Etape Number 3 Completed

Last Sunday (July 18th) I finished the 2010 Etape. My third attempt and my third finish.

The course was 112.5 miles over three mountains. It took me 11 hours 13 minutes. The course was that done by the professionals last Thursday where Schleck just beat Contador by half a bike length and they both were way ahead of the peloton.

This is a link to the pictures of me suffering.

www.cstewart.net/Duncan2010etape.html

I had the pleasure of crossing the line with the elimination van driving directly behind me (I was one minute inside the elimination time), I also had the pleasure at the 95 mile mark in the race of a 30 minute sleep in one of the tunnels in a gorge, then going on and stopping at a cafe for a milkshake at the bottom of the Tourmalet (the last mountain 10 miles from the finish) whilst I watched other competitors ride by and another ten minutes kip on the side of the Tourmalet before finishing the race one minute before the elimination time.

There were three mountains this year and as usual I walked on all three climbs and my cleats (on the bottom of the cycling shoes) were so worn that they didn't fit into my pedals once I got to the top of the last mountain. That is the third year the Etape has cost me a set of cleats.

I have worked out that it took me one hour 45 minutes to go the 19 kilometres from Argeles Gazost (the 90 mile mark, I was there at 2:10 pm) to the Cafe at the base of the Tourmalet (at the 100 mile mark, I left there just before 4:00 PM). This did include a 30 minute sleep by the side of the road in a road tunnel and a milkshake and rest in the cafe. Almost as long as it took me to get from there to the top of the Tourmalet (16 KM uphill at average 8% gradient).

And this year (unlike last year) they did publish pictures of me walking (note in one of the pictures I am walking in my socks up the Tourmalet carrying my shoes acquiring blisters on the bottom of my feet and still my cleats were ruined!).

It was a long drive back from the Pyrenees (900 miles) last Monday with long traffic jams at Poitiers and in Paris. We missed our 19:50 ferry and just managed to catch the 21:30 ferry after paying a 13 euro supplement. We left at 7:00 AM and got home at midnight. I was in work on the Tuesday as normal but it all caught up with me over this weekend and I was in bed early and up late.

Still tired now