It was indeed worth it, but I still walked briefly twice. Floyd Landis cruised by me while I was walking on the final straight. I was leap-frogging with him all day, but of course he was just out cruising and enjoying the day while I was pedaling my guts out. I think I only saw 3 other steel bikes out there, and Landis' was one of them. A bit warmer this year than last year, but hella fun!
Looking forward to Breathless Agony next weekend.
Garminconnect Data.
Last edited by calamarichris; 04-30-12 at 09:49 AM.
Originally Posted by Christopher Hitchens
finished with a slower time but a higher placing than last year, which i'm happy with i suppose. in hindsight, i didn't eat nearly a big enough breakfast, and as a result was up to my ears in cramps for most of the last 10 miles, in spite of hydrating and eating at a steady rate throughout the ride. when i wasn't cramping i felt really, really fast, which is frustrating, but it's another lesson learned.
sooooo many riders sandbagged the rest of the course for the kom times. anyone know what the total number of entrants was for this year?
Click here for the Overall Results.
JSMax beat me by nearly 8 minutes!
579 finishers, and I believe they said they had about a thousand entrants. Got to hand it to ol' Bill Walton--took him almost 11 hours, but he still finished it.
I rode L'Etape this year too. I didn't finish last year -- gave up halfway up the switchbacks, so my only real goal was to finish this year. I did, and I didn't feel too damn terrible. In the past my stomach has gone sour on me on long efforts like this and killed me, more than my legs. So, I spun a lot in my easiest gear (34-25), which wasn't all that easy it seemed... and I took a lot of rest breaks starting from halfway up GRR to the lifts. Just getting the shade, stretching, catching my breath. I didn't walk anything, but those rest breaks probably totalled up to more than 2 hours of resting time, which pushed my total time just over 9 hours. Way slower than I expected, given that Ive made it to the lifts before and am not usually a terribly slow climber (not fast by any means though, just middle of the pack).
I think in my training I did plenty of climbing but not enough 70+ mile days just to have that endurance at the end.
I now vacillate between "I've done it now and never want to do it again" to "next year I want to knock an hour off my time".
It looks like I finished ahead of the Calamari by being quicker at the rest stops! Also took the similar wrong turns on the way back. What did Floyd Landis look like? I started at in the very last wave, so I think I reached the summit just after you. I remember two people BLOWING by me right after the KOM timing mat. The first was a woman (I'm guessing Karen Zupan from the finish time). The other was some guy in blue and white I think? I may have shouted, "EPO" at him. That would be awful if it was Landis.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/172862436
But funny...
AKA the toughest century ever? You are a glutton for punishment.Looking forward to Breathless Agony next weekend.
Zack from Saved by the Bell finished 136th in just under 6 hours. Wonder if Screech entered?
I can't imagine it being too much tougher than Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic, which is more ordeal than event.
He's actually a pretty damn good racer, Cat 2 I think.
Are you doing that one the weekend after next?
Nope. Doing it in 4 days.Are you doing that one the weekend after next?
His total time was 41st. 136 was for the two climbs. Fast, but doesn't look like climbing is his forte.
Are people at the front getting support or are they carrying all their own food & water for five/six hours? What about the winners? I assume they never stop. One would need to carry a lot of food or is it all gel stuff? I stopped to get water at most stops because I needed it. I also shoved PB&Js in my face, gobbled salt tablets and vitamin I, then took off. I ended up with 30 minutes of stopped time. I could not imagine going that long/hard without eating actual food.
Great job guys. What were the 2 KOM timed segments? Are they the 2 that were posted on Strava (GMR: Stop Sign to Wall, and Village-> Ski lifts)?
Seems odd the results arent sorted by overall time.
Looks like my neighbor got 17th of 533 for the KOM times. Nice.
How I ride inside: http://jmtc.ls1howto.com/
Thanks Jmx. How's the back? You healing up in time for BA?
The results were sorted by overall time yesterday, but they changed it, perhaps because we had no CHP motorcade escort through Upland's redlight district, which pretty much makes the overall time competition a farce.
Most people were just noodling through the non-KOM portions of the ride. And yep, the KOM portions were basically the lower part of GMR and Village-to-lifts.
Gonna do an hour ride today at lunch to see how the back is. Sitting in my office chair right now SUCKS unless I sit 100% upright. The rollover date has come and gone, so I may just load up on Tylenol and have a go at it either way.
Hope L'Etape doesn't land on my kids birthday next year.
Also, now that the 2012 L'Etape is over, I noticed the GMR Gate->Shack segment is now over 1100 riders on Strava. I wanna say it was closer to 900 before the event. Freaking crazy, might be the busiest strava segment I've ever seen. Even the SART has way less strava riders (like half).
How I ride inside: http://jmtc.ls1howto.com/
Yes, but they were slightly different from the ones on Strava. For the first segment, they had a KOM start marker about one mile from the stop sign. For the second segment, the clock did not stop until after the switchbacks at the very top.
Strava got a good penetration of the event. They were sponsoring it and they were giving 3 free months of premium membership to everyone who signed up. Out of 570 finishers (and a few bandits), 162 uploaded their rides so far.
That's pretty awesome that Strava is catching on more and more - it certainly helps motivate me. All the extra riders are gonna make it easier for me to get in the top 10% on GMR->Shack by Fall. Just gotta take 41 seconds off over the next 4 months and hope nobody else gets faster.
I just want to start getting out of bottom 10%'s on every segmentThat's pretty awesome that Strava is catching on more and more - it certainly helps motivate me. All the extra riders are gonna make it easier for me to get in the top 10% on GMR->Shack by Fall. Just gotta take 41 seconds off over the next 4 months and hope nobody else gets faster.(1074/1145 gate->shack and 566/639 Mt Baldy) Last organized century for me this weekend, and then I'm getting serious about speed training.
The upside is you're going to make huge gains and it'll be very rewarding this year if you can put the effort in. I've found that if I primarily train speed, the endurance comes pretty easily. Once you have some miles in you endurance is just about nutrition and mind over matter, however, speed is something you must train for.I just want to start getting out of bottom 10%'s on every segment
With all the miles you put in through April I bet you've got quite a bit of speed gains that you've not realized yet. I'm still in awe of your effort.
How I ride inside: http://jmtc.ls1howto.com/
Silly vain creature that I am, I paid for the photos of myself. Anyone else admit to paying for their photos?
Looks like I was too fast on the ascent for them to get any photos of me, and they only got some blurry shots of me descending.
I hope they didn't charge you for that second one, there's not a single damn thing in focus. Looks like they focused on your ass in the first one - the seat tube is nice and sharp.
I look better blurry--had to pay extra for them to slather vaseline on the lens to veil my dispulchritude.
Actually paid $60 for about a dozen mediocre pics.
Don't hate me because I'm beautiful... (because I ain't.)
The first 2/3 or so, and last bit are just fine. It's that little stretch on the third loop that's an ordeal. Otherwise it's a pretty pleasant ride.
Track - the other off-road
http://www.lavelodrome.org
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