Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Correct 2013 Etape du Tour broom wagon times

Good news! The 2013 Etape du Tour is shorter than we thought!

Bad news! It seems to have only lost 2km of flat from the start.

Going through the timing sheet with fellow Etapper Pez (he made a spreadsheet) there was a problem.

The distances to the summits on the cut off time sheet and the official route were out. He tracked this to the start.

Which means my technical route analysis for broom wagon times needs to adjust thusly:
(Print out and keep/tape to top-tube guide follows...)

Format is: Distance, nature of road, speed needed, broom wagon/cut off time at the end of that stretch.
  •     Start: 08:30
  •     10km - flat - 30kph - 08:50
  •     5.4km at 5.8% Côte de Puget - 9.8kph - 09:23
  •     1.5km downhill + 3.6km at 6.2% Col de Leschaux - 10.2kph - 09:54
  •     9.5km rolling downhill overall - 9.2kph - 10:52
  •     6km at 4% Côte de Aillons-le-Vieux - 13kph - 11:19
  •     4.5km slightly downhill - 13kph - 11:40
  •     3.5km at 6.5% Col des Prés - 10.5kph-  12:00
  •     11.5km descent (technical) - 17.7kph - 12:39
  •     16km at 5.4% Col du Mont-Revard - 9.5kph - 14:20
  •     12km descent (fast) - 28.8kph - 14:45
  •     23.5km basically flat (slightly downhill) - 14.5kph - 16:22
  •     11.5km at 8.3% Montée finale du Semnoz - 6.8kph - 18:04
  •     Collapse exhausted (hopefully ahead of Broom Wagon)
On the plus side, this all looks far more logical now.

6 comments:

  1. Love the blog guys, I'm attempting my first Etape too and feeling very unprepared. One question I have, does the broom wagon start immediately behind the last pen of riders or is there a gap?
    Does slipping a chain in the first 100 metres or any drop below 30 KPH in the first 10K mean instant elimination?

    Good luck with the training,

    Grant

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  2. Honestly, I have no clue. It would seem really harsh if they did do that but as it's my first etape I don't actually know. I'm mostly hoping I get an earlier start time so it's not an issue. Good luck with the training and glad you like the blog, James

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  3. Just been skimming the blog
    I'm a vet of the 2011 act 1 version

    I started in the last pen, and then waved to my pals waiting for me 8km down what was pretty much a straight slightly downhill section, I was almost certainly one of the last 50 people released and in a pic they took of me is the pre broom lurking behind me!!!!!

    I think the actual sweep starts a little further behind but I did feel sorry for the 7 or so riders fixing punctures in this section which is exactly why I carried co2

    Good luck

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  4. My first etape as well, first race or something :) (although will do a charity night ride to Cambridge in May) and even worse it will be my 1st proper mountains to climb, and the 1st time I will be riding on a some sort of racing bike, which will be rented in Annecy. Now call me experienced :) (cycling since I was 6-ish)

    Plan to do a ride to Box Hill and a few more long ones, just to check how Im doing.

    This blog is gold for me, thx for writing it.

    Kris

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,

      Thanks! we're mainly writing it to try and keep ourselves honest (and so we don't bore friends and family by endlessly talking about it...). Glad you like it.

      The Mont Revard climb is about 6 Box Hills one after the other. So a few repeats there should hopefully give you a good idea of where you are.

      I've also been told by a few veterans that getting a 100-miler in at some point is really handy so you get a feel for what it's like spending that long in the saddle.

      All the best with the training - hopefully see you (and others) at the end for a beer or two!

      James

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  5. Re: etape cut off times.

    So I did recalculate the etape cut-off times based on the itinerary Km's, broomwagon# end times and map profile to get the avg. broomwagon# cut off times.
    Noticed that your cut-off time at Côte de Puget is wrong, its 9.19. Also in my calculations I did not include the time for stops (water and food stops, 5xmins each, and 10mins for the 1st stop) assuming that you may stop, and therefore not loosing time and therefore my avg. speeds are a bit higher or just different. Leaving out a single stop will get you 5mins on top of these times allowing a speed slower than what I calculated.

    #there will be no broomwagon pick up(unless its a mechanical failure on the road), but instead 6x pick up points on the map.

    Start: 08:30
    10km (19mins) - flat - 31.6kmh - 08:49
    5.5km (30mins) at 5.8% Côte de Puget - 11kmh - 09:19
    3.4km (8mins) sort of downhill - 22.5kmh - 9.27
    3.6km (17mins) at 6.2% Col de Leschaux - 12.7kmh - 09:54 (1st water stop - 10mins not included)
    16.5km (47mins) rolling downhill overall - 21kmh - 10:52 (1st food stop - 5mins not in)
    7km (27mins) (6 at 4% Côte de Aillons-le-Vieux) - 15.5kph - 11:19* (13.5kmh - 31mins)
    4km (16mins) - 15kph - 11:40* (20kmh - 12 mins)
    3.5km (20mins) at 6.5% Col des Prés - 10.5kmh- 12:00 (2nd water stop - 5 mins not in)
    11.5km (34mins) descent (technical) - 20.3kmh - 12:34 (3rd water - 5mins not in)
    16km (1h36mins) at 5.4% Col du Mont-Revard - 10kmh - 14:20 (2nd foor stop -5mins not in)
    13km (28mins) descent (fast) - 27.9kmh - 14:48
    18.5km (63mins) basically flat (slightly downhill+slightly up) - 17.6kmh - 16:01 (1x water and last food - 10mins not in)
    15.5km (2mins under 2h) till the top of Semnoz - 7.9kmh - 18:04 (Last water - 5mins not in)
    from that 11.5km (1h 37mins) at 8.3% Montée finale du Semnoz - 7.1kmh - 18:04


    * cut off times at this point doesn't make sense, as they give more time for a flat 3km and less time for the next 3km where the climb starts. In real it could be 13.5kmh up and 20kmh for the flat part.


    Take a look at it. Hope that I did not made any mistakes and that these times are much closer to the real-time broomwagon.



    Regards,


    Kristian

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