The Alpe d'Huez 14 times in 24 hours

[maxn]

With rain and snow at the end

http://translate.google.com/translate?twu=1?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A//www.eric-leblacher.com/

[jerome]

sorry but a climb like that needs a lot of respect ...
climb it once as fast as you can that day
and think of the guy ofr whom it was a life changer

climbing it 14 times 20 40 what is the need you will never egal a Patani !
sorry for this arch comment

it is like eating a sandwich on a Church porch for me

[Flying Pigeon]

Well that link sucked me in. I was hoping to figure out why he set out on what seems to be such a monotonous undertaking.

Lately people have been chasing a record for vertical gain in 24hrs. There was a Strava challenge last July 18 that coincided with the day of the Queen stage of the Tour. It was for the most vertical climbed on that day and the winner got a Rapha kit and some yak shoes.

I wondered if people would resort to 24 hrs of hill repeats and they did. I think the winner rode many, many laps of some hills in Georgia for 250 miles and 42,000'. And this effort on l'Alpe d'Huez amounted to about 50,000'. In the comments for the Strava challenge there's mention of a world record by a German priest who rides in Birkenstocks -- 69,000'!

I suppose it's not as brain-numbingly repetitive as 6 days around and around a velodrome, which spans way back to the high wheeler days. As least it's Alpe d'Huez..

Could these nuts take more imaginative routes? The Race Across the Alps cruises all over the roof of Europe including the Stelvio and the winner racked up something like 45,000' over 330 miles, all in 21.5 hrs.

[tiretrax]

Could these nuts take more imaginative routes? The Race Across the Alps cruises all over the roof of Europe including the Stelvio and the winner racked up something like 45,000' over 330 miles, all in 21.5 hrs.

I agree. Hill repeats are too boring, especially over 24 hours.

[FlashUNC]

We've got a 3 mile in town loop here in Charlotte that's popular with cyclists and runners. (Its near a local university and known as the, um, Booty Loop. You can imagine why it got that name.)

Anyways, was on a portion of it heading out to the Saturday morning ride. Struck up a conversation with another rider on that section of the loop, and he mentioned he rides nothing but that loop. He said last Saturday was his "long ride."

He did 32 loops for a total of 90 miles.

My roundabout way of saying that kind of commitment to such a mind numbing task is to be commended, I suppose. At least on Huez you get the descent.

[benitosan1972]

They do a 24hr endurance run race around here.
On a track. Running in circles for 24hrs. Talk about boring!

[ljklassen]

I agree - do it once in the day, and go for the fastest time you can. I had the opportunity to climb it in late July for the very first time (first time biking in France, in fact) and it was amazing. It helped that there was a triathlon on the day we (my friends and I) did the climb, and it was lined with people cheering. They knew we weren't in the Tri, but they cheered everyone on anyway. Awesome experience.

Club Des Cingles du Mont-Ventoux is also very much worth a look. That is one of the best days of cycling I have ever had.

[jonsamg]

We've got a 3 mile in town loop here in Charlotte that's popular with cyclists and runners. (Its near a local university and known as the, um, Booty Loop. You can imagine why it got that name.)

Anyways, was on a portion of it heading out to the Saturday morning ride. Struck up a conversation with another rider on that section of the loop, and he mentioned he rides nothing but that loop. He said last Saturday was his "long ride."

He did 32 loops for a total of 90 miles.

My roundabout way of saying that kind of commitment to such a mind numbing task is to be commended, I suppose. At least on Huez you get the descent.

I used to ride in Santa Monica for about five years. The entire time I road there was this guy who did nothing but ride up and down San Vicente, which is about 5 miles. The funny thing was, he was a really strong cyclist. But, never seemed to ride anywhere else.

[Fixed]

For some it is like potato chips they can't eat just one
Cheers :)

[Black Dog]

For some it is like potato chips they can't eat just one
Cheers :)

True but I would say it is more like Pringles!