Etapes 2012

davidof

mattpage wrote:

Surprised with how I did, 6hrs 26min which was 39th overall and that was after the Marmotte the day before. My legs felt like two blocks of lead on the Madeleine so not sure what happened really.

Un-be-lievable, especially given the variable conditions.

t5nel

mattpage wrote:

Surprised with how I did, 6hrs 26min which was 39th overall and that was after the Marmotte the day before. My legs felt like two blocks of lead on the Madeleine so not sure what happened really.

wow!

I was just about getting to the top of Mollard then!

:shock:

t5nel

Got round in 9:02 myself - I definitely got dehydrated on the last climb and the last few km were torture.

Loved Madeleine, HATED Glandon, Croix de la Fer was a relief (after Glandon) and La Toussuire was relentlessly hot (I did it about 50 minutes quicker the day before with fresh legs)

That was my 1st etape but more experienced friends say it was up there with the toughest.

Also really peed off as my garmin died after 6hrs...

markwb79

Had a great day, mega tough route though.

7hours 7 for me, including having to change a punctured tub within 25km, so took the descents a little easier.

Missed my target time, but was pleased with my effort and that I could keep a constant effort through out the ride. Last year on the Marmotte I started far too quickly and buggered it all up towards the end.

Congrats to everyone.

cyclingsheep

Does anyone know what the drop out was on Sunday?

t5nel

4422 finishers ~ 5688 starters

About 3300 finished inside the 'time limit' I think

Figures from here
http://www.aso.fr/massevents/resultats/ ... a1&id=6013

just change the id number on the end to your own bib to get your PDF results

xscreamsuk

that's a lot who didn't start, is that usual? Nearly a thousand finished outside the time limit? Thought that wasn't allowed as you were carted off in the broom wagon? Great job to those who rode it, off tomorrow for Acte 2.

alywbwfc

Just got back. What an incredible weekend. Been cycling for 6 months in the uk but this was my first time taking on a mountain. Found the madeline ok but struggled with the next 3. Finished in 10 hrs 30 mins therefore achieved my goal of completing etape with the added bonus of beating the two much more expeienced cyclists that I went with :-) The descents were brilliant fun. Got to say the crowds are fantastic (especially the guy with the bagpipes who was loving it when i passed wearing my scotland top ) and the event is very well organised. Well worth the £70 entry fee, would reccomend it to anyone although stress that it is essential to put enough training in!

cyclingsheep

I was thinking that too xscreamsuk. I'm off on Thursday to do Act 2 as well. Goal is just to finish, and ahead of the broom wagon. Looking forward to it.

Gussio

Some excellent times posted above - chapeau to all of you! I was very happy with 9hr 36m. Loved the experience, but could have done without the last 5km on the Glandon and the whole of the final sun-baked ascent to the finish.

Looking forward to watching the stage get tackled by the pros on Thursday. I admired them before, but now I have a reinvigorated respect for the peloton!

t5nel

xscreamsuk wrote:

that's a lot who didn't start, is that usual? Nearly a thousand finished outside the time limit? Thought that wasn't allowed as you were carted off in the broom wagon? Great job to those who rode it, off tomorrow for Acte 2.

I have no idea what the non starter rate is - I have heard that since the advent of 2 etapes/ year there are generally fewer riders...

There were 40 in our group and the broom wagon seemed a little random. Some were given a clear choice to carry on (without help) whilst some were apparently told to stop categorically and wait for a bus. They kept the finish open for ages - we had someone back at over 12hrs. In truth I think some bailed when they saw it and others carried on anyway.

Bottom line is if you are behind the wagon and are insistent then they seem to let you carry on at your own risk/without support (no mavic, no guarantee of food/water, no more buses back). So if you are 'slow but can go all day' then you might get away with a late finish.

^^^^ this is all based on my experience of this year and Acte 1, i am sure others know more about how the grim sweeper operates.

mitchventoux

just leaving now for act 2 ,gonna have a slow drive down looking forward to ot now and hoping for some much needed heat and sun

Armoredinca

Saw two unfortunate guys go down hard before the start while crossing the wet railway lines at the rear of the Olympic stadium. The first guy went down hard on his head and in avoidance his mate put his wheel in the railway line and came off with the most buckled front wheel i've ever seen:-(
I don't know what happened to them but you could do nothing but feel gutted for the poor chaps.

My first Etape went well and even had time for a Baguette Jambon and a coke at the restaurant at Croix de fer! Great day:-)

willy b

mitchventoux wrote:

just leaving now for act 2 ,gonna have a slow drive down looking forward to ot now and hoping for some much needed heat and sun

Not seen the forcast then :?

caledonian1

willy b wrote:

mitchventoux wrote:

just leaving now for act 2 ,gonna have a slow drive down looking forward to ot now and hoping for some much needed heat and sun

Not seen the forcast then :?

Forecast is looking pretty good....around 21c with some showers and even wee breese at our backs most of the way. I would prefer it a bit cooler than that but cant ask for much more. Training has all been done in long sleeves this year with the temp very rarely getting over 12C.....even right now my golf is off again tonight due to the rain (incredible how many times thathas happened)

Packing up my bike now...no need to do any miles before Saturday I dont think. Very apprensive as its my first Etape but been doing 220-250 miles per week for a couple of months now and hope the 125 miler and 115 milers stand me in good stead......no real idea what to expect with the mountains as they far surpass anything i have trained on (Lecht, Cairn O Mount, Glenshee etc)

Smirf

that does seem a really poor starter rate vs actual number of people registered.

Thought my ride was up 1km up the Madelaine as my chain came off and jammed between by frame and small chain ring, but with a mate we eventually managed to use brute force and release it, whilst not snapping the chain! that was a close call

Glandon was OK, but agree with most comments, those last 4 kms were brutal. The last climb was the hardest at the start as the heat cranked up (35c according to my Garmin), and the climb had few corners so you could see the unrelenting-ness! the little village with 10km to go was a blessing with the fountain.

Managed 8.55 all in, with an hour of stops for food and photos. Had a cracking day though, climbing went well, descending was average but I don't think I will ever be brave enough like some of those there.

Can't wait until next year!

Good luck for those doing Acte 2

el_vino

Finished my first Etape in 8 hrs 42 mins so very very happy. It was my best day ever on the bike. Rode within myself all day using a HR monitor and then went for it on the last climb. We were based near the town of La Chambre close to the finish and on the route. I didnt even know the place existed amazing place to be based for a cycling holiday. loads of Tour climbs within reach at both sides of the Maurienne Valley.
EV

davidof

[quote="El Vino"We were based near the town of La Chambre close to the finish and on the route.
EV[/quote]

Yeah la Chambre is a pleasant little town, better than St Jean. Did you do the "mille lacets" road with the crazy hairpins just up the valley?

ck99

My 1st Etape and did it in 9h 56 mins. A great experience. 2 years ago, when I bought my first road bike, the LBS said to remember 3 things "Get Fit. Lose Weight. Get a decent bike". Having said yes to a mate to do the etape whilst we were still both 49, I heeded the LBS advice and trained for 8 months, lost 20 lbs and treated myself to a Canyon SLX 8. I did the Dragon & White Rose this year, but this was at a different level, especially given the heat. The advice given on this Forum to be self sufficient re nutrition was excellent, though next time I will refill my water bottles at the village fountains rather than at the scrum that was the Feed Stations.

Smirf

out of interest, are there any silver / gold medal times anywhere?

js14

Congratulations to all those who made it.

The broom wagon caught up with me a quarter of the way up the ascent of the Glandon. I had already been overtaken by the end-of-course car at about 4 or 5 km before the the Col de la Madeleine, only arriving at the top at 11:15am after 2h 50 min of climbing, thirty minutes too late. I was surprised I didn't get stopped, so I escaped down to La Chambre and then headed round to start the Glandon. In all I managed half the Etape distance and 2500m of climbing in 5 hours before an official strongly suggested that I give up and wait for the bus.

I am a bit puzzled how some people managed to record times of well over 11 hours. I thought the last time to get to La Toussuire was 6pm, so even starting at 7am you would only have 11 hours maximum. Mind you the bus took over 7 hours to get to the finish and I finally arrived at 8:15 pm; I would have been quicker cycling there.

Obviously not as fit as the rest of you: I need to improve from climbing in a 34/28 gear combination at 9 or 10 km/h to a 34/24 if I want to be in with a hope next year.

t5nel

JS14 wrote:

Congratulations to all those who made it.

The broom wagon caught up with me a quarter of the way up the ascent of the Glandon. I had already been overtaken by the end-of-course car at about 4km before the the Col de la Madeleine, only arriving at the top at 11:15am after 2h 50 min of climbing, thirty minutes too late. I was surprised I didn't get stopped, so I escaped down to La Chambre and then headed round to start the Glandon. In all I managed half the Etape distance and 2500m of climbing in 5 hours before an official strongly suggested that I give up and wait for the bus.

I am a bit puzzled how some people managed to record times of well over 11 hours. I thought the last time to get to La Toussuire was 6pm, so even starting at 7am you would only have 11 hours maximum. Mind you the bus took over 7 hours to get to the finish and I finally arrived at 8:15 pm; I would have been quicker cycling there.

Obviously not as fit as the rest of you: I need to improve from climbing in a 34/28 gear combination at 9 or 10 km/h to a 34/24 if I want to be in with a hope next year.

Many of my colleagues came in after the official time. They basically disregarded the advice as they felt they could finish albeit slowly. The slowest came in over 12hrs.

I disagree about your gear statement though. I spent the vast majority of the Madeleine climb in 34/28 and climbed it in ~ 1:53. Obviously I was going faster than you and therefore spinning faster. Just get fitter/lose a bit more weight etc. as what it really comes down to is the power you can put out for ~ 2hrs 3 times. The 28 was a godsend on the final climb!

Armoredinca

JS14 wrote:

Congratulations to all those who made it.

The broom wagon caught up with me a quarter of the way up the ascent of the Glandon. I had already been overtaken by the end-of-course car at about 4 or 5 km before the the Col de la Madeleine, only arriving at the top at 11:15am after 2h 50 min of climbing, thirty minutes too late. I was surprised I didn't get stopped, so I escaped down to La Chambre and then headed round to start the Glandon. In all I managed half the Etape distance and 2500m of climbing in 5 hours before an official strongly suggested that I give up and wait for the bus.

I am a bit puzzled how some people managed to record times of well over 11 hours. I thought the last time to get to La Toussuire was 6pm, so even starting at 7am you would only have 11 hours maximum. Mind you the bus took over 7 hours to get to the finish and I finally arrived at 8:15 pm; I would have been quicker cycling there.

Obviously not as fit as the rest of you: I need to improve from climbing in a 34/28 gear combination at 9 or 10 km/h to a 34/24 if I want to be in with a hope next year.

You should have stuck it out as 75 finishers came in after 12 hrs with the slowest time being over 18hrs!

el_vino

t5nel wrote:

JS14 wrote:

I disagree about your gear statement though. I spent the vast majority of the Madeleine climb in 34/28 and climbed it in ~ 1:53. Obviously I was going faster than you and therefore spinning faster. Just get fitter/lose a bit more weight etc. as what it really comes down to is the power you can put out for ~ 2hrs 3 times. The 28 was a godsend on the final climb!

I'm another one who spent a large chunk of time in the 34/28 gear, it is an absolute godsend. It meant I never really needed to get out of the saddle except for a little stretch which I think saves energy at least on the 6-9% gradients which we had for most of the time. Weight is a huge issue, I am no faster (on the flat) than I was last year but am over 10kg lighter. On the Madeleine alone this was probably the difference between been caught by the broom or not,

t5nel wrote:

JS14 wrote:

Yeah la Chambre is a pleasant little town, better than St Jean. Did you do the "mille lacets" road with the crazy hairpins just up the valley?

Only there for the weekend so didn't find this one, only thing I did was the Col Du Grand Cucheron and half the Madeleine before the event itself.

js14

t5nel wrote:

I disagree about your gear statement though. I spent the vast majority of the Madeleine climb in 34/28 and climbed it in ~ 1:53. Obviously I was going faster than you and therefore spinning faster. Just get fitter/lose a bit more weight etc. as what it really comes down to is the power you can put out for ~ 2hrs 3 times. The 28 was a godsend on the final climb!

I did a quick calculation based on the estimated all up weight of me (87kg) plus shoes and clothing, an 8kg bike, plus water, food, spare tubes and tools, which comes to 100kg. I estimate it takes 200W to lift this mass up an 8% gradient at 9km/h (a vertical speed of 20 cm/s), not including any losses in the transmission and rolling resistance. Now to get up the Madeleine in 2 hours, I would need to average just over 12km/h (spinning faster as t5nel points out), which means about 270W is required just to lift the same mass vertically at 27 cm/s. Losing a couple of kilos will help even though my BMI is already in the normal range but I still need to increase power output by over 25%. Better get out training right away. :!:

VeloPeloton

Mondovelo passing Saint-Savin this morning. This is at the back of the race, the broom wagon was along a few minutes later. This rider was trying hard, with 110km to go across Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde, I hope he makes it, but I don't fancy his chances.



On the other hand, these two seem unnecessarily happy about their situation. It's 12:25, they have completed 85km in 05:25, still have 110km with 3000m of climbing to go, the Col du Tourmalet is right in front of them and the Broom Wagon was 10 minutes behind. Will they make it to Luchon in time? I don't think so.


Working together to stay ahead of the broom.

mattpage

Etape Act 2:

Pretty miserable day out there today, although I don't think I will be alone in saying the conditions suited. Us Brits are used to cold, wet, grey riding.

Even though it was longer and I expected it to be harder I found today easier than either Act 1 or the Marmotte. Maybe the weather played a part as the other two were pretty hot. Tourmalet aside I didn't find the climbs that hard, the Aubisque is the easiest HC climb I've ever done, the Aspin should really be a 2nd cat as its only really 5km. The Peryrsoude was tough but only because my legs were getting tired and again only about 8km of real climbing.

The Tourmalet however, well it chewed me up and spat me out. I was going well until then and just didn't have the legs I hoped I would. Not being able to see more then 10m in front didn't help but the gradient seemed relentless and I was very glad to reach the top! Descents were fun once the cloud base cleared, until then it was just a bit frustrating. I'll have to come back to the Pyrenees as I didn't get a single view and I've heard they are pretty special.

7hrs 18min for me. I was told 35th over the finish line, but don't have the official results yet.

Boleynboy

t5nel wrote:

4422 finishers ~ 5688 starters

About 3300 finished inside the 'time limit' I think

Figures from here
http://www.aso.fr/massevents/resultats/ ... a1&id=6013

just change the id number on the end to your own bib to get your PDF results

If only 5688 started, the race numbers obviously had no relevance to the number of riders?
I saw plenty of numbers in the high 8000's, and guessed that was how many had actually started.
When I saw that only 4422 had finished i presumed that nearly 50% of the field did not finish, and talking to other riders in my campsite I was not the only one who thought that. Also, the broom wagon and coaches were completely overwhelmed with riders too slow or unable to finish, with many riders waiting upto 3 hours to be picked up on the side of the road. If only 5688 started, did over 2000 riders fail to start, or is the ASO being economical with the truth so as not to put off potential entrants for future events who would be wary of entering an event with such a large number of non-finishers(or not) depending who you believe?
As for me, I finished in 11.30, way over the cut off time, but there were over 300 riders behind me who still got their medal. I think the organisers totally underestimated how tough the course was going to be for many of the entrants, and they were overwhelmed by non- finishers and slow riders, which meant the cut off times went out the window. They also did not have enough coaches to pick people up, and that is why riders were waiting for so long on the side of the road after giving up. This could all be fairly embarrassing for ASO, and that is why I do not believe the figures.
As for me, it was the toughest event I have ever ridden, it made last year seem easy(which it wasn't), and to be honest i cannot say it was the most enjoyable experience of my cycling life, it was just too much of a slog for me.
I'm really proud I finished, and I did not walk up any of the climbs, but the amount of training I did was obviously not enough (and I did a lot), and I cannot dedicate any more time to training so I think my experience with the etape is done.
Well done to all the riders on here with sub 10 hour times, on that course they are fantastic times!

overgeared

A few etape du tour stats from the last 4 editions for those who like that kind of thing...

http://www.cyclingpowermodels.com/EtapeDuTourGoals.aspx

canoas

I've only experienced worse conditions in a European sportive 2010 in the Dolomites (Grandfondo Sportful), that was snowing! and heavy rain the whole way!

A real pity I couldn't see what the view was like from d'Aubisque or Tourmalet I finished in the top 500 overall, only 3829 finished!

Yeah it was quiet hard, thought the Tourmalet is overrated. Passo Gavia or Mount Ventoux are harder climbs, similar length. I am very surprised I didn't see any crashes and only a handful of punctures with the rain & mist was very hard to see 100 feet in front of you on the decents. Thought Col de Peyresourde was a tough climb, if its hot Wednesday with no shade that will be a killer and could see the likes of Nibali try an attack, other climbs won't worry Wiggins, Peyrespurde decent was fantastic. Overall, I enjoyed myself and thought crowd, food stations.....just so well organised as my first Etape and I heard bad stories from the past....will I do another Etape for sure, depends on the course.