Has anyone here rode the Grand raid Cristalp, have entered this years event, but not sure what to expect really, obviously know it will be a challenging day in the saddle with a bit of pushing thrown in, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

yep did it last year. What distance you doing? The cutoffs for the long one are pretty tight if you are aiming just to get round. Bank on ~7hrs if youre properly going for it, and over 10 f your not. Its alot of fire road, but this doesnt detract from it as your pretty pretty happy just to be making some easy miles on the tracks! THe climbs are looonnng (upto 2 hours) but not too steep. Leave something in the tank for the last carry upto the pass de lona – its hell. And dont forget what looks like a tiny climb on the height profile just after the pass de lona. Its actually quite long and pretty tricky with full body cramp! Its a toughy but a great event. MAybe see yhou there.

expect anything, it might snow, it might be 40degrees.

Last year, there was ice on the ground at the top of the first climb, at Grimentz the cycle computer was nudging 30degrees.

Decents vary from fast tarmac, to black ski runs, woodland singletrack, grass track. Climbs tend to be fireroads or tarmac.

Be aware the altitude effects different people differently, it may not sound very high, 1500m base altitude, but you may notice it and suffer because of it.

The views of the Rhone valley are good.

Bear in mind that the event can be postponed from the Saturday until the Sunday depending on the weather (happened last year). Make sure your travel plans cover this.

Save some energy to laugh at all the xc whippet racer boys on their hardtails on the 1000m+ rocky final descent.

Get plenty of miles in your legs, dare I say train.

This is not the sort of race where you can wing it.

Have done it, and went for it! and it was one of the hardest I've done mainly because of the effort I put in but I did finish well:). Good fun. Will do it again next year but not this.

Its mint, the organisation is the best of any event ive been to, its good to get around 7 hours for the Heremence – Grimentz route (well for me at least)
Dont! take a camelback, just take two bottles that you can throw away or refill at the feed stations. Eat plenty and regular, dont carry anything other than a lightweight shell and take arm warmers.
strap a couple of tubes and pump/levers behind your seatpost.
tape some gels to your stem. and carry energy bars etc in your pockets, treat it as a race and not an day on the bike.
Its very hard as the climbs go on for a long time, the XC racer boys are as fast as any full bounce on the fire roads as there isnt any technical until a short section after the barrage. but thats not hard or slow on a hardtail.
take a fast rolling tyre like a racing ralph, I run quite high pressures about 45psi as its rocky and grip isnt an issue.

Dont! take a camelback, just take two bottles

What if your frame has only room for 1 bottle, or even non
on some frames????

then buy a more sensible bike,

I did it once with a camelbak, all you get is pain and suffering it just makes you sweat more, more strain on your back etc. you end up carrying far more than you need. There is plenty of water available on course, so you should be ok with one large bottle. There is also plenty of food and mechanical help if you break things.

A camelback's pretty useful as padding for carrying the bike on the Pas de Lona

as has already been said, train, train then train some more.
I found hill repeats relevant, given there's a LOT of climbing involved.
don't use a Camelbak.
Don't fanny around in the race – to avoid elimination at one of the checkpoints you need to be fairly quick as they're not generous.

Enjoy it, it's utterly brilliant. I really, really need to get back over there for another go.

there's loads of info and stories from people who've done the race – here's my twaddle..
http://40psi.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/grand-raid-cristalp/

you dont carry the bike on your shoulder that much on pas de lona, just push it, so taking a camelback for that seems a waste.
seriosuly theres loads of food stops, but the best thing you could do is go out two weeks early and ride the course in sections to understand what its like.
nothing in the uk can prepare you for it and you can get some altitude training in at the same time.

fauxbyfour- common tell us all how fast – I can tell youre dying to!

I did the first 110km/3700m of the course the other week with a mate that is training for it. Take a hardtail/racy full sus with semislicks/something v fast rolling. There is about 3km of singletrack in the section I rode (on a patriot, with 2.3 tyres 🙄 ), a fair bit of tarmac, and lots of fireroad. It is certainly a physical challenge, is meant to have a fantastic atmosphere and be a great day out, and the scenery is great. But although the last descent is meant to be a bit more like mtn biking, you won't be doing it for quality of the trails…