Marmotte 2013

janogorzalek

As far as i know, the road up the Alpe is closed for a few hours in the afternoon, so probably not possible as there are no alternatives!

airwise

It should be possible for someone to drive down the Sarenne and park in Mizoens. Meet you by the barrage or the Les Deux Alp turning, then drive back up the Sarenne an d park in Alpe d'Huez for the finish.

itboffin

We arrived yesterday and it was 33c today however it was 21 and pissing with rain, still managed a healthy 64k and 1700m of climbing in the first 32k went out in gilet and arms warmers and almost exploded in flames at the start of the first climb which incidentally was 11% and stayed that way for 3-4 km at least

Really hard grinding work but the new pb of 91.65km on the descent made up for it and I was being passed :shock:

NUFCrichard

Due to illness we've had a drop out in our group last minute. If anyone wants a place in a hostel in bourg (Gîte La Marmotte de la Meije) between Thursday and Tuesday, pm me. I think they will lose all their money as it stands so maybe a deal can be done.

jn100

Quick query lads for registration on friday you only need grand trophee 2013 bulletin individuel d'inscription form completed and the medical cert right? Where the heck can you get the start number, I have been scrolling sports communication emails and dont seem to have one. When i put in my name i have 266000 number which definitely ain't a start number.

Im guessing info on this is in the forum somewhere just can't find it.

Cheers

itboffin

NUFCrichard wrote:

Due to illness we've had a drop out in our group last minute. If anyone wants a place in a hostel in bourg (Gîte La Marmotte de la Meije) between Thursday and Tuesday, pm me. I think they will lose all their money as it stands so maybe a deal can be done.

Sorry can't help with the spare place but were staying at the same place.

GJTheunisse

jn100 - I received an email (on Jan 24) with the subject 'Marmotte GranFondo / my name n° 26...'. There were three links in there - when I click on one of those links it took me to a page where I had to enter my surname and name and click 'To Seek'. I was then prompted for a password - I think by default it was set to my birthday backwards e.g. 19800713. After clicking through, there was a page with links to PDFs for the confirmation, information and rules for both the marmotte and the grimpee.
I think you can get to the same page by looking for 'Registrations' on the sportscomm website

jn100

really appreciate that gjtheunisse that workd &snap im 1980 too.nice 1 thx again hav a good1!

gavinbay

It will all be down to luck as to whether you get wet or not - warmer temps will bring the chance of thunderstorms later in the day as so often happens here in the summer and they can be very localised.

This morning (08:30) Galibier was blanketed in cloud at around 2300m but as we neared Lautaret cloud dispersed, and was back again circa 15:00, and has now gone again, and no thunderstorms (yet)

I'm hoping for cool temps first thing in the morning for the first climb, then should be dry for first descent, then will be very warm in the valley, I'm at 1400 and temp as I type this is 26 (in the shade), so climb will be hot out in the sun, so a shower might be welcome on the ascent, then just hope it stays dry after Galibier and down.

Took some photos today comparing conditions from when I was up there in April
http://www.anotherharddayattheoffice.co ... -blog.html

MBCaad8

Did anyone get the name of the photographer on AdH this afternoon - not Griffephoto, there was another one?

jsutty

possible www.photobreton.com

airwise

It's a company called Photo Grafik and they have a shop next door but one to Cycles et Sports in Bourg d'Oisans.

Good luck to you all today.

Riding up the Alpe to go to work yesterday afternoon it was 38c between bends 11 and 8. The same today so make sure you get some cold water either at the bottom or La Garde.

manxshred

Well, that was quite a hard day out! How did everyone do?

itboffin

Erm yes that was fairly brutal and our Dutch friends were true to form. Fwiw it was 40c in the valley and 45 on the Alps in the afternoon.

Brutal

janogorzalek

8h49 for me.... couldn't be happier

http://s6.photobucket.com/user/emysjo/m ... 0.jpg.html

shmooster

I did some crazy long time after a friend had a mechanical (stay away from all carbon wheels on the Marmotte kids), and ended up riding the end of Alpe D'Huez in the dark with no timing chip having missed the cutoff. Wasn't really bothered about a good time and there were at least three occasions where I was convinced I couldn't make it so really pleased I did the whole thing.

airwise

The temperatures were brutal this year.

From Valloire to the upper slopes of the Galibier and from Bourg to Huez village it was an inferno and well done to all that got round.

I don't think I've ever seen so many crawling up the Alpe at 7.30 at night. Understandable given the gruelling conditions.

Less understandable was the appalling lack of descending skills on show - possibly the worst you will find anywhere in Europe. It's a shame. People could take twenty minutes off their times for virtually no more effort, and make the event a lot safer, if they just learned how to descend before taking on an Alpine sportive.

notsoblue

shmooster wrote:

I did some crazy long time after a friend had a mechanical (stay away from all carbon wheels on the Marmotte kids), and ended up riding the end of Alpe D'Huez in the dark with no timing chip having missed the cutoff. Wasn't really bothered about a good time and there were at least three occasions where I was convinced I couldn't make it so really pleased I did the whole thing.

You weren't stuck at the bottom of Glandon perchance were you?

topcattim

janogorzalek wrote:

8h49 for me.... couldn't be happier

http://s6.photobucket.com/user/emysjo/m ... 0.jpg.html

Great pic - that's what the Marmotte is all about!

barrybridges

Well, that was brutal. Most definitely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

Rode the Glandon well although the descent was quite hairy - I got cut up by some muppet and ended up having to 'do a Lance' and bunny hop across some grass to avoid what might have otherwise been a nasty accident. Certainly saw 2 or 3 people in neck braces on the way down, being raised into ambulances.

At the base of the Glandon I found myself a bit isolated and spent too much energy trying to chase onto a group in front, ironically to try and conserve energy.

At that point things started to go wrong for me.

Firstly, from previous editions I expected there to be a feed/water stop right at the base of the Telegraphe (on the left side of the road) and I accidentally cycled past the Pont d'Eau a few miles back towards St Jean du Maurienne. So, starting the climb I was pretty much without water.

I did make it up to the top in reasonable time but by the time I'd reached Valloire I was well and truly spent, totally bonked and felt like giving up. My left knee was in pain. I took several breaks up to Plan Lachat and from that point on I rode 1km, walked 1km, until the descent of the Galibier.

After that point I found my strength again, although AdH was absolutely roasting by that time. My garmin says 39.2 as the maximum temperate and I don't think it was that far off - I've never seen so many grown men littering the sides of the road in the shade.

In the end I came home in 10:21 which was pretty fair considering I spent at least an hour of that walking and not actually on my bike. Something to aim for for next time.

jzed

Brutal just about sums it up.

Started way back in the field and struggled to get a rhythm up the Glandon due to the sheer number of cyclists. Bottled the descent due to the number of morons taking too many risks and the sight of people being attended to by medics. Couldn't find a decent group to the Telegraphe, either too fast or too slow. So arrived at the Telegraphe 12 minutes down on my target time and without being too spent, intedning on clawing it back. Then ligaments in my foot flared up and I couldn't put any pressure through the pedal and ended up riding (crawling) on my heel to the feed station at the bottom of the Galibier. 30 minutes rest and pouring water over my foot, and I slowly made it to the top of the Galibier to do the same. Staying at the foot of the Alpe, I was close to packing in. The Alpe was horrendous. Someone said 39 degrees and I was going hot and shivering at the same time, but somehow it seemed to go by quicker than previous years and eventually finished. 2 hours down on last year....

TheStone

My body just stops working in that kind of heat. Struggled around. Spent most of AdH hiding in the shade.
Took over 11 hours in total.

shmooster

notsoblue wrote:

You weren't stuck at the bottom of Glandon perchance were you?

I was indeed. Spent a while descending on foot & establishing there was no chance of spare wheels for my mate before heading off alone. Hit the worst of the heat on the telegraph but was cooler on the galibier. Biggest issue was food as support vans had gone by then (should have been on lautaret and bottom of the Alpe). Ate a lot of cheese.

nevman

Glad I'm not the only one who thought this was a tough one.Never seen so many pushing on either the Telegraph/Galibier.10.18 for me was 5 mins down on previous.happy with that bearing in mind had surgery 5 weeks earlier.Well done all who gave it a go.

Tom Butcher

Pure hell from the Galibier onwards, thought I was going to need medical attention at the finish, thoroughly looking forwards to next year. Finished in 7.33 which I'm pretty happy with. Thankfully we arrived the previous Sunday and had some time to acclimatise to the heat - 300 miles in the week so got to see some of the other local climbs too - Villa Reculas from Huez village (i think) is absolutely stunning and the Sarenne is going to be epic when the pros descend it.

wallace_and_gromit

It was indeed very hot. I'm sure I saw melting tar on the Telegraphe. After a winter/spring/early summer of unrelenting cold in the Peoples' Republic of Yorkshire, I loved the heat, despite being sweatier than the average bear. I drank 10% of my bodyweight on the way round. Praise be to High 5 zero tabs.

I rode as domestique/watercarrier/windbreak for Mrs W&G and like to think I played at least a small part in her gold medal, even though I got it dished out to me up the Alpe.

Interestingly, the midpoint of the finishers this year for time was approx 15 minutes slower than last year. I assume the heat and stronger winds account for this.

itboffin

Well done to everyone who rode this year that was some kind of epic weather to deal with, i like it hot but that was taking the biscuit, i did enjoy sticking my head under the water taps though.

mattpage

I think the weather made it a bit tougher than last year. Couldn't quite stick with the leaders up the Glandon, tried to bridge on the descent but ended up in the second group which is always so pedestrian through the valley.

Struggled on AdH in the heat, 6 min slower despite feeling fitter and setting PB's right the way to Galibier.
Official finish time was 6:20, full time around 6:44.

Did the Grimpée the following morning. Killer! My legs were not happy, but got up in 52min (48 to the Chrono finish).

Heard that someone died after a crash on the Glandon, very sad news. A guy behind me had a tyre blowout in the top 1/3 at ~70kph, pretty scary to think about. Lots of other stories about accidents, ambulances, cows in the road and punctures.

airwise

Tyres blowing out around here seem to be almost exclusively down to carbon clinchers and people dragging the brakes - sadly something many are forced to do on the Glandon as people are descending so poorly all over the road.

Not sure what the answer is really. More of a staggered start might well help reducing the bottle neck at the Glandon. Also introducing a qualification procedure, maybe a maximum time requirement on a preceding event that year like PBP.

Certainly something needs to be done. The slow descenders criticise the decent ones for going too fast and the experienced are put in danger by others slowing unexpectedly and swerving. I thought I would do a complete set of brake pads on the Glandon which would normally last me a season.

angrynortherner

Glad it wasn't just me who thought it was mentally hot - it was fine until the Telegraphe and then it all went wrong after I ran out of water and cramped on the little drag out of Valloire to the feed. In the end I was just happy to finish the thing in one piece, never ever again.

The descending standards are/were appalling, if there was a fatality on the Glandon then I wouldn't be surprised, there was a guy laid in the road with a badly smashed helmet and a lot of blood around as I passed - tried not to look.

The feed stops were comically bad, for the price of the thing and the Powerbar sponsorship you'd think they could have something descent - luckily I took most of my own stuff, but if you didn't you'd have been in massive trouble.