Will1985
Über Member
- Location
- South Norfolk
Some may remember threads for the past two years about the Le Mans 24 hour cycle race and the possibility of putting a team together for a bit of fun. This weekend I rode it and can categorically state that this is an event worthy of being called a race. Even those who entered for a bit of fun got caught up in the atmosphere and were having mini battles for position with the teams around them.
The event is now in its third year and is becoming an important fixture on the French racing calendar with teams coming from all over the country. It is held on the 4.185km Circuit Bugatti which is the permanent part of the longer Circuit de la Sarthe track (13.629km) used for the Le Mans 24 hour car race.
As a pretext, my team comprising four people with links to the University of Birmingham Cycling Club (2 alumni and 2 PhD students), entered the Ride24 event at Goodwood in June. Unfortunately I was unable to ride that because I was scheduled to have my wisdom teeth removed the day before. It was a wise move as we didn’t know what state I would be in, although I did manage to get there to support and also did a 21km run across the South Downs with another of our team helpers on the Sunday morning! The team won by 7 laps and learnt a lot in terms of strategy for this type of endurance riding.
This year the Le Mans event had approximately 380 teams which was a combination of solos, pairs, 4, 6, or 8 riders. Looking down the start list the majority of the teams were French, and some of the same names cropped up multiple times. In fact there were two names who had 15 teams of 4, 6 and 8 riders between them! Needless to say they got the top two places overall. I actually recognised one of these teams – Btwin Racing Espoirs – as a squad which has had an article in Cycling Plus before so I had a feeling they were rather good before we had even started. This was confirmed when we got to the pit area to find team cars, trucks and mechanics!
We set off on Friday morning from Dover (the cheapest but not the most direct route) and arrived at Le Mans about 6 hours after landing at Calais. The campsite was already heaving with tents, gazebos, campers and RVs. I later discovered a couple of buses and articulated trucks for the bigger teams! Quite a few clubs had entered a team or two and made a weekend of it – the fast riders doing their stuff on track and the families going out on rides in the Sarthe countryside.
As we got there a lot of people seemed to be out in full kit riding around so we thought we would go for a little spin. It was getting dark by the time we had sorted ourselves out but we managed to get 16km in – I was familiar with the larger Le Mans circuit from playing Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2 and there was no way I was going to spend a weekend with Le Mans without going round the entire track so I led the others towards the public part of the circuit for a ride. The smoothness of the circuit got to us and our 'spin' turned into blasting it along the Mulsanne straight!
Later that night we were kept awake by the sound of high performance cars and motorbikes screaming up and down the straight roads within the public part of the circuit.
Saturday morning was time for registration and preparation of bikes and kit. We took everything we needed across to the pit garage which we were sharing with 3 other teams. There was a lot of stuff including spare wheels, kit, food, and sleeping bags, and we were fairly restrained in the area we used in spite of our propensity to spread out as much as possible!
The first riders were assembled at 14:45 along the length of the pit straight while the national anthems of all riders taking part were played. It must have been baking standing out in the sun for 15 minutes before the flag dropped for the traditional Le Mans style start. It was carnage as 380 riders ran across the track to a team mate waiting with a bike, clipped in and rode as hard as possible to get up to the front. The pace from the off was incredibly high and at one point the average speed was something like 46km/h. This seemed to be sustained for the first 4 hours as teams put new riders on. Our initial strategy was to do an hour and then swap, but this changed as we quickly realised that the teams with multiple entries were pitting simultaneously and working together as a unit. This was why the pace was so high, and we felt that the only way to adapt was to find a fast group and stay with it for as long as possible or until the fastest teams pitted.
Unbelievably after a couple ofhours there were already a couple of teams who had taken a lap and by the time I got on as 4[sup]th[/sup] rider they were in the process of taking another. The main peloton was a minute up the road and still riding hard which meant I spent a lot of the stint on my own. The winning team had jumped off the front and was coming round for another lap. I jumped with him and spent 2.5 laps working with him. I’ve actually already found a youtube clip (see at about 0:29) of me pulling him down the pit straight at 48km/h – the leader is second in line and was identified by a lead motorbike. I’m actually hoping there is another clip somewhere of me bridging the gap back up to the front group in my last stint at 55km/h as somebody had lost a wheel and split the field...
Coming out of the pits riders are confronted with the climb up to the Dunlop Chicane (and the bridge) which was long enough for most people to have to get out of the saddle or drop into the little ring. It widened at the top where there were a lot of spectators cheering, and even a DJ during the night. After that the road dropped suddenly downhill into La Chapelle which is a fast sweeping right hander, then up onto a bit of a flat section before doubling back at Le Musée into a long downhill stretch where people could grab a drink. This went into the double apex Garage Vert before another long false flat drag. Probably the hardest part of the circuit in terms of cornering in a group came at the Chemin aux Boeufs S-bend which could be hit at full speed on the front, but behind people often panicked and took unusual lines resulting in the break-up of the peloton. There were another couple of corners before the final double apex corner back onto the pit straight. I’m sure there are youtube clips which can describe it better than me!
My 2[sup]nd[/sup] stint at about 22:00 was uneventful aside from being the first session in the dark, albeit under the arc lights of the circuit which had the ability to create eerie shadows making riders think they were being followed when in fact they were not. Everybody was feeling good at this point and beginning to think about sleep to make up for what would be lost in the coming hours. Our riders kept plugging away and having missed the front group at the beginning was beginning to climb up the leader board from about 150[sup]th[/sup] to 50[sup]th[/sup].
Before we left I had looked at the weather forecast and seen an enormous band of rain which was supposed to cross northern France at about midnight on Sunday. My team mates rejected this BBC forecast in favour of various others which predicted a clear night! The rain did indeed arrive at about 23:00 with 2 laps to go in my 2[sup]nd[/sup] stint. Approaching the hill I jumped off the front and managed to put 2 minutes into the pack I was riding with before pitting which allowed our next rider to get out just in front of the group I had abandoned to save him chasing hard from the beginning as the rain increased.
My 3[sup]rd[/sup] stint was the most memorable thanks to the impressive display of lightning around the northern part of the circuit. The rain was coming down slightly harder and everybody slowed down to take the corners safely. Even the fastest riders had dropped down to about 38km/h. I came in, had some food, and then settled down in my sleeping bag for a couple of hours of sleep – this was quite difficult with the rain, chit-chat of other teams, bright lights and commentator all doing their best to disrupt a well earned rest!
With the sun out and a new day, the speed picked up again but larger groups were forming as tired riders weren’t as willing to do any work. It was becoming more noticeable on the hill where some riders seemed to be going backwards having to climb it every 4km. By this point we were up to 30[sup]th[/sup] overall and had a good chance of making the top 25 if we got into the right groups. It was quite difficult to remember the numbers of other teams who we had to find and pass to gain a place. Helpfully there was a monitor in every garage which displayed live lap data so we knew exactly how far up the road the next rider was, or at times in the same group! We could also log onto a wifi connection to get lap breakdowns to predict what might happen.
At the end of my 4[sup]th[/sup]stint I was beginning to feel the onset of cramp in my hamstrings as I often found myself on the front towing large groups of people along – you would do a turn and then flick an elbow to make the next guy through, occasionally moving across the track but many seemed content to wheelsuck which at times resulted in some yelling in French at riders too tired to care.
I loaded up with food and electrolyte replacement drink in the 3.5 hours before my final stint and also changed my drinking strategy to every lap with a bottle of electrolyte drink and a bottle of carb drink. I feel it really worked, particularly with the added complication of heat again, and I felt good for the final 12 laps. The leaders had slowed a bit and I was able to jump on the back within a lap and sit there, coming to the front for the hill in order to maintain the pace.
Our final rider actually volunteered to do the last 45 minutes having just passed the timing chip to me. I handed it back to him and he got back into a fast group for the final few laps and a sprint finish in front of a packed grandstand.
It was a fairly chilled atmosphere afterwards; the presentations for the winners of each category were performed on the track and then people began packing up. Tiredness was noticeable, but I think certainly in our team we were very pleased with the result especially as a lot of the teams above had money behind them and/or more riders per team – it turns out the winning team has a budget of 500,000€ - pocket money really!
I’d definitely go back again, but perhaps with a more organised setup – we now know what is required to keep with the top teams for the whole 24 hours and finish a lot of places higher up.
There were many periods where this felt just like riding a circuit race in the UK, except with an enormous peloton and some high quality riders. The results haven’t actually been confirmed yet due to a little glitch during the storms, but at the last check we were 32[sup]nd[/sup] overall and 14[sup]th[/sup] in the Prestige Homme category. My average speed including the dreadfully slow 20km/h pit lane sections was 37.73km/h over 234km (56 laps).
I’ll post up more data, pictures and video when I find them.
P.S. It's probably best not to quote in any replies given the length!
The event is now in its third year and is becoming an important fixture on the French racing calendar with teams coming from all over the country. It is held on the 4.185km Circuit Bugatti which is the permanent part of the longer Circuit de la Sarthe track (13.629km) used for the Le Mans 24 hour car race.
As a pretext, my team comprising four people with links to the University of Birmingham Cycling Club (2 alumni and 2 PhD students), entered the Ride24 event at Goodwood in June. Unfortunately I was unable to ride that because I was scheduled to have my wisdom teeth removed the day before. It was a wise move as we didn’t know what state I would be in, although I did manage to get there to support and also did a 21km run across the South Downs with another of our team helpers on the Sunday morning! The team won by 7 laps and learnt a lot in terms of strategy for this type of endurance riding.
This year the Le Mans event had approximately 380 teams which was a combination of solos, pairs, 4, 6, or 8 riders. Looking down the start list the majority of the teams were French, and some of the same names cropped up multiple times. In fact there were two names who had 15 teams of 4, 6 and 8 riders between them! Needless to say they got the top two places overall. I actually recognised one of these teams – Btwin Racing Espoirs – as a squad which has had an article in Cycling Plus before so I had a feeling they were rather good before we had even started. This was confirmed when we got to the pit area to find team cars, trucks and mechanics!
We set off on Friday morning from Dover (the cheapest but not the most direct route) and arrived at Le Mans about 6 hours after landing at Calais. The campsite was already heaving with tents, gazebos, campers and RVs. I later discovered a couple of buses and articulated trucks for the bigger teams! Quite a few clubs had entered a team or two and made a weekend of it – the fast riders doing their stuff on track and the families going out on rides in the Sarthe countryside.
As we got there a lot of people seemed to be out in full kit riding around so we thought we would go for a little spin. It was getting dark by the time we had sorted ourselves out but we managed to get 16km in – I was familiar with the larger Le Mans circuit from playing Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2 and there was no way I was going to spend a weekend with Le Mans without going round the entire track so I led the others towards the public part of the circuit for a ride. The smoothness of the circuit got to us and our 'spin' turned into blasting it along the Mulsanne straight!
Later that night we were kept awake by the sound of high performance cars and motorbikes screaming up and down the straight roads within the public part of the circuit.
Saturday morning was time for registration and preparation of bikes and kit. We took everything we needed across to the pit garage which we were sharing with 3 other teams. There was a lot of stuff including spare wheels, kit, food, and sleeping bags, and we were fairly restrained in the area we used in spite of our propensity to spread out as much as possible!
The first riders were assembled at 14:45 along the length of the pit straight while the national anthems of all riders taking part were played. It must have been baking standing out in the sun for 15 minutes before the flag dropped for the traditional Le Mans style start. It was carnage as 380 riders ran across the track to a team mate waiting with a bike, clipped in and rode as hard as possible to get up to the front. The pace from the off was incredibly high and at one point the average speed was something like 46km/h. This seemed to be sustained for the first 4 hours as teams put new riders on. Our initial strategy was to do an hour and then swap, but this changed as we quickly realised that the teams with multiple entries were pitting simultaneously and working together as a unit. This was why the pace was so high, and we felt that the only way to adapt was to find a fast group and stay with it for as long as possible or until the fastest teams pitted.
Unbelievably after a couple ofhours there were already a couple of teams who had taken a lap and by the time I got on as 4[sup]th[/sup] rider they were in the process of taking another. The main peloton was a minute up the road and still riding hard which meant I spent a lot of the stint on my own. The winning team had jumped off the front and was coming round for another lap. I jumped with him and spent 2.5 laps working with him. I’ve actually already found a youtube clip (see at about 0:29) of me pulling him down the pit straight at 48km/h – the leader is second in line and was identified by a lead motorbike. I’m actually hoping there is another clip somewhere of me bridging the gap back up to the front group in my last stint at 55km/h as somebody had lost a wheel and split the field...
Coming out of the pits riders are confronted with the climb up to the Dunlop Chicane (and the bridge) which was long enough for most people to have to get out of the saddle or drop into the little ring. It widened at the top where there were a lot of spectators cheering, and even a DJ during the night. After that the road dropped suddenly downhill into La Chapelle which is a fast sweeping right hander, then up onto a bit of a flat section before doubling back at Le Musée into a long downhill stretch where people could grab a drink. This went into the double apex Garage Vert before another long false flat drag. Probably the hardest part of the circuit in terms of cornering in a group came at the Chemin aux Boeufs S-bend which could be hit at full speed on the front, but behind people often panicked and took unusual lines resulting in the break-up of the peloton. There were another couple of corners before the final double apex corner back onto the pit straight. I’m sure there are youtube clips which can describe it better than me!
My 2[sup]nd[/sup] stint at about 22:00 was uneventful aside from being the first session in the dark, albeit under the arc lights of the circuit which had the ability to create eerie shadows making riders think they were being followed when in fact they were not. Everybody was feeling good at this point and beginning to think about sleep to make up for what would be lost in the coming hours. Our riders kept plugging away and having missed the front group at the beginning was beginning to climb up the leader board from about 150[sup]th[/sup] to 50[sup]th[/sup].
Before we left I had looked at the weather forecast and seen an enormous band of rain which was supposed to cross northern France at about midnight on Sunday. My team mates rejected this BBC forecast in favour of various others which predicted a clear night! The rain did indeed arrive at about 23:00 with 2 laps to go in my 2[sup]nd[/sup] stint. Approaching the hill I jumped off the front and managed to put 2 minutes into the pack I was riding with before pitting which allowed our next rider to get out just in front of the group I had abandoned to save him chasing hard from the beginning as the rain increased.
My 3[sup]rd[/sup] stint was the most memorable thanks to the impressive display of lightning around the northern part of the circuit. The rain was coming down slightly harder and everybody slowed down to take the corners safely. Even the fastest riders had dropped down to about 38km/h. I came in, had some food, and then settled down in my sleeping bag for a couple of hours of sleep – this was quite difficult with the rain, chit-chat of other teams, bright lights and commentator all doing their best to disrupt a well earned rest!
With the sun out and a new day, the speed picked up again but larger groups were forming as tired riders weren’t as willing to do any work. It was becoming more noticeable on the hill where some riders seemed to be going backwards having to climb it every 4km. By this point we were up to 30[sup]th[/sup] overall and had a good chance of making the top 25 if we got into the right groups. It was quite difficult to remember the numbers of other teams who we had to find and pass to gain a place. Helpfully there was a monitor in every garage which displayed live lap data so we knew exactly how far up the road the next rider was, or at times in the same group! We could also log onto a wifi connection to get lap breakdowns to predict what might happen.
At the end of my 4[sup]th[/sup]stint I was beginning to feel the onset of cramp in my hamstrings as I often found myself on the front towing large groups of people along – you would do a turn and then flick an elbow to make the next guy through, occasionally moving across the track but many seemed content to wheelsuck which at times resulted in some yelling in French at riders too tired to care.
I loaded up with food and electrolyte replacement drink in the 3.5 hours before my final stint and also changed my drinking strategy to every lap with a bottle of electrolyte drink and a bottle of carb drink. I feel it really worked, particularly with the added complication of heat again, and I felt good for the final 12 laps. The leaders had slowed a bit and I was able to jump on the back within a lap and sit there, coming to the front for the hill in order to maintain the pace.
Our final rider actually volunteered to do the last 45 minutes having just passed the timing chip to me. I handed it back to him and he got back into a fast group for the final few laps and a sprint finish in front of a packed grandstand.
It was a fairly chilled atmosphere afterwards; the presentations for the winners of each category were performed on the track and then people began packing up. Tiredness was noticeable, but I think certainly in our team we were very pleased with the result especially as a lot of the teams above had money behind them and/or more riders per team – it turns out the winning team has a budget of 500,000€ - pocket money really!
I’d definitely go back again, but perhaps with a more organised setup – we now know what is required to keep with the top teams for the whole 24 hours and finish a lot of places higher up.
There were many periods where this felt just like riding a circuit race in the UK, except with an enormous peloton and some high quality riders. The results haven’t actually been confirmed yet due to a little glitch during the storms, but at the last check we were 32[sup]nd[/sup] overall and 14[sup]th[/sup] in the Prestige Homme category. My average speed including the dreadfully slow 20km/h pit lane sections was 37.73km/h over 234km (56 laps).
I’ll post up more data, pictures and video when I find them.
P.S. It's probably best not to quote in any replies given the length!
