Video diary - 2007 Brevet de Randonneur des Alpes - cousin to the Marmotte

In article UHUyi.4877$wW6.2169@trnddc08,
"Ken Roberts" wrote:

Tim McNamara wrote
Although I should note that we did not do the entire route of La
Marmotte as we omitted the final climb of l'Alpe-d'Huez. I don't
know if I would have made it that day.

One of the things I liked about your whole report for that trip in
the Alps into the following days is how you talked straightforwardly
about your decisions about what achievements not to try for. Seemed
like you kept it flexible and fun.

It was the best vacation of my life. Bicycling in the Alps is just a
phenomenal thing. The roads, the scenery, the history of the towns and
of the mountains, the niceness of the people, the quality of the food-
it was all wonderful. And especially the consideration from drivers for
cyclists, which was astonishing for an American to experience. In
particular I remember a French couple seeing me in their mirror and
pulling over on the descent of the Galiber towards the Hotel Bonnabel to
let me pass because I was going much faster than they could on the
hairpin turns.

It would have been even better if I spoke better than pidgin French (I
speak French badly enough that the French will happily speak English to
me rather than listen to me mangle their language. There are a *lot* of
French people who speak excellent English but seem very self-conscious
about it). On the other hand, if my French was better some of the
funnier incidents might not have happened.

Russell wrote
Yesterday, I rode the 225 km Brevet de Randonneur des Alpes.
It's an event that is held every two years and that's similar to
the Marmotte with the Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Mollard,
Col du Telegraphe and the Col du Galibier

I saw the "BRA" markings today when I was riding the route of La
Marmotte.

Now we just need a few more foreigners to come

My version of La Marmotte today turned out to be more like the Brevet
Randonneur Alpes than I expected -- because I ended up climbing Col du
Mollard because the normal descent from Col de la Croix de Fer was
closed for work on the tunnels. The good result was that I found that
I enjoyed much of the descent from Albiez-le-Vieux.

The bad result was that the extra time spent going over to and up Col
du Mollard (together with my late start and generally slow riding)
made me run out of daylight partway up the l'Alpe d'Huez climb at the
end. But at least I finished the loop back to Bourg d'Oisans. And I
know I had lots of energy and endurance remaining to finish the final
climb -- I just didn't want to descend it in the dark.

After the previous three days weather, I can be grateful that I didn't
get rained on. But much of my day was spent in the _fog_. And I got
pretty cold on some of the descents, considering it was August - (I
should have brought something to cover my legs).

Low point: Approaching Plan Lachat on the climb up the north side of
Col du Galibier, feeling like the idea of taking on such a big day of
climbing had been stupid, and I had pushed a little too much on the
lower part of Telegraphe and then coming south up out of Valloire.
Looking at the steep slopes up from Plan Lachat and visualizing
struggle and failure.
.. . . But then . . . getting past Plan Lachat into the steep section
and finding that I had plenty of energy to get thru it. Later getting
to bottom of the l'Alpe d'Huez climb and finding I had lots of energy
for that.

Low point: Coming down the south side of Galibier getting blasted by
the wind, reaching the main road west down from Lauteret and riding
straight into an up-valley gusts, legs + arms shivering -- reminding
myself not to grab the handlebars too rigidly: stay relaxed even
though nothing feels relaxing. Dreading the tunnels ahead.

.. . . But then . . . reaching the tunnels and discovering they had
been modernized, and were kind of fun ... and a bit warm. Then lower
down where it was warmer, finding that I had lots of confidence for
descending when my steering didn't feel unstable from shivering.
Finding that apart from the high-speed car traffic, the descent on the
main road from Lauteret west to Bourg d'Oisans was kinda fun, wishing
I had more time to stop and enjoy some of the views of the glaciers
above and the deep river gorge.

Ken