Post La Marmotte - La Grimpee time trial

hatone

Talking of the La Marmotte weekend, is anyone doing the 13 km La Grimpe time trial the day after on the Sunday morning? Apparently you can enter on the weekend of the La Marmotte.

Has anyone done it?

If you have done it, I'm curious to know your thoughts and how you felt, especially after doing the Marmotte..!

lmrt

I've entered to do the "Gimpe" the next day. My understanding is that it's actually a bunch start which will, of course, split to bits straight away anyway. Doing the Marmotte will allow you to say that you've ridden up Alpe d'Huez, whereas the Grimpe will qualify you to say that you've actually raced up the Alpe. Great for bragging rights!

I haven't raced in the Grimpe before but I have done the Marmotte (2006). Two days after the Marmotte the Etape Du Tour came up the Alpe. I rode the Alpe on it's own on that day and I was ten minutes faster than I did the Alpe at the end of the Marmotte. I can't find my times but I was somewhere around 1.15 on the Marmotte and 1.05 doing it fresh(ish).

I think personal times, and difficulty, for the Grimpe will very much depend on 1. What shape you get in to prepare for the Marmotte 2. How you usually recover after a long hard event and 3. How hard you ride the Marmotte (including weather conditions etc). Not forgetting 4. How many recovery beers you have on the night of the Marmotte!!

Given that we'll ride the Grimpe without 95 miles, and 7 to 10 hours, in our legs before hitting the slopes, I'm hopeful that I'll be faster than the day before. Obviously one will be only partially recovered, but I would hope to be five minutes faster than on the Marmotte. We'll see, it should be fun!

Queenofthecols

I did both last year.

You can enter the Grimpe on the day - just turn up at the starting area there's someone sitting under a gazebo sorting the entries. You'll be given a number to put on the front of your bike and an ankle strap with your timing device.

You don't get a specific start time just join the queue and they set you off at 10s intersvals.

Enjoy!

hatone

Thanks for your replies. Very helpful. I'm pretty sure I can squeeze in a 13 km mountain ride on the Sunday....

Queenofthecols - what was your time up the Alpe d'Huez during both events? How much faster were you during the La Grimpee?

WorcsPhil

hatone, I'm not saying our experiences were typical of everyone, but I was one of a group of five of us who rode the Marmotte earlier this year, and three of us got up at 8am and rode the Grimpee the day after. The three who did both events all finished the Marmotte between 9 and 10 hours and our time up the Alpe was around 1 hr 30 mins. However the Grimpee times for all three of us was under 1:10, a 20 minute improvement. Although we were all super knackered, and you just don't want to get up, we all felt surprisingly good the next morning....so much so, all five of us (the other two finally got up!) took a cycle up Col D'Ornon (a 10km climb close to Bourg) on sunday afternoon for a well deserved beer at the bar at the top.

So the Grimpee is well worth doing, and our experience is you'll blast your saturday time...or look at it the other way, the saturday climb is purgatory.

oldhairylegs

If you are in town a few days before, there is also a weekly TT up the Alpe.
Last time it was on Thursday morning, which gave a chance to 'race' up ( ) without the post Marmotte legs on.....

gsk82

i did the marmotte this year for the first time, it was also my first time riding in mountains. i was suprised during the week how well i was recovering from rides, as were the other members on the veloventoux trip. it was probably down to the heat or the altitude.

i didn't do the TT on the sunday because i had a flight to catch, but if i did i'd have expected to knock 10-15minutes off my 1hr 22min climb of the previous day and reckon i could do it in about an hour fresh