Alpe d'Huez Beginner

kingdav

PMs seem to be getting stuck in the outbox. I'll keep trying though.

daniel_b

kingdav wrote:

PMs seem to be getting stuck in the outbox. I'll keep trying though.

They sit in your outbox until they are read by the recipient matey, then they move to sent.

kingdav

Thanks Daniel and others who messaged to let me know that PM detail. We're in touch and arranging to hand the bits over.

Yanis Nayu

I’ve done Alpe d’Huez, race fit and around 12 and a half stone, with 36 x 28 and found it a bit of a grind. If you’re new to cycling and heavier than me I would definitely change the gearing. The 10 per cent sections are long.

keezx

briantrumpet wrote:

Yup, change the chainring to 34,

Not possible on a classic double chainset, 38 is the smallest.
So a complete new crankset is the least damage.

wotnoshoeseh

Keezx wrote:

briantrumpet wrote:

Yup, change the chainring to 34,

Not possible on a classic double chainset, 38 is the smallest.
So a complete new crankset is the least damage.

Top man KingDav - he has it in hand, with new crankset, derailleurs and shifters too if required/desired.

Looking forward to seeing the photo!!

And as for the OP - good luck with the challenge!! Top job to complete it.

lcoh

Thanks WNSE. Kingdave is indeed a top man and I collected on Saturday and hopefully fit in the next week or so. Feeling a tad more confident about this task but will do it for a charity; some really helpful and inspirational posts and PMs from lots is people. I’ll keep you all informed! Max

fluergen1

Here's a nice little write up. You've gotten plenty of good advice above, notable - once again - in this article is that even the lady's hired guide runs a 32 in the back in the Alps.

https://www.fundamentalvelo.com/2016/10 ... -the-alps/

aberdeen_lune

Nice write up that. I’m staying at that B&B for the Marmotte in July. Hopefully my 36 x 28 lowest gear will get me up the Alpe after 100 miles on the saddle. I thought it was less than an hours climb I’m worried now.

milemuncher1

Alpe d’Huez as a beginner, on a Carrera, with a 52-36 up front, and a 13-26 at the back, you say? I’m glad you say you like a ‘challenge’ as that set up would be hard work for someone who had been riding for a while. If you want to stay with the Carrera, that’s fine, but I would go for a 50-34 Chainset, and a cassette with a 30 or ( more ) tooth largest cassette sprocket. If you go for a big sprocket, you’ll also have to ensure that your drivetrain is capable of accommodating it. This explained in the second post here.

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/ques ... derailleur

Quite nicely. I’ve ridden Alpe d’Huez, a couple of times. I don’t particularly like big long climbs, so I went with a 50-34 Chainset, and 11-32 11 speed cassette. It was okay with that. The biggest issue I had with that climb, was the length of it, more than any particular issues with the gradient per se. Good luck with it though.

singleton

It's a big old climb.
There's not really any way to prepare for 75+ minutes of riding up a big hill, other than to spend 75+ minutes riding up a big hill.
A lot of it is mental as the first bit is perhaps amongst the worst. When I did it, I was about 2 or 3 hairpins in before the little voice started saying that I wasn't going to make it.

Brakeless

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Alpe d’Huez as a beginner, on a Carrera, with a 52-36 up front, and a 13-26 at the back, you say? I’m glad you say you like a ‘challenge’ as that set up would be hard work for someone who had been riding for a while. If you want to stay with the Carrera, that’s fine, but I would go for a 50-34 Chainset, and a cassette with a 30 or ( more ) tooth largest cassette sprocket. If you go for a big sprocket, you’ll also have to ensure that your drivetrain is capable of accommodating it. This explained in the second post here.

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/ques ... derailleur

Quite nicely. I’ve ridden Alpe d’Huez, a couple of times. I don’t particularly like big long climbs, so I went with a 50-34 Chainset, and 11-32 11 speed cassette. It was okay with that. The biggest issue I had with that climb, was the length of it, more than any particular issues with the gradient per se. Good luck with it though.

Leave it out liarmuncher you have never ridden up Alp d'Heuz.

fluergen1

Aberdeen_lune wrote:

Nice write up that. I’m staying at that B&B for the Marmotte in July. Hopefully my 36 x 28 lowest gear will get me up the Alpe after 100 miles on the saddle. I thought it was less than an hours climb I’m worried now.

If you clicked through to the next post at the end of that one, it looks like she decided to the Marmotte the next year (last year) and wrote several posts about it. I don't see that she wrote about her actual experience at the race, though. Maybe you should ask her.

EDIT: Looking at it now, I see the reference to her experienced guide's preference for a 32 in the back isn't in the link I provided but rather in a later one about prepping for Marmotte.

https://www.fundamentalvelo.com/2016/11 ... -marmotte/

thegreatdivide

Milemuncher1 wrote:

I’ve ridden Alpe d’Huez, a couple of times.

Actual bollo*ks.

davidof

LCoH wrote:

My bike is a second-hande Carrera TdF (which I really like) but it's more of a struggle on the hills. The current gears are 52/39 on the front cog and 26/13 on the rear cassette.

I would try and fit a x28 on the back and, erm, that's it.

bendertherobot

Compact and 28 is fine. It's quite long, but doable.

I'm going compact and 32 mind. But only because I'm doing it as the last part of the Marmotte.

milemuncher1

thegreatdivide wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

I’ve ridden Alpe d’Huez, a couple of times.

Actual bollo*ks.

Oh dear. Has mummy let you at the computer again?

Brakeless

Milemuncher1 wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

I’ve ridden Alpe d’Huez, a couple of times.

Actual bollo*ks.

Oh dear. Has mummy let you at the computer again?

Did your mummy ever tell you that it's bad to tell lies ?

cougie

Tbf MM could have done the Alpe. I've done it a few times but all pre Strava.

Did you get your photo taken riding up MM ?

harry-s

All this talk of Lucca has got me all wistful...
I think I saw one of the best gigs of my life in the square there, an absolutely fantastic venue.
Good luck on your climb OP, it's a tough haul, but you'll most likely enjoy it. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather, and keep some mojo for the descent, you'll be needing a good set of brakes (and eyes).
My advice would most likely be just a confirmation of most of the above, if you're less than 3-3.5 w/kg, then you'll be grateful of at least a 34/28, preferably a 34/32, and the chances are you'll hit that gear on the first ramp, and stay in it for the rest of the climb.

meanredspider

Harry-S wrote:

and the chances are you'll hit that gear on the first ramp, and stay in it for the rest of the climb.

Ha - on my 6th ascent of the Alpe in the day, I was so mentally exhausted that I did the first 3 ramps in my 28 rather than my 30 before I realised.

I trained mostly on the total flatness of N Holland and only ascended the hill once before I did The Six in a test run a few days beforehand to check my pacing. It was probably 4x higher than anything I’d climbed before. Just get as fit as possible and pace yourself. Coming down is far more fun.

milemuncher1

cougie wrote:

Tbf MM could have done the Alpe. I've done it a few times but all pre Strava.

Did you get your photo taken riding up MM ?

Someone was taking photos at the top, and at the hairpins at the start. I was too busy trying to get my heart back in my chest to enquire about who they were though

cougie

That's odd cos they've always given me the business card to collect my pictures at the top ? That's how they made their money.

milemuncher1

cougie wrote:

That's odd cos they've always given me the business card to collect my pictures at the top ? That's how they made their money.

Some of the club I was down there with bought their photos. I’m too tight, this was 1992 and 1994, so I was a skint student. I’d used everything I had to get there

Brakeless

Milemuncher1 wrote:

cougie wrote:

That's odd cos they've always given me the business card to collect my pictures at the top ? That's how they made their money.

Some of the club I was down there with bought their photos. I’m too tight, this was 1992 and 1994, so I was a skint student. I’d used everything I had to get there

So you did on an 11-32 11 speed cassette in 1992 !

They didn’t make 32 cassettes for road bikes or 11 speed groupsets in the nineties.

mercia_man

I think you are onto something there, Brakeless. As well as claiming to have ridden it in 92 or 94 on an 11 speed 11-32 cassette, MM says he was using a 50/34 compact chainset. They didn’t appear until the mid 2000s. I know because I was one of the early adopters, buying a compact to ride the Maratona in 2007.

fenix

If you've done the Alpe then you'd have no fear of climbing British hills.....

thegreatdivide

I was running a second hand DA 7400 in the early 90's - 8 speed. Not the later dual shifter set which would have been a luxury.

svetty

Fenix wrote:

If you've done the Alpe then you'd have no fear of climbing British hills.....

Not necessarily - the Alpe just requires you to sit there for an hour and a bit putting out 180W or so. Doing Hardknott, Rosedale, Trooper Lane etc is waaay harder

milemuncher1

Svetty wrote:

Fenix wrote:

If you've done the Alpe then you'd have no fear of climbing British hills.....

Not necessarily - the Alpe just requires you to sit there for an hour and a bit putting out 180W or so. Doing Hardknott, Rosedale, Trooper Lane etc is waaay harder

Very true. Even the sharp bits of White Down Lane are worse than doing the Alp. Simply because of the evil inclines on the corners. Give me a ( mostly steady ) 13 - 14 Kms than a ‘steppy’ bastard like the Hardknott, Leith, staples, or White Down, any day.