Alpe d'Huez Triathlon - Long Distance

Wednesday 1st August 2007

The Trip

Tri Anglia members hit the French soil for some sunshine, cycling and to chuck in a race half way through the week! The party included; Matt Spillman, Karl sherry, Richard Sargeant, Dave Ledward, Russell Clarke, Tom Lefever (who came out to train and conquer some mountains) and myself (Andy Walpole).

When we arrived in Grenoble the 30+ degrees sunshine was perfect weather for the week a head and the thought of the miserable weather back home was an instant distance memory. With Dave arriving on Sunday we had 6 of us to get from the airport to the chalet on Alpe d'Huez. Richard had done some good work in pre-booking a van for us to cart our stuff to the chalet, the only problem being was that the van had no windows and was like an oven in the back. So 3 lucky souls Matt, Karl and Russell had to suffer in the back of the van for an hour while myself, Richard and Tom got lucky with sitting in the front with air conditioning. 

Once we arrived at the chalet the normal holiday mode of getting on the bike as quickly as possible took over and before tea we decided to climb Alpe d' Huez. The climb was slow and steep but meant you could take in the great views over the Alps. The descending was quick with a lot of switch backs, I personally decided to take a leisurely approach to descending as last time I went a bit crazy I ended up in hospital.

The following day we decided to bike the course so that we'd knew how hard to push the hills and how tough the course was. The bike course was 115k consisting of 3 climbs the first was a 20k climb starting at 400m and climbing to 1400m, the second was 25k starting from 800m to 1400m then Alpe d' Heuz being your last 15k starting at 800m finishing at 1900m.

Me and Karl hit a 3/4 pace up the first hill at 8mph this seemed to go on for ages and took just over an hour, we had a spot of lunch at the top and the main topic of conversation was "I didn't think it was going to take us that long we've only covered 40k we have another 75 to do"!!

We finally made it back picking a couple of the lads up in the van at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez climb which was a sensible option as they didn't want to kill themselves before the race. At tea we all sit around the table not really talking to each other as the mountain had broken us and doubt was creeping into everybody's mind. Although we did get a laugh when Tom aka (Casper) finally arrived having taken 3hrs longer than predicted on his ride due to getting sickness and diarrhea all day - he looked like crap!

Dave arrived on the Sunday and was welcomed by a barrage of scary stories about the course. We consoled ourselves by having a swim at Alpe d'Huez in the open air swimming pool were only speedos were permitted. The cleanest pool I have ever been in and with the French being French a lot of topless sunbathers, although they were all 60+ which did put me off my sandwich.

The Race

With a couple of easy days the race was upon us, the journey in the back of the van to the race start made me sick 4 times which wasn't the best preparation before for the race. Luckily I felt better before we started.

The swim was cold at 14 degrees, similar to Whittlingham lake in May time, but you soon warmed up. The lake was crystal clear and was enjoyable I swam practically all of it on my own between two big groups which was nice. Everybody took the swim relatively easy as they knew the task ahead. Matt was first out, then Dave, myself, Karl, Richard and then Russell.

Once I got on the bike my legs felt ok and I hit the first hill and caught up with Matt and when he mentioned Dave was about 400m up the hill I decided to change my tactic and hit the first hill hard to put a bit of daylight between myself and Karl. I caught Dave half way up the hill and we managed to ride together for a good hour. I then upped the pace on the second hill and left Dave who didn't look his normal sprightly self. The ride was going well taking the second place elite girl on the second hill soon only Alpe d'Huez was left.

This is where I wished I hadn't pushed it so hard earlier.  With 21 switch backs and the first 3k being the steepest the legs started to hurt. I knew I was struggling when I looked at my speedo and I couldn't get it over 7mph. The 2nd elite girl came past me along with some other age groupers and it was about hanging on. Got to two turns from the top and I saw Karl Sherry aka (mountain goat) and I knew he was going strong, a brief conversation as he past me consisted of "how are you feeling?" his reply was "good" my response "oh bollocks".

Now the run! A half marathon at 2000m off road with hills. Got off the bike and piled a load of food in my mouth as I was really starting to feel hungry and set off on the run. Saw Karl in the distance and knew then that I wasn't going to catch him as he was running away from me and look in really good shape. I have never done a run like that even an Ironman run you can get a bit of speed going but the pain from the hills made your legs totally empty. I slogged it out and actually began to run a better pace on my third lap, crossing the line was a great feeling which I am sure was felt by everybody.

Everybody finished and did really well considering most of the competitors have the mountains on their doorstep to train thus making it a great achievement by everybody. Karl showed true class in that race and I hope he can carry it through to Hawaii.

Results

First was Colucci Reinaldo from Brazil who won it in an amazing time of 5hr 59min, Stephen Bayliss was 3rd in 6hr 3mins 32sec.

Thanks for Russell and Richard sorting out the transport and Matt with the accommodation which was superb. Cheers lads great holiday

More Details

Official Website

Course details on Official Website

Article by Andy Walpole
Page created: 13th August 2007. Last updated: 14th August 2007.