EC FR06 – Off my arse and into the fire

Today was one of the glamour stages of the camp with the classic climbs of the Toumelet, Luz Ardiden and the Solour. If came in a 180km and had a bit of everything.

I got off my lazy butt and was biking with the guys. With 1 ride over 3hrs since January it’s fair to say I’m not in great shape but I was determined to give today a good crack. The pressure was on as everyone wanted me to give Mike Montgomery a hurry up on the KOM as he’s been kicking butt all camp. My tactic was to start at a good clip and drop as many as possible, consolidate during the middle of the climb and then kick from La Mongie with 3-4km to go to the top. Well the first two part of my plan worked well but not the finish. Mike surged at the at start of the climb and I let him go then surged up to him with Grodo in tow. Mike kept attacking and I rode my pace keeping him at an even distance then Gordo dropped. My HR was sitting at 165 (which is bloody high for me) but I felt OK. This climb is 17km long. At around 10km Gordo came steaming past and he was working very hard. Should I go with him or stick to my pacing, I did my own thing. The gradient was fluctuating from 8%-10.5% (every km there are signs on the side of the road telling you what the gradient is for the next km). Gordo bridged up to Mike and then they stayed at around 75m in front of me. As we approached the ski resort of La Mongie (the Tour often finished there) we went under a number of avalanche bridges which was cool. I passed a guy in a polka dots jersey and we gave each other a glace. Our expressions said a thousand words “this was one long, hard climb”. About 10mins later as I rolled into La Mongie the wheels all of a sudden fell completely off. I was gone for all money and every pedal stroke on my 39:28 was killing me. I quickly made the decision that I was now simply aiming to get to the top. As I went around a few switch backs I had a good look behind me and nobody was in sight, at least I would get 3^rd to the top. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out the last 3km was going to take around 18min at the speed I was gone, shit this was going to be hard!! I battled on but saw the man in the polka dots jersey who I’d passed earlier coming back at me. Then at the next switch back with 1km to go I saw Molina. I was barely moving at this stage and knew he would come flying past before the top, he did and I had no response. Whenever I tried to stand my legs were buckling. Well I finally made it but holy crap I was toasted.

Next up was Luz Ardiden – a 12km climb. We started at a gentlemanly pace which was nice and all was going well until 2km from the top when we felt a few spots of rain. About 2mins later we were in the traps of a full on storm with gust of winds and heavy, cold rain. None of us wanted to turn back as we were nearly there so we lowed on. As soon as a hit the top I turned straight back down and froze all the way to the bottom. I was so cold my arms were shaking and I couldn’t stair straight, my teeth were chattering and I couldn’t feel my hands. As it turned out Scott and a few of others broke into the ski school and found a coffee machine. They hung out there wainting for the storm to clear. It didn’t, and they too had to bike down in the rain. At the bottom it cleared up and I rode solo for the last 40km (including the long climb up the Col Du Solour. I actually recovered somewhat on the final climb (amazing what 2 cans of coke and a bag of chips will do for you!).

So that was my epic day. I’ve warned my room mates there might be a little snoring tonight.

EC FR07 Day 1 – into thin air.

I said to a number of the guys before the camp that if we had good weather this was going to be a spectacular camp. When we woke to steady rain on day one I was fearing the worst. Crap…. Anyway the camp must go on.

We loaded up at 6:30am to head to a lake near Pau for the opening swim. Epic tradition is that we open with a 2km time trial. With no pool access we went for a 2km race in the lake. I was expecting Monica to rip it up but Scott showed the way with Monica 2^nd. The old fellas were showing up some of the youngsters with Gary Burgess coming in 5^th and Allen McClure in 6^th. After a spot of petit dejeurner it was time for the camp proper to begin. The guys were a buzz with guessing what to expect from the mighty Pyrenees – I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect. Thankfully the weather had cleared to a very overcast day but the threat of rain remained.

So the athletes set off and myself John E and Ian (www.pyreneesmultisport.com ) packed up, did a bit of shopping, paid bills etc. The plan was to meet the guys at a town around 45km for the first aid station. Thinking I had plenty of time I tidied up a few other loose ends and set off. By the time I got to the town for drinks I still hadn’t caught the guys (despite having the pedal to the floor and the car steaming with all sorts of smells). As it turned out the guys had made a wrong turn and I caught them shortly after. After drinks it was time to hit the first Col the Col D’Ichere (674m). This was s light route change and it was a nice into with some pitches of +10%. The youngster Colm Cassidy was ripping the legs off everyone along with Mike Montgomery. The Epic Vet’s were sitting back bidding their time as no point were available on this climb. After a hairy decent it was time to hit the Col De Marie Blanc (1035m – Cat 1 climb). When I came through here last Monday there were a few road works and when I approached the climb the road was half blocked and said it was closed. I decided it was time to bring out the innocent tourist act and drove straight through. I figured it was around lunch time and the French stop all work between 12-2pm so I hoped for the best. The Marie Blanc is renowned for being pretty step and with sections of up to 13-14% it didn’t disappoint. Mike Montgomery was again killing everyone and hit our lunch stop on the other side of the Col well in front. Behind was Gordo, Colm, and Scott. By this stage all the guys were gob smacked and wondering what the hell to expect from the rest of this camp. This attitude was amplified by the time they finished the day by climbing the Col D’Abisque (1709m – Hors Cat Climb). At 17km long this was a gut buster. By this time dense fog had settled in and visability was down to about 30-40m. It was a bloody shame really as their views are something to die for. On this climb we had KOM (King of the Mountains points) up for grabs with 13 points for 1^st and then dropping by one point each person. Despite giving clear instructions on where to go a number of athletes decided not to follow the signs and tacked on some extra climbing J . 1^st Mike M, 2^nd Gordo, 3^rd Scott M,, 4^th Ed McDevit, 5^th Michael Peters

The guys are getting out of the pool now (day 2) so I have to stop here. More to come in the following days. We won’t have internet good access until Friday night so please bear with us with updates.

Day 2

It’s raining pretty hard today. The guys have swim 3km (Gordo & Monica = 6km). We then dropped the guys at the bottom of the Col Du Solour and they had to run to the top to our chalet (8km), a number of guys kept going for 2hrs to go for the bonus points. This afternoon we have an easy 80km with 1 Col of 1400m

ECFR06 - Ready to Rumble 24/6/06

Since arriving last Monday I’ve driven over 1000km up and down the Pyrenees checking out the route. I was joined by Gordo & Monica mid trip as we ventured from Pau to Font Romeu.

Let’s put is plain and simple. This is going to be one bloody hard camp. Just take a look at the profiles from a few selected days – that doesn’t include all the other days where we climb EVERY day.

Gordo and I took at run at Font Romeu (altitude 1900m) a couple of days ago. Holy crap I’d forgotten how much harder running at altitude is. I was bent over double when we came to the top of one of the long climbs. Gordo reminded me of the good old days when we were living in Hong Kong. On the odd occasion he actually heard me breathing he knew I was pushing the pace – I didn’t remind him that was all part of my game back then, you can’t let the opposition know how you are feeling on the inside. Whilst we were on our jaunt around the village we saw a number of opportunities for ‘Events Day’. Normally we hold the events on the last day, this time they will be mid camp….stay tuned. The altitude is going to make some of our planed events very nasty indeed.

Today the athletes began to arrive. The Epic vets are telling stories from camps gone by – the tales seem to get longer as time goes by, that’s part of the fun. Meanwhile the epic virgins have are looking rather apprehensive, quietly crapping themselves.

Tomorrow the rest of the athletes arrive before we get underway on Monday

On the to way to France

On the way

It’s a long way from little old Christchurch to France. I’m killing time in Singapore airport with my first 11hr flight under my belt and another 15-20hrs of travelling to go before arriving in Pau. It might sound like I’m complaining, far from it. When I left home this morning it was raining with snow forecast. In France it’s been very very hot.

So onto Epic France. It’s going to be quite an eye opener for everyone involved. I was over in the Pyrenees in 2004 watching the Tour De France. Unfortunately I didn’t have my bike in tow that time but I saw first hand some of the monstrous mountains we will traverse in 12 days in tri geek heaven. Scott and I have planned a particularly difficult route (Gordo actually had to settle us down a little as we got a little ambitious and it would have been the biggest volume EVER on an epic camp). So my job for the next 5 days is to go over the majority of the route finalising all our plans.

We’ve got nice mix of epic vet’s & virgins. Gordo doesn’t look to have any challengers in terms of elites so we’ll have to come up with suitable handicaps to ensure he doesn’t have an easy ride. Scott has been doing a solid amount of training and haven’t ridden with him about a week ago he will be frisky in the mountains. There will be some interesting duels amongst the older gentlemen with a number of 40+AG guys preparing for Kona.

As for me……Well I’ll firmly on the organisational side of things again for this camp. My plan is to get out for the two really big days at either end of the Pyrenees (both around 170-200km with numerous Mtn Passes). Day 3 is going to be a classic including the Tourmelet & Luz Ardiden. I’m planning on using the camp as a springboard to getting back to some sort of reasonable shape for next summer and get back to some racing.

I’ll be trying to give you guys an outsiders view of the daily activity you are going to have to bare with us through this camp as we are staying in some remote locations and internet connectivity may be minimal.

Australia are about to line up against Brazil so time to watch some football. For one of the very few times in my life I’ll be supporting the Aussie’s (the only other time I support them is when they plan England (at anything))