Paul Alderson writes .....

After hearing about La Marmotte a few years ago, and its rating as the toughest one day event for amateur cyclists I'd been keen to give it a go. With Trevor's fantastic organising, before I knew it I was entered and the date was okayed by my (always) very accommodating wife. By the time the big weekend arrived, I'd completed over 7700km's of training and racing - my longest training ride being a 224km solo to Bognor Regis and back into a fierce headwind - the distance wasn't going to be my downfall. But with only the Surrey Hills as my training hills, the big mountains were an unknown factor. My weight, due to all my time trialing, and trying not to snack too much, was 5kg less than the start of the year, so that should be a help in the mountains.

Also, after riding my De Rosa almost into the ground over the last 8 years,and it having always had a problem with downhills, (I've experienced quite a few speed wobbles on it over the years, so I wasn't feeling exactly confident about descending the Galibier on that bike.), an investment in a new bike was in order. I bought a Planet-X bike, dura-ace equipped and with deep section carbon wheel, very light AND it had a compact chainring - which I would usually turn my nose up at, but for the mountains I had seen many times on the telly during the tour and after seeing pros riding them during the Giro this year, I thought it was probably a very good idea.

Our trip out to Vizelle was spent almost entirely driving in the rain,(which didn't help to settle any nerves), and although a long trip, Alan's continuous chatting and his podcast collection kept me well awake, added to this the banter between Tango Lima and Mike Papa, meant that we arrived feeling pretty good.

Friday morning - bit more tweaking and double-double checking, and then off to Alp d'huez to register. This was my first time at Alp d'Huez and I'm not sure if was a help or not. Every hairpin seemed as steep as the next, but the start is definitely pretty tough something I thought would be good to remember when I was suffering the next day. The atmosphere at Alpd'Huez was excellent, I was surprised to see so many people cycling up the hairpins the day before the event - surely any training was now too late? Friday afternoon/evening was a time to relax and take it easy, but that wasn't to be, poor Andy managed to lock his keys in his car boot with his cycling shoes- let's just say it wasn't ideal preparation. Nerves as usual the day before a big event meant I got a maximum of 3.5hours sleep, again not great preparation, especially since on Wednesday night I'd worked till 12.30 and was picked up at 5am by Alan.

 I was hoping that adrenaline would get me through the day.Well the ride was fantastic, the bike felt like it just wanted to go up mountains at speed and I rode well within myself on the first climb of the Col de Glandon. Then I realised something I had always thought was true - I can't descend for toffee, by the time I got to the bottom of the Glandon, I had about 2mm of cork left on my front brake blocks, this meant even slower descents on all the next mountains using mainly my back brakes and reserving my front brakes for possible emergencies or areas where the gradient deserved a bit of respect.Finally I was able to relax a bit when I finally got down the Galibier andrealised that I don't need to worry about saving rubber any more - crikey I could walk down Alp d'huez at the end of the day if need be - I now just had the run in to the bottom of the last climb and then Alpd'huez to do, and my aim of 7hr30 was just about doable. I was in a fast moving group when disaster - a puncture in one of the tunnels. No problem, I'd packed two spare tubes, I'd checked they were in a good condition, fix the puncture and I'd be on my way - only a loss of 10 minutes max...er no. My fancy new wheels don't just use long stem valves, they use ultra long valves! Also, it wasn't just a small puncture, the tube had exploded and blown a hole in the tyre itself. I suddenly thought it was all over. Then I remembered I’d packed at the last moment those stick on patches and an old piece of tyre. With the hole in the tyre patched, the tube patched as best I could, I was eventually on my way again – a 7.30 was out of the picture now. I had about 10k’s to go to the start of the last climb, I think I actually went too quick to the start – I was doing 45km/h going on and off the front with another rider who was wearing a white skinsuit that had UCI protour stamped across his back – possibly a sign that he was a bit better than me. My bottles were almost full at the start so I didn’t stop for any refills. Bang, straight into the climb. The first drag really hits you and by the time you see the board for the first of 21 hairpins you realise you’re in for a long last 13 km’s. This was the first climb were I was passed – on the Col d’Telegraph, I kept myself focused by counting everyone I passed – 350! And no one passed me. On Alp d’huez, I was passed by a couple of Norwood Paragon blokes – firstly Chris Moores and then at around 7km’s to go, Marcus Brueton. Eventually I was in the town, and bang another puncture. Well there was no way I was fixing it, and no way I was going to walk the last kilo. I rode slowly – even slower than I’d been going – and was passed by about 30 or so riders in that last kilo. My final time was 8:10:09, not bad considering everything. Also I was in one piece (just had to get down the mountain again...) My climb up Alp d’Huez was 1:11:09. At the top of the Galibier, I was 528th based on time taken to get to that point, at the finish, after my stop, I was 925th – 400 places lost due to the puncture. There’s only one thing for it...roll on 2009.

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