The Nice-Vaujany Story

After an AMAZING week in Nice with Delphine, it was racetime again last Sunday at La Vaujany. We arrived in Bourg d'Oisans from Nice on Saturday evening. I decided to go and retrieve my chip by bike, this way I could let the legs get used to the bike again (after a week off with way to much pizza & "Gellati" (http://www.fenocchio.fr//)) & also explore the final climb up La Vaujany.

Since I wanted to be at the start as soon as it opened on Sundaymorning, I decided to let Delphine sleep and go to the start on the bike (meant waking up at 4.50, on the bike at 5.45). It was quite cold, but it was going to be very hot, so I just had to stand the morning cold.

Contrary to last week in Morzine where we had to climb from meter 1, we now had 23 kilometers to warm up. Downhill, so the speed was between 40 and 60 all the time. Suits me a lot better! Of course, as a result, there aren't really any excuses like "I was too far behind on the first climb".... I had to let go the "elite" riders almost immediately when the "Alpe du grand Serre" climb began, and thought I would be able to hang on to a rather big second group, but that wasn't the case. They rode 1 km/h too fast for me, so I had to be happy with a group of about 6 riders, amongst others an Italian, Brazilian and Red-Specialized-outfit rider.

By the time we got to the col d'Ornon, our group had grown significantly, but I was quite confident that those that caught up with us at the previous descent were going to get dropped again. On the Col d'Ornon, the pace was high but still alright, and in the descent I tried to see whether we could get away with the best "downhillers", because after that the long climb to Villard Reculas - Alpe d'Huez - Col de Sarenne was up, and I figured a preliminary selection would be a good thing. We (4 to 5 riders) had a small gap, but everything came back together on the way to Rochetaillée.

Quite soon after the climb started, the group fell apart. I made a quick phonecall to Delphine, because I was in urgent need of water, and she was waiting for me a little past Huez. The red Specialized rider was always near, but by the time we got to the top of the Sarenne, he rode past me, after I had past him on the way to Alpe D'Huez. I had a very difficult moment on those last 2 kilometers to the top of the Sarenne. Funny thing is that when I came to this region in 2004 with my dad, I also had a very difficult moment on the exact same place! I was passed by 4 to 5 riders, but on the following descent, I felt very confident and rode past them again. I caught up with a dutch rider, and only 1 of the riders from the climb was able to follow me. On the way down, we also past Marjolein Truyers (Grinta team cyclist), whose hands were cramping up (or so I thought I heard) in the descent...

As a result, I found myself with 2 others (a French guy and a Dutchman), and we worked together very well on the 25K-strip van the Barrage to Rochetaillée. We kept the speed between 32 & 35. The Dutchman received a bottle of Coke from his followers and passed in on to us, and I did the same with the last bottle of water Delphine gave me. Then, it was every man for himself on the final climb. Despite the big gap we had thanks to the fast descent and our co-work in the valley, I was passed by 3 more riders that came from the back. One of them was the Red-Specialized rider that had been with me most of the day, and I congratulated him as he passed me. I was suffering bigtime in those last kilometers, and was happy when I crossed the line! What a hard race! More like les 3 Ballons than like La Morzine if you ask me, and thé ideal preparation for La Marmotte (which I won't be doing) indeed! Some ten minutes after I finished, Arno also crossed the line. He suffered bigtime, and had the looks of it:-). Read all about how he did in La Morzine & La Vaujany here: http://arnovanhelvoort.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to my results in these Grand Trophée races, I am currently ranked 6th in age category C (18-29) of the Grand Trophée. Your best 8 results count, but since I will only have ridden 3 this year, I guess this 6th place will remain this season's high. Who knows, maybe in the years to come I can try to go for a podium finish in the Grand Trophée?... I will have to ride La Marmotte too then of course... Old friend Martin also had a nice ride in Vaujany, and is still in the running for a top finish in the Grand Trophée overall. A real pitty he didn't take the start in Morzine, but he seems to be recovered from his fall earlier this season.

So now, what's next? First, I'll allow some days to recover from La Vaujany and the long ride back (arrived in Ghent at 1 am on Monday, had to work that same day). There are about 5 weeks left till the start of the Honesty Tour, and since this year Bram Schittecatte will participate (was riding for a top50 finish at les 3 Ballons before he was forced to abandon), it promises to be a very tough fight for the podium. Especially because I felt that my "col-climbing" needs to go a lot better if I want to battle it out with Pieter and Bram in the Alps. After that, I hope to set another top 100 finish at the Vélomédiane (1 week after the Honesty Tour end), and 2 weeks later, I'm off to the Pyrenees!

Below some pictures of Nice and the fine mediterranean cuisine, the reason why I gained 2 kilos;-)

So this was it, my month in which I rode a sportive every weekend. I can only be happy with the result, since I always gave all I had. Here's a wrap up:

GF Ardennaise: 40th, 13th category C (18-35), 5:13:00
Les 3 Ballons: 119th, 29th cat. C (18-29), 7:19:24
La Morzine Vallée d'Aulps: 45th, 10th cat. C (18-29), 5:41:40
La Vaujany: 60th, 17th cat. C (18-29), 6:37:48

Last but not least , I'd like to explicitely thank Delphine for being so enthusiastic about going to Nice, and making detours in order for me to be able to do what I love the most: riding sportives. Thanks Delphine, for the "ravitaillements", the encouraging peptalk, your enthusiasm when I rode by on the Joux Plane, your patience when I was getting fed up at "Les Chamades" in Morzine when not only I couldn't eat pasta the day before the race, but even worse they brought us the wrong pizza at 9.30 pm and we had to send it back!
Thank you for all of that! And rest assured, I'll happily do the same for you on one of your future (sport) goals!



 Let me close this post with my 2 favourite pictures of the whole trip:

The full "La Morzine" report!

Weather was far from perfect on raceday. I was out on the bike with my personal "Chaperonnette" Delphine (thanks again!;-)) at 7 (one hour before the start). Rain, 7 degrees. Far from the perfect conditions to tackle the Joux Verte immediately after the start, but the circumstances are the same for everyone right?

 Well, I had the impression my legs were about to cramp up when I rode past Delphine after 2 to 300 meters of climbing while trying to close the gap to the first group.

 I briefly touched the back of the front goup on a descending part of the climb, but had to let go and find my own rhythm on the next uphill section. We reached the top (where it was around 5° and raining again) with a group of 5 to 6.


After a short flat section, we found ourself on the climb to the col du Corbier. An Italian rider (well, I think he was Italian since he had a cycling bib from Bergamo), "costaux" but very strong, and myself set out the pace, and slowly but surely we left the others behind. The following descent (very dangerous because of the gravel left by the roadworkers some days before, luckely the event organizers warned us at the start), allowed the others to come back, but on the slopes of the next climb (Col du Grand Taillet), we left them behind again.
On the following descent, I caught up with 3 riders, one of them was Arno Van Helvoort (world-famous cyclosportive blogger/rider (amongst others riders that is;-)), which I had sent a brief mail prior to the event, since his program of sportives matches mine). He did make it into the first group, but was left behind on the Corbier and waited from the next group to catch up on him. As I had anticipated from previous results, we were at about the same level. I was glad to know I was riding with someone with experience on what was to come...

Next up was the short but steep climb to La Vernaz, where the first food stop was, and where Delphine would be waiting the first time.

Again, I made it to the top first with the Italian guy, followed closely by Arno and another rider. Delphine did a great job in giving me a fresh bottle of Isostar, and encouraging me. She offered me some more food as well, but I refused. Bad idea...

Since most of the other riders had to stop for the "ravitaillement", Arno, myself and another rider found ourselves climbing to the top of the Col de Jambaz at a rather easy pace, set out by Arno mostly, but still, I started to suffer... Near the top of the Jambaz, a group of around 10 to 15 riders caught up on us, also containing most of the riders I had already left behind. The Bergao-Man was back after a foodstop as well.

I knew that the Joux Plane (final climb, then just downhill back into the finish line at Morzine) was a hard climb, so I tried not to waste too many powers, but I slowly but surely started to feel hungry. Why on earth didn't I take any food from Delphine when she offered it?! I felt very good at the time, and underestimated the distance of this sportive (compared to les 3 Ballons). So, I resorted to my "grand-finale" liquid gell-foods (waaaay to early of course, but I needed it!). However, my sensations on the bike only got worse. I started to get really scared from what lied in front (the "Beast" aka Joux Pane), and when our group nearly fell apart on the way to Samoëns (where the Joux Plane starts), I decided to gamble, stay at the back and not waste anymore of the few powers I had left. Delphine would be waiting at the start of the climb, hopefully it wouldn't be too late to add a bit of fuel to my tank and be able to ride a good Joux Plane climb....By the way, all this time the Bergamo guy kept on determining the pace in our group. Very strong rider!!!

Anyhow, upon arrival in Samoëns, I saw the fluo-green bag I had given to Delphine from far away on a long (slightly uphill) stretch heading to the foot of the Joux Plane. She had everything ready, and I immediately asked for more water, grabbed the honeybread out of her hands (at a 25km/h speed, it was like she had done it before!;-)) and asked for more food. Strangely enough, I almost immediately felt better after having eaten a bit. I knew that from now on Delphine would be close behind, and this mere fact together with the constant food & drink supply made me believe in a good result again. On the Joux Plance, 3 or 4 riders took off quite fast (as Delphine so nicely put it, the group fell apart almost instantly, and on this hard climb, it was every man for himself). Only some very lucky ones had up-close support;-). One of those riders that rode way was the Bergamo Man (agian, tons of respect for him!). I didn't really have another choice but to look for a pace of my own, and as long as the gradient stayed behind 8%, it went alright, but I found myself suffering bigtime and struggling not to do a "Parkeggio" when the gradient went up. Arno passed me with 20K to the finish to go, and we wished eachother good luck. I was passed by 2 more riders I think, but caught up on 2 others as well, and I think I made it to the top as 5th or 6h from my group. However, near the top, I recognized Arno's outfit, and noticed that he was suffering bigtime and riding slower than I was....


When almost at the top, I accelerated a bit, and saw another rider quite closely in front of me. I decided I wasn't going to let the descent make their legs feel better again (since it would be hard to ride away from them on the descent), so I shifted up and rode like crazy on the nearly flat road near the lake at the top.

I caught up on Arno and the other rider. Arno immediately had to let go on the following short uphill section, but the other rider didn't. However, on this technical (but still very fast) descent, I didn't reall have any trouble to leave him behind as well. I rode into Morzine all alone, 2 more turns, and I passed the finish line. Happy with my performance (as usual, when I know I gave it my all, but also knowing that the steep uphill sections need to go a lot better when it's "Honesty Tour" time mid-August)), and happy as well to notice Martin Van Oostende waiting for me (an old friend, from my early days as a sportive-rider, a very good rider himself, that battles it out for the win at some sportives and in general classifications on "trophées" all over France. Due in part to the bad weather conditions however, he decided not to start in Morzine. Hopefully we can ride together in La Vaujany next week!).

I finsihed 45th overall, and 10th in my age category. Since I already participated in les 3 Ballons as well, I am currently ranked 11th in my age category in the Grand trophée, nice to see, but I figure this is just because there aren't many riders that rode both events. Still, I'm curious to see where I end up in the overall classification at the end of the season, and perhaps, who knows, in the future I might decide to ride the entire "Grand Trophée"...

Anyway, the pasta afterwards was great (I shared it with proud supporter Delphine), and after a brief after-race chat with Martin and Arno, we loaded the car and set course to Nice! See you in one week in Vaujany! Bye for now!


Below are some pictures Delphine took of me suffering on the Joux Plane. Enjoy!;-)

45th in La Morzine!

Full report is coming soon, but after a whole day of walking around in Nice/Villefranche (NOT the ideal recovery day after such a hard race as you can see), Delphine & I are gonna go for a Pizza first! We need it!

Reflecting on last weekend / reports / pics + outlook La Morzine

 

 On the descent and climb of the Grand Ballon (above) & suffering bigtime on the final climb...

 The full report and pictures of riders having finished the race in under 7h23:
http://cyclobenelux.com/nieuws/les-3-ballons-fotocollage-overige-cyclohelden

For the fans @De Pinte: here's the race data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/92397066

A couple of days later, I started reflecting on Les 3 ballons 2011. I did all I could, but in the end, I had to let my top 100 place go just 2000 meters before the top of the Ballon d'Alsace. Now, I'm wondering: couldn't I have held on for just a little bit longer?... And what was that blow I got on La Plance all about?!... But that's all talk after the race. I did all I could, and have to remember next year that, next to the fact that being focused all day is absolutely necessary, everything can still be lost in the final 40 to 50K. Perhaps I did miss one final intense and long training (200K+), but on the other hand, I really needed the rest...

Anyway, the fact is that I seem to perform better on Ardennes roads than in the high French cols. 73rd Vélomediane 2009, 40th GF Ardennaise 2011, if I look up rider's results in that range, most of them already have a top100 finish on their "palmares". Ok, I did have some bad luck, but I got dropped on the Ballon d'Alsace, and that's where I REALLY lost my top 100. Or is it just the fact that I need (a couple of) years to grow stronger? Here's the raw data:

GF Ardennaise: 40th overall, 30th in the C category (18-35)
Les 3 ballons: 119th overall,  29th in the C category (18-29)

Could it be that on average,  30+ riders are better suited for the kind of challenge that the 3 Ballons is?... I certainly hope so;-). Nice stuff to discuss amongst cycling friends! Curious to hear their opinions. And at the same time, a motivation to keep on training and keep on coming back to Les 3 Ballons!

In the meantime, I'm slowly but surely getting ready for La Morzine. Getting ready = trying to recover from the terrible back pain I started suffering from yesterday (not a good idea to race in De Pinte, but what could I do), and rest. The plan was to just go on tomorrow's ride on the Schelde riverside, but that wouldn't be a good idea with this back. So it'll be all about riding the acid away on the rollers, and being as "Fresh" as possible at the start in Morzine at 7 am (I will have been in the car for 10 hours at least the day before, not perfect either). BUT!!!!!: All of these little downsides will be largely compensated by my girlfriend Delphine, who will be with me on the race and cheer/give bottles. What better motivation could I possibly wish for?! That same night, we set course to Nice and spend 6 nights at the Côte d'Azur....

Bye for now! I'll put a post on the blog on La Morzine from Nice!

The 3 ballons report & Race in "De Pinte" for loads of fans!

What a weekend that was! First, read all about "Les 3 ballons", next is the report of the locals race at Delphine's hometown of De Pinte.

The day started with good news when the woman at the reception desk of hotel les Cappucins in Belfort: told us: "Pas de pluie aujourd'hui"!
Since I had some doubts that she checked the weather forecast at 5.15 am (when we started our breakfast), I decided to bring a raincoat anyway. And oh my, was I happy with that decision! The four of us (Bruno, Patrick, Tim and myself)  just closed the car and rode to the start on our bikes, and were hit by a terrible "Vosges"-shower. We were soaked by the time we arrived at the start (6.30, official start was at 7.15). I was shaking, shivering... and envying Bart Bury (last year's winner), who was still in his sweatshirt, enjoying a nice hot coffee in the athletics hall right at the start.

A couple of minutes later, it stopped raining and I joined the ten to fifteen riders who were already at the start. I got a "priority" starting position, and I must admit it is quite a nice feeling to quickly nod your head in the direction of your race number when the person in charge of the access to the priority starting grid just sent off a rider trying to start at the front. You have to be able to prove a top 300 finish in order to be given that "privilige";-).

Compared to other years, I had the impression that the start wasn't very fast. We rode in the direction of the first climb of the day "Ballon de Servance", (were my legs just didn't feel like working last year) in a very disciplined manner, and for the first time I didn't see any crashes to my left or right. I guess the favorites for the win must've been a bit cold as well, since there weren't any real attacks on the first meters of the climb. I did have to let the first ones go however, and quickly looked for a pace of my own, and I immediately felt it went way better than last year. I rode up the first climb with Gerdie, an econometrics professor from Ghent university, and I knew from previous years that we are more or less equals when it comes to 3 ballons results. In the descent of the Ballon de Servance however, I was very unlucky. First, I lost one of my bottles and in a split second I decided to continue the ride and not to stop to go and pick it up (a decision I quickly regretted, since riding the whole 205K with just one bottle is just NOT an option). After having riden a fast descent, I was unlucky a second time when we were forced to stop at the traffic lights. A potential re-group with the riders just in front of us was gone, and a large number of riders joined our group of 8. In addition, this newly formed big group didn't work well together AT ALL, and we rode up the next two smaller climbs in a very slow pace, which allowed even more riders to join our group.

When we started the long way up the Grand Ballon, I really started worrying about my water supply. The climbing went very well, my heart rate showed I still had some margin to accelerate (which is always nice to see), and even the last few steeper kilometers up to the route des Crêtes went much better than last year & the year before. Near the top of the Markstein, (=where we got onto the Route des Crêtes), I did something I'm not proud of, so here's a bit of "therapeutical writing": A woman was standing by the side of the road with a bottle in her hands, waiting to give it to someone, and in a split second, I reached for it...., and she gave it to me! My water problems were solved! However, I hope I didn't cause someone else's, and I would hereby like to offer my sincere apologies...I still don't know what came over me, and immediately regretted it a bit if I'm honest, but on the other hand this meant I could still hope for a top 100 ranking.

Immediately after the first descent, Thomas (founder of wielertoerist.be and a rider that has repeatedly proven to be much more talented than me), caught me and we would ride most of the day together. In the Grand Ballon climb, he noticed I had got legs, which was nice to hear, and it also gave me a mental boost to see he wasn't climbing better than me. Now that I lost the water-handicap, everything was possible again. Up the Route des Crêtes, our group still rode VERY slowly, but I said to myself that that didn't really matter as soon as no other groups came back from behind. On the top of the Grand Ballon, I decided to make a bold tactical move: No stop at the food & drink stop, ride a very fast descent, and see how many riders were still with me at the start of the next climb, the Hundsruck (only 5 to 6 K long, but steep, I always suffered bigtime there the last 2 years). Everything went as planned, When we reached the small town at the foot of the Hundsruck, only 10 riders (15 max) were still with me. one of them was Thomas, who must have ridden a dazzling descent, because he DID stop to fill up his bottles. No sign of Gerdie though. But then, I was unlucky once again: We were stopped by the race officials in order to give priority to local traffic. I guess we stood still for at least 90 seconds up to 2 mintues, and practically all riders came back (I estimate around 40-50). 

On the Hundsruck climb, I had the feeling I was one of the best climbers, and the difference with previous years was huge: I always had to let my group go, and now, I crossed the top in 5th position!
On the leadup to the Ballon d'alsace, the group once again didn't feel like working together, and as a result when I stopped for water on the start of the climb, another big group caught up on us. However, in the first couple of 100 meters on the climb, the riders from our original group quickly regrouped in the front, and from then on, everyone rode for what he was worth. I rode up the climb in a good pace, but slowly but surely I  found myself in the back regions of the first group (a lot of riders had already had to let go). At the top, I estimate the difference coulnd't have been more than 2 to 300 meters, but it was enough to never see the first riders again and lose a potential top 100. I did all I could, but the pace was just a little bit too high. However, I was quite happy with my climbing, especially if I recall that state I rode up this climb last year. Now, I still had some reserves for the 20 to 30 K to Champagney and the start of the final climb, "La Planche des belles filles". I took the front in the descent of the Ballon d'Alsace and tried to avoid more riders coming back on the way to Champagney. That seemed to work, and we took turns with 4 riders (1 couldn't help us out anymore). Unfortunately, after ten kilometers, a group of around ten riders caught up on us, (their pace on the flat was slightly higher than ours), and so I found myself again in Gerdie's company.

On the slopes heading into Champagney, I still felt good, and I crossed those small hills always as 3rd or 4th in our group, without wasting too much power. When back into Champagney, we lost some riders that had to stop for water one last time, but we rode with 15 or so to the start of the final climb. Nobody wanted to do some work at the front after a couple of Ks, so I did the last 3. The first couple of hundred meters up "La Planche" went alright, but suddenly...the light wents out. I guess I got passed by a 4 to 5 riders, before crossing the finishline as 119th. I lost a lot of time on the final climb, and although this was without a doubt my best 3 ballons so far (with great sensations during the entire day, but not a superfast time because of the specific race circumstances), this was also without a doubt the worst climb up La Planche...

I'm very happy with that performance, even though I didn't reach the goal of finishing amongst the 100 best riders. However, I got the confirmation that if I get just a little bit stronger and everything falls into place, it is definitely possible!

I already knew that I could ride very descent results in sportives in the ardennes (73rd in the Velomediane in 2009, 40th in this year's Gran Fondo Ardennaise), but unfortunately, I still haven't managed to really do a top performance on rougher area. Maybe I still need some extra years of strength/stamina/...?...Nonetheless, once again, I'm extremely happy with this year's 3 ballons performance. Next year I'll be back for more! Below some pictures...

On Sunday (after a restaurant-visit on Saturday evening of course;-)), we drove back home, and on Monday, the local's race at Delphine's hometown of De Pinte was on the program. To put a "long" story short, I immediately felt my legs weren't recovered from 2 days before. I tried focusing on last year's strongest riders, but unfortunately, 2 others escaped and battled it out for the win. I did all I could, and was able to finish the race quite easily, but was far from strong enough to make a difference. In the one to last lap, I decided to launch an attack right in front of my fans, here's what it looked like.

Was caught back quite fast unfortunately, and finished 13th, 6th in my age category (under 35). Good fun! Thanks again to all the supporters! And now, we rest for what's to come in Morzine & Vaujany!

Oh yes, and I let myself go after the race;-)...