Alpe D’huez Triathlon 2010 – the report

August 8th, 2010 by Gavin

Cian McGrath and Andy Kavanagh

From Andy Kavanagh, Wicklow Tri :

‘ Being a fan of Cycling, Triathlon and French cuisine, this trip seemed to make sense in more than one way. However, when suggested by Cian McGrath – we are blaming him – earlier this year, it appeared to be relatively straight forward. Swim 2.1k (no problem there), Cycle 115k (a bit longer than usual but again quite a straight forward hilly spin we’d do at most weekends), run 21.1k (once paced well that’ll hurt but again should be fine).

So we committed and upon further inspection realised that it was a tad more difficult than we first realised. The bike was 115k with 2500m of vertical climbing which included 2 Col’s and the infamous Alpe D’Huez 21 bend ascent which completed the distance over the last 13.2k at around 9% average gradient. The run was a 3 lap affair with a healthy mix of hilly trail and road running, once again the organisers wouldn’t make this any easier with T2 being located at just under 2000m, altitude would be a factor.

Initially the group consisted of 5 with Cian, Chris, Darren, Adam and Myself all committing, unfortunately injury hit Darren and Adam so there were just the 3 left to carry the WTC torch. With the 2 lads (Cian and Chris) now turning toward Veteran status over this distance, and in their respective Age categories, they were primed to race well, my own plan was more about survival so lining up at the start we all had our own goals (to beat each other always figures though!).

The build up to the race was tense enough, flying in on a Saturday with a race on the Wednesday it was a long build up but also gave us the chance to have a look at the bike course on Sunday. The first climb was listed as easy by the organisers but once we had climbed up to about 1250m’s over the course of 16k we realised a Frenchman’s view of easy and ours were not really in the same category. The descents as well were dicey enough with switchbacks and blind corners all figuring regularly. It was a tough course and we set a very rough estimate of 8hrs to finish the whole race.

Race day couldn’t come quick enough after such a long build up so we headed down to the lake early on Wednesday to rack up which ran smoothly. With T1 being in the valley and T2 up in Alpe D’huez we bagged our run gear which was sent up the hill to our spots, again excellent organisation really prevailed throughout the event which was a major comfort.

Roughly 1,000 lined up for a mass start in a relatively wide 75m channel so after wishing good luck to the lads I hit the water. I decided to start front centre, about 1-2 lines back from the front row which would give me a good few options on the draft both left and right should I need it. It wasn’t that violent a start and I quickly got into a good rhythm. My goal for the swim was just to relax through it at a steady pace so I just drafted and enjoyed the helicopter flying low overhead! I exited on 36.45.

T1 was probably the slowest of my life. I had decided to put on a Pre packed full cycling kit but again with the goal of taking it easy for the day it was good to get the head together for the cycle. 3:54.

cian

The Cycle was an amazing experience to say the least. As my goal was to finish the race as my training had mostly being focused on Olympic distance my strategy on the bike was to never go above my Threshold heart rate which I achieved. The problem with this was that I was passed by half the race on the first climb, frustrating but it was a long day so I was confident I’d get a lot of those places back. Out on the course I saw 2 crashes in the first 500m’s which reinforced the importance to stay focused with so many competitors on a tricky course like this (bike racing over the season helped a lot here). After a few min’s out of T1 I was caught by a group which must have consisted of at least 30 people, and this grew to about 70 people by the start of the first climb. The draft marshalls didn’t really seem to care too much about this which was annoying as it was impossible to get away from the bunch and pointless in stopping pedalling so I just got ready for the first climb. This complete disregard of the drafting rules is pretty slack in my opinion and particularly the French riders seem to completely take the mick when racing. The Alpe de Grand Serre (16k about 6-7% average) – I knew the climb from earlier in the week so just got into a rhythm, drank, ate and stuck to the plan. Seeing the support crew (Ruth, Sarah, Darren and Ana – thanks guys for all the work during the week!) at the top was a good pick me up and I was fresh so all was going well. The back section of the course went slowly so again I stuck to the plan and took in the amazing sights while sticking to the nutrition plan. The second climb was a gradual drag for about 20k with the last 6k at about 6-8% again, quite straight forward again and my plan was starting to work as I wasn’t being passed anymore (that’s possibly because everyone who had a bit of speed was passed me already!!). The descent was dangerous and technical but exciting and before I knew it I was at the foot of the Alpe, and all this in 4hrs. Up the first section of the Alpe is brutal at about 10-12% average for 4k’ish, I stayed within myself and thanked the lord for my 34×28 gearing which let me spin up. After that I got into a rhythm for the second and last third up to the village of Huez and on the last few bends to the official top in about 1:20′ish then on from there to T2. The climb itself was epic with all the names of Pro riders who had won stages listed on the numbered turns, Pantani, Hinault, Lance etc all had there names down and it was great to be in an event on such a classic climb. All in all the bike was very slow for me but to the HR plan of not going above Tlac, 5:24 total bike.

T2 – Was a joke! I took my time but was fresh and laughed as Darren told me to hurry up (I believe it was more like “hurry up you lazy ba****d”) – 3:28.

The Run was a bit of an unknown quantity as we had only seen it on a map so I just went through the motions of the first lap sticking to my plan of low HR, drink, food and steady pacing. It was a bloody tough run with ups and downs consistently but easy to break up mentally into 6×3.5k laps which helped. The first and second laps were around 33mins each which I was happy with but the days events started to come back to me on the last lap as my hip flexors started to seize up and lifting the legs became problematic. The lack of training for this distance was definitely the problem here so I all in all I was delighted with how my strategy worked. I struggled across the finish line with a 1:43 half which was all good and a total race time of 7:50! That’s only around 3hrs15mins longer than my previous distance in a race!

cian-finish

All in all I found it to be an epic day but slightly frustrating that I didn’t race it. However I stuck to and executed my plan which was essential. The lads got on great with Cian and Chris coming in on 7:32 and 7:33 respectively. Special mention for Tim Downing also put in an excellent showing again coming 21st overall, Very solid times in what was a good field. I definitely would recommend this race and would consider doing it again but would follow the below….

andy
Suggestions to anyone doing this race in the future would be….

1. Stay in the Valley and not at altitude in the resort. It’s a lot warmer and doesn’t have the negatives of having to go up and down the 21 bends if you want to go for a training spin.

2. Bring Clinchers and not Tubs! I personally find it easier to brake when descending on Clinchers without the fear of locking up and with a lot of hard turns on this course you need your brakes a lot!

3. Have a solid plan prior to the race and know your abilities with gearing on the bike and how you perform in steep hills.

4. Bring your bike in a soft case to save weight and avoid getting screwed by Ryanair on the way home with their ridiculous 20kg bike box limit! 140 euro later I can say this hurts!

5. Rent a car, essential!

6. Don’t go over too soon before the race, If I was going again it’d be a Monday arrival, Wednesday race, and whatever afterwards.

7. Don’t go overboard on chocolate crepe’s, or millefilles, or croissants, chocolate croissants….. you get the idea.