The inaugural King of the Mountains Triathlon (or 'TriKOTM') took place on Wednesday. It was not quite IronMan in size or organisation nor rivaling Kona in number of participants, in fact, there were only 3 of us taking part!

Glenn, in training for Challenge Roth (Iron Man distance triathlon) in a couple of weeks, came up with the idea. His enthusiasm had Guy and readily agreeing and consequently hunting around in the loft for our old tri kit that hasn't seen the light of day since around 2004.

There is a beautiful swimming lake 20km from here so we based the swim, bike and run from there. The idea was to be as sociable as possible, so, with that in mind, the first person to finish each of the 3 disciplines had to turn back and finish that particular leg with the back marker person. It all worked out well with some very relaxed transitions and chat along the way.

The best transition in my opinion was the third - the restaurant stop at the lake where we polished off beer, chips and ice cream - the food of champions!

We really enjoyed our mini triathlon and plan to repeat it very soon. It's even set us to thinking about taking part in the Alpe d'Huez Triathlon in a couple of months....(http://www.alpetriathlon.com/).

Good luck to Glenn on the 10th July, let's hope the TriKOTM has set you up for a good race in Germany!

Helyn
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

Early on Saturday morning 6 riders from King of the Mountains rode the cyclo-randonnee 'Jacob Dubois'.

Claire, Simon, Dan, Glen, Guy and myself all signed up for the middle distance route of 117km (the other choices were 70km or 130km).

The circuit started at the foot of the Vercors mountains, famous for being a stronghold of the French Resistance during the second world war, and then took us all into the heart of the mountains via some amazing roads carved into the rock and following the contours of stunning gorges and rivers.

There was a lot of evidence of the Resistance in monuments, graves and plaques on various buildings that had served as bases for Resistance fighters. The local cycle club who were hosting the event and manning the feed stations were keen to tell us that one of the villages we were due to pass through (Malleval) had been cut off and suffered many casualties during a battle in January 1944, apparently the British came to aid them by parachuting more arms to the Resistance fighters. That's one of the things I love the most about these events; to witness the pride the locals have in their area and its' heritage - not only do you discover new areas and roads to ride, but you often also come away with some gems of local information too.

Knowing that the overall height gain of our ride was due to be around 1250 metres, it was quite disconcerting to ride the first 50km on virtually flat roads and cycle paths along the Isere river. We knew too that the last 15km were all downhill, so that meant only one thing - a big lump in the middle! Not long after the first feed station we found our 'lump' and started clocking up the height gain on the cols du Mont Noir and Romeyere, the road just didn't stop going up! But, as they say, what goes up must come down and we were rewarded with some beautiful descents and areas of plateau.

Guy and I added a small optional loop to the ride which took us over the col de Herbouilly where in winter the road becomes cross country ski pistes. The Vercors is also an area famous for its great cross country ski traditon with a lot of the French team living in the environs.

By the time we got to the finish we were really looking forward to our buffet meal. What we weren't anticipating was to find the rest of 'Team King of the Mountains' loaded down with 2 trophies! Claire and Simon had won one for being the youngest couple riding and the other bit of silverware was for registering the biggest team of the day. We duly drank some sparkling wine from the cup in celebration of 'Team King of the Mountains' being the largest representative group of riders. The organisers seemed delighted and proud to be welcoming riders all the way from the UK, and were ecstatic to find that Glen was from New Zealand - we really should have won a trophy for the furthest traveled team too!

 Helyn

For information on the randonnee visit: Randonnee Dubois Jacob
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

This is a pro bike race, and despite the name, it is actually a week-long stage race, not unlike a mini Tour de France.  And, because the organisers, backed by the larget local newspaper, are bright thinkers and cycling-savvy, they wait until the Tour de France organisers announce their route (in the October prior to the following July) before announcing theirs.  This allows them to then include various key climbs that the big boy's race will use, as well as similar time trial (TT) courses.  The end result is; all the teams and riders who want to do well at the Tour de France turn up at this little race for last minute preparation.  And it's always on our doorstep.

So, having a little gap between guests, we packed up a bit of camping stuff, the bikes and some swimming trunks and headed over to take a look at the TT stage which was due to take place in the (beautiful) countryside east of Valence.  Helyn, organised as ever, had found a great little campsite (with a pool) really close to the route and had printed out maps and times for the riders' passage, as well as  a couple of baby cols for us to ride en route too!

We left home about ten and were at the campste by twelve and one thebikes by one.  Up over the cols du Tourniol ( a beauty) and Limouches (easier) and popped out onto the TT route near a village called Charpey.  The riders were on a slight uphill and really close by too, so we took lots of pics.  Click on the link to have a look:

Criteruim du Dauphine Libere 2009 photos in our web gallery
 
We then rode through stunning scenery back to the campsite, hopped in the pool to cool off, then ate a huge bowl or red pasta and promptly fell asleep.  Luckily, we'd remembered to order croissants and bread which were delivered by a suitably portly baker (it's always reassuring to see people who make food enjoying their own work), so we ate heartily before heading over to take a look at Pont en Royans, a beautiful little town right on the edge of the Vercors, a mass of house perched above a river on rock faces - stunning.  And we saw it at a great time of year - it has "tourist trap" written all over it come July and August!.

Back home to reality via the supermarket.  Good news: we have my favourite cyclo randonee this weekend in the Chartreuse (the BRC it's called) so we'll be back on our bikes soon enough!.

Happy riding

Guy & Helyn

www.kingofthemountains.co.uk

That is the motto of the 'Alpe d'HuZez' challenge which took part yesterday. I have not misspelled the name of the famous climb, this is a Dutch play on words as 'zes' means six.

Six was a very significant number to over 1,250 riders yesterday who aimed to ride the Alpe d'Huez up to 6 times in one day. You may ask yourself what on earth would motivate so many people to do such a thing, I know that I'd find it physically and mentally destroying. Their motivation involved the number six again - to raise 6 million Euros for charity in the fight against cancer. Last night the total was a little over 5 million and creeping closer to the target.

We had a team of 8 Dutch riders and 3 supporters here these past few days from 'Team Eneco'. The team of 8 had together raised 40 thousand Euros towards the overall target. What we found the most astonishing about the team was that some members were new to cycling and some were not even regular cyclists at all, most of them had never even seen the Alpe d'Huez before.

An optional 5am start time and a last ascent time of 8pm meant it was a long day for the team of 8; Willy, Anna Loes, Joris, Jorg, Martjin, Remko, Ronald and Freddy.

We headed up in the van mid morning stocked up with oranges, bananas, Coke, water, etc. and watched in awe as the riders came by again, and again and again....all day long.

What amazed us most was amongst the determination and resolve there was a constant cheerfulness and positivity among the riders, pretty much without exception. We were also amazed to see some people choosing to take up the challenge on foot with quite a number of people running. The supporters were equally as energetic, especially on hairpin 7 known as 'Dutch Corner' - there was one big party going on there all day long, even someone dressed in a giant, orange lion suit in 30 degrees C!

From our hairpin 4 vantage point we also got a lesson in excellent event organisation; mechanical assistance on quad bikes, medical assistance on the road, massage at summit and foot of the climb, isotonic drink on tap, kit transport between the top and bottom, bus shuttles for supporters and riders who did not want to descend, motorbike outriders and marshals warning of oncoming traffic, timing chips with live feed to the internet site, the list goes on - it seemed like the number of organisers equaled the riders.

Team Eneco completed 37 ascents in total; 3 x 6 ascents, 1 x 5, 2 x 4 and 2 x 3 and everyone was thrilled with their achievements if a little tired. Well done all!

For more information on the event visit: http://www.opgevenisgeenoptie.nl/over/visieuk.php

And for our photos visit our on-line album: Click here

Helyn
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk


 


 

the long wait is over - good job too - the pros are due over there in the Dauphine Libere stage race next week!

Guy

www.kingofthemountains.co.uk