Well apart from feeling a tad drowsy, amazingly i feel fine. No aches or pains only mental scars which are healing as each hour passes
This ride messes with your mind. The heat on Telegraph was outrageous. People were just getting off to sit in the shade and cool off.
Galibier is Lord of the Rings territory. From this side you can see most of the climb which goes on and on and on. i cracked with 10km to go and had to get off sit in the shade and enjoy the view for 10mins. Did the same with 4 km to go apart from by this time it was cloudy and cooler with the altitude. With 2 ramps left the gods clapped their hands on the other side of the very and a gentle drizzle commenced.
Great descent apart from the lack of lights in the tunnels which causes a few anxious moments as you try to avoid bad road surface.
The final ascent - Alpe D'uez. 12 km long. Hit the first 3 turns well and thought i was going to make it but with 1000m of vertical left someone turned the battery off. From there on up it was a mind bending challenge to make each hairpin. After sticking my head under the water stop at La Garde and muttering lots, sitting on the side of the road 3 times at various intervals i made it. Bizarrely i managed to sprint uphill for what i thought was the line. There was a big banner saying finish on it which i went for after having a damn good ding dong with a stocky Belgie who was not happy with my late surge past him. Unfortunately just after the banner was a cruel sign indicating "arrive 1Km". Whoever dreamt this wheeze up needs a good talking too!
The stats - Total ride time 10:54. Ave speed 14.53kph. Max heart rate only 177 out of 203 which i found bizarre. Clearly i wasnt trying hard enough!
Next year Nove Colli. This epic ride has 4000m of climbing as opposite to 5180m and rather than finishing up an alpe has a 30km descent to the seaside. I want to go to the seaside....
Comments
This ride messes with your mind. The heat on Telegraph was outrageous. People were just getting off to sit in the shade and cool off.
Galibier is Lord of the Rings territory. From this side you can see most of the climb which goes on and on and on. i cracked with 10km to go and had to get off sit in the shade and enjoy the view for 10mins. Did the same with 4 km to go apart from by this time it was cloudy and cooler with the altitude. With 2 ramps left the gods clapped their hands on the other side of the very and a gentle drizzle commenced.
Great descent apart from the lack of lights in the tunnels which causes a few anxious moments as you try to avoid bad road surface.
The final ascent - Alpe D'uez. 12 km long. Hit the first 3 turns well and thought i was going to make it but with 1000m of vertical left someone turned the battery off. From there on up it was a mind bending challenge to make each hairpin. After sticking my head under the water stop at La Garde and muttering lots, sitting on the side of the road 3 times at various intervals i made it. Bizarrely i managed to sprint uphill for what i thought was the line. There was a big banner saying finish on it which i went for after having a damn good ding dong with a stocky Belgie who was not happy with my late surge past him. Unfortunately just after the banner was a cruel sign indicating "arrive 1Km". Whoever dreamt this wheeze up needs a good talking too!
The stats - Total ride time 10:54. Ave speed 14.53kph. Max heart rate only 177 out of 203 which i found bizarre. Clearly i wasnt trying hard enough!
Next year Nove Colli. This epic ride has 4000m of climbing as opposite to 5180m and rather than finishing up an alpe has a 30km descent to the seaside. I want to go to the seaside....