Just got my number, blue too
Pretty much every village in the alps has free water troughs in their main squares and / or by the churches.
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I will do 2x 950ml and do 180g on one bottle and water in the other. So I can drink water in addition to the carbs. Also have 3 gel flask with 180g of carbs each and a bar that should get me through.
Nice maybe we see each other I have a blue helmet, red,white,blue castelli jersey or orange castelli jacket if it’s cold.
Debating if I should take long finger gloves… looks like it could be cold on the galibier…
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Cold? 12-15degrees?
Saw 10c somewhere but with rain/thunderstorms a possibility it can drop a few degrees and feel pretty cold… But with the current forecast it should be fine.
True. But I think the rain Will be later. And before you know you are a few 100m lower. Thé temperatures stay high so…25 in Valloire. That is pretty warm for climb and a good rain shower on the Alpe.is welcome 
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Or for the pasta party. I’ll be wearing a really ugly yellowish/greenish castelli shirt (why castelli can’t you make nice or at least high viz jerseys) or an orange sportful jacket and a cheap ass white van Rysel helmet (decided to stick with that one rather than the expensive Giro eclipse spherical which I left at home)
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Best of luck to all today. I’m going with 2 750ml bottles with 90g of carbs. Will bring energy mix sachets, 2 gels and a few bars.
Starting in the green grid after good time last year. Will let the proper fast guys go on the glandon early.
Weather looks good so short sleeves /gloves and shakedry in case.
Hope to report back tomorrowr that I didn’t blow up on galibier like last year. Excited 
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Rainjacket or not hmm?
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Yeah good luck to everybody have a good day out there.
I take a rain jacket, just in case the thunderstorms roll in early or my day doesn’t that well and I’m out there for a long time. Excited for it but having a headache isn’t optimal…
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So I blew up completely on the Alp… Was bad before bend 6 but after that I got bad chest pain as soon as I even put out some power… So needed a break and then only was able to barely able to push into zone 2… Ended up with 8.32 so missed my goal but happy I was able to finish.
Hope you guys had a better day. Will write a bit more tomorrow.
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I was so glad with the watering station near the church. I was about to quit and again at bend 3 but I slowed down and managed to get a final wind only for my chain to drop in the tunnel before the finish. But I made, except for that little bit of doubt the crept up the climbing actually went really well but I suck at descending, really wished all the descents were neutralised but especially the one from Galibier. My fingers where numb, cramp in my neck and on top of that the wind and even snow/ice on the road!.
I got 8:31:12 I probably could have finished under 8:30 if my chain hadn’t dropped… I almost cried after finishing…
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Was way more conservative this year and felt really good on galibier. It all went downhill literally after the summit, carbon rim brakes made the descent a nightmare in rain and wind, almost pulled uo it felt so dangerous as was shaking a bit. I finally got descending fast after the switchbacks and then punctured 
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After that stomach issues and ended up puking.
Bad stomach cramps on the Alpe but climbed it in 1’13 which was ok considering how crap I felt.
7’24 official time, was hoping closer to 7 but happy enough considering.
It really is a brute of an event.
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If I ever do this again I’ll definitely get myself shallow light climbing wheels and I really need to get better at descending/ being confident with speed because I think I lost a lost of time especially from Galibier to Pied Alpe where I was braking almost the entire part. I did Pied Alpe to finish in 1:22 (including the chain drop). If I sort that out I might actually finish closer to 7:30 …
Edit: I was really glad I did the Alpe d’Huez a few days prior because those final moments at bend 3 when I really started getting tired and nauseous I knew I could do it
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Hey all, great riding as far as I can tell by you all.I had done it before twice but never got the “old” gold medal time. This year I wanted to finish in my current age group gold medal time. Despite me being sick (stomach issues for 2 weeks, probably as a result of travelling through China from NZ to Europe) I could start with the help of the Medics in Alpe d’Huez! From Thursday started to feel better. So decided to give it a go. On the Glandon I had 15 mins advantage over my gold medal time schedule. I thought it would be a walk in the park. How quickly did that change arriving in the valley…I don’t have to tell you! I never ride in Beaufort 10!! No one in our group wanted to burn their matches, me for sure not. All the ones that tried to escape were back in the pedalling group within 1 km!! So I lost the build up time advantage. On the Galibier with the wind still playing a role and blowing me one time literally off the bike I had to work so hard which resulted in cramp. Had to dismount the bike a number of times. Once on the top our tour guides gave me ORS which did wonders! The descent I truly loved despite the rain/hail/thunder I could go like hell, passing everyone hanging in their brakes. It was the best part of this edition 
. Wasn’t fearful with over 70kms/hr. So made up some time but still had a slight backlog at the bottom of the Alp. Although the cramp had resided I didn’t have the power to go faster than 7-8km. Once at Bend 6 I had 5km to go and 24 mins left for the gold medal cut off finish time. So I knew I am not gonna make it! Turning left to our appartement with bath and beers was an easy decision. I came for gold and only that, not for another silver finish. I don’t regret having started at all. Loved it but wasn’t strong enough to beat the weather gods! Next week the Marathona Dolomiti is on Sunday, hoping for better weather and stronger legs. Finishing will be the aim and only aim of that one! Thanks all for contributing to this thread, I enjoyed it. Take care, travel safe and recover well!
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Having done it last year this year was a totally different experience. I wasn’tas strong as last year and missing about 20 watts.
I started at the back of the green grid as arrived late. Was in a chase group to get back to the main bunch. Got there just before the right turn to allemont. Love the next section of road especially the zig zag section watching all the riders jostle up it.
At the start of Glandon let the wheels go of stronger riders and settled into my target effort. HR and RPE was pretty high so knew already it would a tough day. Up at 2am Fri and 4:30am sat not great prep.
The valley road I was in a big group of 40 but head and sidewinds made it difficult in the wheels. Lots of splits and then chasing made the expected easy section difficult.
Felt better on the Telegraph so kept going until Valloire where I stocked up fuel. 226ers mago jelly bar is disgusting .
Headwind on first section of Galibier made it tough and on occassion dropped off shelter of strong riders to keep effort down. Paid off as got them before it turned at la planchet.
Started raining then so put on shakedry. Felt good on the galibier to summit so spirits raised maybe 7 hours was possible.
Galibier is such an epic climb and decided no looking at computer screen, just suck up the incredible views.
First section of descent off galibier was a nightmare until the road straightened later on. Zero confidence in my carbon rim brakes meant I was heavy on the brakes. Im a good descender normally but just completely bottled it and tightened up.
Finally got motoring and confident after the untimed section.
Then a puncture and lost a really good group. Stomach problems started also which meant roadside puke.
Didn’t even bother a rushed tube change as any hope of 7 hours gone and fight left me.
Decided not to stop and just do the Alpe straight through. Felt great for first 2km and thought this is piece of P.
Then looked at computer screen and said 1300m climb remaining, oh shit! Lots of negative thoughts for remainder of the climb and really wanted to put the foot down and rest. Just grinded out the remainder without putting the foot down to finish with huge relief.
Doubt I will be back anytime soon as its big time commitment but I loved it
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I think I also (besides breaking too much) lost quite some time and energy on the flats before Glandon and between Glandon and Telegraphe because I couldn’t find a good group. Every time I was in one I started feeling annoyed because they were too slow, so I went ahead for the next group, like 3-4 until I eventually decided to just go solo.
Does climbing in a group make it easier? For me it didn’t. I just used groups for recovering at a slightly lower pace and then move on
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With a headwind possibly but marmotte climbs are so long and steep you need to know your limits really well to ride with stronger riders. Personally I used garmin climb pro to judge if there was a shallow sectìon or short descent coming up to determine if it was worthwhile bridging or staying with stronger riders as there is some benefit there. Otherwise I let wheels go.
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Marginally but its stressful. If you are following a good strong wheel its a good motivator (as long as its not too fast) but some one blowing up in front of you and forcing you to a lower cadence etc, can be a grind
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I went to the summit if Galibier today (from Bourge d’Oisans) to take pics and back again. I think I didn’t descent much faster with my car than I did yesterday on my bike yet yesterday I saw 100s of people bombing past me, how will I ever get better at descending?
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