Day Six - interview with Three Cyclists from La Haute Route

Thursday 25 August 2011

Location Auron

Name	Josie Heade
Where From	Windsor England
Age Bracket	36
Why Haute Route	It is a challenge and it gives Stuart (husband) a rest from running. Also I enjoy cycling in France, we’ve done an Etap and done some cycling ourselves in the area. We wanted to ride and not in UK conditions, such as potholes, rain, snow, sleet and in whats more in summer cycling attire. I’m not expecting to be competitive, it's more about the event.
Bike	Felt FW2 - 2008 - a Christmas present because we were signed up for the Etap in 2009.
Secret for Haute Route	Just showing up, I’ve had a copy of the route pinned at my desk for the last eight weeks, this is all the time that I have actually trained, to encourage me to get on the bike, rather than get the train home (from London).
Top 3 Excuses	I’ve had the wrong gears all week, my smallest gear was a 25, if I was to do it again it would be min 28. In reality I’m a runner not a cyclist.

Name	Paul Larsen
Where From	Healesville VIC - now lives on a boat somewhere between London and Namibia. [Note: Paul's is currently going for fastest sailing record - check out http://sailrocket.com/ for more information.]
Age Bracket	41
Why Haute Route	The Sun Tour use to come through Victoria and we’d host riders in our house. I use to watch the TdF, Phil Anderson, on Wide World of Sports and the Haute Route was something that I could sink my teeth into. To ride those winding roads which are used in the TdF, I see it as an honour and to be in that arena is just amazing.  This (riding) is something that we do on the side of sailing. I had a crash today and I know exactly why I crashed. I even feel satisfied that I crashed because now I have had the whole experience. I can now appreciate the professional riders that much more. I was fascinated watching the TdF and now even more so. I can now sit there, bore people, and say "I’ve been there" and "I know what’s coming up".
Bike	Chris Boardman - Team Carbon Pro
Secret for Haute Route	I've been training hard, we came here a few weeks before, I wanted to do the Haute Route justice and I wanted to enjoy being the fittest I had been ever in my life.
Top 3 Excuses	No excuses

Name	Martin Litterst
Where From	Heidelberg Germany
Age Bracket	48
Why Haute Route	Because I like races over more than 1 day, I did Tour Trans-Alp for four years. Now I’ve done Trans-Alp and Haute Route in one year. This region, I’ve been here, once but haven’t done every Col, it is the col’s of the TdF, the famous ones, specta mountains. Tour Trans-Alp, people from all over the world, very international. I get to meet people from other countries which is very nice.
Bike	Canyon Ultimate 2009
Secret for Haute Route	It is all mental - if I have someone I can fight against that helps me mentally, that makes me stronger, especially in the last climb. Todays sprint HR 170bpm. I am also riding with my friends, I do not want to let my three friends down in Team de Lux (England, Belgium, Germany and Lux - total # in TdL 20 riders)
Top 3 Excuses	If I don’t sleep enough, not good food. Also if it is raining!

24 August 2011 #26 Hello Haute Route Day Four

Next Stop Individual Time Trial

La Haute Route 2011 - did someone say “I’m taking it easy today!”

Saint Chaffrey > Col du Glanon 

Weather - HOT - 20-25C

Stats

Time 1:00:25 - moving time 59:47

Distance 12.10 km

Elevation 1,027 m

Avg Speed 12 km/h

Max HR 162 bpm

Avg HR 154 bpm

Winning Time 43:03 AMAZING! 

The official review of the Haute Route Stage Four from the organizers is below. Plus to read the news of the day from my roomie on tour - click here. A few 'official pix' from the organisers - look it's me - can be found here, note to self don’t do stupid things for the camera, because you look stupid. Plus to see video footage from the Haute Route check here 

Food - ah muesli, first time in almost a week since I’ve had it for breakfast. I think that gave me the power to get up that little hill today. This is closely followed by the dessert I had at lunch. I love this photo as the guy behind me looks a tad jealous! This is my ‘sorry, I am not sharing this’ face.

Weather - perfect weather for a hill climb - max temp 25C.

Mode of Transport - motorbikes, who cannot appreciate being escorted to, during and after the start of stages by the 24+ motorbike drivers here at Haute Route.

Conversation - the insider knowledge from the French cyclists who knew exactly the way that Col du Glanon goes. Apart from being up for 12k, they let me know that there is no way you can go out ‘hard’ as it just continues to climb - pretty much at the same gradient for the entire way.

Animal - it has to be the crickets that are on the road, they gave me a small entertainment factor for the hour that I was slogging it out today. 

What else of note - unfortunately I had an Andy Schleck moment today. My chain fell off during a gear shift in the last 750m before the summit! I was hoping for under an hour, official time 1:00:02, plus I guess I should spend less time taking photos and more time riding. Just to be clear, I’m not bitter but love the fact that you go into a day, like today, thinking I’ll treat it as a rest day and take it easy.

Parting thought of the day/blog: tomorrow is going to be hard. Then again, my legs feel a whole lot better, my back doesn’t hurt anymore and I can feel by big toe again. 

A summation of the day from the organisers:

What Claude Droussent, French cycling specialist, says about Stage 4

STAGE 4 - SERRE CHEVALIER TO COL DU GRANON

“Isn’t this a funny idea, this time trial on the Granon roads, unknown col leading nowhere except 2413 meters high, facing the magnificent Ecrins National Park? My advice: warm up, for example whilst going up to the Lautaret! Because the Granon, where the pros went through (and arrived as it’s a dead-end) only once in 1986 with a Lemmond-Zimmermann duel, is a tough one right from the bottom and exit of Saint-Chaffrey. So 12 kilometres only on the menu, but 11 with hellish gradients, rarely below 8% with bits at 11-12%. On this fourth day and with what’s been served the day before, respect to those who will take less than an hour to get to the top.”

Main feature of Stage 4

· 1st start from Serre Chevalier (St Chaffrey) on 24th August at 9:00 

· First arrival at the Col du Granon around 10:20 

· 12 timed kilometres 

· 1’100 metres of ascent

· 1 full refreshment station at the Col du Granon - TdF once

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A little about Will Levy, la Haute Route and twowheeltours.com.au

TWT, mtnbike.com.au and bike shuttle.com.au are three companies based out of Sydney that offer road and mountain bike trips from Sydney to Canberra, New Zealand and Europe. We also transport/shuttle bikes to various races around Australia including the Noosa Triathlon and the Tour Down Under.
Will is apart of the Haute Route Race in 2011, an innovative, prestigious and international cyclosportive with a unique concept: link Geneva to Nice by road bike in 7 timed consecutive stages on a legendary race course taking on 15 mythical cols and ascents of the Alps whilst covering 730 km.
twowheeltours.com.au will be at the Haute Route again in 2012 - we will be providing logistical support for riders, and their non riding partners, from Australia and New Zealand. This will include early arrival and pickup from Geneva Airport or CFF train station. Riders and their non riding partners will have first class accommodation on the lead up the race. During the race, non riders will have a bilingual guide taking them to daily activities. The trip will conclude with an extra two days, again in first class accommodation in Nice on the Promenade des Anglais.

25 July 2011 #15 a continual bike riders dream even - Paris

Time to recount! 

Okay so being on tour is busy, there is no doubt that 23 clients takes effort - logistics, riding, eating, more riding and eating then add atop the TdF are bound to take you away from writing daily reports.   

In sum:

The riding, having the chance to do Mount Ventaux, Alpes d’Huez, Col d’Ornon, Col d’Gannon, Col de la Croix de Fer plus many others and most of them twice was an amazing experience. This year, compared to last, was 95% amazing weather. Only one day did we get caught in the rain, which then proceeded to turned into a thunderstorm. 

On the riding front, there really are too many highlights to lay out in text but I’ll pass on two. One, the winds of MV were actually with us and the ride back into Mane. It was just spectacular, that day we descended more that we climbed! The other would have to be climbing up Alpe d’Huez the day before the TdF climbed up. Going past all the crazies on the corners, especially the Dutchies, will leave a lasting impression. I do have to share this point, on the Dutchie corner there was a group of drunken men who had gathered to contest body function noises, needless to say the pace through that section picked up to the cheers of the men in orange.  

Food - we’ve had some grand meals, some very traditional meals and plenty of pastries. Unfortunately this trip I have not been having my daily almond croissant but that may change now I’m in Paris for the next 2 weeks. Highlight the desserts at Col du Lautaret, on the Galibier Stage, we were based at Col d’Lautret, they were all hand made on site and it was an all you can eat opportunity! Blueberry tart, cheesecake, apple crumble and pear tart ... did I sample all of them, why not! 

Weather - other than getting caught in the thunderstorm and subsequently freezing while the clients went home and I looked after the bikes in a bus shelter, the weather was perfect. I was hoping to see a little more rain on the day of the time trial in Grenoble, to make it more exciting - but Cadel Evans won anyway, but it was glorious. Even yesterday on the finish line of the TdF the weather was a pleasant temperature  

Mode of Transport - I’ve been aligning myself in buses the past week, does that count? I did see a tandem bike yesterday which was of interest, unfortunately I didn’t couldn’t get my camera out quickly enough. It was a tandem with one rider facing one way and one the other! They were either IKEA workers or from Sweden according to their outfits. I was just hoping that they didn’t ride all the way down from up North!  

Conversation - “Obama is like Hitler” I kid you not, one person said this yesterday and in lieu of what went on in Norway this week we don’t need any more comments like this! 

Animal - The cows on the climb to Col du Sabot, not far from Vaujany. A shame that I did not get to ride this road, I was sagging as we only had 2 riders and it was a little wet and dangerous - safety safety safety ... They were on the road, in the hills and running along the side of the van on the way back down to Vaujany. 

What else of note: Cadel Evans winning the 2011 Tour de France, not bad for a 34 year old! Congratulations to him and his team, it will be fascinating to see what next for the boy. Two MTB World Cups, World Road Cycling Title and now wearer of the Yellow Jersey!  

Parting thought of the day/blog: TdF in 2012 ... we’ll see. Now for two weeks in Paris, two weeks in the South and then the Haute Route. I do feel a little more confident about the route for the race after being down in the Alps for the last week. Bring on the next exciting chapter!

16 July 2011 #14 a continual bike riders dream even - Mt Ventaux

I've been slack, well busy - clients are in and that means running and running or riding and riding. Here is a bit of info from a few days back - hopefully I'll have something more recent in the next few days. 

More playing on the bike today - Mount Ventaux (MV) and first clients coming in. 

Food - okay so I’ve missed a few days of catching up so I’ve got a few tails. The first ‘food’ related point would have to be the poor kid who was bringing up his food on the way from Vaujany to Mane, the road is quite twisty and I guess it got the better of him. Sometimes I hate it when I’m inquisitive and you look where you are not supposed too! Yesterday we ate lunch at Le France Bistro in Mane, the paillea was just amazing, so much food and it hit the spot. This morning breakfast was just a pastry-athon, nothing like fresh out of the oven snails and pan-ocholoate!   

Weather - here come the kestrels! We are in Provence and the winds down here are famous. They have not arrived yet but we’ve been warned that they’ll be here tomorrow. It’ll make climbing MV on Monday all that more exciting. I have heard a rumour that on really windy day they actually close the top of the mount down! That wouldn’t be such a good thing for the clients. 

Car - I’ve got many, where the clients are staying is a 5 star accommodation in Mane called Couvent des Minimes - quite spectacular. Of course with this being the case they’ve got the cars to match, a car park full of Porsches, AMG’s and Fiat Bambino’s! On the flip side, there was a yard full of old Citroens today, DS’ and the like, oh so sad to see such classics just wilting away. Last but not least was the hay bale truck on the way to MV - classic!

Conversation - easy! On the way down from MV I stopped at the cafe at the intersection, 6k from the top (for those who have been). There was a lead guy (LG) from a bike company, no names, who was talking to one of the riders who still had to climb to the top of MV. LG “wasn’t that just the best climb (remember just the first part) you’ve ever done, where else can you get a workout like that!?” Rider “yeah, amazing” (sincerely). LG “now don’t forget to replenish your electrolytes as you’ve got another 6k to the top”. Rider “yes I’m feeling like I could use some” ... nuff said!

Animal - The sheep that were on the side of the road on the way up MV, thank you for not coming across the road whilst descending!

What else of note: MV what types of bikes have not climbed this Mount!? There was everything making it up today, old clunkers, re-cumbants, family bikes, kids bikes, heaps of standard pedal bikes and of course super expensive bikes!   

Parting thought of the day/blog: Riding through the lavendar fields on the way back down MV, they are harvesting sections of it at the moment and the smell from it was just amazing! 

Sat 2 July 2011 #4 a bike riders dream continues

Food - The two pastries out at Orio ... just a little sugar rush to get me home. Tonite off to Pamplona so who knows what we’ll have on the dinner table ... just hope it is not freeway food! 

Weather - Almost Cut and Paste from y’day ... this is what everyday should be like, cool breeze, sun and more sun, glorious.  

Car - it is going to be a Renault Traffic - I’ve not seen it yet but that is my trusty steed for the next oh - 3 weeks - on the road. This automobile will end up with a nickname and will most likely appear is a few of these blogs

Conversation - it would have to be with the rider E’kite, who I rode up the second last mountain with today, 18 years old, just done 100k and not even out of breath. We chatted on the monster (many more monsters to come and they’ll be ‘worse/better’ than this pee-on) of a hill between Orio and San Sebastian.

Animal - the cows on the road between Orio and San Seb - they have one amazing view, I bet they don’t even appreciate it.

What else of note: I’m pretty excited that my 2 months of gear has fitted into my army duffel and I can ‘comfortably’ carry it around for the summer ... hmm will I ever bring a bag with wheels to EU!? 

Parting thought of the day/blog: San Sebastian is one amazing place, many many thanks to Gorka and his crew for taking me in. I see a trip to SS with a group of riders sometime in the very near future. One more thing, there was another picture in the restaurant that we had lunch in yesterday, it was of Neil Stevens, he too lives in the area but I forgot to mention him in y’days notes. It is also the first day of 'le tour' it is one of those things that I think being back in Sydney you get to see more of le tour but it is still great to be here, see the newspapers (try and interpret what they say) and watch it without it being at 2 in the morning, sorry Australians. 

PS Congratulations to Philippe Gilbert on winning stage one of le tour

Haute Route - Here We Come

twowheeltours and Ride Cycling Magazine 

heading to Geneva - Nice and all the Col's between

This is the advert that will be placed in Ride Cycling Magazine in the next issue

For more information click here - you can also email info@twowheeltours.com.au for more details.

Cannondale

A week of testing out a new bike ... does life get any better when you've got the only ONLY Cannondale Scalpel ULTIMATE in Australia to ride around on? It really is hard to believe that a full suspension bike can be this light! It was a pleasure to take around the city this week, I even found a little stretch of dirt to see how it handled off road, to sum it up in one word -ultimate- is what comes to mind. The whole system integration, no bearings or bushings really does pay off with weight reductions! Next weekend it will be on the trails ... can I wait that long!? 

There is rumour that a 29'er will be around soon - now that is a bike that I'd like to take on the Swiss MTB Week in the Alps, June 13-19 2011. On the trip this year, one of the riders who usually rides a 29'er was professing the need for his bike instead of a standard 26 ... maybe one day he'll be back to rail those trails on a 29'er. 

During the weekend I was at the NSW Cycling Grand Prix down at Coogee Beach, 960m of road was turned into a criterium track, two hairpin turns and plenty of riders made for some interesting riding. It is great to see Sydney have events such as this put on. It makes me pine for the Tour de France again, come July we'll be back there, letting the Tour come to us.

Things on the twowheeltours side of things are certainly moving along, the Six Degrees of Separation has gained plenty of interest. All those years of teaching in the US has gotten me closer to the White House than I would have guessed. I got this from one of my degrees 'It's interesting that you mentioned Barack Obama, because a good friend of mine's brother works in the White House...go figure!  So i'll see if i can get them to look at your website :)'

Some unfortunate news came out this morning about the Pegasus Racing Team, it seems that they are having trouble with their entry Pro Team Licence from the UCI. In attending the launch for Bikes for Bush a few months back I was fortunate enough to meet Chris White who 

is the team manager for Pegasus Racing. He had a dream to construct an Australian based cycling team to take on the likes of the Tour de France. This was never going to be easy but I hope that there is a silver lining for Chris and the rest of the Pegasus team.

Have a good week all and get on that bike.