The decision to ride La Marmotte

Philippe Gilbert - Alpe d'Huez 2011 

In 2011 I saw the Tour live in the Alps for the first time with my good friends Tim Mackrill and Chris Mounsey. Although I had been watching the Tour for years on television, seeing the likes of Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans flying up some of the most legendary mountain passes in professional cycling was simply breath taking. To witness first-hand the suffering cyclists put their bodies through, to see their sunken eyes up close, their gaunt faces characterised by concave cheeks due to the weight loss over three weeks of brutal racing was almost overwhelming.

After returning home after the 2011 race, Tim, Chris and I had decided the next time we would visit the Tour would be in 2013 for the 100^th edition. However, cycling is mightily addictive and I wanted to return to the Alps in 2012 to do something which would enable me to experience in some part what I had watched my heroes do for years. I have ridden many sportives in England in excess of 100 miles over difficult routes but nothing to rival cycling in the Alps or Pyrenees. One cycling event stands out in Europe above all others, La Marmotte. Widely considered to be the most difficult single day amateur cyclo-sportive in the world. With over 5000 metres of vertical climbing and summiting four of the biggest mountains used in the Tour de France it is not difficult to understand why.

Kidds Hill, Kent - Jan 2012

So in October 2011 I entered La Marmotte and with it committing myself to training longer and harder than ever before. It meant no ducking out of the cold hard months of winter training where the muscles never seem quite warm enough to function properly and where the icy winds hit your face as if someone is rubbing it with sandpaper. There were days I would never have gone out on the bike if it wasn’t for the fact I had signed up to La Marmotte. Temperatures touching 2c, light snow at times and lots and lots of cold head winds. The wettest spring and summer I can ever remember did not help either, but when you are going to be cycling over mountains where you will be pedalling up-hill for anything up to one hour and thirty minutes there is no choice. You simply have to train.

Dartmoor Classic - June 2012

In late June I completed the 106 mile Dartmoor Classic cyclo-sportive in just over 6:30 knocking over half hour off my previous best time. I knew I was in good shape and the time confirmed that I had put in as much training as I could before heading to France. And so with 1000s of miles in the legs since October I headed to France confident I would be ok. I would get round. I didn’t have a time in mind but for the 30-39 age bracket the silver time was 9:47 which seemed a reasonable target. I arrived in France on Thursday July 5^th having ridden my last training ride on the Saturday before. Seventy five miles as hard as I could and one last chance to try and somehow replicate the suffering I was likely to go through in the Alps. As Kent’s longest climb is barely two miles long this is pretty hard to do. Actually it is impossible, but you have to make the best of it.