Last call for the Etape du Tour 2014
Comments
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Is that even legal in France? I feel for the poor whelps.0
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well, the descent from the tourmalet SUCKED!!0
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Agree on descent.....ambulances everywhere .....thank God I packed the marigolds.....kid you not...best thing to keep fingers warm and no slippage on levers......saw some bloke wheeling Ferrari Colnago up a bit of the Tourmalet...must have been a knackered engine
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MrT wrote:Agree on descent.....ambulances everywhere .....
The cycling industry is a funny business... if you look at motorsport, nobody would dare using a dry tyre in the wet... yet in road cycling where the downhill speed is not dissimilar to that of a motorbike in a bend on the track, there isn't a single race oriented tyre specific for the wet. Some have slightly better credentials than others (4 seasons, Pave'), but no wet specific tyres (softer compound, pattern, bigger volume, works at lower pressure).
It's no wonder so many accidents happen on a descent that I remember as safe as any out thereleft the forum March 20230 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:there isn't a single race oriented tyre specific for the wet.
Yes there is, the Michelin Pro 4 grip is a wet weather specific version of the Pro 4.
http://road.cc/content/review/114022-mi ... grip-tyres
At the end of the day though, you could still come off in the wet, even with a dedicated tire. The key factor is descending within the limits of your ability and not beyond it.0 -
To be fair, lack of grip was low on the list of problems on the Tourmalet descent on Sunday.
Paul0 -
The problem on the Tourmalet was the first stretch of road from the summit to the first hairpin. It was covered in cowshit, and when wet, this became as slippery as ice. I lost my wheel as did many others - not a question of going too fast or not exercising sufficient caution. It was on a straight piece of road before the hairpin, I had hardly started descending and there was no warning - nothing you could do! The rest of the Tourmalet descent after that was grim indeed, but not particularly because of the road but just the driving rain and cold.0
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+3.
god that was an awful descent. i thought armwarmers, full gloves and windproof jacket would be enough insurance- not a bit of it! was frozen stiff when we reached Luz, had to hide in a cafe with a hot choc for 20 mins before my teeth stopped chattering and my whole body stopped shaking! and i'm 15 stone! I thought my blubber would keep me warm...
And it all happened again coming off hautacam, heavens opened right on cue for me! in the circumstances, quite happy with just inside 8 hours 30.
Anyone have specific advice as to how to keep warm and dry-ish in those conditions? short of wearing full ski gear that is.0 -
Layers. Lots of layers.
Similar conditions in 2012 where I only had a jersey, so I had 4 layers on, and was still cold. Rubber gloves also a good call.
Apart from the Tourmalet descent I really enjoyed it though! Especially the Hautacam (oddly enough)0 -
I don't see any way of keeping 'warm and dryish' because whatever you do on the ascent you will be wet. If you then add in more water and 30mph winds while not doing any work at all you are going to get cold. Whatever you do. My heartrate on the descent dropped to 80, which given the stress is quite low.
I used a wind proof base layer. My theory was that if it got properly hot I could simply take it off, otherwise it would keep my core protected. Which is how it worked out. Freezing and extremely uncomfortable, but not dangerously so. Then fortunately there was some sun on the run into the Hautacam and I was able to do some work along the brief flat section and get all the important bits going again. In the end I went the whole way with just adjustment to the arm warmers.
Anyway a fabulous experience overall, and I'm really happy I jumped at the offer from British Cycling at the end of June. Might plan it a bit more thoroughly next year...
Paul0 -
I had a similar experience in 2010, during the Raid Pyrenees... 3 degrees and wet snow at the top and freezing cold on the descent down to St. Marie de Campan (other side). A copy of the Daily Mirror found at the cafe' on the col saved my day, I think.
Was it that cold the other day?left the forum March 20230 -
I did the same, although they'd run out of hot chocolate by the time I got there, had to settle for a (not that hot) coffee. Was loads of people in the "refugee" zone, covered in foil blankets.johnny2names wrote:+3.
god that was an awful descent. i thought armwarmers, full gloves and windproof jacket would be enough insurance- not a bit of it! was frozen stiff when we reached Luz, had to hide in a cafe with a hot choc for 20 mins before my teeth stopped chattering and my whole body stopped shaking! and i'm 15 stone! I thought my blubber would keep me warm...
And it all happened again coming off hautacam, heavens opened right on cue for me! in the circumstances, quite happy with just inside 8 hours 30.
Anyone have specific advice as to how to keep warm and dry-ish in those conditions? short of wearing full ski gear that is.
Thought it might be a tricky day from the start. Was in pen 11, so started quite late and on the first corner of the first descent of the very first hill, was a rider in neck brace prone on the ground with an ambulance in attendance. Saw identical views to this 3 times in the first 10kms!
The Tourmalet climb itself was, fine, but by the time I got to the steep bits in the middle of Hautacam I was shot. Had to nurse my way up to the finish in stages, but so happy to have finished it bearing in mind how many did not.
Went up Port de Bales on Tuesday to watch stage 16, that was a lovely and beautiful climb in perfect weather, but the descent was even better! Awesome day.0 -
My Garmin recorded a min of 8 over the top of the Tourmalet. I think the very wet conditions multiplied the effects a bit.Was it that cold the other day?
Paul0 -
We must have missed the weather warning, had been following forecast for a while and knew it was going to rain but temps looked ok, so headed out in cycle top, and a showerproof.......coldest day I've spent in my life
utterly miserable numb and shaking, but finished....hasn't sunk in yet!!! Well done to all who attempted, it was a viscous day. 0 -
I ended up in Decathlon investing a full 30 euros in a wind proof/waterproof top...didn't fold up the smallest but a life saver...along with a very thick white bin liner and believe it or not a pair of Marigolds under the mitts. Teeth still chattering on the first 10 k down the Tourmalet. Lovely lady tried to convince me to stop to get warm but life was just returning to legs....it was warmer and wanted to get going. All in all agreat experience. funny watching it today on TV...apart from the top..the covered sections and the bottom...it was all a bit of a blur.0
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Well done to all those who completed, it was a tough day! Looking back on it fondly, on the downhill there I wanted to be somehwere else. I didnt feel like the roads were the reason I would crash, but the uncontrollable shaking due to the cold which almost knocked me off my bike! 0 -
The descent off the Tourmalet, as everyone has testified, was grim. I have ridden in some horrendous copnditions in my time but that was the most uncomfortable I have ever been in the saddle.
I stopped at the first village on the descent because I could not feel the brakes anymore because of frozen hands and uncontrollable shaking (and I had gloves, knee warmers, arm warmers and a rain jacket on)!
I took refuge in a tent with plenty of others (I do not think it was there for the etape) and then we were encouraged into what looked like a community hall which was warm, but looked like an emergency triage centre!
Packed with riders in various forms of undress, trying to warm up and stop shaking, wrapped in towels, blankets and emergency foil blankets. It was awful, quite frankly, and I could see my chances of not finishing looming large. I managed to stop shaking enough to call my non-riding friend at the finish and he told me the sun was shining and it was warm in the valley!
That is all I needed to hear, I fought my way out as it was now getting way too packed in the hall, picked my way over a sea of abonded bikes to mine, clipped in and got on with it.
After about another 10 minutes of riding on the edge of control, it began to warm up and the rain finally stopped. I began to pedal again and finally some feeling began to return to my legs and hands.
I made it to the feed station at the base of the Hautocam, sorted myself out and felt okay to crack on up the climb.
The crowds on the lower slopes were great, and the first 2k flew by, then the crowds thinned out, and the rain started again, and it chucked it down all the way to the top!
Coming down was not as bad as the Tourmalet because at least you knew you had finished, but I still rode past a young British girl who had managed to crash on one of the hairpins and looked in a bad way stricken on the road, I hope she was okay and still managed to get her medal?
My fourth Etape, and by far the toughest, it has not put me off but I think I prefer the Alps!0 -
My experience was just the same and same sounding timing as Boleynboy. Geez, scary shivering and saw the same crashes.
Did anyone else see the guy on the Raleigh Chopper? Perhaps I was hallucinating
Everyone experience the disorganisation at the finish 'village'. I got a medal but little else. Were there bike stickers like last year?0 -
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It peeing it down when I got to the bottom, the traffic was gnarly and my lift home wanted to go, so I got my medal and didn't even see what was there!markeknows wrote:My experience was just the same and same sounding timing as Boleynboy. Geez, scary shivering and saw the same crashes.
Did anyone else see the guy on the Raleigh Chopper? Perhaps I was hallucinating
Everyone experience the disorganisation at the finish 'village'. I got a medal but little else. Were there bike stickers like last year?0 -
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willy b wrote:
He was riding for Middleton CC, went past me on the first small climb, Chapeau to the guy whoever he is, under 8 hours on a ten grand race machine would have been a good time in those conditions, on an Chopper it is stunning!0 -
Alex Voake has written up his ride at http://www.sportive.com/2014-etape-du-t ... 014-report and the picture up the Tourmalet gives me some idea of how miserable it must have been.
Interesting to see that the fastest finisher in the Etape was seven minutes slower than the slowest pro in the actual Tour stage. Usually the gap is a bit bigger, isn't it?0 -
JSS wrote:Interesting to see that the fastest finisher in the Etape was seven minutes slower than the slowest pro in the actual Tour stage. Usually the gap is a bit bigger, isn't it?
Hardly surprising, the top end of the Granfondo scene is lawless... people have tested positive for up to 8 banned substances in one sample (the legendary Carmine Stefanile!)... they don't do many checks, hence the scene is dirty as a pile of muckleft the forum March 20230 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:JSS wrote:Interesting to see that the fastest finisher in the Etape was seven minutes slower than the slowest pro in the actual Tour stage. Usually the gap is a bit bigger, isn't it?
Hardly surprising, the top end of the Granfondo scene is lawless... people have tested positive for up to 8 banned substances in one sample (the legendary Carmine Stefanile!)... they don't do many checks, hence the scene is dirty as a pile of muck
Oh now, that's a bit mean.
The front runners at the Etape are Pros, ex-Pros, nearly Pros, soon to be Pros. Jeannie Longo, no less, is a former winner. And they get the Pro treatment, with accompanying cars - no fighting at feedstops for them. The Etape times seemed slow to me but I guess the weather was a major factor.0 -
stanthomas wrote:Oh now, that's a bit mean.
The front runners at the Etape are Pros, ex-Pros, nearly Pros, soon to be Pros. Jeannie Longo, no less, is a former winner. .
Don't know the Etape specifically and which competitive crowd it attracts, but in any Italian/French granfondo race where there is prize money or points to be earned towards prize money, you can be sure the top end of the field is no less doped than Riis was in 1996.left the forum March 20230 -
I know it happens and it's very sad that there are people prepared to go to such extremes for very modest rewards. There was a very revealing article on VeloNews a while back: http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/08/news/in-search-of-relevance-a-cat-3-turns-to-epo-and-hgh_232611.ugo.santalucia wrote:Don't know the Etape specifically and which competitive crowd it attracts, but in any Italian/French granfondo race where there is prize money or points to be earned towards prize money, you can be sure the top end of the field is no less doped than Riis was in 1996.
But many of the top performers at the Etape will be clean. And I think it's mean to dump on events that some of us have spend the last 9 months training for, planning for and targetting personal bests. Fueled only by chocolate cake and tea,0 -
stanthomas wrote:And I think it's mean to dump on events that some of us have spend the last 9 months training for, planning for and targetting personal bests. Fueled only by chocolate cake and tea,
Who is dumping? I am just giving a rational and likely explanation to why the best finishers are only 7 minutes slower than the PRO, in case the original poster wasn't aware of what happens even at that levelleft the forum March 20230
