u/Fit_Champion_1544

So last year I attempted to ride the route of the Marmotte, a 180km and 5250 m altitude (112 mile, 17.200 ft) route with 4 cols in the French Alpes. I managed to climb 3 out of 4 cols but was still really proud!

full story: https://www.reddit.com/r/ladycyclists/comments/1ls97hq/yesterday_i_attempted_to_ride_the_marmotte_route/

TLDR: ex couchpotato attempts big cycling goal as a way to reclaim her body after years of infertility and miscarriages

so this year I wanted to try again. I trained more, got a bike that would suit me better for long distances (basically slapped a set of road wheels on my gravelbike) and finally found a perfect saddle thanks to a very patient bike fitter.

And yesterday was the day! Timing could’ve been better since yesterday was the hottest day in France ever, but I decided to just go very slow and hope for some rain! Started at Croix de Fer (Glandon was closed), absolutely stunning, especially in the early morning with the rising sun. Just like last year, Télégraph was hellishly hot and busy…on the way to the Galibier it started pouring, with thunder in the distance, so that was a bit more excitement than we bargained for 😉 thankfully the rain subsided a bit right before the summit, but I was hopelessly underdressed and cold at that point, my boyfriend was following me by car so we decided I would try to descend carefully and see how bad it was. I got cold while descending but was still safe so we could continue to the last stop, Alpe d’Huez! This is normally not my favorite ascend because of the sunexposure and traffic, but it was nice and quiet because of the rain and the fact it was getting pretty late. This being the final climb after more than 10 hours of cycling, it was both a physical and a mental challenge…even though I was running on fumes, I still managed to keep going till the end!!

so like I said last year, if this couchpotato can climb mountains, so might you! You never know what you are capable of ❤️