If you're thinking of attempting the RaidPyrenean then you might find these notes helpful.
I'm writing them just days after finishing a
successful RP with Marmot Tours, but please understand, I am not an expert. These are personal thoughts - stuff I was
thinking about while my legs churned out the miles.
If you find this helpful, please click a few adverts - it really does help!
If you find this helpful, please click a few adverts - it really does help!
I wrote a day-by-day blog while riding, which you'll find here. This article is at the top, so just scroll down.
The RP is one of many 'Raids' devised by
local French cycling clubs but it seems to have caught the imagination of
cyclists, perhaps because it has such a clear narrative - Atlantic to
Mediterranean staying as close as possible to the border with Spain.
CAN
YOU DO IT?
"Am I good enough to finish?" If
you're considering the RP then this is probably the key question you are asking
yourself, but unfortunately, there is no simple yes/no reply. "I have seen people of all ages, shapes
and sizes successfully complete this raid", said one of our guides over a
welcome beer. That's encouraging.
Yet I was later told, in every group of
twenty riders, roughly two fail to finish.
That's exactly as happened to our group.
Apparently knee pain is the most common reason for failure.
I genuinely, honestly did not know whether
I could do it. It was not until my legs had pedalled to the top of the Col d'Aubisque, at the start of day two, that I
began to allow myself the entertain the possibility that I would succeed.
Even then, I left it to the very, very last
night to buy my "I've done the RP" bike shirt.
Perhaps this will help you get your hear
around the magnitude of what's involved.
The details and maps are below, but think
of this challenge as four, century rides (100miles) on consecutive days over
hilly terrain. Just as when training to
run a marathon you don't have to run a marathon, when training for the RP you
don't have to ride 4 x 100 miles on consecutive days. But you do need to train.
TRAINING
At it's most basic, the training for the RP
is about time in the saddle. If the
longest you've ridden in training is two hours then you're going to struggle
when you're faced with consecutive 100 milers.
Work up to it gradually, but in the month before your RP your weekly
long ride should be at least eight hours.
I took training very seriously indeed. Probably too seriously, but that's just me!
I had two sessions with Dr Garry Palmer of Sportstest, which I've written about here and here. Garry tested me, deduced my precise heart
rate training 'zones', and produced the programme around which all my training
was based. I even bought an indoor turbo
trainer.
There were physical benefits, in that I lost weight and trained my body
to metabolise fat more efficiently.
Yet
equally important were the psychological benefits, because I was sure I was
doing the right training to succeed. I
completely understand this approach is not for everyone. But it worked for me.
SUPPORT
If you're considering the Raid, then you
have to give some thought to the how you'll actually do it. During the many, many hours I spent on my
bike, I pondered the 'best' way to do this challenge ride. I used to be a keen touring cyclist but I'm
not convinced panniers are best suited to this route.
Ultralight road cycling with a tiny
rucksack could work, but only if you have a stable weather pattern.
Otherwise you would need so much kit, to cope
with the potential extremes of temperature, the tiny rucksack would be of a
size which might be a pain.
Probably the best way would be in a group
of two or three riders, so you can take turns drafting, supported by two
friends in a campervan in which you all could sleep.
The support team would follow your route, providing
food, water, kit and sunscreen at the bottom and top of each Col. If they spoke French and were trained
masseurs then so much the better!
Assembling such a fantasy team in the real world is unlikely, which is why
I turned to Marmot Tours.
Marmot Tours says around 350-400 people attempt the
RP each year. Of them, around 300 are
British (why us???) and around 200 travel with Marmot. I'm sure there are other really good operators
out there, and when you're assessing their relative merits, be sure to ask this
question - "how many support vans do you use per group".
Marmot use two vehicles, and having seen it
in action, this system is clearly more than twice as effective as one, and
here's why.
Big cols split groups like
nothing else. In the pro peloton a gap
of more than forty minutes can open between the front and rear riders, so
imagine what happens to a big bunch of amateurs whose shape, size, ability and
experience can vary hugely.
Despite
re-grouping at cafes and lunch stops, early riders can be at a hotel before 6pm
while the slower riders don't show up until well after 8pm. Or later.
One van is effectively a hotel bag
transporter. It either whizzes to the
hotel, in which case the slow riders are unsupported on their last big climb,
or it waits, leaving the fast riders unable to shower, change and eat dinner. If there's an emergency (on our trip a rider
was taken to hospital) then, with one van, everyone else is on their own.
The two guides who accompanied our Marmot Tours trip have done this so many times, they know exactly where to park the
vans and how to leapfrog each other.
Before a long hot climb there was almost always a van waiting with food,
water and sunscreen.
By the time we were
on the Col, one of the vans was waiting with more food and warm kit for the
descent.
By nature I like to be
self-sufficient, and take all my food & gels into a sportive, yet so
efficient was this two-van system that I rarely carried more than one gel and
two bars and then only for long climbs.
If you're thinking about doing this Raid
with a tour operator it really is worth doing your research.
TIME
OF YEAR
2013 was a wet spring throughout
Europe. The Giro d'Italia cancelled a
mountain stage, and Niballi won in a blizzard. "Bring all your winter kit. ALL of it", warned the email which
arrived a week before our RP was due to start. Huge levels of rainfall in the
Pyrenean valleys meant huge quantities of snow at high level. Winter just didn't want to stop.
 |
| Snow on the Tourmalet |
A Marmot group which started just one day
before us began in torrential rain, so all things considered, we were
fantastically lucky. We started on
Tuesday 11th June and had just one afternoon of heavy rain (see the day by day
blog), sweltering under a baking sun for the rest of the trip.
The high passes were still choked with
snow. The road between the Aubisque and
Soulor was closed to all traffic and only opened to bikes a couple of days
before we arrived. Had it not opened the
detour would have been horrendous.
However, the Tourmalet was closed from the
side we intended to climb.
As you'll
read in the blog, day 2 necessitated a 30km detour, going down one valley,
around the bottom via Lourdes, and back up another, so we could climb the
Tourmalet from the side which was open.
Had both sides been closed, Marmot had negotiated an alternative
contingency route with the official organisers.
But let's be honest, it wouldn't have felt like a true RP without the
Tourmalet.
[Edit: within days of returning to the UK there were serious floods in the Pyrenees. As I write I don't know if subsequent groups have completed the Raid]
[Edit: within days of returning to the UK there were serious floods in the Pyrenees. As I write I don't know if subsequent groups have completed the Raid]
BIKES AND GEARS
Talk of gear ratios makes my eyes glaze
over and I don't claim to understand. So
I'll keep this very simple and try to get it right.
My Specialized Roubaix came, like many
modern bikes, with a ten-speed compact derailleur and standard Shimano
gearing.
The lowest climbing gearing I
could achieve was 34 (small chain ring) on the front and 28 (biggest cog) on
the back. I rode many of the Pyrenean
Cols last year, and while I managed fine, I felt the cumulative punishment on
my knees might be too much.
I decided I
needed a cassette (the collecting of cogs on the back) in which the lowest gear
had at least 30 teeth.
Nevis Cycles, my
local bike shop, reckoned they could fit such a cassette but said Shimano
warned it might not work too smoothly.
However, if they also fitted a longer, mountain bike derailleur, it would
definitely work. What's more, they could
fit a cassette with 30 and 32 tooth rings.
I went for this option and didn't regret it
once. In fact, my only regret is that
Liz now wants the same combination on her bike, so more money.
CLOTHING
After the bike, shorts are the single most
important piece of kit. I took two
"good" pairs (Assos F1 Mille) and two "normal" pairs
(Specialized - half the price) for the easy days. Mistake.
There are no easy days.
I used
the Assos shorts on each of the first four days, washing them carefully each
night in the bath and leaving them to partly dry in the room overnight.
Everyone was doing the same, so the Marmot
lads would take the wet kit off us in the morning and hang it out to dry at
feed stops.
They even carry a clothes
horse for this purpose along with a dehumidifier so they can set up a drying room in a hotel after particularly wet days. Oh, and since one pair of Assos shorts looks much the same as another,
name tags are a great idea.
When it's sunny you need very little kit,
just arm warmers and a windproof gillet for descents. The moment it starts to rain, or a cold wind
blows, then the game changes completely.
I have no intention of giving you a kit list because you can work it out
for yourself, but think wet and very, very cold and you won't go far wrong.
FOOD
I was fortunate enough to have been picked
for the Science in Sport Winter Academy, giving me access to some free
products, some discounted products but most importantly, expert nutrition
advice. This really helped my training
and you can read more about it here.
However, on the RP you need a mix of sports
products and real food.
Our guides
emphasised the need to stop regularly, rest the legs, and have a coffee and
real food, warning that people who tried to survive on gels and bars usually
regretted their decision.
Hotel breakfasts would be supplemented from
a box of (very good) cereals carried by the Marmot team.
I'd usually start with GO Hydro in one bottle
and GO Electrolyte in the other. I'd top
these up during the morning, gradually diluting them. I felt the Go Hydro was more important, so
I'd ensure I had a full bottle before each long, hot climb, but I'd
deliberately empty the GO Electrolyte, replacing it with plain water so I could
pour it down my neck when I started to overheat without everything turning
sticky.
I'd have a mix of GO Energy gels and bars
for during the day, although I'd not eat more than two of each. I was pleased I took some other brands of
bars too, ones I had left in my cupboard, because you quickly get sick of
eating exactly the same thing.
Lunches were, in order; mushroom omelette and chips; a cheese filled baguette (wasn't enough); a plate of twelve small
sugar/lemon crepes; two cheese and ham sandwiches (first meat in ages) one
eaten at the bottom of a col and the other put in the van to eat at the
top.
I had a sachet of REGO Rapid
Recovery on arrival at every hotel and a sachet of REGO Night Recovery before
bed.
The Marmot vans also carried jars of
sweets, M&Ms, salted nuts, flapjack bars and fruit.
Each of us remarked how wonderful it was, at
times when we were running low on energy, to see the Marmot van hove into view
with the guide holding a chopping board of cut cake and cool, sliced
melon. We were spoiled!
MY TRIP STATISTICS
On the blog I published a mix of data from
my Garmin and from the organisers, all of it in metric. Now I'm back and have downloaded all the data
I can offer a little more detail in miles.
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Day 1: Hotel Campanille, Hendaye to Hotel
Le Bon Coin, Lurbe St Christau
99.7 miles - 6,786 ft ascent - 15.9mph av speed - moving for 6:17:01
 |
| Day 1 Raid Pyrenean |
Day 2: to Hostellerie d'Aste, Aste, detour
via Lourdes
103.3 miles - 11,977 ft ascent - 11.7mph -
moving for 8:50:04
 |
| Day 2 Raid Pyrenean |
Day 3: to Hostellerie des Trois Seigneurs,
Massat
107.5 miles - 9,997 ft ascent - 12.2mph -
moving for 8:46:58
 |
| Day 3 Raid Pyrenean |
Day 4: to Hotel Pradotel, Prades
92.8 miles - 11,249 ft ascent - 10.3mph -
moving for 9:01:57
 |
| Day 4 Raid Pyrenean |
Half Day 5: to Hotel La Dorade, Cebrere
58.6 miles - 1,844 ft ascent - 16.6mph - moving
for 3:31:10
 |
| Day 5 Raid Pyrenean |
If you'd like to see more detailed maps of the whole
route, elevation profile and more statistics, I've put them all together in a
PDF which can be downloaded by clicking here.
THAT'S IT
As things come to mind I'll add them to
this article. But please remember, I'm
no expert.
I've done this once, slowly,
and close to the edge of my ability.
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If you find this helpful, please click a few adverts - it really does help!
These are just the thoughts that drifted into my mind during those long
days in the saddle.
If you have detailed
questions, I'd highly recommend talking to the team at Marmot who've built a
business around this route and pretty much have it nailed.