my toughest day on a bike | Marmotte Gran Fondo 177km 5000m

one hell of a day battling the heat, altitude and elevation of the French Alps at the Marmotte Gran Fondo. Thanks to Sports Tours International for the opp, check out their roster of bucket list cycling races/events and experiences here – http://bit.ly/3GcORKt

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00:00 Trailer
00:58 I cracked my frame
02:59 Packing the Bike
04:06 Arriving at Alpe D’Huez
05:39 Prepping the bike
07:15 The Route Overview
08:44 Nutrition Plan
11:23 Race Day
13:14 Col du Glandon
21:04 Col du Galibier (via Col du Telegraphe)
30:00 Sports Tours Private Feed
31:47 Galibier Summit
32:53 Galibier Descent
36:10 Alpe D’Huez
38:42 Finishing

heat [Music] heat [Music] i don’t have anything left there’s nothing going to the pedals [Music] so this that you can see on the screen was my bike literally less than 24 hours ago yes that is a crack in the carbon frame uh basically what happened is I bought a new chain it was the right compatibility it was for Shimano 12speed but it wasn’t a Shimano chain it was a KMC chain and it slipped when I took it out to test it and basically got yanked in between the bottom bracket and the crank set whilst I was pedaling and yeah chewed the hell out of the frame and left it with a nasty like hole in it oh we have had a howler boys and girls my chain has twisted one of the links is twisted and I cannot pedal because of that uh basically I got a new chain two days ago trying to be all prepared and that for the Marmmont and then come out to test it today thank god because it ain’t working right don’t know why it’s the same length and that but it just ain’t firing right it came off and twisted and now I am 40minut Uber from my Gaff that’ll be hella expensive so what I’m doing instead is walking to the nearest bike shop and in the process it mangled my rear derailer so I had to get a new chain a new old Tegra rear derailia and they had a crack in the frame it’s what I would call an absolutely honking morning and it was causing me a lot of stress because in one day’s time I am flying out to France to ride the Marmmont which is the biggest cycling event of the year for me the one I’ve been training for the last 6 months for and my road bike was in the mud fast forward 24 hours and this is my road bike as of right now yep needs a few things adding to it i need to rebuild it basically in a minute but where the crack was looks like it had never even been there to begin with it’s almost like it’s a new frame yeah absolute madness uh let’s just say there’s some very good people out there in the bike world who helped me out a lot and I need to get this rebuilt now because we’ve got a 7:00 flight in the morning and I need to pack everything away so let’s get to it [Music] [Music] right we’ve made it to Aldoz we just drove up the climb that thing is a monster of a climb it’s very steep in parts and by the time we’re going to be riding it tomorrow it’s going to be scorching out like 30 odd plus degrees so that’s uh made me a little bit nervous for it to be honest i think seeing it on paper and seeing it in the flesh is a different thing but anyway yeah we’re here now i need to unpack the bag and sort my bike out make sure everything is firing properly i’m going to do a little bit of a scoot around this area here I think once it’s made up just to double check everything is good because I had to put the bike together myself after I got it back from the carbon repair thing yesterday so need to sort that need to grab as many carbs as I possibly can do we’re going to go for pizza I think in a minute for lunch and then pasta for tea in the evening if we can get somewhere it’s like a just a ski village basically it’s offseason so I don’t know how much is open guessing quite a bit but jeez this looks like a painting mate the room itself is very posh as well giving me like ski chalet vibes let’s have a look [Music] right [Music] [Applause] the bike is built everything is running smoothly i’ve got my bib and all the stickers and that that I need to sort and I’m going to do that now [Music] heat heat [Music] i was speaking to the sports tours mechanic who was just fixing up the bike and that I asked him if he’d ever done it and he said yeah he did it back in 2018 and he ain’t ever going to be doing it again which gives you an indication as to the type of ride it is i think it’s one of them that it’s a bucket lister but it’s a grer as well it’s going to be a long old slog but the scenery in that is going to be pretty much unmatched if you’ve been to the French Alps before you know how beautiful it is and getting the opportunity to ride a bike up and down these mountains is just sensational stuff i am just relaxing for the for the rest of the evening pretty much we have a briefing with sports tours to go over like the core specs and where they’re going to be uh chilling in the aid stations and that cuz on top of the actual aid stations that you get around the course I think there’s maybe four you get two extra ones uh that sports stores just host so you can give them a bag almost like a bagrop thing and then they’ll see us on the way up the Gibier and the way up outdoors and on that let’s go through the the route and the course and the specs and that cuz it’s going to be a big day it’s going to be the biggest bike ride I have ever done in my lifetime by quite a way we’re talking 177 km apparently with over 5,000 m of climbing in terms of the clims the route is actually basically just it’s four climbs four massive climbs up mountains and that that makes up the majority of the distance cuz obviously you get to go up and then you get to descend as well and the climbs that are involved are you start on the Glandon called the Glandon you then make your way over to the Telegraph called the Telegraph and then the called the Galibier and then you finish on outdoors so pretty iconic clients which is what makes this event such a a special grand fondo and one of the most popular in the world i think there’s 6,000 people uh taking part in it tomorrow which is pretty big for a bike event um I know marathons and that normally have about 50k people but with it being bikes and that it’s a little bit a little bit more niche so I’m expecting to be out there for 8 9 god forbid 10 hours if things go pee tongue and that’s if I can finish it as well by the way and fueling and that is obviously going to be hella important fueling and hydration and putting on some factor 50 throughout the day three main things that I’m asked about that is going to be the make or break for sure so let’s go through the fueling cuz I’ve got a monstrous amount of food here i don’t think I’m going to get through all of this i’ve just bought more than I need and I can stop at the aid stations as well if I need to and pick up some bread and maybe some more like solid food cuz this is more like sports nutrition and sweets basically i don’t know if I can go all day just chomping on this i’m going to be aiming for 80 odd grams of carbs an hour give or take and that is going to come in the form of the Morton carb mixes i’ve got about four of these i think these are 80 g of carbs each and the white ones have caffeine in which I guess I’m going to need at some point got a few of the Morton solid 160s these are like flat jacks again 40 g of carbs each got a load of the Morton Gel 160s again 40 g each which is uh pretty helpful cuz these go down so easy i’ve not yet experienced any like palette fatigue with these with some of the sweeter uh more like gooier type of gels I sometimes find after three or four of them I’m just struggling to get them down whereas with these like jelly almost they go down pretty easy i mean tomorrow might change that but so far so good with them and then I’ve also got a couple of the Cadence hydration uh electrolytes these are just like powdered electrolytes that I’m going to take with me and just pour into the bottles with the carb mix and that just to keep on top of the electrolytes cuz I’m going to be sweating like a pig out there tomorrow i’m sweating just filming this video and then finally last but not least to mix things up a little bit Haribo eggs mate absolutely classic these are probably one of my favorite Hari boss and when you get them abroad as well they’re actually just they’re nicer i don’t know they’ve just got more sugar in or something and then the event organizers gave us some like fizzy ones as well just in case so yeah we’ve got hella food uh if you’re my dentist please don’t watch this video cuz that ain’t going to be doing much for my teeth that is for sure been a pretty seamless day to be honest with the sports tours lot they just picked us up from the airport scooted us on over to help doz checked us in helped us with the bikes and that gave us a bit of a briefing and then yeah sort of do what you want it’s it’s ideal really takes away any of the additional stress of logistics and transports and accommodation and that yeah half 8 in the evening now i am going to wind down get a decent night’s kip hopefully and yeah see you in the morning [Music] [Music] heat [Applause] [Music] heat [Music] ladies and gentlemen [Music] Right we’re off pretty ballistic start to be honest it’s like being in the pelaton riders about we got 5k and then we get to the first climb of the day which is the glandon oh [Music] [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] heat heat [Music] about [Music] 3k into the glandon i’m pedaling backwards this frame bag it’s a bad idea got about 3 kg of Haribo eggs weighing me down feeling sluggish at the minute oh yeah I think this is going to be a gruelling day underestimated the the gradients so I thought it would be easy to just get in your lowest gear and spin up but um yeah churning the pedals quite a bit actually [Music] [Applause] [Music] right 30 km in 1,100 m climbed 9k left on the glandon chipping away legs are feeling a bit better feel like I’ve lost about a kilogram of water weight and sweat already and I’m getting through the fried eggs so come on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it’s eased off a little bit now nicer gradients much more [ __ ] [Music] [Music] approaching the top now i think this is the top of the glandon at least it’s where the food first food station is going to chill for a sec it’s harder than I thought a lot harder jesus it’s bus here though [Music] basically just need some liquid just going to fill my water bottle up and then have a sit down for a second get down the descent which is neutralized so it can count towards the final time so you can chill down it pretty much believe it’s quite a techy one as well which is why they’ve neutralized it so you don’t get any walkers paton pickup one of these bombing down and causing people danger a bit fresher now uh look at the state of the views man like this is this is different gravy this is alpine cycling right and now we have a whopping descent back down into a valley and then I think about 30 40k flat from uh one side of the valley to the next and then we start climbing the telegraph and Golivier just 140k and 3,600 m of climbing to go so light work [Music] i want to do something [Music] [Music] heat up here [Music] wow my brakes are screaming at me that was the longest descent I’ve ever done the next descent I’m doing will be longer though I think coming down the Golivier buting hell thought that was never going to end man like we were descending from the moon now I need to try and get on the back of a group because this next section is meant to be a bit of a a slightly uphill drive through the valley [Music] heat [Music] heat [Music] heat heat [Music] all right 31° in this valley now it’s piping up i’m going to fill up my bottles before we make our way up the Golivia now it’s going to be rough honestly [ __ ] myself for it right got some fresh water i’m just going to stick a car mix in there as well as an electrolyte jesus it’s too hot no all right let’s have it oh mate 80k in 1,700 m of climbing 22 m uh k average speed oh my good lord right let the suffering begin [Music] [Music] he’s [Music] [Applause] [Music] feeling better on this climb than I was on the other one the gland on it shallower got 5k to the top of Telegraph now yeah feeling good weird concerning actually [Music] this is a joke that is outrageous look how stunning that is [Music] 3k to the top of the telegraph and then we are officially over halfway just about which a little bit concerning currently done 88 km 2360 m of elevation going to be the hilliest ride I’ve ever done in my life by a mile by double the elevation if I can make it to the end right status check at the top of the telegraph my legs are aching now a lot and I’m a bit worried about the heat i feel so hot need to pour some water in my dome cool down a minute i’m just going to have a minute get some sun cream on and then we’ve got apparently a bit of a a killer climb up the Galibia now once we get up there we’re laughing only outdoors to go cool man [ __ ] I look a bit of a mess down here i feel better than I look just for the record [Music] [Applause] [Music] heat [Music] heat [Music] quiet [Music] quiet right here we go 18k at 7% to the top of the Golivier let’s uh let’s get spinning up there this is such an iconic climb i am gas to get up there i’m a little bit in the mud must be about 3k into the Gibby i feel a bit shaky pulled over i’m having some Haribo bow and I’ve pulled out the emergency caffeine carb mix stuck that in the bottle i’m just going to have a minute oh god peaks and troughs e me felt brilliant half an hour ago i just tanned off a bag of haribo and the caffeine carb mix if that doesn’t that don’t work we are done we are finished 11 km to the top of Gibby and then I’m going to have to have about 15 minutes to recoup not in a good way [Music] the crack’s starting to show
don’t be sad don’t be lonely [Music] don’t you know that I love you [Music] be and I’ll be yours forever [Music] don’t share don’t your head cry don’t know [Music] i feel like I’m cracking a little bit back in Yanza n feet are getting numb obviously swelling up a lot cuz the heat and that but this is where I got to go as well oh lord [Music] signed up to it let’s get it done heat heat heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] don’t be afraid [Music] don’t be down tell you baby [Applause] let’s go it’s
the most beautiful grueling ride I’ve ever done in my life jesus look at this [Music] [Music] struggling astronomically now there’s just no respite from the sun reading at 30° [ __ ] 4k to the top and then we are lying down come on [Music] [Applause] chipping away one kilometer away from the top my legs feel about as strong as that of a newborn donkey [Music] so pushing about 100 watts and it is strenuous oh it’s difficult to take in the views and that when I’m this deep in a hole but they are pretty spectacular sports tents coming up [Music] oh first in
really
yeah jesus Christ
how’s your day good day mate
uh can I have some water some electrolyte please some shade as well oh god [Music] oh yeah yeah i’ve been battling with him i can imagine what do you want
uh can I have some coke uh I’ll have Coke and a co can I just have some water and electrolyte please i’m uh
watering one in the other
yeah please
this will be both
yeah i don’t I don’t even know i couldn’t tell you [Music] need anything wise might have to have an apple or something miscuit with a bit salt in it
we’ll have an apple please oh this come at the right time then we’ve got Galibier that’s 1k away is that right
1k to go
and then it’s downhill for for a minute yeah i think your next hill after this is the Al
i don’t think there’s anything particularly uphill on them all the way down
quite a long descent yeah it’s best part of sort of 30 miles
jesus mate i can see the top what a beautiful sight let’s go [Music] [Music] [Music] top of Gibby now our legs are depleted got a while to recover though before we go up outdoors that is going to be nails mate oh I’m already dreading it look at this though all right let’s have it [Music] heat [Music] up here [Music] heat up [Music] here heat heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] morale [Music] [Music] is very high right now we’re approaching Alair couple of kilometers from it i feel good
oh mate that was sensational about 45 km of mainly descending there was a couple of little kickers in that but that is crazy oh god just cannot escape the heat though i’m at the bottom of outdoors now i’m going to refill all my bottles and that get some food and electrolytes and hopefully just push to the top 14k pretty steep as well so it’s going to be despicable it just cannot escape the heat though it’s everywhere midday sun at 33 degrees down there it’s tough all right one last hill one last hill oh mate some crap units around there 161k 3,880 m of elevation climb oh god right let’s get this over with [Music] thank you sorry to tell you this but I don’t have anything left there’s nothing going to the pedals oh [Music] Jesus i think it does ease up after a couple of corners cuz this is putrid [Music] the cool thing about outdoors is it tells you how many hair pins are left to the top got 18 hair pins to go 12k at 10% i don’t know if I can even do it [Applause] [Music] i don’t think there’s anything I can do to make myself feel better it’s like Honolulu Marathon all over again [Music] oh messy oh [ __ ] hell oh that’s the best moment of the day that Oh Jesus that was needed right final stop at the sports tours tent cuz I’ve stopped about seven times on the way up here it’s just absolute nails it’s just so hot 5k to go and we completed the mar [Music] [Applause] [Music] don’t be afraid [Music] don’t be down tell your baby [Applause] let’s go to be mine then I’ll be yours forever i’m just [Music] [Music] [Music] We could make it