Good stuff, Ray. Nipple protection, eh? Never been an issue for me, but I have seen a few athletes rubbed raw.
I relayed the Deloitte Øresund 70.3 event last weekend. I was down with a cold Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but felt ok to ride on Sunday. We had a fast swimmer, so in T1, we were in 3rd spot out of 85 relay teams.
The relay teams were the last wave in the water, so I had a lot of bikes in front of me. So I began overtaking. And overtaking. I managed a 2:26 bike split despite the cold, and our runner left T2 as no 1, with a 3 minute advantage on no 2. Our runner managed a run split of 1:35 or so, which is highly respectable. However, three of the relays were below 1:15 on the run. So... yeah, we ended up in 5th place. Which is still very good, I think.
The next day, my brother, and friend and I headed for the Alps, to acclimate to the mountains, before Saturday's La Marmotte.
We drove through the night, and arrived Tuesday morning, at our hotel atop the Alpe D'Huez. I coughed a fair bit still, but felt no fever or aches, so I joined them on a bit of a trip that same day.
First up Vaujany:
Not the longest climb in the world, but so damn tough! Did ok, though.
Next up, Croix de Fer:
I made it up... Just. At a heart rate of 170, I was generating just 160 watts towards the top. So I decided that climbing the Alpe that day wasn't for me. I had my brother come back down with the car and get me.
Wednesday we drove by car to Valloire, and climbed Galibier. What a BEAST. Tops out at 2600+ meters, and Valloire is at 1400 meters... Yeah, it's big.
Thursday we climbed Alpe D'Huez in pouring rain - that actually wasn't all that bad. A lot safer going up than going down, anyway.
The race on Saturday was ok-ish. I made it up Glandon ok, but had a flat on the way down. The time on that decent is neutralized, because it's so dangerous the do not want us to race down. Anyway, I was behind my brother then, and decided to play catch-up in the valley leading in towards Telegraphe. That was a mistake. My heart rate was at 175 on the flats, and the last little bit before Telegraphe is a false flat, so I arrived at the bottom of Telegraphe slightly overcooked. Made it up Telegraphe reasonably ok, managed to overtake my brother, and we descended to Valloire together, were we had a seat and a coke. It was sorely needed.
The climb up Galibier took an eternity. It's like wrestling with a gorilla, you can never win, but you can most definitely lose. I made it up eventually, but I was thrilled that the last little bit was closed off to due risk of avalanches. Accordingly, we went through the tunnel and began the descent. I made it through the really steep and technical bit before the rain began. Eventually, though, the skies opened. We had 20 minutes of absolutely pouring rain on the way down Galibier. I managed ok though.
The Alpe was... The Alpe. Steep and tough, but familiar by now.
My official time was 8:54:48 - I bested by brother by 14 seconds
I immediately headed to the hotel for a bath, where, predictably, I began coughing so much I almost vomitted.
We drove all day Sunday, and got home at midnight, just in time for bed, and then work this morning.
La Marmotte profile:
My official race photos:
http://www.photobreton.com/c/227/p/26c9e23fe57da727e563e209000beaaf/.html