Marmotte Training Weekend

Recovery day today from our Marmotte training weekend where we were joined by John and Paul who are based in Dubai. It sounds a long way to travel for the weekend, however with just a 2 hour time difference to France, the guys landed Friday lunchtime and we managed to fit in a ride on Friday afternoon, and 2 more full days before they flew back late Sunday evening.

Experiencing the Alps first hand is considered vital before any attempt at the Etape or the Marmotte.

After some erratic weather in the Alps we have been lucky with warm temperatures and just the odd late afternoon shower.

Saturday we pretty much cycled the route of one of the Time Megeve Sportive options departing from Megeve and over the Col des Aravis where we met herds of cows being moved to their Summer pastures. Descending to Thones, we started the tough climb of the Croix Fry, where our pro support vehicle was waiting with Kevin, pro bike mechanic and owner of Vaudagne Velo After refueling and the short descent to the Aravis junction, its a 20 min climb back to the top of the Aravis before the technical descent to Flumet and returning to Megeve, continuing to Sallanches.

Sunday we drove the short transfer around to Taninges and after 7kms warm up we hit the Ramaz for the 14km ride to the Summit with a height gain of 980M. The Ramaz featured in the 2010 Tour de France and is a tough one! After winding up through the meadows, shortly before a brief respite on Ramaz plateau the gradient peaks at 15% through the tunnel. Onwards towards the summit, 2 weeks earlier we'd met a snow plow at this point!

Ramaz Summit

Descending back down towards Taninges at over 70KM's an hour and onto the flat 11kms to Samoens before tackling the Joux Plane.





Many of the pro's consider the Col de Joux Plane harder than Alp D'Huez and it is definitely a more spectacular climb. Immediately ramping up to 11%. Its 12kms to the Summit with the exact same height gain to the Ramaz at 980M hence with 2kms less to the Summit that kinda says it all! The Joux Plane returns to the pro races in 2 weeks time featuring in the Queens stage of the Criterium Dauphine. It was the seen of Landis' drug induced ride and Armstrong famously bonked on the climb. We predict it will return to the Tour de France route in 2013. Watch this space!

Today our support has Jude (wife, co-owner!) at the wheel and she's also responsible for most of the spectacular photos.

By now the temperature was rising and the thunder clouds were gathering over the Mont Blanc Massif as we approached the summit.

With snow still by the roadside as we got the the top and with a noticeable chill in the air we descended back to heat of Samoens for a pit stop before a flat spin of the legs back to Taninges.

Back to Chalet Annabelle for a refuel, box up the bikes and off to Geneva airport, just an hour away for the return flight. If a weekend is possible from Dubai, then the options for our UK visitors are pretty easy!

Good luck to John and Paul in the Marmotte on July 7th. As for me, I'll be saving myself for the Etape du Tour the following day!

Summit in sight, 2kms to go on the Joux Plane