Alpe d'Huez report

Chris and I were supposed to go to France in July and it was this stage that we were going to watch. Unfortunately we had to change our travel plans at the last minute and rebook our trip for August, thus missing the Tour. However, things worked out cause I probably wouldn't have been able manage getting to ride it the day were watching this stage, you know, unless some team asked me to fill in or something.

After a few days in Paris, we made our way via train to Grenoble, picked up our rental car and drove in the rain (it only rained twice our entire trip) to Le Bourg-d'Oisans, at the base of Alpe d'Huez and checked into our hotel. It was late in the day with no time to ride (not that I wanted to ride in the rain), so we decided to take a drive up to the top. Let me say that it intimidated the hell out of me. I had a tough time sleeping that night anticipating the climb that I would do the next day.

This little village comes alive during the Tour. Flags and jerseys still hung above the street.

I found a bike shop in town (there were two) that rented bikes and was able to get myself a very nice Look carbon beauty with a nice build kit and wheels. The plan was to ride in the general area, get a good warm up in, see some sites and then tackle the legendary climb. The shop had printed up suggested bike routes in the area and with the shops mechanic help, he helped me choose a "warm up" route that was about 64km return that seemed to follow a nice valley. The mechanic said that there was only one tough climb. I thought to myself, "No worries. It'll be a good little warm up and I'll see some stunning alpine scenery then I'll grind my way up d'Huez.

The problem is . . . . well, there was something lost in translation . . . . or perhaps the European mindset, especially this guy's who probably grew up riding his tricycle as a young child up such routes that he was sending me on, was a little different from my idea of a "warm up ride".

Shortly onto the valley road to La Berarde, road narrows, side cut into rock wall so vehicles can get by. It appears flat - it's not.

The ride started off pretty well. Had to follow a busy main road for a few km's until a branched off onto the valley road on my way to a little village called La Berarde. Was on that road for about 2km and then it kicked up. I knew this wasn't the "tough climb" that the mechanic told me about, because he said it was about 10km in. Then WTF was this?!?!?

Tunnel - it appears flat - it's not.

This is where I figure the "tough climb" was. Turns out it was a 12% grade for over 2km.
I ended up climbing for about 30km.

La Berarde
Took me about an hour and a half to get to La Berarde, and only 35-40 minutes to get back to La Bourg-d'Osians. Filled up the bottles, grabbed some food quickly then back on the bike to tackle Alpe d'Huez, it's average grade of 7.5 % and the 21 switch backs to it's finish line.


Lots of paint on the road still leftover from the Tour.


- one of the 21 switchbacks in the background

They're nice enough to put up little reminders of how you've come or how far you've got left to go (for those "is the cup half full or is it half empty" types) - each sign has a Tour winner's name on it.

switchbacks - the only place on the entire climb where you could recover, but it lasted only seconds then you were climbing again. The average grade is listed at aprox 7.5% . . . . that takes into consideration the end (which is flat'ish) and the beginning starting near the village. Most all of the grades seemed to be around between 10 - 8%.

there's a little tiny place on the way up - La Garde - with a lovely little church . . . perfect place to receive your last rites if you cannot go on. I considered it.

that's La Bourg d'Osians down below with many of the switchbacks in the forefront

kissing my cross as I come over the finish line
funny, there were no crowds of screaming fans, cameras and photographers at the end like I always saw on TV while watching the Tour . . . . a little disappointing.



Spent

I don't know my time. For the first half, which by the way is the hardest & steepest, I had the camera and stopped to take a few pictures (it was an excellent excuse to stop!) - then about half way up Chris met me and grabbed the camera from me . . . then I had no excuse to stop.

The disputed record time up d'Huez was set by Pantini in '95 with a time of 36'50". He was also at the time pepped up on EPO and whatever drug he was abusing at the time which made him higher than the mountain he was climbing and faster than cheetah on speed.

I don't think I rode it faster than him. After my little "warm up" ride, I was pretty spent and managed to turn the legs over at an average speed of about 9.5-10 km/hr over the 14.5km climb - that's with a few stops and so on. I probably would have beaten his time if I started it with fresh legs. Keep in mind when he did set his record, and those who subsequently came close to setting those records, had rode all day (and rode climbs like Col du Galibier or Col du la Croix de Fer) and finished on d'Huez. Drugs or no drugs . . . pretty freak'in remarkable.

**Side note: this was my first time to France and the alps, so all I've ever known about riding in the mtns is what I've seen in magazines and on TV. Alpe d'Huez is a classic, famous climb . . . however in saying that, the whole of the alps (including Switzerland and Italy - went there too) is littered with amazing climbing and pristine roads. I think I was a little naive thinking that this would be "THE" toughest ride - I came across many, many others while driving that looked equally as tough or tougher, and as long or longer. I cannot wait to go back!**

Question

Got lots to share and show about my trip to France . . . . but I'm a wee bit more excited about this bit of fantastic news and had to share.

Home

Avoir Paris & France . . . . . I'm on my way home. None the leaner or meaner (well maybe a little meaner) despite climbing Alpe d'Huez. Got to run, sitting in a smokey French cyber cafe breathing lots of second hand smoke . . . . yummy.

Ou est moi?

Here's a little 80's montage riddle . . . .

Clicky clicky on the images for an auditory link.

In case you haven't put the clues together . . . I'll be away from the blog (on a regular basis) over the next two weeks to the land of . . . .








I'm not sure if this is from the 80's or not,
but it's too good not to add here (for no apparent reason).

Soaker

View from Champlain after we got soaked.

Lenny chaaawing on an energy bar. Someone, please tell him when he's riding on the road that he's not supposed wear a visor on his helmet. Talk about embarrassing.

This is a picture of Curvy Butt . . . . . or rather where Curvy Butt may have been if he had come today. I haven't seen him since the airport after the BC Bike Race. He's fallen off the radar. Maybe it's deliberate.
Is he sick of me? Does he want to never see or ride with me again? Was I that bad of a partner?
All this self-doubt has left me in a constant state of shoulder shrugging and hand-wringing.
Curvy Buttttttttttt wherrrrrrrre arrrrrrre yoooooooooou?

Weather forecasters called for only a 20% chance of rain today. It was a beautiful morning and I was able to get the rest of my house painting done, to the chagrin of Lenny, who wanted to ride in the morning. I was able to persuade him to ride in the afternoon once I got my painting done. We were on the bikes around three o'clock, under sunny skies.

Only 20% chance of rain my ass! We got only a quarter of the way through our Gat loop when we got pissed on. Buckets of rain and descents made for cool temperatures.

Here's Lenny on the descent of Black's on the Champlain Parkway. Thought I'd give him the chance to redeem himself after riding off the trail in this video.

Contents

New Vassago Bandersnatch, in blood red, right out of the box.

Must be Italian

Something arrived at my door last night.

Fra-gee-lay
Anyone knowing this movie gets what I mean.

[Mr. Parker reads a side of the box with the prize that he won]
Mr. Parker: Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian.
Mrs. Parker: Uh, I think that says FRAGILE, dear.
Mr. Parker: Oh, yeah.

** I won't be shooting my eye out with it.

Clip Clop

I rode last Friday afternoon with Lenny out in SMH before heading out of town for the long weekend. I shot a few fffffotos and a couple vvvvvvid-E-Os. Thought I'd share.

Leonard on M-Line . . . or at least partially on M-Line.

Grasshopper, the way of the trail IS the trail.

Took this shot of a grasshopper on some rock while waiting for Lenny to get off his cell phone. Who takes their cell phone with them to answer calls while riding?!? Freak'in prima donna.

This is how you're supposed to stay on the trail Leonard. Disclaimer: Lenny ran behind me (sounded like a horse) as I rode Garter Belt . . . there are some adult words used in the video, by Lenny (I never swear - it's for the crude and dimwitted), so put yer ear muffs on if easily offended. I think he stepped in poo or got a stick in the eye, hence the potty mouth.

Clip clop goes Lenny Blair Witch style filming. That's him in the background yapping too.
Don't believe it when he says he's riding single handed.

Hard to believe that this newly paved road out at K2 was once the lead in trail
to the SMH trail network.

Lake Monster

I got a good, hard road ride in yesterday from Bobcaygeon to Tory Hill, where Chris and Jacks picked me up. Afterwards, we made our way back home to Ottawa.

However, it was a hot beautiful morning, and since Jackie-Boy is on holiday too, he got to go for a dip (which he loves!).

Lake monsters love chasing sticks.

We got a good scare a while back with Jacks, while I was out in BC. He developed a growth on his front right leg. Vet suspected it to possibly be cancer. She put a real fright into us when she told us of the options and diagnosis. Two biopsies and a X-ray later, he was cleared - the lump only being a benign cyst. Don't know what I'd do without my Jackie Boy.

More Buckwallow

The trails aren't long, but a whole lot of fun. Basically Buckwallow is a double track course with many single track trails that loop back onto the double track. It's got something for everyone - family, kids, experienced riders and non-experienced riders alike.

After my two O-Cup laps, preride with Matt and his buddies, I made my way around to the rest of the trails in Buckwallow by myself. This trails system an be ridden as fast or as slow as you like. If you're riding with a bunch of buddies, you can duke it out in the single track and then try dropping each other on the open double track until you get to the next trail head.

You an ride pretty much all the trails in about an hour an a half and hit everything. Take a map at the parking area - it gets a little confusing with trails going off in all directions. It costs $8 a day to ride (bring cash - they don't have Interac or an ATM - you can get cash out at the KOA down the road). Access to water, a bike wash, outhouse and change area are provided. A KOA is just two minutes away if you want to stay for a day or two and camp & ride.

This was a shorter, more technical trail.

In keeping with their deer theme, Buckwallow uses a 'Hoof' system to rate the trails - the more hooves, the more difficult. Five was hardest, one not so hard.

This was one of the more interesting trails that I came across.
I ended up riding it a couple of times it was so much fun.

On West D'Nile, the builders linked rocky out crop to rocky out crop for pretty much the entire length of the trail. Pretty cool.

More of West D'Nile.

Buckwallow

Just got back from a ride at Buckwallow Cycling Centre. Met up with Matt and some of his buddies up Midland way. They came down with plans to pre-ride the O-Cup course for next weekend' s Ontario Cup. I'm not often in the area, so I jumped at the chance to hook up to ride.

Those from Ottawa who have not had a chance to ride here (this has been my second time), think of it like Kanata Lakes on a diet. Lots of roots and rocks, Canadian Shield type riding - you can get some speed up in the single track, but enough technical terrain to keep you on your toes. There is no real elevation gain in all of Buckwallow - there are a few short, steep'ish climbs, but nothing that is going to leave you breathless.

I've got a few photos to post up and will do so when I get home. On holiday from painting the house, so that's all I got.

Puts a damper on things

Rain that is . . . .

Between trying to get my house painted (and battling the weather - so much frigg'in rain here in Ottawa this summer!) and trying to recover from this viral infection in my lungs . . . . well, it's been a bit frustrating to say the least. Today for example, it rained last night and everything is wet, not to mention the humidity in the air - certainly not ideal for painting. Will have to wait 'til maybe the afternoon to get a start on it. Such is life.

On a positive note, I did get out for my first "training" ride since the BC race. Did a tough Gat loop and focused on the hills - a mix of interval work of holding power & speed. My comments the other day about not riding as fast or as hard when you are by yourself didn't hold true yesterday. It was tough. I was still hacking up a lung, lots of 'chunks' were flying and I wasn't getting a full breath, it was the best I've felt on the bike since the beginning of the month. Hopefully things will keep improving.

Mock Grand Prix

Yesterday's Big Ring Racing Invitational Mock Grand Prix road race (also known as: 100% Big Time All American Super Happy Race Gathering) was a huge success. We had anywhere between 20-30 riders show up. Peter did an excellent job at organizing the event - which was a laid back/fun race approach. Prizes for first and last place were a nice touch too. Some Big Ring Racing schwag was handed out at the end of the race to promote the team's fantastic sponsors.

This was my first taste of semi-road racing and very much an enjoyable one at that. A lot owed to the fact that this was a 'fun' event and everyone involved were super laid back and had fun first, racing second. No egos showed up to race - just friendly faces and lots of laughs.

It was a suffer-fest for me, but I'd love to do more of this type of riding on a regular basis, as pushing yourself this hard can only be good for you (I find when I do road rides on my own I never push myself as hard as when riding with others - it's easy to be lazy when no one is watching you!) Next year I hope to show up with a clean set of lungs.

I personally learned a lot from my first road race -

• Lesson One: I may have made the mistake of posting my race tactics online, as many competitors knew exactly where I was going to strike and made their moves first. Next time no online posting and will do all my race prep and practice at night under the cloak of darkness and in disguise . . .

This should do nicely and won't attract any unwanted attention.

• Lesson Two: draft way more . . . why work hard when someone else can do it for you.
• Lesson Three: sabotage the competition, for example throw sticks into their spokes
• Lesson Four: start taking EPO at least a week before, I don't think that I got the full affects from the one syringe.

Lance even says, "Take at least seven days before. Count my fingers . . . I said seven."

• Lesson Five: be more aggressive with the SMACK talk before the race, for example, more threatening tones and perhaps a nudie of me riding the road bike. **Note-to-self: Though I can't be sure if my 'smack' posts encouraged more riders to show up to put me in my place, sparked the curiosity of some, or scared them away.**

Smack Down

Spent all of today in preparation of tomorrow's Big Ring Racing Invitational Mock Grand Prix Event (also known as: 100% Big Time All American Super Happy Race Gathering) - which I am going to win.

Washed and waxed the bike, including each and every spoke - everyone knows that waxed spokes make you go 4% faster. Washed, pressed and folded my race kit so it's easy to get into first thing in the morning after my rub down. Been carb loading all day.

Shaved my legs.

Took my EPO.

Dr. Ferrari was no where to be found, so I worked myself through it
while watching a stage of The Tour. Apparently there is no mandatory drug test tomorrow, so as long as the powers-to-be don't read my blog I'm clean. I hope this doesn't happen.
(* I wasn't really taking EPO, I was just shooting heroine.)

To be honest, I'll probably be the only one to line up at the start after everyone reads this. Lenny will probably show up to collect the slowest rider award,
as he's been predicting all week long.

Be afraid comrades!

Mock

Mock Smack
(clicky clicky)

Ill'n, meds, pimply

For the past three weeks, and since the BC race, I've been sick. My lungs have been filled up with all sorts of gunkage and I cannot breath properly. I saw a doctor, at a clinic here in town, who put me on a puffer and antibiotics. Two weeks later and still no improvement. Yesterday I got in to see my family doctor and apparently I was misdiagnosed and should never have been on the meds. In fact, the puffer was doing more harm than good. Lovely. Just what a cyclist wants, his/her lungs to be put at risk.

I had originally gone to see my family doctor yesterday because I developed a strange rash along my neck, shoulders and chest over the past few days. I thought I was having a reaction to the meds. I like to self-diagnose myself from time to time. Unfortunately, I am usually (99%) wrong . . . . like the time I thought I was coming down with leprosy, when in fact it was just a hangnail . . . . or the time I thought I had scarlet fever, when I actually had a sunburn.

I digress . . . . it was indeed not a reaction to the medicine (which, again, I should not have been taking), but a heat rash. Anyone ever have one before? Fugly! Tiny little dot, pimple like things covering the affected area. Your skin becomes like bubble wrap - once you start popping those little suckers it's hard to stop.

So, what's wrong with me? A viral infection of my lungs that no meds are going to fix. It's a matter of time and rest.

Tubeless

Fritz is probably smiling right now. I've finally bit the bullet and ordered a set of Arch's and all the fix'ins to get set up on a tubeless wheelset. I had four or five flats while racing out in BC - unacceptable - not to mention an all time number of flats this past season. I've tried running the air pressure higher, which works a bit, but then I get bounced about a little too much. I'm looking forward to running lower air pressure on the hardtail.

Speaking of which . . . . this should be arriving later this week or early next week. Beauty!

Your invited to my house

Bring tools.

This is what I did all day today.

Cause I'm prep'ing the house to be painted.
Scrape, wire brush, re-cahulk, clean foundation, wash down house, prime bare spots, etc.
Work was getting in the way of riding, now home ownership is.

It's taking a long time to begin feeling better from this lung/breathing thing that's going on. Brian paced me yesterday morning in the Gats and it felt like someone was still standing on my chest, puffing and panting half breaths. In between breaths I was hacking and coughing, bringing up lots of funky looking stuff. Tell me . . . is it good or bad when phlegm turns colour from green to brown?

Active Release Technique Therapy

A.R.T. When I first heard about this, I thought it was just a new fad in massage therapy - a way of sucking in people, kind of like it's fitness cousin of workout fads: the weighted hula hoop, stripercise (I tried it for a month but kept breaking the pole), the body blade, and tae bo.

stoooooooooopid

This massage therapy technique really works, or at least for me it has. I went last fall when I was having issues with my IT band and quad muscle group - it was tight and sore. Two sessions was enough for me. It relieved the pain and inflexibility. I recently went back this past week to have some work done on my hamstring - I've had a knot and tightness in it since the Mt. St. Marie training weekend. Sarah, at Montgomery Massage Therapy, spent about a half hour on Monday and another half hour yesterday working on it. It's gold now. Gold I tells ya'.

ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massag technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles.

How do overuse conditions occur?

Over-used muscles (and other soft tissues) change in three important ways:

• acute conditions (pulls, tears, collisions, etc),
• accumulation of small tears (micro-trauma)
• not getting enough oxygen (hypoxia).

Each of these factors can cause your body to produce tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area. This scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.

What is an ART treatment like?

Every ART session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.

These treatment protocols - over 500 specific moves - are unique to ART. They allow providers to identify and correct the specific problems that are affecting each individual patient. ART is not a cookie-cutter approach.

Wookie? No . . . Loogie

Hawk a wookie?

No, not wookie . . . . . . loogie.

Though it feels like something big and hairy has been living in my lungs for the past two weeks.
During the last stage of the BC Bike Race, I commented to Curvy Butt that I was starting to feel sick, like flue sick. He brushed me off in the unloving way he usually does when I tell him something is wrong (I'm a wee bit of a hypochondriac), so feeling unheard and unloved, I popped some Tylenol and ibprophin and got on with the race and felt okay for the rest of it.

That night at the award ceremony, on top of Whistler, I was starting to feel worse and worse - post nasal drip, sore throat, coughing, sniffing, blah, blah, blah.
Got pretty sick for three or four days and then seemed like it was getting better.

But the last week or so I've started to get worse - my lungs are super tight, hard to get a breath, coughing up all sorts of interesting crap - thick enough to hold together a birch bark canoe. Finally went to see the doctor today and I've got a bad case of bronchitis. On antibiotics and a puffer for the next two weeks or so. Good news is that I can still ride, but have to take it easy. Yay!

Mmmm . . . . green, thick phlegm goodness.

Naked Bike Gear Review: Vassago Jabberwocky ("The Burt")

Other than a quick ten or fifteen minute boot around my neighborhood, bunny hoping some curbs and rolling in and out of ditches, my first ride on my Vassago Jabberwocky was an 8 hr race back in May. Probably not the best decision to do a shakedown ride on a new bike in a race situation, let alone an 8 hr race. However, my Jabber stood the test and handled wickedly-ly.

Strengths:
• Price – very affordable steel frame 29"er. I believe that you can buy yourself a frame for about $430 USD. Your eyes may burn from my photos, but your wallet won't. How many other frames are you going to be able to buy and leave yourself enough money leftover to bling-bling it up?

• Weight – damn descent for a steel 29” bike. Compared to my 26” Surly 1x1, it was pretty much the same weight (approx. 4.9 lbs).

• Frame material – 4130, stiff, with a little flex – just the right amount. Steel absorbs all the small stuff. After riding the Jabber, then riding my Niner MCR frame with Reynolds tubing, it (the Niner) felt a little like spaghetti.

• Balance - Vassago's Wet Cat Geometry builds a longer, lower bike to help put the center of gravity more between the wheels than on top - this is one of the things that I noticed immediately climbing and descending – a very comfortable riding position. Despite being a tad longer bike, it handles the tight and twisty extremely well. Up here in Ottawa, our single track trails are built on the true, north, strong and free Canadian shield - rocky, rooty and pretty technical trails. The Jabber doesn't hesitate to take corners or respond to body English. There is also plenty of standover height, so when I mess up on a slow technical section, my family jewels don’t pay for it (and that, my friends, could leave a mark if you're naked!).

• Climbing – I was slightly worried about the rear end spinning out on climbs due to it's length, but I haven’t found it an issue. The front end doesn’t want to leave the ground; it's weighted very well. I'm presently running a 110mm stem with 5 degree rise with a 25' low rise carbon bar. I plan on experimenting in the near future and swapping to a 100mm stem with a zero degree rise and a 27' low rise bar (for more torque on the climbs). An addition of my, still to arrive, Ergon grips will make the cockpit perfect.

- this bike tracks and stays on course, the only thing swaying side-to-side is my tackle

• Descending - the head tube angle is more slack than my other XC bike, so I found it a bit raked out at first. However, once I got used to the steering it worked like a point & shoot camera – steer where you want to go, let the bike plow through it all and let the big wheels take care of the rest. The more I rode it the more confident I became on it. Big Wagon Wheels love to roll over everything. None believers (a.k.a. those still on 26” wheeled bikes) just don’t get it . . . . once you try it you'll love it and won't ever want to go back.

- my lilly white bum, pure as the driven snow . . . . just like me

• Paint – Kris, at Vassago, had this frame (originally mine was snuffleupagus orange) powder coated for me since they had no black in stock. The powder coat is very durable and holds up to dings and scratches. If you don't like black (doesn't everybody like black?), the frame also comes in Snuffleupagus Orange or Bone White.

Due to Vassago going to great lengths to please it's customer, and the frame getting a custom powder coat job over it's original colour, it didn’t receive the clear coated head badge and “Jabberwocky” name across the top tube. This might leave a lesser bike searching for it's identity. This is where the name, “The Burt” comes into play and hence the black & gold colour scheme. I have been looking for a gold Pontiac Firebird logo to go on the head badge. Clicky clicky. Anyone willing to help out a head badgeless bike?

- boxed guessetted head tube adds strength and rigidity to the front of the bike
- hydro-style cable guides keep it looking clean and runs across the top tube,
making it handy when you have to shoulder or pick the bike up

notice no headbadge?
If you're a hillbilly redneck who's still stuck in the 80's and have access Trans Am decals, please give me a shout.

- so simple and tidy

Weakness: (only one!)
• axle tensioner screws should be thumb screws or hex bolt instead of the allen screw

- I change my rear cog around quite a bit, so thumb screws would be easier for me

Whoot!