Will I or wont I ???

[gezza]

www.letapedutour.com/2008/ETDT/presentation/fr/itineraire.htm

100k in 4hrs 35mins to the base of the tourmalet

17k in 2hrs 25mins to the top of the tourmalet

and finally 48k to get down the tourmalet and up the Hautacam


Its gonna be interesting !!!!!!!

 

[Aperitif]

To support you and keep your concentration, I propose to install several tables and chairs at 5km intervals after you have done say, 80km.
There will be cool women dispensing even cooler beers at these tables - but just far enough back from the route to test your resolve. Portable Indian restaurants will be in position at 95km.
Toilets will feature at 101, 103, 103 and 104km followed by Sid's Taxistop Café after 105km, with an urn full of boiling tea.
Meanwhile, I will have tied my address tag to your bike so that in case of 'difficulty' I will be able to look after it for you...

your friend, Ivor O'Shiman

 

[Monst]

That'll hurt.

2.25 for the 'Mallet would be about right for the procceding 100k. Saint Marie at the base has a good cafe, good cake shop and a fantastic fountain/horse trough to drown in. La Mongie is a sh~t 'ole. Roads were/are very weather beaten at this point. However - still a long way to the top! Good cafe at the top too. You'll do the decent off the other side in about 10 minutes tho!

 

[Tim Bennet.]

You'll do the decent off the other side in about 10 minutes tho!

Not on the last time the Etape went that way over the Tourmalet you didn't.

For a start the fresh snow made the top part (with the big drop offs on your right) a 'little slippery'. Most people walked / carried their bikes.

Then the driving sleet, rain and wind made you so cold it was hard to feel your brake levers let alone pull them on.

A character building descent maybe, but not a fast descent.

 

[Twenty Inch]

You'll do it if you want to enough. But it will mean not doing lots of other things while you are training for it. When I was dragging my kit on for yet another long, interminable and painful training session I used to console myself with the thought that every mile training now meant I was less likely to blow up on the Big Day. Let us know how you get on.