Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September 4, 2022

Haute Route Alps - Stage 5 (Time Trial)

STAGE 5 - 10K Time Trial  August 25th, 2022 Start: Meribel, France Finish: Meribel, France 6.2 miles 59:33 riding time 6.27 mph average 2657 feet Climb: Col de la Loze.   For our "rest" day, all we had to do was ride 10K. Up the Col de la Loze. 2657+ feet to climb in 6 miles. Pitches above 20%. Over 9% gradient for the majority of the climb. Summit at ~7500 feet. At this point in the event, we have covered 390 miles and 52,000 feet of elevation gain in five days.  Yeah, a lot to accomplish before we could full enjoy our rest day.  The overall vibe was a bit lighter in the morning as every rider had a set start time range for the time trial. Mine was 9:45-10am and Karel had 10am - 10:15am. They seeded everyone based on overall times so that the top seeded athletes were at the end. We woke up around 7am (yay for sleeping in!) and had breakfast at the hotel. Although I felt a bit more in my element with the concept of a time trial (my own effort), the course had me worried. I w

Haute Route Alps - Stage 4

STAGE 4 August 24th, 2022 Start: Les Deux Alps, France Finish: Meribel, France 95.5 miles 8:09 riding time 11.7 mph average 14,339 ft elevation gain (Karel's computer had 16,211 feet!) Climbs: Glandon (25K), Madeleine (19K) and Meribel/part of the Col de la Loze - 16K) Stage 4 had us worried. It was our "Queen" stage which means it was the most difficult stage of our 7-day event, involving several difficult climbs and accumulating the most elevation. We were so worried about this stage that we didn't even familiarize ourselve with the climbs or stats until that morning. As if the first 3 stages were not hard enough, we were carrying around a massive amount of fatigue and soreness going into this stage.  But there were positives on this day. First off, if when we finish the stage we will officially be over half way through the event. Wahoo! Secondly, we will be staying in the famous ski town of Meribel, France. And even better, we would have the same accomodations, in

Haute Route Alps - Stage 3

STAGE 3 August 23rd, 2022 Start: Serre Chevalier Briancon, France Finish: Les Deux Alps 70 miles 5:48 riding time 12 mph average 10,612 ft elevation gain Climbs: Lautaret (26K), Sareene (13K), Les 2 Alpes (9K) and descending Alpe d'Huez. With our latest start time thus far, we were happy that we could get a little extra sleep with a 6am alarm. The daily routine didn't change from the last two days and we tried to eat as much as we could, prepared our gear, repacked our luggage and dropped off in the hotel lobby, prepared our post-race backpack and questioned how we would be able to ride another stage. Even at "only" 70 miles, we still had 10,000+ feet to climb. Although I didn't look at any of the time off times, Karel was really worried that he wouldn't make the times for this stage. The cut off times are pretty strict and while you can continue ride the next day if you don't make a cut off time, you aren't consider an official finisher unless you mak