Haute Route Day 2 + Video

7:16 PM Tue 23 Aug 2011 GMT

'Haute Route 2011 Stage 3'

Artemis Racing's Coach Andrew Palfrey reports on the second day of the Haute Route cycling race taking place in the French Alps.

Today was again pretty tough - 2200mtrs of climbing over three cols (passes). You try to pace yourself, but there is very fine balance between going easy and prolonging the suffering, versus going just that bit harder to just get it done. I am learning there is a lot of psychology in cycling up big hills - and most of it has to do with overcoming pain... Today was (for me) 3.5hrs of climbing alone.

The descents are pretty full-on. No place for the faint hearted. Obviously it is a break from the physical pain of climbing, but the concentration and skill play a big part in being fast and not crashing. I believe there were four crashes today.

The last climb today up to Les Arcs was fairly tough. Mark led me most of the way up. His pace was right on the edge for me, which was perfect. Two things stand out from the climb. One was getting passed by the oldest guy in the fleet - a 70 year-old who is probably the most respected rider here. Another was seeing an old couple on steel bikes cruising up the hill after what I assume was a quick trip down for a loaf of bread and some milk.

Dad was in the Bonds wife-beater and Mum had trakky-daks on (but at least I passed them). What a great place! (For non Australians, i am too tired to explain the previous sentence... apologies). As I suspected, my mass of 98kg is doing very little for me on the climbs. I think the 70 year old bloke would weigh as much as my right leg - but I'm not making excuses!!

The views on the top of the second climb of the day (Col du Roselend) were amazing, as was the fast descent from the col. We were again lucky with the weather, although it got quite hot for the last ascent up to Les Arcs. Sun all day and no wind. One can only imagine how tough it gets to ride when there is wind whistling down the valleys and when it rains for the descents.

Anyway, my Garmin data for today is available here .

Team-wise, we had a great day. Paul again topped the list, finishing at about 4hrs 10min. Mark Turner and I continued our bonding on the alps, by riding virtually every metre together uphill. We finished together, about ten minutes after Paul. Fraser again dug deep to be about an hour behind Paul. Simon's bike hung in well after the Paul and I performed a bush-mechanic repair on her last night. Jim really toughed it out all day, but made the cut. Big effort there. Probably deserving of a Knight-hood. Sir James has a ring to it.

Well - it all leads us to day three. This is a ride that has frightened me all year. I have attached the route profile. Today we climbed 3000mtrs.... tomorrow is 4000!! Two of the hors categorie climbs in the Tour. The Col de La Madelaine and the Col Du Galibier (which takes in the Col Du Telegraph). The Col De La Madelaine will likely be two hours climbing. The Col Du Galibier will just be heinous. It gets stepper the further up you go. It finishes at high altitude (over 2600mtrs).

All in all it will be a large day. Alarm is set for 0445hrs. Try to wedge some breakfast in then we set off at 0600. You definitely have to be somewhat of a nut to do this. For those that have a minute, below is a link to the last ten minutes of Stage 18 of the Tour this year on the Col Du Galibier. These blokes make it look pretty easy, but my stomach went weak when I looked at this a couple of hours back. But i still did yell 'Go Cadel' as I watched it.