After breaking the collar bone and hand in March I decided racing was out and I would focus on doing a big event. The L’Etape du Tour seemed like the obvious choice for someone who really wanted to punish themselves so I signed up with Sports Tours International for the event.
Preparation
It’s worth noting that it’s not cheap doing the etape and this adds added pressure to be prepared, do well and have fun! Aidan Hammond gave me a plan and I stuck to it religiously as well as picking the brains of Sean Lally, Paddy, Liam, John and the rest of the Thursday group/Swords riders on how to get through this kind of event unscathed. Events I took part in leading up to etape included local tours, the Skipton training weekend in Yorkshire (highly recommended but tough going), Mizen to Malin and the Wicklow 200. Aidan’s program required some serious stamina in itself with 5 days riding per week and 2 days on core. I really enjoyed training for the event and highly recommend Aidan as a coach if your taking your training seriously.
The Trip
We flew over on the Friday and stayed in Lourdes. Registration was on the Saturday with a 2 hour ride from Lourdes to Pau - it was raining but nothing like what was to come!
Went to bed early the night before but did not sleep well due the the heavy rain and thunder roaring away outside - this for me felt like a disaster and filled me with fear as descending is not one of my strong points having just recovered from the broken bones (also being a professional musician requires fully working limbs!!).
Got up at 4.15am and dressed for a cold ride with overshoes & winter gloves - the full shabang! Stuffed my pockets to the max with food. The bikes were in storage in Pau and the bus ride there was dark apart from the odd strike of lightning & silent with a soundtrack of rain, thunder and windscreen wipers! It was like the opening scene of a horror movie!
We had to ride 7-8k to start but 100m down the road a rider came off his bike on the slippy road markings, this was the first of many accidents I saw due to this and avoided them as much as possible.
The Etape
We were divided in to “chicken pens” and the first riders set off at 7am. I got over the start line at 7.11am which was quite good as my main mission was not to get swept up by the broom wagon. I started off quite gently but then realised this was not a training ride - this was “it”, the real deal so I upped the gears and let rip. Visibility was bad and my sunglasses didn’t get used all day! The pace was now fast with 2 climbs before reaching Lourdes. I jumped from group to group with survival being the main objective as there was the added obstacle of bottles and riders coming off bikes in front of me.
The climbs were good for me as it slowed the pace down but the descents were nasty with lots of accidents to avoid and slippy surfaces. I had to resist using the brakes as my back wheel was sliding all over the place and was relieved to make it to Lourdes in good shape, if just a little mentally head wrecked?! I saw Grainne and apparently roared “it’s horrific - absolute carnage!”. I took a couple of bites of a sandwich and set off again. I also stopped at the food stop in Lourdes which was mental because of the volume of bikes and riders clambering for refreshments. It was 9.40am and I was behind schedule, the broom wagon was due at 10am so there was no hangin’ about.
After 10 minutes or so I found myself on a long windy rolling section with no one to draft. A motorcycle went by and I think he could see me trying to work up to a group up ahead. He briefly made eye contact with me and then pulled ahead of me riding at about 5kph faster than me, just to my left. I seized the opportunity, jumping on his wheel and flew up to the group ahead. This made me feel great as nothing was said or instructions given. I saw the motorcycle guy further down the road and gave him a thumbs up! Got over the next climb, the Loucrup with no probs and I was feeling the benefits of drafting.
I was behind a guy in a Specialized top for about 10k, he was setting a great pace and I wasn’t working too hard. As we approached a town a rider came in close to his left side and he shouted at him in French to be careful, the road narrowed and the rider did the same again except this time, wham! he sent my man down over a bollard. I felt bad for him as he was a strong rider and it was unavoidable for him, the offending rider never even looked behind.
The rain had eased off but now it was time for the big one, the Tourmalet! I saw a guy I had met in Skipton and it was good to chat and share our experience so far as we headed up into the clouds. I kept it steady and this is were the training started paying off as I rode very strong to the ski resort Le Mongie which is 4k from the summit. Stopped here to eat, then got a push off some spectators to get going up the hill again and grinded out the last 4k which was steep!
There was very little talk as we climbed and it reminded me of a zombie movie on bikes - slow motion in the fog with deafening silence except for the sound of the rider’s heavy breathing.
At the summit I ate again & tried to take a picture with my phone of the famous stone statue of a cyclist but it had been banjaxed by the weather & altitude. I shoved newspaper down my top, clenched my buttocks and started the descent, it was very cold, wet and fast. I’m sure health and safety in the UK or Ireland would have shut this event down but we were in France and they like to go fast! My hands were frozen onto the brakes (which were on fully almost all the way down) and it was hard to keep the speed down. When we finally came through the clouds, I started turning the legs again and we descended in to a valley which was lovely and warm for the first time in the ride - about 6 hours in!
I knew Grainne would be at the foot of the Hautacam so that was good for me mentally, I stopped when I saw her with food and enjoyed a little break. I was well ahead of the broom at this stage. I felt strong still & it was great to know I only had the final climb to tackle.
I headed up the Hautacam and started counting down the kilometers. This was a different climb to the Tourmalet as the gradient varied more. I was climbing pretty fast and had to constantly weave around riders as the road was divided with cones down the middle for the finishers who had to descend on the other side of the cones on the same road. At one point I heard “Hey Mike, Whoa, whoa, whoaaa!” - this was Chris, a Swedish rider I had met who spoke with a strong Scottish accent, he had problems with his pedals but thankfully did not go over the edge. I also got a “come on Swords!” off a rider descending which gave me an extra boost, small things like that make a big difference at this stage.
It no longer felt like a physical test but a mental one as I knew I had the strength but my head was exhausted. 3k to go.... 2.9 to go.... 2.8 to go, etc the last few k were tough because I knew I was so close. I heard somewhere that it leveled off toward the top, this turned out to be wrong as it zig zagged at a nasty gradient all the way.
Finally finished! Got the medal, handed in transponder, phew! Hang on... still have to descend for 40 minutes in freezing cold and avoid climbers! When I finally got to the festival village my brakes, which were less than a week old, had almost worn out!
My time including stops was 8 hours 05 minutes - I’m happy with this as I hadn’t pushed myself to exhaustion but had completed it at a good pace that reflected my level of ability.
Back at the hotel we all swapped stories and I was surprised and saddened for the large amount of riders that were swept up by the broom wagon.
We spent the next few days relaxing around Carcassonne - the weather had changed and we enjoyed several sunny days up in the 30’s. I got to do some riding in the Black Mountains too, which was lovely with the sun on my back and I got to wear my sunglasses after all!
Anyone fancy the Marmotte next year? :-)
Mike
Check out some photos from the Etape here.
