Day Two

Day 2 Talloires to Val d'Isere
125km
After a short sleep and a quick breakfast we started the day with a group shot in front of the beautiful Lake at Talloires. I decided to ride with the girls today and stick to a slower pace to not over exert myself. We headed off to the Col de Forclaz which had a pretty scary and sharp profile. I climbed alone and put myself in a mental zone that focused me on achieving this. I expected the worse and soon we are at the top having gone in and out of slumped trances and being in a rhythm with my breathing and pedaling. I’m so pleased I reached the top that I buy a col badge and some cosy alpine slippers from the cafe to mark my conquest. We continue on into the low clouds that seem to be masking all our cols.
We had a gentle ride to the bottom of the Roselend, a magnificent mountain but testing on the legs. There is a lake sitting just before the summit, a welcome stopping place that disappoints as it is not the top of the col. We are riding well and feel we could climb the mountain without stopping for lunch before. It is better to keep the legs moving and the hardest part of the ride is pushing yourself to cycle through the pain; Keeping the muscles working and the blood pumping is better at keeping the pain at bay and stops the muscles seizing up once the body begins to relax. Beaufort, a small town is at the base of Roselend and she engulfs the sky overhead. We spot other red jersey’d flies in the cafes lining the route we are following. It is all too tempting to stop and we are quickly advised not to even think about starting the climb without any lunch. The climb is about 14 km to the lake and the little cafe there might not be open. The risk is too big to miss out on a meal, we are burning over 6000 calories a day and have to constantly eat and top up our fuel otherwise we would grind to a harrowing halt called a bonk. Its a challenge to eat carbohydrates and consume fats and sweets to help with energy burning and levels. Our blood sugar can drop if we aren’t taking on the right energy foods meaning we wouldn’t be functioning very well and risk problems.

After a chocolat chaud and saussison sandwich we start the climb in good spirits, singing eighties songs to while the climb away. We realize we are the last as we pass the slower, big guys who tend to have a very slow pace because of their size. These back runners are not in the mood for chirpy girls; understandably the climb is tough and all your focus goes into pedaling and pushing through the pain. We spin by at medium pace panting in between bursts of song and giggling. The idea is to spin in a lower gear to help push the lactic acid out of the muscles. On the steeper climbs you have to grind the gears and push harder but some gradients mean you use different muscles. This mountain has 3 stages, the evergreen lower part that opens up and becomes more vast and rocky as you enter the plateau with the lake to then start climbing hairpin turns on a sheer rock front into winding rocky roads where it is exposed and windy. At times it is easy to forget where your are and ignore your surroundings. Claire and Tess want to take it in and get photos of the views and poor Mareka feeling nauseous takes it slowly but I feel I must carry on and push on up the mountain alone.
I’ve find my legs quite quickly and ride with my breathe leading me. This is important as I have Asthma and no heart rate monitor. We don’t want to push our bodies into the red zone where we cannot recover from pushing too hard and we don’t want to hold back too much as this sends the body out of sync too. At the lake we greet the support crew with our day bags and put on warmer layers as the temperature changes. It is cold and blustery now, the old familiar white mist moves in and we have our head in the clouds once more. I cycle with Richard, a virgin rider to the top of the col and get to know him and find out about his family. I warn him about preparing yourself mentally for the slog to the end. He describes how exhausted he is and it is only day two. By the end of the day he explained, he has accomplished two days of the hardest thing he ever thinks he will do and now he is ready to go home. With the prospect of six more days and a tired mind and aching body I try to give him encouragement which is exhausting for me too. Suddenly we spot a proud marmot on the road, quietly having a moment. I see it as a good luck symbol and we push on. We were so happy to reach to top!


In the cold we descend 26 km to Bourg St Maurice for a baguette and coke with salt in it to help rebalance the salts and sugars we have lost. We leave in a peloton and push on to the last long drag and climb of the day, I loose myself and have no energy so pull over before I fall over on the main road. The traffic is busy and the energy of the other riders whirl around me. My head is woozy and as I stopped I couldn’t get my cleat out of the pedal, almost falling over. I know this is a sign of bonking. I fill up on sweets ad food that I really don’t want and get handed a lollipop by Adrian; His trick is to suck on it and slowly have the sugars pick you up as you ride. Jake and Adrian want to cycle with me to make sure I make it back safely. We carry on slowly and then the skies open and the rain comes down. Stopping for rain jackets, I use my Asthma inhaler. I feel a little energized from it and a bit more a wake. We pedal slowly up the long, steady mountain road that leads to Val d’Isere. It takes a long time and I can now manage conversation. The light changes as the rain clears and we are left with a magnificent and fresh evening. As we ascend the chill in the air gets stronger. I realize I have a puncture and Jake jumps in to change the inner tube over. Thankfully I have comrades to take care of me.
My chips are down and I need all the help I can get. Finally we reach some tunnels which scare the shit out of us. We were warned to take care through them and our support vans are going to lead us through but we are very far behind the others now and the vans are ahead. The cars and trucks howl past, the wind reverberation shakes us and in our tired states scare us. Woody, our support driver from Panavision leads us through in his van safely. After a long, long day I reach Val d’Isere and it is a ghost town, surrounded by fresh, alpine meadows, closed chalets and blanketed in off-peak bleakness. The mountains surround the famous ski town as a soft music whistles through the town and empty ski shops and complexes that lines the road. We make it to the hotel as the light disappears behind the mountains. Washing, dinner and bed. A very welcome break.