Maratona dles Dolomites 2013

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  • Rich.H
    Rich.H Posts: 443
    Despite all the nervous energy wasted worrying about the weather, as mentioned above, conditions (for us Brits at least) were pretty much ideal, particularly after lasts years scorching temperatures. The mountains looked stunning today with the snow cover.

    I improved on last year by a massive 4 mins! I was pleased with my time on the Giau, where my time ranked me much higher than my overall finishing position.

    This was my 19 year old sons first European Sportive and he did rather well - ranked 287th overall. Helps to be so young and under 60kgs I guess......

    I will definitely be back again at some point in the future

    Rich
  • airwise
    airwise Posts: 248
    Lovely day out as ever. The Maratona really is the finest one day event in Europe IME and shows up the likes of the Marmotte and Etape for what they really are. Everyone should get to enjoy it once. :)

    Negatives were few but the traffic up until the end of the Sella Ronda seemed worse and I was dismayed by the riding of some. I hope Cycling Weekly and the British tour operators will in future drill in some safety guidelines. Sorry for having to highlight the Brits - I am aware they were far from the sole offenders.

    For numerous Brits, I would just say that if you climb at 2w/kg, or descend at 30 kph whilst braking on the hoods, stick to the inside lane. It's both safer and more courteous. It seemed on more than one occasion that some Brits had forgotten that they were riding in Europe where they drive on the right. Just a thought for others really. If you were driving your car slowly, you would not hog the outside lane and prevent people overtaking.

    Rant over. Of course it wasn't just people from the UK but it struck me they made up a fair percentage given their low numbers participating and also made up a lot of the DNF's. A little advice, preparation and guidance would no doubt go a long way to making everyone safer and happier in years to come.


    Finally. Get some colour - red and black (or black and black) is so dull :D

    PS. Rich I think I saw you on the Giau - were you on a Colnago?
  • Rich.H
    Rich.H Posts: 443
    airwise wrote:

    PS. Rich I think I saw you on the Giau - were you on a Colnago?

    Yep - C59 150th Edition :wink:
  • airwise
    airwise Posts: 248
    Ah yes.

    I decided to leave mine in the garage and ride an old Seven but saw a few 150ths en route.

    Well done. Looked like you had put the pedal down on the Giau as I saw you at the top.
  • Rich.H
    Rich.H Posts: 443
    I found the Giau a hard slog, as last year, but slightly more bearable with the cooler temperatures. From the rankings though, it appears I had a reasonable ride up compared with some (1483 overall, 841 for the Giau).

    We are still in La Villa at the moment, before heading down to Briancon for a couple of days and then to Stage 6 of the Tour on Friday. Looks like the Passo Fedaia tomorrow with maybe the Pordoi the "other" way for afters :shock:

    Rich
  • airwise
    airwise Posts: 248
    The Marmolada from Caprile is, for me, harder than the Giau. Last time I did it I came back via the Sella and Gardena but didn't have much left after the Fedaia.

    I think a lot of people blew up on the Giau - I lost count of the number that seemed to be going backwards from about a third of the way up. I just broke the hour for the climb and was really going at easy endurance pace from bottom to top. Maybe saved too much for the remainder of the ride but it was nice and comfortable.

    Ended up 1402nd and 200th in age group so we were very similar - surprised I only saw you the once.

    I'm leaving in the morning for Alpe d'Huez - Marmotte weekend coming up. Not a patch on the Maratona mind.
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,941
    The Fedaia is harder than the Giau imo. There's a chunk that is just a dead straight bit of road and it's super steep. No hairpins for respite. Hard stuff. Lovely view from the top though with a smashing lake to go past on the way down. You can also take a slight detour at the bottom that takes you through a revine rather than the main road. Really pretty, with a beautiful waterfall.
  • Rich.H
    Rich.H Posts: 443
    Sounds like we took the easier side from Canazei then :oops: a nice climb though and a fun descent back down

    We didnt have too long as we wanted to arrive in Briancon at a reasonable time so just did a quick spin up to the lake and back down again. Glad we did it though as the scenary is spectactular. Will need to come back again to take on the other side

    We miss the Dolomites already but its the Col d'I'zoard tomorrow - a new one for us

    Rich

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