When I first entered at the Marmotte back in 2006 the word ‘sportive’ had yet to enter the lexicon of the British cyclist. Back then we trained and we raced. I know there were riders who just rode for fun, or rode Audax events and the like, but they were mostly men in their 60’s who wore baggy woolen tights and sported mudguards year round. I guess the closest us ‘racers’ got to a sportive were the early season reliability trials. These events were organized at the pointy end of winter to allow us to ‘test’ our legs in a ‘non-competitive’ environment before the real business of racing got underway. We paid £3 to enter, smashed round the familiar course and took home a certificate at the end,
Following on from my previous blog I arrived at Alpe d’Huez last week to take part in the infamous Marmotte (175km of toil over four mountains, climbing a total of 5000 metres) but also with half an idea of attacking my ‘PB’ for the climb of Alpe d’Huez. I’d packed the best wheels but I’d been out of sorts for a few weeks, consumed by the troubles of life, so neither my head nor body were really in the right pace for a committed 100% effort. There was the option to ride the official ‘La Grimpee de l’Alpe’ time trial the following morning but after 14 hours in the car the thought of a 6 am alarm call was too much, so if I was to have a crack I would have to do it solo later in the day. Waki
