My Everest!

My Auntie Cocole made a great point to me a few days ago. She said (in English, BRAVO!) that everyone has their "own Everest" to climb in life. This "Everest" is symbolic of your dreams, goals and desires. I have been lucky enough to summit many of my own "Everest's" (you don't always just have one!).

I had planned the week in advance with Joelle and Claude that I would ride 3/4 of the climbing involved in La Marmotte on Saturday. This includes Col du Glandon, Col du Telegraphe, Col du Galibier and a 8km descent to Col du Lautaret. Below is the profile. I planned to descend Glandon and then drive to the bottom of Telegraphe and then climb Telegraphe and Galibier.

I must be honest...in one of my previous posts I stated that the La Marmotte climbs ~50000ft...well, I may have overexagerated just a wee bit, LOL. It actually climbs ~22000 ft (~6.7 km), which is still pretty hefty!

I have been pretty nervous all week thinking about this day. I knew it would be tough..I had never climbed Telegraphe or Galibier before and had heard nothing too pleasent about them other than the scenery. On a ride I did Thursday, I met up with about 10 Belgium men on Col de la Croix de la Fer and they were doing the La Marmotte course minus Alpe D'Huez. They had done the race before and gave me some great tips!...Ofcourse, they said it would be hard...but, if it were easy, I wouldn't be doing it, right? Yes, I know, I am crazy..more on that in a bit.

We had great weather all week, but Friday night a front blew in with wind, cold, clouds and rain. Not bad to climb in! I was actually happy about the cooler temps. It was an early start and the clouds were low...perfect! Below is a picture of me heading out; all smiles.

Before I go any further with this post, I must say I have the best, absolute BEST mother-in-law and Auntie-in-law. I don't know many people that would put up with a day of driving around, supporting and making sure their crazy daughter/neice-in-law is safe while she decides to tackle some mountains! Merci Beaucoup!

Still smiling on the way to Glandon

You can see the clouds in the background. Biking through the layer of clouds is the most fascinating experience! It is pretty foggy and dark below, but then you break through to some gorgeous sunshine.

Here is a great pic Joelle took of the dam/wildlife a few km from the peak of Glandon

Almost there!...

It was really funny for me because Joelle is the "photographer" and Claude (aka Auntie Cocole) is in charge of the driving/safety. Joelle loves getting a "good picture" which, included directing me into the oncoming lane of traffic during a descent or climb so she could get me at the proper angle with a "beautiful" background; and at the same time of all of this happening, Cocole was sticking her neck out the window of the parked car screaming "BEEEEE CAAARREEEFULLL!!" I was cracking up as I was climbing/descending; especially when they would drive by and Joelle was halfway out of the window of the car trying to get her shot and Cocole screaming "BE CAREFUL" as I climbed at a snails pace! I was in more danger of falling over from going too slow than losing control of the bike, LOL!

The riding was tough! It was a really, really windy day out, and when you are trying to climb +8-9% into a cold headwind, it takes a toll. Near the summit I was getting the "frozen fingers/frozen toes"syndrome and was happy to accept the ride down the Glandon from my awesome support crew. On days like this, it is not worth the risk to descend when you don't have too....maybe I should rephrase that; when you are a crappy descender like me, you will use any excuse to get a free ride down the mountain! LOL

Here is a picture at the summit. It was awesome! We were "in" the clouds; Very Cool!

On our drive down Glandon, I took a few pics. The one below is ~2.5 km into the descent past the technical "don't make a wrong turn or you die" part. It is looking up into the clouds, unfortunately you cannot see the hairpins of the descent, none the less, it looks cool!

This is a river of snow. Remenents of an Avalanche.

And this is looking down at the Glandon descent. It is sooo beautiful! Once you get past the first 3 km of this descent it is "relatively" safe.

From the bottom of Glandon, we drove to St Jean de-Maurienne the bottom of Telegraphe. This section of the course is super flat and will be super fast with the draft created by +6000 riders. Yes, that is right, around 6000 riders are crazy enough to do this event! It has wave starts, one at 7 am, one at 7:30 and one at 7:50 am. So even though the wind whips through this valley, I am hoping it will be barely noticeable! I am also hoping I can follow someone safe for the descents! LOL

Once in St Jean de-Maurienne, you make a shart right hand turn and go up, up and up to Col du Telegraphe. Below is a picture of me about 1/2 way up. This climb is pretty mild and a good warmup for what awaits. It is very sheltered with trees; it is like riding in a forest! On a few of the turns you can get a peak across the valley at the neighboring mountains to get an idea of how high you are.

The summit of Telegraphe is right around the Boulder altitude, so I was doing pretty well at this point. Chowing down on cookies and Carbo-Pro as I knew it would be needed the higher I got. One thing Megan told me that is super important is that the higher in altitude you train, the more calories you burn; so those 250-300 calories per hour at sea level won't cut it at the top of a moutain!

Once you hit Col du Telegraphe you have a quick 4-5 km mile descent into the village of Valloire. At this point in time I was thinking to myself "only 17 more km to go...this is not so bad!!" Because the average grade so far was ~7% it wasn't really "doing me in" like I had expected. Everyone says "OMG Galibier!! WOW..." and I hadn't yet experienced the "WOW"...Naivety is bliss sometimes!

The first few km out of Valloire are simply "easy"...~5%; but you do start noticing the altitude. Nothing too bad...I was waiting for the "WOW"; but then I started looking at the writing on the road as I climbed (leftover from the tour and other bike races". There were names, and the word "COURAGE!" , but most disturbing were the pictures of the devils fork and devil. At that point I knew that this was going to get bad. I also became aware of the lack of trees and the blotches of snow; it was getting cold...and you know you are getting high when the trees don't grow anymore.

But, I still told myself "maybe it won't be that bad" ...so I distracted myself with the scenery (pic below).

Then you arrive at km 26 of 34 and you realize that the road makes a sharp right turn over a river and then heads back in the direction you are coming from. Then your eyes follow the road as it sharply ascents to the hairpin climb on your right that you didn't notice...Then you realize that you are WAY above Boulder altitude, and an 8-10% for 8 km is going to be a B*&ch . Then, you realize that this is not as "fun" as it seemed anymore. THEN you realize what the "WOW" is.

Below is the picture of what you see on your "right". It is the first 3km of the climb (yes, bottom to top) before it takes you onto the backside and then onto another cliff/mountain (at that point in time I could not tell the difference) and eventually to the top.

I am not going to lie, this was tough! Very, very tough! From the climbing standpoint, it was hard, but what made it harder was the altitude. I never, ever, EVER thanked Boulder for it's altitude till today, because as I passed people wheezing and coughing and pulling over for breath, even walking their bikes! I realized that although I was "suffering, huffing and puffing" I was not going to collapse, or get altitude sickness...I guess from that stanpoint I had it good, LOL!

What makes this climb even more amazing is the scenery. It is absolutely magical. You go from the bottom of Telegraphe where you climb through a forest to the green prairies of higher altitude an then you get to the snow-fields! In the picture below, I am about 4 km from the summit and as you can see the snow is appearing.

I think this next picture captures it all. Nothing more to say other than I am truly lucky to have the opportunity to experience this!

About 2 km left to go and I was dreaming of making a snowman! Actually, you can see the peak at 2 km left to go..and it is very high! The last bit is ~10-12%...kinda like Ward! Except at one km to go there was a backup in traffic coming from the opposite direction because of a snow cave-in on the road that blocked over one lane...of course the cyclists got priority!

Finally at the top! And you really do feel like you are on top of the world! Well at least for 3-4 minutes because it was FREEZING! We were so cold we didn't even get a picture at the Col du Galibier sign! Sigh, I guess I will have to do it again, LOL

From Galibier I descending 8 km to Col du Lautaret which is MUCH warmer and has an even better view of the glacier La Meje in the background. I was extremely excited to see a merchant selling nougat products, so we loaded up.

Joelle looked at me and said "It is enough, you are finished!"...but I had a little idea brewing in my head. I knew my legs were going to be shot on Sunday regardless, and didn't really want to get up the next morning to finish off my adventure with Alpe D'Huez, so why not get it all done in one day?? It would be the La Marmotte without the descents/flats.

Scared that Joelle might bat me across the side of my head, I yelled to Cocole "Alpe D'Huez" and being the super trooper and eager beaver she lit up and said "oui...to the bottom of Bourg D'Oisans! we will see then!" Cocole used to be a competative skier, so she understands these stupid ideas athletes get...no doubt about it, I was not thinking straight.

So off to Bourg D'Oisans we went. I chowed down as we drove and was questioning my actual desire to do this, and I told my head to shut up because no one in their right mind would think this was a good idea, but I needed to know where/how to dig come race/La Marmotte day (I don't like to call it a race because if I raced this thing, I wouldn't even make it to the first summit! I like to refer to it as an "event").

So I started Alpe D'Huez with the agreement that Claude and Joelle would stop at different points on the way up in case I pooped out. Suprisingly I felt pretty good for the first 9 turns...including the killer first 5 turns at 12%. At this point in time I felt invincible! No Problem, my legs can do La Marmotte! Then I was thirsty and noticed the wind picking up..and then I started getting mad. First sign I need to eat! So I pulled over where Claude and Joelle were parked, at a bit and took some electrolytes. At this point I was only 7 turns from the top, just over 5 km to go! No problem, right?

At 4 km to go, the wall hit! "Welcome to hell kid!" The wind was whipping, my legs were on fire, I was ready to cry, and the only thing going through my head was "left-right, push-push, keep it smooth" It felt like Ironman...you know when you only have a few miles left to go but it seems like eternity?? 2 km from the top at the "red La Marmotte sign" Claude and Joelle were pulled over talking to Gregory.on the phone (he was wondering what trouble his wife was getting into, again!)..so I pulled over to say hi...he hadn't heard from me since I started my adventure (actually, he slept right through it, got to love the time change LOL). And what does an encouraging, supportive husband tell his wife at times like these when she asks him if it is ok if she stops and calls it a day 2 km from the finish?? He say "Suck it up Princess! get your a$$ to the top!"

So I did...nothing pretty or glamorous about it. I worked, pushed, pulled and got my princess butt to the top! And boy did it feel good. These types of days are one in a million and I will not/cannot compare it to anything I have every done before!

I can't say that I am not scared for La Marmotte anymore, but at least I know what to expect.

This biking adventure was extremely taxing on my body, and I know it will take a few days to recover, however, I find it a lot easier to deal with because you don't have the "pain" you get from running. There is no impact in biking (well, as long as you don't crash) and all you are left with is a deep fatigue. I am not limping, I am not cringing when I touch my legs, I am just tired!

So today was a day off....tomorrow might be another one...heck, I might not get on my bike until La Marmotte, LOL j/k Good news is that the pool opens in a few days!

I will let you know when I get back on my bike!

Thanks for reading...and yes, this day was one of my many "Everests"

If you want to see the entire gallery of the day here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.fr/goodcookies4me/ColDuGlandonEtTelegrapheEtGalibierEtLautaret#