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MTB and Cycling in Oisans |
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Discover all the events for the 2008 season!
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MTB and Cycling in Oisans |
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Discover all the events for the 2008 season!
L’Oisans has the most beautiful and most popular mountain passes, but they are also the hardest ones in the history of cycling. According to the locals of Oisans, "even chicken need to wear crampons!" So, in order to make sure that each steep ride up a mountain pass does not become like "the way of the cross", good training and preparation are vital!
First of all, you should make sure that your bike is equipped with a chain-wheel with 39 teeth and a minimum of 25 or 26 for the rear one. Practise on steep hills, pedalling regularly, remaining seated, with your hands on top of the handlebars. Make sure that you modify your saddle height in order to find a more economical and comfortable climbing style.
Practise your mountain climbs on flat roads with a series of five exercises of several minutes each, with times of active recovery (relaxed pedalling) in between, maintaining a pedalling frequency of 100 turns/min. When beginning to climb each mountain, start off slowly in order to save your energy for the end. Maintaining a regular rhythm helps to avoid major variations in heart frequency.
Be careful: as your body will be overheated when you arrive at the top, you will be very cold when you go down! However, if your body is well hydrated, potential injuries of your muscles and tendons will be reduced by about 20%. An athlete may lose up to 2 litres of sweat per hour of exercise. Your body sweats in order to evacuate the heat. Hence, it is necessary to make sure that you make up for this by drinking at regular intervals, and you should drink before you even begin to feel thirsty. And remember that this loss impacts on your performance and leads to increased heart frequency.
You can cycle round l’Oisans at any time of year! In summer, of course, you will have endless opportunities of cycling through l’Oisans, taking in the fresh mountain air, away from the heat of the summer, while spring and autumn, both delightful and intimate seasons, will have many a surprise in store for you. Autumn awaits you on deserted roads, with a little powdery snow on the neighbouring mountain peaks, while its clean fresh air will fill you up with fresh energy! In winter the mystical passes of Glandon, La Croix de Fer and Galibier are closed, though they sometimes teem with cyclists on detour from a road that has been warmed up by the beautiful sun of Oisans.
