La marmotte

[lanternrouge]

Anyone on this forum doing the marmotte this year? Maybe you have done it in the past?
I have entered after a red wine session gave a little too much dutch courage and frankly I am starting to wonder if I am mad!
Any advice gratefully received.

 

[Race Radio]

Anyone on this forum doing the marmotte this year? Maybe you have done it in the past?
I have entered after a red wine session gave a little too much dutch courage and frankly I am starting to wonder if I am mad!
Any advice gratefully received.

I have done it a couple times. Yes, it is hard.

I could talk all day on it but the main thing is to pace yourself with a HR monitor or SRM and get a compact crank

 

[SoNiK4]

I have done it a couple times. Yes, it is hard.

I could talk all day on it but the main thing is to pace yourself with a HR monitor or SRM and get a compact crank

I did it in 2008, yes it's tough. Agree with pacing yourself and using a HRM and a compact. Also have a 12-27 or 28 cassette.

The Galibier is a b!tch, but there's a very long descent before Alpe D'Huez.... use the descent to recover as best you can. Chasing other riders and hammering on the descent came back to haunt me big time on Alpe D'Huez (cramping). Good luck.

 

[Race Radio]

I did it in 2008, yes it's tough. Agree with pacing yourself and using a HRM and a compact. Also have a 12-27 or 28 cassette.

The Galibier is a b!tch, but there's a very long descent before Alpe D'Huez.... use the descent to recover as best you can. Chasing other riders and hammering on the descent came back to haunt me big time on Alpe D'Huez (cramping). Good luck.

Agreed. I did it with a 34x25 but if went today I would have a 27. No shame at the marmotte.

It is such a roll of the dice. One year i felt great the entire time, got the gold time by 40 minutes, all good. The next year I was walking up the Alp.

A key training tip is to spend as much time at LT as possible. Find the largest climb you can close by and climb.

 

[lanternrouge]

Thanks for replies guys. I have indeed invested in a 27 tooth cassette and use a compact anyway. Got my weight down to 63kg and have not lost any power, in fact I am now stronger than I have ever been. That may be a relection on my previous condition though

 

[Le breton]

Anyone on this forum doing the marmotte this year? Maybe you have done it in the past?
I have entered after a red wine session gave a little too much dutch courage and frankly I am starting to wonder if I am mad!
Any advice gratefully received.

I have done it in 83-4-6-7-8-9
1991-3 (gave up 5km from top, late for appointment)-5-8-9(stopped B d'O, feeling bad)
2000-01-03-05

In 83-4 I used 42:25 as lowest gear.
From 86 to 99 (more or less) I used 36:21
After that it was 36:25.

In 83 did it when my longest training ride had been only about 120 km with 2500m uphill. Definitely not enough but wanted to do it although I had had no time to train properly).
In 84 supertrained, (6000km?) could have done 2 in a row (not joking).
After 84 I only entered it if I had managed at least 7 rides 7h long or more before Marmotte (preferably with losts of climbs).

Always hard, except maybe in 1988 (because I had another hard race a week later and didn't go all out, a mistake with hindsight, it would certainly have been my best Marmotte ever).

When trying to place well one big difficulty is finding water without losing time, don't count on the Dutch to pass water to you, they run parallel organizations and it's their mountain world championship.

Since 2005 the course has been modified to include Glandon instead of Croix de Fer, makes it slightly easier. PLUS : the time for Glandon on the North side (going down) is taken out to discourage people from taking chances (one death in 2005, I went by the guy as they were trying to resuscitate him), consequently I might consider doing it again sometime, maybe for my 80th birthday.

In the early years I never had any problems, always well-placed, but as I slowed down I saw more and more cyclists with terrible bike-handling skills. I didn't mind if they put themselves at risk, but resented that they did put me at risk as well.

Anyway, if you are not properly trained, take it easy, stop at all the food stops, drink a lot, don't start like it's all downhill after the 1st pass. Well, I would even say : bring a camera and stop for pictures.

Take it real easy between Galibier and Bourg d'Oisans.

In 91 I did it with HRM for the first time, that really was a big help as I knew what HR not to go over.

 

[Le breton]

Anyone on this forum doing the marmotte this year? Maybe you have done it in the past?
I have entered after a red wine session gave a little too much dutch courage and frankly I am starting to wonder if I am mad!
Any advice gratefully received.

I have done it in 83-4-6-7-8-9
1991-3 (gave up 5km from top, late for appointment)-5-8-9(stopped B d'O, feeling bad)
2000-01-03-05

In 83-4 I used 42:25 as lowest gear.
From 86 to 99 (more or less) I used 36:21
After that it was 36:25.

In 83 did it when my longest training ride had been only about 120 km with 2500m uphill. Definitely not enough but wanted to do it although I had had no time to train properly).
In 84 supertrained, (6000km?) could have done 2 in a row (not joking).
After 84 I only entered it if I had managed at least 7 rides 7h long or more before Marmotte (preferably with losts of climbs).

Always hard, except maybe in 1988 (because I had another hard race a week later and didn't go all out, a mistake with hindsight, it would certainly have been my best Marmotte ever).

When trying to place well one big difficulty is finding water without losing time, don't count on the Dutch to pass water to you, they run parallel organizations and it's their mountain world championship.

Since 2005 the course has been modified to include Glandon instead of Croix de Fer, makes it slightly easier. PLUS : the time for Glandon on the North side (going down) is taken out to discourage people from taking chances (one death in 2005, I went by the guy as they were trying to resuscitate him), consequently I might consider doing it again sometime, maybe for my 80th birthday.

At the beginning I never had any problems, always well-placed, but as I slowed down I saw more and more cyclists with terrible bike-handling skills. I didn't mind if they put themselves at risk, but resented that they did put me at risk as well.

Anyway, if you are not properly trained, take it easy, stop at all the food stops, drink a lot, don't start like it's all downhill after the 1st pass. Well, I would even say : bring a camera and stop for pictures.

Take it real easy between Galibier and Bourg d'Oisans.

In 91 I did it with HRM for the first time, that really was a big help as I knew what HR not to go over.

 

[tofino]

More feedback

Saw the post and look into the ride, something to aim for 2012. I'd be interested in how people planned out the whole adventure besides all the training miles. Arrival, hotels, post finish what happens, etc. My French reading is not the best so some english language info would be helpful.

 

[Race Radio]

Saw the post and look into the ride, something to aim for 2012. I'd be interested in how people planned out the whole adventure besides all the training miles. Arrival, hotels, post finish what happens, etc. My French reading is not the best so some english language info would be helpful.

I try to make a week of it. We ride the Vaujany first, which is the Sunday before. We rented an apartment here each time. http://laperledeloisans.online.fr/ great place. There are cheaper places around though.

You can register for both races here. http://www.sportcommunication.com/
Just make sure you get the medical certificate before you go

Usually on Tuesday or Wednesday we do we do a recon ride, descend the Croix de Fer, across the valley, up the Telegraph/Galibier, and descend. This will give you a good view for the key parts of the course. Of course it helps if you have a person that can drop you off on the top of the Glandon and Bourg d'orsians.

Morning of the race we get dropped off or park by the swimming pool. This is good after the race you can descend down the Alp, take a shower at the pool, and head out of town.

Don't underestimate it, La Marmotte is hard. Anytime you are doing over 16,000 feet in a day the chances are of a bad day are large. You might also think of doing the Maratona in Italy. For me it is the better race.

 

[Winterfold]

The stigma about using low gears has had its day - which is great for us old guys' knees.

The SRAM Pro Tour* teams are using 36:32 now on the real steep stuff and epic queen stages - having the option of spinning is just a better way of riding. If you feel macho - then just dont use the low gear, but its worth having up your sleeve...

*Dave Millar uses the funny shape chainset which you cant get compact for, so he uses a XX MTb cassette on the back - 36 tooth - so he has 38:36 or 42:36.

I am getting a 13:29 for my trip in the Summer and do not expect to have the pi55 taken - praise the lord

 

[Race Radio]

One thing I have found success with is using smaller gears during training. It is hard to find 8-10% climbs near were I live. 5-7% is more the norm. I usually train with a 39x25 then switch to the 34x25 when I go over.

I know so many guys who are switching to what used to be considered crazy combo's. One of the guys I ride with often, who does around 7 hours in le Marmotte, now uses a 34x29.

 

[Matteo]

I'm doing it this year. Have ridden it once before, in 2002, in sh#t weather. Hoping for better weather this time and using a more sensible 34x27 instead of the way too big 39x25 I used then.

 

[lanternrouge]

Saw the post and look into the ride, something to aim for 2012. I'd be interested in how people planned out the whole adventure besides all the training miles. Arrival, hotels, post finish what happens, etc. My French reading is not the best so some english language info would be helpful.

Hi in reply to your questions i did the following.

I entered as soon as the entries opened back in december, you have to be quite quick as it soon sells out and it costs about 40 euros. You do need a doctor to sign a form but you can produce this at registration, my doctor kindly signed it for free!

No hotels for me I have booked a campsite in bourg oisans called la piscine. I am planning on getting there on tuesday for a few days of relaxing, getting over the 14 hour drive and maybe a few rides like climbing the alpe etc. The event itself on saturday then will take a day to recover (there is a time trial up the alpe on sunday if you are so inclined) and then drive back on monday.

Logistically the marmotte is easier than the etape as it starts and finishes in the same place and is far easier/cheaper to get an entry, although it is a more taxing event.

Obviously I will know more in a few weeks but if you are interested I will be able to tell you much more!

 

[tofino]

So how were those climbs?

So any stories to tell?

Thanks for the info about the start/finish which makes things much easier to plan.

Hi in reply to your questions i did the following.

I entered as soon as the entries opened back in december, you have to be quite quick as it soon sells out and it costs about 40 euros. You do need a doctor to sign a form but you can produce this at registration, my doctor kindly signed it for free!

No hotels for me I have booked a campsite in bourg oisans called la piscine. I am planning on getting there on tuesday for a few days of relaxing, getting over the 14 hour drive and maybe a few rides like climbing the alpe etc. The event itself on saturday then will take a day to recover (there is a time trial up the alpe on sunday if you are so inclined) and then drive back on monday.

Logistically the marmotte is easier than the etape as it starts and finishes in the same place and is far easier/cheaper to get an entry, although it is a more taxing event.

Obviously I will know more in a few weeks but if you are interested I will be able to tell you much more!

 

[Péviste]

I did it in 2005 (was a minute behind the guy who unfortunately crashed and was killed on the descent of the Glandon and like Le Breton saw the attempted resucitation) and 2007. In 2007 I finished in 7hrs 38 with a 34:25 and 6,000km in my legs since January. Like everyone has said, take it easy at the start (you will see some crazy stuff) and be prepared mentally. Strangely, both times I found the Telegraph and then the false flat between the bottom of the Telegraph and the start of the Galibier the worst - purely a mental thing I'm sure. I didn't see too much crappy bike handling but the road tunnels on the way to Alpe d'Huez are a little scary and some of the guys I was with took some mad risks to gain themselves 2 minutes. The Alpe is tough after the previous climbs and even if you have ridden it before, it will feel different. Again, prepare mentally for that!

But at the end of the day, if you pace yourself, you will probably be ok. I was enjoying my dessert, having waited for my mates, gone back to the hotel, showered and eaten dinner when I saw the last rider coming in ))) He had a huge smile on his face and that said it all - unless you are going to be top 100, you may as well enjoy it first and worry about the time later.