http://www.ardennes-megatrail.com/
Ultra Trail 80km with 4000m of elevation gain
Saturday, July 3
Saturday, July 3
My defeat Ardennes ...
Was it reasonable to register such a race three weeks after Trans AQ? In my mind, yes, it seemed well within my reach, even if the difference seemed pretty impressive: a ratio of 1 / 20 (1 km climb for 20 km race), when we know that a term such as CCC at Mt Blanc gives a ratio of 1 / 17! And all that close to my little Belgium in the French Ardennes ... But where do they find the slope? That was the question for many participants, the night before, when removing the bibs at the base of the High Sports Newet Rivers. The profile of the race this time seems scarcely an exaggeration!
Well, we'll know more tomorrow at 5am, after the whistle that we let go on this adventure.
bib in a calm and good humor, about a team of volunteers who immediately shows himself friendly and welcoming. But seriously, everything is carefully checked: medical certificate, required equipment, bag, handed the "pack of food security" (to be punished by a penalty of 30 minutes if using). Because it is a trail in complete self-sufficiency, only water will be provided to supplies, nothing else!
For a first, the Athletic Belair Club seems to have cared for all the details.
After a short but relatively warm night under the stars, next to my car, it is 3:30 when the alarm rings ... Although, no need for alarm, the comings and goings of other competitors quite noisy enough to wake me up.
Room with Breakfast 'light (hard to eat heartily at that hour), recent investigations into the bag, and head for the briefing before the podium.
The final instructions are given. Score of the chip-bib, and put in place on the starting line. We are 236. And finally, it is less clear than I thought, once in front of the wood will be much needed, at least the first half hour.
And immediately, the tone is set, the first rib is discussed after 200m ...! I ride calmly, using my stick well. Then a false flat amount, and the second climb.
The first peak reached is a nice downhill, somewhat tricky, to the program. Here, I can let myself go without forcing, as I had expected and more than a few competitors. Well .... nay! What's going on? The sensations are not there, my legs are reluctant to let me spinning, I feel they will shirk. Well ... not jittery, it will come, it's just a matter of warm-up ... Two beautiful coast, the climb is going well. Long but relatively smooth, and few (very) short bearings. Descent following the same sensations, no way to enjoy, I have to force myself to keep me, brake me.
e 15 km: first stop, CP1. Just a little additional water, snacks and a small cereal bar. 2:05 'running, and already the heat is there, heavy, moist, not a bit of air.
19 e km, a coastline, nay, a wall, hillside, continuous (48%, according to a regional runner ...), very stony, on almost a mile. Even Mt Blanc, I did not know too steep! And then when you stop for breath, watch not to leave behind! Refrain from vertigo! Just past the summit, we must do the same, but downhill, it is also, if not more evil!
25 e km: second stop. My feelings are not good, my legs are heavy, tired, mostly downhill, where I just wanted to "give" a little more. My understanding is probably accumulation of fatigue, I have not yet sufficiently recovered from my previous expedition. I already take a decision not to go through, I'm not here to hurt me and comprommettre following my program, namely the Mont Blanc, which remains my priority this year. I'll still try to make at least half, or 50 miles, it would be a very good training, given the conditions!
Here we go again for a series of "break-legs", as others say. And astonishment is growing in the bunch, given the uneven "sick" in this little known region of the Ardennes, leave a legacy, for sure. No moment of respite, not a meter of flat, barely mounted, it plunges. Imagine a huge Russian mountain, with steep climbs and descents vertigineues, 80 km long! Well there you are. But do not run along paths practical, nay! A very nice selection of single track trails, fire trails and other paths through the woods for the occasion.
e 40 km: the third replenishment, CP2, 7:14 'running. It is noon just past the heat is stifling. During the quarter hour stop I give myself to feed me, a rider on his number 2 has filed and "drop it"! An organizer said to me that 50m away is another "wall" to cross, not sad. I decided to "stuff" yet this one, just to see, and go gently till 50 th , history of doing more than half, and I'll stop there, reasonably.
side "wall", he was not wrong, the guy: measured with my GPS, 1.2 km climb to an elevation of 130m due to a slope less than the 48% announced. Better not turn around. Once up, a gust of wind is felt, welcome, but the sky is covered quickly and the storm hits us. 15min steady rain we refreshes, and I think those behind the climbing wall in the rain. Some parties without poles, obtaining them in the woods story up to relieve the suffering thighs. And
following raids are like small streams, even slippery.
The CP3 is reached at 47 e km, and in the last 3 km which will take me to "my stop", it is the rare (and perhaps the only) fast portion, a good lightweight km descent on a regular path, and there, I very much fun, to great flights that you untie the stump. But it does not last, here again a climb up to km 50.
50th km : fourth refueling. Well, here I disarms , namely the bib No. 34, in the right mood, to the astonishment of volunteers present who judge me "still relatively fresh." " Serve me a cold beer and I still " I told them! And in a burst of laughter, they say than they left. " So I will stay there " after 9:14 'running !
On my return in a van-taxi to the starting point, I found my neighbors "camping" and smiling already showers: they all left!
Only a few minutes later, with 9:21, running comes first, the race favorite, Alexander Hayetine (but originating in the Ardennes High Savoy has always been true Ultra traileurs) who confesses to the organizer for first, he had " set the bar relatively high "!
After a little over 11 hours race, only 10 competitors arrived. The 10th being the first woman, also the overwhelming favorite, the great Negro Sylvie traileuse tarp, with 11:11 '. One of these arrived
also specify that " last 20 km are hardest "! of 236 starters, only 148 are classified, or 88 dropouts (37%) (for comparison, there were 29% in CCC 2009). Conclusion: do more sousetimez the "Ardennes"! I have no regrets, nor to have started, or to have stopped, it was a deliberate decision calmly. And happy to have discovered this path (at least in part .. ).. So I have a revenge to take on this journey to rebuild on an upcoming edition, better rested.
And in the gap, my camera that also deposited their arms, he did not borne moisture room or sweating constantly pumped through the bag. So I have a few photos that you submit, as we drove through a beautiful area dotted with superb views!
Was it reasonable to register such a race three weeks after Trans AQ? In my mind, yes, it seemed well within my reach, even if the difference seemed pretty impressive: a ratio of 1 / 20 (1 km climb for 20 km race), when we know that a term such as CCC at Mt Blanc gives a ratio of 1 / 17! And all that close to my little Belgium in the French Ardennes ... But where do they find the slope? That was the question for many participants, the night before, when removing the bibs at the base of the High Sports Newet Rivers. The profile of the race this time seems scarcely an exaggeration!
Well, we'll know more tomorrow at 5am, after the whistle that we let go on this adventure. bib in a calm and good humor, about a team of volunteers who immediately shows himself friendly and welcoming. But seriously, everything is carefully checked: medical certificate, required equipment, bag, handed the "pack of food security" (to be punished by a penalty of 30 minutes if using). Because it is a trail in complete self-sufficiency, only water will be provided to supplies, nothing else!
For a first, the Athletic Belair Club seems to have cared for all the details.
After a short but relatively warm night under the stars, next to my car, it is 3:30 when the alarm rings ... Although, no need for alarm, the comings and goings of other competitors quite noisy enough to wake me up.
Room with Breakfast 'light (hard to eat heartily at that hour), recent investigations into the bag, and head for the briefing before the podium.
The final instructions are given. Score of the chip-bib, and put in place on the starting line. We are 236. And finally, it is less clear than I thought, once in front of the wood will be much needed, at least the first half hour. And immediately, the tone is set, the first rib is discussed after 200m ...! I ride calmly, using my stick well. Then a false flat amount, and the second climb.
The first peak reached is a nice downhill, somewhat tricky, to the program. Here, I can let myself go without forcing, as I had expected and more than a few competitors. Well .... nay! What's going on? The sensations are not there, my legs are reluctant to let me spinning, I feel they will shirk. Well ... not jittery, it will come, it's just a matter of warm-up ... Two beautiful coast, the climb is going well. Long but relatively smooth, and few (very) short bearings. Descent following the same sensations, no way to enjoy, I have to force myself to keep me, brake me. e 15 km: first stop, CP1. Just a little additional water, snacks and a small cereal bar. 2:05 'running, and already the heat is there, heavy, moist, not a bit of air.
19 e km, a coastline, nay, a wall, hillside, continuous (48%, according to a regional runner ...), very stony, on almost a mile. Even Mt Blanc, I did not know too steep! And then when you stop for breath, watch not to leave behind! Refrain from vertigo! Just past the summit, we must do the same, but downhill, it is also, if not more evil!
25 e km: second stop. My feelings are not good, my legs are heavy, tired, mostly downhill, where I just wanted to "give" a little more. My understanding is probably accumulation of fatigue, I have not yet sufficiently recovered from my previous expedition. I already take a decision not to go through, I'm not here to hurt me and comprommettre following my program, namely the Mont Blanc, which remains my priority this year. I'll still try to make at least half, or 50 miles, it would be a very good training, given the conditions!
Here we go again for a series of "break-legs", as others say. And astonishment is growing in the bunch, given the uneven "sick" in this little known region of the Ardennes, leave a legacy, for sure. No moment of respite, not a meter of flat, barely mounted, it plunges. Imagine a huge Russian mountain, with steep climbs and descents vertigineues, 80 km long! Well there you are. But do not run along paths practical, nay! A very nice selection of single track trails, fire trails and other paths through the woods for the occasion.
e 40 km: the third replenishment, CP2, 7:14 'running. It is noon just past the heat is stifling. During the quarter hour stop I give myself to feed me, a rider on his number 2 has filed and "drop it"! An organizer said to me that 50m away is another "wall" to cross, not sad. I decided to "stuff" yet this one, just to see, and go gently till 50 th , history of doing more than half, and I'll stop there, reasonably.
side "wall", he was not wrong, the guy: measured with my GPS, 1.2 km climb to an elevation of 130m due to a slope less than the 48% announced. Better not turn around. Once up, a gust of wind is felt, welcome, but the sky is covered quickly and the storm hits us. 15min steady rain we refreshes, and I think those behind the climbing wall in the rain. Some parties without poles, obtaining them in the woods story up to relieve the suffering thighs. And
following raids are like small streams, even slippery.
The CP3 is reached at 47 e km, and in the last 3 km which will take me to "my stop", it is the rare (and perhaps the only) fast portion, a good lightweight km descent on a regular path, and there, I very much fun, to great flights that you untie the stump. But it does not last, here again a climb up to km 50.
50th km : fourth refueling. Well, here I disarms , namely the bib No. 34, in the right mood, to the astonishment of volunteers present who judge me "still relatively fresh." " Serve me a cold beer and I still " I told them! And in a burst of laughter, they say than they left. " So I will stay there " after 9:14 'running !
On my return in a van-taxi to the starting point, I found my neighbors "camping" and smiling already showers: they all left!
Only a few minutes later, with 9:21, running comes first, the race favorite, Alexander Hayetine (but originating in the Ardennes High Savoy has always been true Ultra traileurs) who confesses to the organizer for first, he had " set the bar relatively high "!
After a little over 11 hours race, only 10 competitors arrived. The 10th being the first woman, also the overwhelming favorite, the great Negro Sylvie traileuse tarp, with 11:11 '. One of these arrived
also specify that " last 20 km are hardest "! of 236 starters, only 148 are classified, or 88 dropouts (37%) (for comparison, there were 29% in CCC 2009). Conclusion: do more sousetimez the "Ardennes"! I have no regrets, nor to have started, or to have stopped, it was a deliberate decision calmly. And happy to have discovered this path (at least in part .. ).. So I have a revenge to take on this journey to rebuild on an upcoming edition, better rested.
And in the gap, my camera that also deposited their arms, he did not borne moisture room or sweating constantly pumped through the bag. So I have a few photos that you submit, as we drove through a beautiful area dotted with superb views!
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