Last Saturday I did part of the Etape route, from Bagneres de Bigorre through to Hautacam, and thought that someone might be interested in what it was like for me, a very average cyclist:
- age 46
- weight 73kg
- max HR 180
I’ve only been road cycling for 4 years – I’m not in a club, not a racer, and consider myself to be equivalent to a below-average club cyclist. I have been training steadily for 6 months and have done 3300km since January, of which less than 150km in the mountains.
Firstly, the weather on the day. It was awful; 15°C in Bagneres, but only 3°C with snow up at the Tourmalet, and 2°C with cloud/mist at Hautacam.
The Tourmalet itself was actually OK – long, but a steady gradient with wonderful views – I took 2hrs from Bagneres to the summit, staying mainly just below or at my threshold, but never needing to go into red-line.
The first part of the descent from Tourmalet was hairy – they’ve been repairing the road and there are lots of patches of loose gravel for the first 5 or 7km, many of them on the bends, so be really, really careful on the day. After these first few km, the rest of the descent is magic – well-surfaced and wide road, but watch out going through Bareges – on the day they’ll send us against the one-way system, and it looked to me as if the road surface there was cobbled.
Once past Bareges, the road is brilliant – after Luz it is wide, well-surfaced, and gently descends through a gorge – time to eat and drink, which we'll need because Hautacam is a real killer, much, much worse than the Tourmalet.
The gradient up to Hautacam is not steady, so it’s difficult to get into a rhythm. The distance signs tell lies; they give the average gradient for the next kilometre, but there are wide variations within that – some parts even descend, but not long enough for recovery – so I was constantly changing gear and getting in and out of the saddle.
The worst bit was after the “4km to go” sign, but once you get past the "2km to go", and the cattle grid, it’s easier and if you get this far then you will make it.
My bike has a triple chainset, with lowest gear of 30/26, and at times on Hautacam I wanted an even lower gear!
All in all, it took me 5h10m cycling time from Bagnere de Bigorre to Hautacam, which should just about be OK to avoid elimination on the split times.
Advice? Well, I’m no expert, but :
- pack enough clothes to dress for winter as well as for hot summer (our weather this year is appalling)
- don’t expend everything on the Tourmalet because Hautacam is the real test
- watch out for the gravel on the descent from Tourmalet
- it’s hard (especially Hautacam) but do-able, so believe in yourself, and enjoy it!
Good luck all and see you on the day!
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