people their lost bikes back. He seemed to have a good flow of information (from his colleagues who were located at the various airports in France and back in the UK) about when bikes 'should' be landing, and was driving his rented van up and down the autoroute to collect them at all times of the day and night. I'd want this level of practical support on hand to resolve the situation if my bike had been mislaid by an airline.

James LC

Well I went with Sports Tours (and EasyJet) and everything worked perfectly! We stayed at the Hotel Continental in Pau and our rep/logistics were faultless.

xio

Popette - there were 5 of us in the same shirt as kmahony - the pic is of Gaz, with my hands in the foreground - I seem to recall you saying something about a team shot, but we were already rolling - sorry, we should have stopped. I think at that point Kieran was somewhere at the top of the tourmalet doing a spot of decorating... Nice to note that a few people recognised the shirts too.

whiteboytrash

James LC wrote:

Well I went with Sports Tours (and EasyJet) and everything worked perfectly! We stayed at the Hotel Continental in Pau and our rep/logistics were faultless.

Heard very good things about them as well. Met some people on that tour and they all had good things to say.

Bush75

An awesome day to enjoy - albeit painful joy.

I found the Tourmalet a great mountain to climb as I fortuantely found a rhythm and kept pushing even when I my HR was out of control in the 180s. As a result Hauthcam was tough but the pain is half the fun...right?

My major complaint was that to choose a stage for the etape finishing on Hautcam seemed inappropriate. On any day, in any weather the dual climbing one side and descent on the other would have been awkward - in the mist, rain and cold it was mad. I have been told in the past that the Etape will not go to Ventoux as changable weather could mean hyperthermia for competitors marooned at the top - cue Sunday! My mate was pleading with ambulances to be given a blanket at the finish but was only given a bin bag and did almost come a cropper as a result.

whiteboytrash

Did anyone get a little scared of the those HUGE cows with bells on the Tourmalet ? I thought they were going to walk onto the road and kick me off my bike.

xio

I think you imagined them. What pills were you using?

kmahony

niedermeyer wrote:

What were the issues?

In fairness to the reps, they did work hard to get things right, but lack of organisation caused lots of problems.

To pick a few from the group I was with:
- Missing bikes (from the airport)
- A whole van full sent to the wrong town.
- Dropped off at the wrong hotel and sent the wrong way.
- Wrong information (meals etc) in the guide sent.
- No time after the event at the village (maybe not a bad thing).
- No organisation of people to coaches on the way back.
- Not enough room for bikes on the coach back.
- Nearly late for flight back
.....

Sfelt

Smile

http://www.maindruphoto.com/index.php?cPath=1352

James LC

Not sure I'm smiling here:

il_principe

Well what an experience. I had a total 'mare, was going great guns for the first 90k or so, then had a nasty fall going through BAGNERE DE BIGORRE (I think) the bike went under me on a corner and I landed on my hip and elbow. Was helped up by some lovely spectators but was in a bit of a mess as was the bike. Enlisted the help of a few locals and got going again but lost a lot of time getting things sorted - the left hand hood was badly messed up along with both brakes and the shifting was buggered. The rest of the ride was a bit of a painful blur tbh, my confidence was knocked badly and I lost a lot of time on the descent of the Tourmalet and nearly abandoned at the base of the Hautacam as my hip was in a lot of pain but realised I'd never forgive myself and managed to finish in 8:48 with a total moving time of 7:55! Bitterly disappointed, my riding buddies managed 6:46 and 6:51 respectively, heroic efforts given that none of us had ever ridden in proper mountains before. What a pity about the weather as well, I had been looking forward to the views etc but the rain made things miserable. I'll go again for sure but only if it aint raining...

gradiric

Popette - I was going to ask if that was you on the bridge out of Pau (going way too fast to risk a wave!) - recognised you from your blog and the cycling plus picture - and I was in Bourg/Alpe d'Huez the same weekend as you. Well tried on the Tourmalet climb, it's tough enough without a heart condition.
To add to the tour operator comments - Sporting Tours/Graham Baxter appeared run off their feet trying to reunite lost bikes with their desperate owners - as a result communication for the rest of us was a bit below par and their info pack promised carbo meals that never materialised and were apparently included by mistake. Otherwise I thought their airport and event transfers were good, bike store easy accessed and secure and Hotel Continental was clean and friendly. So, Sporting Tours could've been more attentive but if I'd lost my bike I know where I'd have wanted them to be focusing their efforts.
Just to give anyone disappointed with their time/performance a bit of perspective: 2007 was meant to be the toughest Etape course ever, and the 2008 edition a pushover right? Well by my calcs the winner on Sunday had a slower average speed than the 2007 winner, despite the extra 27km in 2007, so draw your own conclusions, but I think 2008 was right up there in the difficulty stakes. We should therefore all be very proud of our achievements - pat on back time...

xio

Wasn't greatly impressed by the fact the rep took the one girl whose bike box had broken all the way to Lourdes in the van with all our (Pau destined) bikes. Also there was no attempt to order the bikes by hotel when loading the van, so no wonder it took them all night to figure out what went where. Would also have been useful to have a rep on the bus - as it was they followed behind in the van and didn't know where to go. Out of all the reps that I saw (4 or 5) I'd say there was only one who was able to do more than order beer and chips in French.

When we got dropped off, we had to walk to the hotel (from the aforementioned Continental) for reasons that still aren't clear to me, and were sent in the wrong direction. We ended up going to a different hotel and getting a map. Fortunately we didn't believe that we were going to get the Saturday evening meal listed on the itinerary and made our own arrangements. Basically £500+ for a £40 etape entry, 3 nights b&b in a hotel (costing 45 Euros per night at full price), and some airport transfers.

Oh, and some confusion with the bus operator coming back from the finish area meant a big row between the rep and the bus driver (nice) and the threat from the driver that we'd all be taken off the bus. As I understand it, he left without a couple of people who were brought back in the van (could be wrong on this part though).

That said, the etape organisation itself was spot on from what I saw. Could have lived without the cold wait at the top of the Hautacam before coming back down, but it's difficult to see what else they could have done, and I'd have been a lot less concerned about it if the weather had been better.

urrrrrrrrrs

well that was fun

after working my socks off for the past 11 months and shedding almost 6 stone,i was denied a finish up the Hautacam by 1 BLOODY MINUTE !!!! :evil: :evil: :evil: got to the bottom at 3.06pm :evil: :evil: :evil:

a desperate stop for a pee and to take my jacket off as i was boiling hot after that valley floor flat section just 4k's or so before the Hautacam cost me a climb up and finish

Absolutely gutted and now have unfinished business for 2009 !!!

luckily though i've already done the climb of the Hautacam on a recce back in may and i can quite catergorically state that the views are absolutely magical and can now say that i've climbed the Tourmalet twice(once on a recce) and Hautacam(recce)

so for the record 155k in 7hrs 42minutes (start time of 7.24am,bib no 7160) not bad for someone who this time last year weighed 21stone 9lbs

now for the mother of all fry-ups,think i deserved it

kmahony

Really bad luck urrrrrrs.

I think the elimination car was going way too quick on the Hautacam. They came past me with about 4km to go, but I knew I had loads of time left. They then parked up and seem to be saying they were 10 mins ahead of schedule (more like 25). I finished with 20 to spare.

Was anyone at La Mongie when they closed the elimination barrier? I was keeping an eye on the clock and left with about 10 mins to spare, but there seemed to be 1000+ people still fueling up.

popette

you know that articulated lorry and coaches that made up the broom wagon - did that whole convoy actually go over Tourmalet? I can't see how that would be possible.

mozwyn69

I've been with Sporting Tours twice (Etape 06 and Campagnolo last month). I will not be going with them again. Our 'reps' were retired fellows who are out there for a free cycling holiday. On the Campag last month the chap, whilst being very affable, really seemed to have little idea of what was going on. For the price of these trips you really do expect a little more. Some knowlege of the area / route, bike shops, places to eat etc.
When confronted by my mate about the organisation he agreed it would be much cheaper and just as easy to organise this trip yourself.
On the Etape trip 2 years ago it got a bit embarassing as tempers frayed when the bus promised in the itinery to take us to some further Cols from our base at Annacy never arrived. Despite excuses it transpired it had never been ordered in the first place.

fnb1

yep that whole convoy follows the route, The Tourmalet was not too bad, I had the misfortune of being of it 2006 (from 4kms ) and it went all the way ove rthe Izoard too.

My sympathy goes out to any who experienced it this time as it must have been horrible in wet clothes.

IanTrcp

popette wrote:

you know that articulated lorry and coaches that made up the broom wagon....

No

portuguese mike

90% of the ride (and the weekend as a whole) were absolutely briliant.

The super fast flat sections the awesome climbs the fast and scenic valley section. only things that spoiled it were the freezing descents (can't remember ever being so so cold. in fact it was so cold that one of the costa rican riders on our party had to stop to buy a jumper so he could carry on, he still finished in about 7 hours though) and the fact that we were denied the spectaular views as reward for toiling up the mountains.

Very pleased with my time of 7 47 (7 15 ride time) which put me in the top third, just.
those climbs were the hardest things i've ever done on a bike but what a sense of achievement, i' treating myslef to a very fine bottle of wine tonight, i feel i've earned it.

Poppette, when were you at the cyclomundo gite, i was there between about 4.15 and 5.30.

le_grimpeur

mozwyn69 wrote:

I've been with Sporting Tours twice (Etape 06 and Campagnolo last month). I will not be going with them again. Our 'reps' were retired fellows who are out there for a free cycling holiday. On the Campag last month the chap, whilst being very affable, really seemed to have little idea of what was going on. For the price of these trips you really do expect a little more. Some knowlege of the area / route, bike shops, places to eat etc.
When confronted by my mate about the organisation he agreed it would be much cheaper and just as easy to organise this trip yourself.
On the Etape trip 2 years ago it got a bit embarassing as tempers frayed when the bus promised in the itinery to take us to some further Cols from our base at Annacy never arrived. Despite excuses it transpired it had never been ordered in the first place.

Personally I stayed with Pyractif, they don't organise official tours with the Etape, but they were fantastic hosts - for me and 5 other Etapists and quite a few others who went over on recces. It seems this is the way to go. Get your entry sorted and find out a local company. If they are half as good as Pyractif you won't be disappointed. And just to make it clear, I am in no way personally connected to them. They really helped make the experience. And despitie hating all if it up to bottom of the Tourmalet, that valley ride was something else wasn't it. I was gonna quit, but that descent lifted my spirits, and I managed to finish! Might even do it again!

le_grimpeur

mozwyn69 wrote:

I've been with Sporting Tours twice (Etape 06 and Campagnolo last month). I will not be going with them again. Our 'reps' were retired fellows who are out there for a free cycling holiday. On the Campag last month the chap, whilst being very affable, really seemed to have little idea of what was going on. For the price of these trips you really do expect a little more. Some knowlege of the area / route, bike shops, places to eat etc.
When confronted by my mate about the organisation he agreed it would be much cheaper and just as easy to organise this trip yourself.
On the Etape trip 2 years ago it got a bit embarassing as tempers frayed when the bus promised in the itinery to take us to some further Cols from our base at Annacy never arrived. Despite excuses it transpired it had never been ordered in the first place.

Personally I stayed with Pyractif, they don't organise official tours with the Etape, but they were fantastic hosts - for me and 5 other Etapists and quite a few others who went over on recces. It seems this is the way to go. Get your entry sorted and find out a local company. If they are half as good as Pyractif you won't be disappointed. And just to make it clear, I am in no way personally connected to them. They really helped make the experience. And despitie hating all if it up to bottom of the Tourmalet, that valley ride was something else wasn't it. I was gonna quit, but that descent lifted my spirits, and I managed to finish! Might even do it again!

popette

portuguese mike wrote:

90% of the ride (and the weekend as a whole) were absolutely briliant.

Poppette, when were you at the cyclomundo gite, i was there between about 4.15 and 5.30.

was popping in and out through the afternoon but mosting spent the afternoon clapping by the water station - stayed there until 3.15 and then headed to the village and home. Shame we didn't cross paths - you coming back for more next year Mike?

portuguese mike

popette wrote:

portuguese mike wrote:

90% of the ride (and the weekend as a whole) were absolutely briliant.

Poppette, when were you at the cyclomundo gite, i was there between about 4.15 and 5.30.

was popping in and out through the afternoon but mosting spent the afternoon clapping by the water station - stayed there until 3.15 and then headed to the village and home. Shame we didn't cross paths - you coming back for more next year Mike?

Very likely, hoping it'll be up alpe d'huez next year

pedylan

Well at least heatstroke wasn't a problem!

I have no idea what the Tourmalet looks like and for most of the descent of it I had no idea where I was heading. 60km/hr and visibillity of 50m.

But the event transcends the conditions, if you've made something the focal point of your training life for 9 months then nothing gets in the way of achieving your goals. In my case though I just refined my goals as I went along.

I harboured thoughts of 8 hours pre event. After 100km I still thought maybe it was doable. Halfway up the Tourmalet I began to worry about the broom wagon. However after getting over I just determined to finish without dismounting and made that my goal. And that was what i did after 9hrs 12 out on the course and 8hrs 47 on the bike.

To all who took part - great effort and chapeaux.

Sorry to hear about the grouses about the tour companies. I got an entry only and we organised our own travel and hotels. Eurostar and TGV were on time to the minute and the hotels were fine.

I will definitely do another European sportive, but maybe not the Etape.

urrrrrrrrrs

kmahony wrote:

Really bad luck urrrrrrs.


Was anyone at La Mongie when they closed the elimination barrier? I was keeping an eye on the clock and left with about 10 mins to spare, but there seemed to be 1000+ people still fueling up.

i just went through as the barriers were going accross