Riding the Raid Alpine

nickwill

I've just posted my account of a wild and sometimes very wet Raid Alpine with Marmot Tours. This was one of the most exciting weeks I've ever had on a bike and the conditions made it one of the most challenging.
http://lakescyclist.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/raid-alpine/

bam49

thanks for posting that - I enjoyed reading about your trip.. I was in the Alps recently and the weather was shocking on some days - never been as cold or wet as I was on the descent of the Galibier ! I went over a lot of the Cols you mention, but your trip had more of them on the same day which makes it harder.. Could have been worse though - you could have been camping like my party !

nickwill

bam49 wrote:

thanks for posting that - I enjoyed reading about your trip.. I was in the Alps recently and the weather was shocking on some days - never been as cold or wet as I was on the descent of the Galibier ! I went over a lot of the Cols you mention, but your trip had more of them on the same day which makes it harder.. Could have been worse though - you could have been camping like my party !

Camping would have been the last straw! Despite or perhaps partially because of the conditions it will remain long in my memory and will probably always be one of the highlights amongt my cycling trips. There is something really satisfying about overcoming difficult conditions. The support we got from Marmot tours was exceptional and was one of the main factors in getting most of us to the finish.

mz__jo

Aren't you understating things? Surely it should be 16300m of climbing?

nickwill

mz__jo wrote:

Aren't you understating things? Surely it should be 16300m of climbing?

Thankyou mz-jo! I'm not known for understating things. I need an editor as I can confirm it felt like every centimetre of 16300m!