Ramsay

By far the toughest thing I've done on the bike.
 
Very cool in the morning, thankfully, as would have struggled in the heat.
 
Fast start from Bourg but the group thinned out as soon as we hit the glandon. Really hard at the start but we got into a rhythm of sorts. Misty & cold at top & mental descent.
 
Got in a fast bunch on way to Telegraphe, this was long but not too bad (avg 7.5%) but then the Galibier- never ending. Truly horrible. Got cramp in left hamstring so so had to stop for a stretch.
 
This is when my stomach problems started. More later....
 
Descent from Galibier was super fast with very wide roads so great fun.
 
Got in a group and got to the Alpe in no time.
 
First 4K were horrendous & my hamstring cramped again. Stomach still playing up.
 
Counting down the corners now but moving at a snails pace then my right hamstring went-had to get off for a stretch.
 
Corner 13. Had to get off & scurry into the trees to make a deposit. Nasty.
 
Then just limped on and on and on while being baked in the heat.
 
Picked up in last few K as the gradient eased and rolled to a stop. Utterly spent.
 
Hardest day I've had on a bike but glad I did it. If only I'd trained for it although I'd likely had suffered as much but just gone faster.
 
Box tickedðŸ‘

The day 0500! Up breakfast 5:30 Ride down the Alp 06:00Then in pen eventually over the line 07:15 the ride to the glandon is fast and fun but over too quickly then the 24 k of the Glandon me Grieg and George rode up most of it together soon enough it was me and George 2 plus hours latter the decent which was damp and cold and scary lost George as he was well in front
Next year valley to Telegraph spent most of that on my own eventually reaching the col but spent a couple of matches caught up with George and rode the 12 k or so together nice short decent and the Galibier 20 k this was sole destroying eventually I left George and rode to the top and waited for a short time as it was freezing
Next a fantastic descent to the Alp again sort of on my own dragged a bunch to the btm of the Alp
The Alp 22 hair pins of total torture everything hurts close to chucking it many times hung in finished had a few beers and George rolled in
The rest can add but George's Alp storey is good

Elaine & I also did this with a group from her work.

Briefly met Grieg, George, Billy, Richie and other for a beer on the Saturday night.

Had a cracking day after a shaky start (literally!). I rode down to the start from Alpe D'Huez and twice had almost uncontrollable speed wobbles at 35mph+. Very frightening, but sorted at the bottom to start almost last and behind the following vehicles!

After starting at the back, we rode steadily and passed people all day, which was nice. The sun came out on the decent from the Galibier and made the Alpe D'Huez climb almost hot. Finished in time for a beer and pasta.

Longest ever ride for Elaine and most climbing in a day for both of us.
 
Happy days!      

Elaine & I also did this with a group from her work.

Briefly met Grieg, George, Billy, Richie and other for a beer on the Saturday night.

Had a cracking day after a shaky start (literally!). I rode down to the start from Alpe D'Huez and twice had almost uncontrollable speed wobbles at 35mph+. Very frightening, but sorted at the bottom to start almost last and behind the following vehicles!

After starting at the back, we rode steadily and passed people all day, which was nice. The sun came out on the decent from the Galibier and made the Alpe D'Huez climb almost hot. Finished in time for a beer and pasta.

Longest ever ride for Elaine and most climbing in a day for both of us.
 
Happy days!      

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Elaine & I also did this with a group from her work.

Briefly met Grieg, George, Billy, Richie and other for a beer on the Saturday night.

Had a cracking day after a shaky start (literally!). I rode down to the start from Alpe D'Huez and twice had almost uncontrollable speed wobbles at 35mph+. Very frightening, but sorted at the bottom to start almost last and behind the following vehicles!

After starting at the back, we rode steadily and passed people all day, which was nice. The sun came out on the decent from the Galibier and made the Alpe D'Huez climb almost hot. Finished in time for a beer and pasta.

Longest ever ride for Elaine and most climbing in a day for both of us.
 
Happy days!      

Elaine & I also did this with a group from her work.

Briefly met Grieg, George, Billy, Richie and other for a beer on the Saturday night.

Had a cracking day after a shaky start (literally!). I rode down to the start from Alpe D'Huez and twice had almost uncontrollable speed wobbles at 35mph+. Very frightening, but sorted at the bottom to start almost last and behind the following vehicles!

After starting at the back, we rode steadily and passed people all day, which was nice. The sun came out on the decent from the Galibier and made the Alpe D'Huez climb almost hot. Finished in time for a beer and pasta.

Longest ever ride for Elaine and most climbing in a day for both of us.
 
Happy days!      

Elaine & I also did this with a group from her work.

Briefly met Grieg, George, Billy, Richie and other for a beer on the Saturday night.

Had a cracking day after a shaky start (literally!). I rode down to the start from Alpe D'Huez and twice had almost uncontrollable speed wobbles at 35mph+. Very frightening, but sorted at the bottom to start almost last and behind the following vehicles!

After starting at the back, we rode steadily and passed people all day, which was nice. The sun came out on the decent from the Galibier and made the Alpe D'Huez climb almost hot. Finished in time for a beer and pasta.

Longest ever ride for Elaine and most climbing in a day for both of us.
 
Happy days!      

Elaine & I also did this with a group from her work.

Briefly met Grieg, George, Billy, Richie and other for a beer on the Saturday night.

Had a cracking day after a shaky start (literally!). I rode down to the start from Alpe D'Huez and twice had almost uncontrollable speed wobbles at 35mph+. Very frightening, but sorted at the bottom to start almost last and behind the following vehicles!

After starting at the back, we rode steadily and passed people all day, which was nice. The sun came out on the decent from the Galibier and made the Alpe D'Huez climb almost hot. Finished in time for a beer and pasta.

Longest ever ride for Elaine and most climbing in a day for both of us.
 
Happy days!      

Elaine & I also did this with a group from her work.

Briefly met Grieg, George, Billy, Richie and other for a beer on the Saturday night.

Had a cracking day after a shaky start (literally!). I rode down to the start from Alpe D'Huez and twice had almost uncontrollable speed wobbles at 35mph+. Very frightening, but sorted at the bottom to start almost last and behind the following vehicles!

After starting at the back, we rode steadily and passed people all day, which was nice. The sun came out on the decent from the Galibier and made the Alpe D'Huez climb almost hot. Finished in time for a beer and pasta.

Longest ever ride for Elaine and most climbing in a day for both of us.
 
Happy days!      

A day to remember- thanks to the organisers for their time and sacrifice and thanks to Alan, Ramsay and Chung for leading and supportting on the road.
Should we not be doing  this more often as a club!!!!!!

Great run out today in what turned into a beautiful day.
 
Massive thank you to Paul Leavy and team for all efforts in making the day happen.

Great run out today in what turned into a beautiful day.
 
Massive thank you to Paul Leavy and team for all efforts in making the day happen.

Good run and ended up a cracking day for a cycle. Thanks to Alan and Ramsay for fixing my broken chain and contrary to belief I was actually sitting on the saddle spinning a low gear when my chain broke as standing on the pedals whilst changing gear would be a schoolboy error

Splendid run for the middle group. By common consent a bunch of us stuck it to the Man and stopped at the Bagel Basket. Here I am shown demonstrating their world famous Bagel Stack. Life expectancy : 5 mins.
One broken chain on the Haylie was quickly fixed and we enjoyed classic views of snowy Arran. It looked so close you could cycle around it a couple times easily.

Got a wedding on Sat, but Elaine and I plan to join this group. Will only be able to confirm on the morning.
 
R

We were delighted last week to be handed the original plans for the 1935 clubrooms. Thanks to Harry and Stephen Lambie

Endurance fs260 pro sl Ramsay. I have the extra long leg and you can choose pad width. My only gripe is the writing has started to peel. Other than that well worth the money.

Felt positively spring like this morning at Eglinton Park. It was even warm enough to ride without overshoes for the first time this year. That was the end of any pleasantness for the morning.
 
The first half felt like hard going into a headwind. After the turn the tailwind didn't seem to help much as my legs were starting to feel the pain. Came in with a time of 24'27" - TT is definitely not my thing!
 
Andy

Sportful Total comfort was my bib short of choice for lejog

Will be at the club for 08:50 ish to open up, make soup etc.

Elaine wil be out with the 9am group and I'll give the 9:30 group a go.
 
R

Buy a pair for less than a tenner online. Take a nice long ride. Replace shorts with anything anyone has recommended. Enjoy.

Assos F1 Mille

You might want to look at DHB pro range. Not quite Assos standard but pretty good nonetheless.