680 = the number of different kinds of pizzas on the phone-book sized menu of Les Pecheurs du Soleil in Vence.
Only 20 minutes from Nice, site of the First Annual Singles Triathlon, coming to you in 2005.
My buddy Frankie has a place in Nice, I hear hear its nice. 
andreu?
You’re telling me there is a restaurant in my town with 680 different pizzas and I don’t know about it??? Guess I know now where I will be tomorrow night…
Can married triathletes enter the First Annual Singles Triathlon? Will we get special numbers or bags on our heads or something to mark us as “out of competition”?
graham
You’re in Vence?! Hey, cool. Mail me and we can hook up for a swim or bike sometime.
Sorry, married couples are heartily invited to spectate but we need honest, upfront and in-the-fray types of voyeurs to race for this to work.
But your wife is welcome!
Ironguide, since you are from the area, do you have any additional news on the 2005 Half Ironman Monte Carlo that was announced some time ago. Supposed to be in May. And with Nice becoming a full WTC Ironman, I am assuming that the FFTRI will not be able to put on the traditional race after 2005. Bummer, as I was hoping to do it in 2005, but not really interested in an Ironman that will be even tougher than Lanzarote.
Finally, what would be a reasonable time for a competitive age group triathlete in climbing Ventoux (Mayo, 2005, 56 min) and Alpe d’Huez (Pantani 98, 37 min). I’m going to give these mountains a run this summer and was wondering what the local weekend warriors aspire to. For reference purposes, I’m around 4:30 in half Ironman and 2:05 in Olympic tris, so perhaps you can let me know what I should be shooting for !
Finally, what would be a reasonable time for a competitive age group triathlete in climbing Ventoux (Mayo, 2005, 56 min) and Alpe d’Huez (Pantani 98, 37 min). I’m going to give these mountains a run this summer and was wondering what the local weekend warriors aspire to.
Dev
I rode Alpe d’Huez last year in 51 minutes. Normally my climbing on the bike is my strength but I was out of training at the time, so I punished myself to get that time (my mate had done it an around 53 minutes so I had that carrot out there!)
If you’re in decent shape at the time and, knowing you’re background, I think shooting for sub-50 minutes would be a good effort, but it won’t come easy. Racing any of these climbs is painful!! Any time under 1 hour is a pretty solid climb but as said above you should be able to come a fair bit below that.
Shoot me a PM and let me know when you’ll be around, last Summer I went down to the Alps quite a bit to ride and plan to do the same this year.
Cheers
Camel
Well, I’m from Calgary, you know who, but I suppose 3 years and counting qualifies me as a “local” over here . . . woah, that is a weird concept. Anyway, climbing those two suckers is a factor of how much weight you can power up a mountain, as well as fitness. Pure power output on the flats is not going to tell you much – your power to weight ratio is all important. Basically, the way to look at any long climb on a significant gradient where air resistance and friction are no longer significant factors impeding forward progress , is: What is my maximum vertical gain per unit time?
You can figure this out with a cheap altimeter on any decent long hill. Climb something all-out that is 15min long and of course you will have skewed the result too high, way too high. So you need something long, like a solid 7% 30-min climb. From that you can determine what your vertical gain per hour is. For the top climbers, depending on wind and weather, on a good day like Ventoux it is 1700 - 1800m of vertical gained per hour, FOR AN HOUR. Note: That implies you are riding for an hour. Riding hard uphill for 10 minutes to determine your hourly rate of gain will not tell you much. You will be way too high. 20kph on 7% for 10min (rate = 1400m per hour of vertical gain) is doable for a fit triathlete, but there are very few triathletes who can gain 1400m in an hour of climbing. Even few decent cyclists. This is roughly the pace of a casual tour ascent of a pass, something that is early in the day of a multi-pass stage.
Your 1/2 IM times won’t really tell you anything because you are not telling me what is far more important: Your weight and bike split. Also, riding hard on a long climb takes a lot of finesse if you don’t want to blow early on. On Ventoux you will hit a stretch that is 9% without a break for 10k. After that there’s still 8km to the summit of roughly 7.5%. So start easy and keep the 25 and 27 cogs handy.
Ventoux is 1600m of vertical gain with the first 3km really only at 3%. That leaves 1500m of vertical (5000’) to be gained in the final 18km. That is a grind. Roughly, guessing by your times and I think I saw a photo of you once at xtri.com, from your body composition and assuming it will be a very un-Ottawa stinking hot on the climb (unless you leave early in the a.m. – ADVISED), I am going to put a rough guess out and say it will take you 1:31 to climb Ventoux. So the goal should be to break 1:30, my man. That is a rate of gain of 1050 vertical m per hour for the entire time. Not bad. Using the same rate of gain, then for Alpe d’Huez it would be roughly 1:03. So the goal should be to break an hour.
Suggestion: Warm up with an hour of riding before you hit either hill. The Ventoux climb is from the marble line (obvious) in Bedoin to ze top. Km 3 to 13 are the hardest. At Alpe d’Huez it is pretty clear too – keep going past the first little square in the town. The first 3km are the hardest there.
Dev,
I borrowed Marc’s (Ironguide’s) Litespeed and Carnacs and rode the Alpe in 58 minutes last summer 2 weeks after CdA. I wasn’t pushing hard. Knowing your physique, I think you could take a crack at sub-55.
Let me reiterate Marc’s point…These hills are LONG and pacing is really key. Roll into the base of these climbs, don’t attack them or you’ll pay 30+ minutes later when you are completely seized up.
Enjoy the trip…It will be a wonderful experience.
Puskas, Ironguide and Camel. I’m 5’6", 140 lbs. I climb reasonably well over the 20-80 min range of continuous climb. Half Ironman bike split on rolling to hilly courses is ~ 2:25 to 2:30. Did 2:38 several years ago at Wildflower. I think I’ll take the advice of all and start easy and see if I can go sub 60 on Alpe d’Huez. I am riding with a buddy who is a really strong roadie, so I think it will end up being a bit of race though. Camel, this is tentative plan for the trip
July 16th ride 100 mile loop from Interlaken to Andermatt (CH), via Sustenpass and Furkapass (the Tour de Suisse did the Sustenpass yersterday when Jan finished 3rd). July 17-18, ride in Chamonix Mont Blanc area. July 19 Ventoux, July 20-21-22 do some riding, following the Tour from Villard de Lans-Bour l’Oisan-Alpe d’Huez TT. July 23, do Alpe d"huez TT. July 24-25, ride in Briancon area, perhaps Izouard, Galibiere etc etc. July 25th drive back to Zurich, perhaps catch the end of Ironman Suisse. July 27th fly back to Canada.
I’ll be posting articles on the respective Ventoux/Alpe d’huez blowups for slowman here on this website (ie Who’s mountain’s are tougher) !!!
July 16th ride 100 mile loop from Interlaken to Andermatt (CH), via Sustenpass and Furkapass (the Tour de Suisse did the Sustenpass yersterday when Jan finished 3rd). July 17-18, ride in Chamonix Mont Blanc area. July 19 Ventoux, July 20-21-22 do some riding, following the Tour from Villard de Lans-Bour l’Oisan-Alpe d’Huez TT. July 23, do Alpe d"huez TT. July 24-25, ride in Briancon area, perhaps Izouard, Galibiere etc etc. July 25th drive back to Zurich, perhaps catch the end of Ironman Suisse. July 27th fly back to Canada.
Drool, drool, drool
Those Swiss Passes are awesome. Haven’t had the chance to ride them yet, but driving over them for me was like an out of body experience.
I think Marc is just setting you up for a time you’ll come way under if you have a decent day, are in good shape and are prepared to hurt. And don’t start easy, because the toughest part of the climb is at the start and there’s only one way to attack it.
Definitely climb the Galibier, and you’ve got to do it from the St Michel de Maurienne side, you first climb the Telegraphe. It’s the coolest climb, starting from the valley with flowers blooming, it’s like you’re on another planet by the time you’re hitting the switchbacks at the top. If you do that on the weekend as planned I might have to come down and join you!
You guys are going to have a great trip.
Besides not being able to fathom why you would spend $1US in France, I don’t know why you feel the need to go there to pick up chicks. There are tons of hot, single tri-babes in the triathlon scene around here. In fact, thats where I met my wife. In fact, there are far more single girls than there are guys. Whenever I hear of a friend bemoaning the fact that he can’t meet girls, I try to get him involved in triathlon because there’s such good, easy pickins for a single guy. Just show up regularly at the pool, track, or for the local ride and before you know it, you’re the new, intriguing guy. And then again every new season there are new faces.
If you can’t pick them up here, what makes you think you’re going to get any more lucky over there?
Oh, I just had a thought, perhaps you ARE already over there. In which case, it makes even less sense.
Help me out.
OK, here is your help:
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Turn 180 degrees.
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See that thing with the knob? It’s called a door.
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Walk to the door, turn the knob, open the door and take 3 step.
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Repeat step 1.
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Close door.
Consider yourself helped out. Nice to have met you.
Dlright, then you ought to be able to crack the hour for AdH handily. I pictured you bigger, say 175 and 6’.
Ventoux, aim for 1:25. There is no water at the top but at chalet reynard you can get it, and the natural spring there might be flowing too, all depends on the weather.
Drop me a mail when you’re in the area.
hey cam, have a great weekend at the campagnolo! I have narrowed my route down to 230 tomorrow via castellane and up the verdon and the col d’allos plus the cayolle, then sunday back up the cayolle and up the back side of the bonnette and home.
Marc and Camel. Thanks for the input. Yes, I am a pint size 140 lbs. When I am in the area and our plans are more firm, I will send you guys private email via slowtwitch and we can arrange for potential spots to hook up for riding.
Camel, I rode the Grimselpass in CH in 89 with a 42x21 as my easiest gear. Its the first pass on my proposed Interlaken to Andermatt ride, but it does start at 500 m and peaks out at 2100 m. This time though, I plan to have a 34x27 bottom gear, as 15 years of endurnace sports has weakened my knees and legs :-).
If we can get enough slowtwitch types together on the July 22-23 after the TdF has left Bourg l’Oisan, we can perhaps do a slowtwitch poser’s ITT up Alpe d’huez