Cent col day 10: Fun on a train

So this is it, the final day, 7 cols to go. I’m on 95 so far so I need 5 of them.

Today I miss the departure of the laggards group and spend the morning on my own (which I quite enjoy, other than the odd fug moment like yesterday when there is no one around to cheer you up). We had already decided en-masse to shorten the day from 7 cols to 6, we rode in our own little groups up to lunch. I caught and cruised past Scott and Kelvin on the second climb of the day. A rare rare occurrence followed - the only one of the trip for me - I felt so strong that I kicked on and went on to catch and pass one of the faster groups (who had passed me earlier in the day on the first climb). It was a funny moment which brought a smile to everyones face.

At lunch we all regrouped and set off en-masse for the last 50km, led out by Phil. 19 experienced riders all in one paceline smashing it for 50km at speeds of 45 to 50km / hr with the big guys on the front pulling us along and us weaker guys at the back flying along barely working – the most fun I’ve had on my bike in a long time.

The whole group kindly stopped at my 100^th col (most of them had gone through 100 earlier in the day).

and then we all stopped at the last one for an icecream, arriving into the finish line at 4.30pm for some obligatory beers, not forgetting the obligatory sprint to the finish line won by Jenny and Kelvin.

So that’s it, we’ve finished. Of the 19 riders 15 made it to 100 cols with each of Jenny, Kelvin and Scott narrowly missing out and poor Colin not even making it to the 1^st one. Of the 106 cols on offer I managed 101, of those I missed:

Port de Bales on day 2, 40 degree heat during the day had just demolished me.

Also on day 2 (I think, or maybe it was later in the week) the whole group had to miss one as the road was closed

Day 3 I missed Hautacam – I felt strong and wanted to do it but it was too late in the day to go up – I would have missed dinner and still needed to wash kit and prep for the next day. On that topic – a typical day – up at 6am in the dark, breakfast at 6.30am, set off at first light 7.15am, ride *hard* through the day finishing usually around 7pm ish. Quick shower, dinner at 8pm, prep kit for next day, in bed by 10pm, repeat – it really was just totally relentless day after day.

Day 6 we all missed Tourmalet but bagged an alternate Col on the diversion. I (along with most others) also elected not to do Pla d’Adet at the end of the day as it was already very late.

Day 10 we all missed Col De Roque-Jalere because, frankly, we couldn’t be bothered – the 15 who could get over 100 of us were already over 100 without doing it.

King of the Mountain was tightly contested between Mike and Tim (Jennys husband). Mike won it. So what’s the difference between Mike and I – well, when he comes past me up a climb he’s going at least twice my speed if not more. How comes he can do it – well, he’s not had a single fast food meal in 19 years. Not had a beer in 15 years. He has been on his bike training every single day (inc Xmas day, etc) for the last 3.5 years (yes, including the day after we all finished). He has a training diary going back 25 years – it has an entry in it every single day (i.e. he has done some form of exercise every day for 25 years) – he’s an astonishing athlete. Other riders were national level, others had taken 50 days holiday already this year to go on multiple training camps etc, he demolished the lot of them. Me, personally, I just felt totally humbled to ride alongside him (very briefly…) This though is my favourite shot of him.

My highlightsof the trip – holding off Jenny on the Pailheres; the lunches – just awesome; the 50km / hr train down into the finish on day 10; the stunning routes and scenery; the other riders and their nice comments as they cruised past me up the hills.

Lowlights – the relentless relentless pressure to always be on the bike and working *hard*; the fug on day 9; the 40 degree heat on day 2; the hypothermia on day 6, feeling my body shutting down and going into survival mode as we descended the mountain – scary stuff; Colin crashing after 7km; seeing Kelvin in the sag wagon on day 5, knowing that it meant he’d miss his 100 cols; the continual fatigue with body and mind just aching all over for 10 days solid.

On all my previous trips I come back saying “it was brilliant, if you are a cyclist you’ll love it, you must do it”. This one however I won’t be, it was really really horrible, so hard, so relentless, so fatigued all the time. But yes, it was brilliant as well. Almost everyone each year at the end of day ten n the challenge says “I’ll never be back” but most do come back. I am pretty confident that I won’t be one of them, it was just too brutally hard. I am however hugely thrilled to have achieved in ten days what most cyclists take a lifetime to achieve and wouldn’t have missed it for all the coconuts in the Caribbean.

Brief stats for day 10: Distance: 165km, Height gained: 3,000m, Cols claimed: 6; Max speed 60km / hr.

Cent col day 9: the only way is down

A very different day today, a day of long long gradual climbs and long long descents. Climbing initially along a high plateau with mist filling the valley for around 30km at around 3%, over into Spain. On paper climbing continually for 30km seems like somewhat of a drag but after the 10 to 12% climbs of last week spinning the legs freely at 3% was a godsend.

The first col of the day, Colada Des Toses came at 40km into the ride which was then followed by a 40km descent at 3%, zipping along at 40km / hr barely turning the pedals for an hour.

The process was repeated once more with another 40km climb also at circa 3% and a further 50km descent also at 3%. A long long day distance wise at 234km but a “mere” 2,800m of climb. Highlight of the day was sitting at lunch at the top of the second climb when flashing past my eyes goes Kelvin and Jenny going like bats out of hell. They had said that a km out from the end that they would race to the line, except no-one could figure out where the 1km marker was – Scott took the initiative and kicked on only to blow up – Kelvin and Jenny were neck and neck all the way to the line, Kelvin winning by a wheel.

Just about everyone is showing some sign of fatigue now, a good assortment of coughs, colds, aches and pains. My ailment was an eye infection which in turn seemed to cause a migraine, I had my first (and last) dark dark patch for around an hour – stopping every few minutes to take a caffeine gel or paracetemal, {spelling}, anything to try and get out of my fug. Phil cruised by with the happy bus (Scott, Kelvin & Jenny who have bonded into a fund trio spending their time laughing and swapping stories all the way up the climbs) and when I couldn’t even muster the energy to jump onto their little train I knew I was struggling. Phil knew as well, sending the doctor back to check on me. It seemed to sort itself all out after an hour or so and I rode well for the rest of the day.

Brief stats: Distance: 234km; Height gained: 3,000m; Cols claimed: 9

Max speed no idea, Garmin says 155km / hr but that would be a new landspeed record..

Cent col day 8: What no rain?

Sprits very high today, the end is in sight and common consensus is that the real hard work is behind us. Weather forecast for today was good and so it turns out to be – blue skies once more. I have finally also found my climbing legs – after 7 days of struggling up mountains I can finally now get up them without too much mental or physical torture, now getting to the top of most of them without stopping on the way up (I never stopped for long previously, just for 30 seconds or so to release the lactic and have a sip of drink once every 30 minutes or so).

A stunningly pretty day, bouncing along the side of a valley, mountains with their first dusting of snow in the background (validating our decision not to go up Tourmalet, it did indeed snow).

Had an epic battle of the tailenders with Jenny – she’s a good climber and a great athlete (having done Ultraman which is a double ironman – so that’s an 10km ocean swim, 420km bike then a double marathon to finish, awesome stuff). I saw her closing in on me a few km from the top of the big climb of the day, Port de Pailheres, a 19km climb with the top 10km averaging 9%. There was no way on gods earth I was going to be beaten to the top and I had a lot of fun busting my guts ensuring it was the case. All good fun.

Brief stats: Distance: 185km; Height gained: 4,800; Cols claimed: 10; Max speed 67km / hr

Cent Col day seven: A short but tough sawtooth

Another cold start to the day, out of the door and straight up the Col D’Azet. Today is pretty straightforward on paper – climb mountain, go straight down other side, turn corner, repeat 6 times. A mere 167km in total but packing in 4,500m of climb. Up the second climb, the Peyresourde and it’s raining again, everyone cold and wet once more. Today I am riding in full winter kit, including my lovely toasty thermal winter jersey and hat – a lot of people are once again struggling at the foot of the Peyresourde descent and are packed off to a café to warm up but I’m just peachy and plod along. Great to see the whole team on their bikes today - everyone finished the whole day which was fab.

Kelvin "Carrots" here is my personal hero of the trip – he’s raised £35k in sponsorship from friends and businesses all over the Isle of Wight, he’s suffered in more ways than I thought was possible and he’s an inspiration to us all – great job mate and I know you will be back to finish off your unfinished business.

5^th climb of the day was Portet d’Aspet which I’ve climbed before (and which we climbed the other side of last week). From this side however it’s “a bit of a bitch”. The statistics are deceiving – 5km at 9% but hidden in that are multiple ramps up to 17% - trust me after 1,400km in your legs and having climbed 3 everests you don’t want to be seeing this sign.

Also on this climb the beautiful memorial to Fabio Casatelli who was tragically killed whilst descending this hill on the Tour in 1995. Olympic gold medallist and awesome cyclist.

Brief stats: Distance: 167km; Climb: 4,930m (my biggest ever day in the saddle); Cols claimed: 7; Max speed : 66km / h

Garmin track hopefully follows.

Cent Col day six: Some cold giants

After a fab and well earned rest day everyone is looking and feeling much happier, batteries and engines having been given an brief opportunity to recharge.

Only a mere 6 cols today but that includes two of the giants of the Pyrenees, the Aubisque and the Tourmalet, both very famous mountains. Out of the door and alas into rain. It starts off biblically wet then thankfully eases off to merely torrential before easing off once again to heavy rain. Up the valley we gradually climb for 40km and then onto the Aubisque for a 15km climb averaging 8%, a long hard slog up the mountain and pretty soon into the cloud base.

When we left Oloron our altitude was 200m and the weather was “wet and miserable”. Once we got up above 1500m however it gets pretty severe and at the top of the Aubisque at 1700m it is immediately obvious that we have some potentially serious issues with the temperature down to just above freezing and the rain still falling. Being cold when you are cycling is fine (so long as your core is warm). Being wet is also fine (again, so long as your core is dry). Being both cold and wet and having to do a 40km descent with the added windchill factor and your body not doing any work to keep warm and you very quickly are talking hypothermia, not really what you want when picking your way down the side of the mountain on a bike.

It does however show you what the elements can throw at you – a few days ago it was 40 degrees, now it’s just above freezing. Phil immediately goes into safety mode, depositing Scott, Jenny and Kelvin into the sag wagon in order to bunch the riders up a bit and abandoning plans to go up the Tourmalet. Tourmalet is a further 400m higher in altitude and there was a significant risk of snow – add that into our already bad mix and the decision to scrap it was easy. Three times now I’ve been here with the Tourmalet on my route, only once have I done the climb. That’s life in the mountains.

Lunch was a real life saver. We have a mobile lunch wagon provided by Claude the Butler http://www.claudthebutler.co.uk/about-us/ – it’s awesome – the best tasting freshest food you could imagine – today they served up a lovely spicy soup with lentils whilst the doctor did her best to warm up the riders who were suffering the most. Everyone was shivering, some almost uncontrollably.

This is lunch (on a much nicer day...) with the Butlers van in the background.

After lunch thankfully not only does the rain stops but the sun comes out again (but we could still see up above us at altitude it was still pretty nasty) and a couple of hours later we’re all happy once again, tabbing on a large detour around the mountain picking up a small bonus col (and getting a bit lost) en route. Most people also missed the last climb of the day, Pla d’Adet as it was very late in the day but a few real heroes went up it.

My Garmin was also suffering from the harsh elements today, its battery life severely shortened by the cold so no track as I turned it off but from comparing notes we did somewhere in the region of 225km with a climb of circa 3,800m. Cols claimed: 5

Cent col day 5: col du buggery

The last day before our rest day and a few people are starting to struggle. Colin (day one crash) got back on his bike yesterday which thrilled everyone but alas he only lasted the morning before jumping in the sag wagon with a migraine and still very sore wrist. He's now gone home, he'll be back next year. Today Jenny made it till lunchtime before conceding defeat for the day, Kelvin had had a worstening knee all day before being told to stop by Phil at 4pm - Kelvin has been one of the superstars of the trip but he could have really injured himself badly (overcompensating etc) if he had kept going. We were all rooting for him and it broke my heart when he came past me in the Doctors car. Scott was also struggling with general fatigue and was stopped at 6pm.

On the subject of support it really has been fantastic. Phil rides the whole course and generally keeps an eye on the tail of the group or with anyone he has particular concerns about - he's very good at differentiating between someone like me who isn't all that fast but will (given enough hours in the day) get to the end without need for support and some other people who may be ahead of me but are struggling (either mentally or physically) and need support. Having a doctor on the course at all times may sound excessive but we are in such such remote areas that it could make the difference - Colins crash happened in the middle of a populated area but sometimes we go for hours without seeing a house or person - the Doctor also acts as the "sweeper" ensuring that everyone is accounted for - a sensible measure.

Anyway, back to the cycling. Big big day ahead, 18 cols with 4,700m of climb - everyone very apprehensive leaving today because the 30km descent I just talked about at the end of day 4 - yup, we were going back up it by a slightly different route - a mammoth 1,400m (almost a mile) vertical climb up to Col de Pierre St Martin. After missing a col on day two (knackered by the heat) and another on day three (too damn slow to finish before dinner time) I was determined to finish today but I knew with the amount of climbing it would be a little touch and go. The doctor told me at lunchtime to stop "breathing my bread" which I think meant to slow down and eat it rather than trying to snort it...

Lovely picture taken by the Dr of Dave and I at the top of Port Larrau.
















Into Spain for a few hours and back out again onto the Col Du Bagaurgui - or, as it has been christened by many riders - the Col Du Buggery. It was, frankly, really nasty bitch of a climb, it just got steeper and steeper and steeper. And steeper. And a bit more. And one last little bit. Trust me, after 900km and 2 vertical everests in your legs the very very last thing you want to see is this - next km at 13%. 13% sounds like a small number - trust me, it's not, it's really horrible.




















One last col of the day, Col du Burinolazte, a very rural climb up into the mist. Another real tough climb, not helped by being in thick thick cloud - at least if you can see the road ahead you can mentally prepare yourself for a real tough bit but when you can only see 20 metres it's pretty annoying to suddenly find yourself going from a 5% cruise to a nasty 15% ramp without warning (oddly enough everything below about 5% now feels flat - and anything flat feels downhill, it's a really strange sensation). Descending down the same is also pretty "interesting" - full brakes all the way down (which you have to be careful about otherwise you overheat the wheels and can explode the tyres which is not want you want happening at 50km / hr aproaching a hairpin in a mountain...), picking your way down very slowly.

So then at 160km the work was done, just a 40km cruise home, or so we thought. Except that it was now getting dark and Dave didn't have a front light and my back light stopped working earlier in the day - we were told in no uncertain terms that we were not going to be allowed to continue if it got dark (which I agree with) and if the sag wagon caught us we would be in it. I have never been in the sag wagon in my life and I sure as hell wasn't going in it today either. Both Dave and I "rode like we've never ridden before" - it was an odd sensation to be looking over my shoulder not at another rider wondering if I can hold them off but to see if there was a set of headlights on a van bearing down on me - we both made it back (just...) and won the daily "courageous rider" award for our efforts. Rest day tomorrow, well earned...

Summary - 200km, a mammoth 5,000m of ascent over 18 cols.

Full details:

http://

Cent col day 4: million mile views / there were tears

Out of the door and immediately we start climbing, a 1000m vertical ascent up the Col de Spandelles. A few of the faster group joined us for the first few km including Phil the organiser and rode the beginning with us, it was lovely to have a good pace being tapped out and people to chat to to pass the time up the climb. The faster group eventually drifted off the front leaving the laggards to do the rest on our own, we stayed together most of the rest of the way up just chatting about rubbish.


Onto the Col de Marie Blanque, 11km climb at 8% average - over the top and one of my favourite ever descents, I love descending and even blatted past some of the fast group on the way down - hitting a new personal best high speed of 90km / hr (55mph). 55mph may not seem very fast in a car but on a piece of metal that weighs 7kg and tyres a couple of cm wide it's an amazing experience, I spent a good couple of minutes with goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes on the way down. Interesting the stupid garmin computer shortly updated the max speed to an unlikely 200km / hr...


Onto the Col Du Soudet after lunch, a long long long climb, 23km in total with the middle 9km at a leg busting average of 9km. This was a real struggle for me - having been climbing already for 9km at a pretty tough grade it then kicks up to "eye bulging" grade for a further 9km, then back to "this hurts" grade for the last 5km. Many people have commented that this is one of the toughest climbs out there and I wholly agree with them. One saving grace was that whilst it was *hot* at the start the clouds came in a little on the way up and cooled things down a little.


Had some random french tourist snap my picture at the top.




























The views and scenery from the top were really astonishing. I hadn't seen a car for several hours, you are the best part of a mile in the sky, all you can hear were cowbells and you could see for a million miles, just breathtaking. This is why it's all worth it, it's just the mutts nuts.




























Finished the day off with a 30km descent into a very rural Auberge, staying 4 to a room in bunk beds in the middle of nowhere - an "interesting" experiance. 15 cols bagged toda, woo hoo.


Summary stats: Distance 178km, climb 4,400m, max speed 90km (or 200, apparently).



Full details here:


http://

Cent col day 3: Another col missed

Dinner last night, everyone looking really smashed by the heat, people falling asleep in their soup. I'm feeling shattered and now we've got one of the hardest days of the tour ahead of us, 200km, 9 cols with a total of 5,200m of climb - that's *immense*, more than I've ever done before.

The weather however is much more to my liking, nice and cool. The laggards group is now 6 strong - myself, Dave, Jenny, Scot, Kelvin & Bob, out of the door at 7.15am, 30 minutes ahead of the fast group and straight onto at 14km climb up Peyersourde, quickly into the cloud base. I made it my personal mission to get up that damn hill before any of the fast group came through and managed it with relative ease, although I was still at that stage the last of the laggards. It seems I take longer to warm up each day, the laggards seem to always drift away ahead of me at the beginning of the day and end up behind me towards the end.

















Down the other side and up the Aspin, a stunningly pretty 12km climb at 6% which I did on the Raid, this time enhanced by a bit of cloud for effect:
















After the Aspin it got "a bit rural", a 3km climb up a mountain logging track, hitting 13% in many places, much of the road unmade. This was, to put it politely "a bit of a bitch" and a tough tough few KM's.

Jenny is still suffering badly, struggling to eat properly which leads to a lack of stamina and "bonking", a real nasty viscous circle. Today she only made it to lunchtime before jumping into the sag wagon. By comparison though I was finally feeling pretty good for the first time in 2.5 days, feeling happy to be on a bike. At one stage I saw Kelvin slowly catching me up a hill and felt a surge of energy, stepping on the peddles and blatting it up the rest of the hill. I didn't mean to do it to drop him, it all just seemed to happen at the same time. He told me later "I saw you there one minute, then you just vanished!".

The final climb of the day was Hautacam which I went up on the Etape. Unlike yesterday when I knew I didn't have it in me to do the final climb today I knew I did have it in me, indeed I felt great - however time was somewhat against me and I knew if I started it then I wouldn't be getting into the hotel until gone dark and gone dinner. Kelvin had managed to miss the final feedstop and was 15 minutes ahead of me, he went up Hautacam and arrived home to a heroes welcome, great job, I chose not to, much to my hindsighted regret.


Saw this sign on a cycle path on the way home, a warning sign for a 3% slope, thought that was quite cute (for the record it was actually 4% for a few metres...).





















Summary stats: Distance 160km, climb 3,800m, max speed cols bagged 8 (out of 9).

Full details herewith:

http://

Cent day two: hot hot hot

An early start to what was billed to be a hot day, rolling out of the hotel at 6.45am in the pitch dark, lights a blazing, a gentle 25km roll down the valley along the same road as I went down on the Raid Pyrenee in 2009, riding alongside Dave who like me was one of the self appointed laggards of this trip.

Along comes the first climb of the day, a 17km climb at 6% up Col De Port, one which I had done before and knew not to be too bad. It's difficult to describe to non cyclists what mountain climbing is like - a good comparison would be to walk over a railway bridge or motorway bridge - the gradient up them is usually around 6 to 8% - except they go on for 100m - the mountain does the same for 17,000m - just relentless endless climbing. By the end your eyes hurts, your brain hurts and your lungs are screaming for you to stop. And you do that several times in a day.

The self appointed fast group showed us little mercy, all cruising on past us before the top of Col De Port, having covered the same 47km in some 45 minutes less than the 2 and a bit hours it took us. How humbling.

Next up the Col de Peguerre, a really really nasty 3km climb at 13%. In cycling terms anything above 10% is "into the red zone" (self obvious). This climb just killed me, smashed me to pieces.

Through to lunch and by now it's hotting up on what should be an easy ish 13km at 5% up Col de Portet. Easy except by now it is around 35 degrees, hitting a max of 40 degrees on one section. Yeah, 40 degrees and there I am suffering like crazy up the side of a mountain praying that every hairpin I go around the next little stretch of road has a little tree on it where I can stop for a few seconds in the relatative shade and cool down. Except you go around the hairpin and nope, no shade ahead - it really was the hardest climb I've ever done, truly brutal heat.

I knew at the start of the day that if it was a hot as had been predicted then I'd be suffering badly by the end of the day. It's OK to suffer badly on a one day ride but on a ten day tour it will take you the next day or two to recover, you just end up blowing yourself up a day or two down the road because of what you did to yourself previously. I had decided before the final food stop that I was going to take the easy option home - it missed out the final col of the day which was a pretty nasty one and I led a little mini train of Jenny and Scott home the flat way. Not brilliant to miss out on one of the mere 106 cols on the trip but you gotta know your limits.

Managed to turn my garmin off for an hour by mistake without noticing so stats are wrong (and the max speed is clearly a glitch). I think proper stats are: Distance 200km, climb 3,200m, cols 9 (out of 10).

http://

Cent Col day one: Poor colin.

So here we are, 9 months of training covering 7,000km including 4 big big weekends in Wales and Yorkshire, 9 months of finishing almost all my Audax rides in the top few riders and it’s apparent within 5 minutes of arriving that I’m way out of my league. There’s one guy who recently came home 7^th in the Etape (amateur stage of the tour de france) out of 5,000 riders. And he’s not the strongest… All the talk is of brake compounds, heart-rate-zone-cum-power-level-cum-anaerobic training etc etc. Phil the organiser must have climbed well over 1,000 cols in the last few years, more no doubt than anyone else in the world, and he's being routinely dropped on the climbs by half a dozen of the guys here - there really are some strong strong guys in this group of 19 riders.

We roll out of Rivesaltes behind Phil, the organiser, he was going to lead us gently to the first feed station at 50km to give everyone a chance to chat together and get to know each other a bit. We are in the season of grape picking and the grape juice sloshes out of the back of the tractor trailers and onto the road, leaving a greasy slimy trail and smash, 7km in and one poor guy, Colin, goes down on a roundabout, smashing his face and wrist, giving himself mild concussion and cracking his handlebars. Poor poor soul, a year of training and he lasts 7km, going down on an innocuous roundabout because of some grape slime. We all feel really horrible for him knowing it could have happened to any of us.

First feed stop over, Phil let’s us go at our own pace and that’s pretty much the last I see of anyone all day – as the day hots up and up and up into the mid 30’s I fade away and away and away. I just can’t ride hard in the heat, it saps me hugely. If it’s going to be like this all week then I’m going to really suffer.

Chipping away at my own pace over the cols, the highest of which is Col de Port De Pailheres, a 13km climb at 8% rising up to 2,001m altitude I suffer in the heat all afternoon long, finally finishing at 7.15pm after 12 hours in the saddle covering 14 cols and a big big 4,500m of climb. Each of these days on this challenge is simply huge, bigger than any tour de france day, as big as largest ever ride in my life – and we’ve got 10 of them back to back. This is going to be “interesting”.

Brief stats: Distance: 204km; Height gained: 4,500m; Cols claimed: 14; Max speed 64km / hr; Max temp: 36 degrees. Details herewith.

http://

Taming the Dragon: Two 200k monsters in Wales

August 13th: Elan 200km, 3,800m of climb

A weekend in Wales, based out of Gladestry which, so I was told, is the home of Hergest Ridge which, so I was told, was made famous by Paul Young who, so I was told, was some sort of singer / songwriter.

Anyway, onto the cycling, this was the final "proper" ride before the Cent Col Challenge, a final reminder to the legs and mind of the challenge ahead. I came over to do this weekend last year as well, the Saturday was so cold wet and miserable and tough that I bailed out of the long Sunday ride and did a shorter one instead - so it was also a bit of unfinished business.

Saturdays ride was 200km from the English / Welsh border all the way to the seaside at Aberystwyth and back again across simply stunning scenery with the only cars (or people) to be seen all day at Aberystwyth. 3,800m is "quite a bit" of climbing, but it was the sort of climbing I love - nice steady gradient, plugging away for an hour or so to get to the top or each climb - and once at the top a fabulous blat down the other side - this was true cycling heaven:
















I have to confess to getting a bit carried away with all the lovely scenery and "cracking on" a bit too much, I was first home my several country miles and the legs paid the price the next day.


Stats: Distance 208km; Climb 3,800m; Time on bike: 9hrs; Average: 22km / hr; Max: 74km / hr (whee...)

Here's my Garmin track (I accidentally had it turned off for a bit, hence why it only says 196km).

http://

August 14th, Tregaron Dragon 200km, 4,900m of climb

And so onto Sunday...

I can honestly say this was by far the hardest ride I have ever done, it was a real sod. I went into it thinking - just like the day before but each hill will be a bit longer, higher etc. Nope, wrong. Each hill was actually much shorter - just instead of there being 10 there were 50. Up and down, up and down all day long. Every hill was also not a steady gradient, varying from 5% to 25% and back again continually all the way up - real energy sapping stuff never being able to settle into a gear or a pace. I knew I was going at a reasonable "steady" pace when the guy who was cycling with a bust ankle (don't ask...) caught me up at the first rest stop.... It was also the first ride I've ever done when we were looking up at the clock checking "are we close to being out of time".

But anyway, on we plodded, some of it was not pretty (and yes, I was in a low gear...)


















But all of it was truly spectacular:


















Stats: Distance 210km; Climb 4,900m; Time on bike: 11hrs; Average: 19km / hr (plod plod plod...); Max: 74km / hr (whee...)

Garmin:

http://































http://connect.garmin.com/page/activity/activity.faces?activityId=106672101&actionMethod=page%2Factivity%2Factivity.xhtml%3AuserSwitcher.switchSystem&cid=3115229#.Tkos3OvNHh0.email

Another really daft thing on a bike: Please sponsor me

All,

As most of you know I am prone to doing daft things on bikes and after a rest last year I am back again this year dafter than ever – the Cent Col Challenge, starting on September 12^th.

If you want to skip the boring stuff then in summary:

a) It’s stupidly hard

b) I will cry, probably several times and

c) This year I am raising money for Help for Heroes. http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/

Please dig deep – the deeper you dig the harder I will climb...

Sponsor me here: http://www.justgiving.com/centcol

I will try my best to find a little time each day to update my blog http://centcol2011.blogspot.com/ (else I will do it once I am back home). On there already are a couple of write-ups from a couple of the harder training rides during the year.

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And now the boring stuff:

The challenge, to put it simply, is to climb 100 mountain passes (cols) in 10 days. In those 10 days we cover 2,000km in distance and 43,000 metres of ascent.

Putting the challenge into non-cycling terms, in 10 days you cycle from London to any of Macadonia, Iceland, Morocco or Russia whilst at the same time going from sea level to the tip of everest and back down again. And up and down. And again. And again. And one more for luck, a total climb of 43,000 meters or 26.7 miles – a vertical marathon. That will be “interesting”.

As a comparison to what I have done in the past:

In 2008 I did the “Etape”, the amateur stage of the tour de france. It was 170km long, went up 4 cols and climbed vertically in the region of 2,500m. I cried twice and couldn’t walk for 2 days afterwards. My bike stayed resolutely in it’s box unpacked for 2 weeks afterwards. My cycling shoes went in the bin. The Cent Col Challenge does an Etape a day (plus a bit more) every day for 10 days back to back.

In 2009 I did the “Raid Pyrenean”, a traverse of the Pyrenean mountain range – 740km ride with 11,000m of climb in 5 days. This was *hard*, both mentally and physically, my body was literally eating itself at the end as it’s impossible to replace the calories consumed. The Cent Col Challange by contrast is 10 days not 5 but in those 10 days you do triple the distance and 4 times the climb of the Raid Pyrenean.

The event is described in more detail here http://centcolschallenge.com/challenge/

As always this is not a “charity holiday” event – every pound I raise goes to charity not on the cost of the trip. And as always for every pound I raise I will match it with a pound of my own.

In the wilderness - the return of the training diary.

By unpopular demand, a very brief return of my training diary ahead of my challenge later this year. Firstly the challenge itself – I was hoping this year to do my first mountain bike challenge – biking to Everest base camp - but alas there was only one person out of the 6.9 billion on this planet who thought it was a good idea and the trip was cancelled due to lack of interest. Oh well, next year maybe.

So instead I stumbled by accident on the “Cent Col Challenge” – a challenge to ride 100 cols (mountain passes) in 10 days. Known as I am for doing stupid things on a bike, this is quite easily by far the most stupid yet. By way of comparison in 2008 I did the “Etape”, an amateur leg of the tour de france route – it was in the Pyrenees and climbed about 4,000m vertically over a ride of 170km. It was physically and mentally “quite tiring”, I cried twice and couldn’t walk for 3 days afterwards. This challenge is to do 10 Etapes (+ a bit) back to back, all in the Pyrenees – 10 days of 200km a day, averaging 4,300m climb a day, a total climb of 43,000m (26.7 miles) over 10 days – so a vertical marathon… It is in all senses of the word Stratospheric (actually, almost Mesospheric…). I will of course be tapping your pockets for a good cause in the weeks ahead.

http://centcolschallenge.com/challenge/

But anyway, back down to earth, or at least the Yorkshire Dales.

Training this year seems to have gone reasonably well, I’ve been in the UK a lot more which is nice and the weather has been fab, I’ve clocked up around 4,500km so far this year though all on the flat. Like anything in sport zipping around in the east anglian flatlands is one thing, climbing the Tourmalet or one of the other Tour classics is somewhat different – this weekend in Yorkshire was intended to remind the body and mind of the challenge ahead.

Saturday June 4th – The Dales Grimpeur – 210km, 4,800m of climb.

I last did this ride in 2008 as training for the Etape, it was a “bit of a struggle”, finally getting around in 12.5 hours:

http://etape-2008.blogspot.com/2008/06/bit-of-long-day-madonnas-breasts.html

This year, 3 years on, 3 years fitter, 3 years of experience climbing mountains later and I did it in… 14 hours…

The day had started off perfectly, setting off at 6.30am, sun was out, lovely and warm, blue sky and straight out into the wilderness – perfect cycling weather in perfect cycling country. Alas all that was about to change… within a couple of hours the wind picked up and the weather closed in, on the tops of the moors it was proper nasty – One motorcyclist stopped on his way down and told me in his best Yorkshire accent “take care son, it’s pretty bleak on top” and it was - circa 40 to 50 mph headwinds and thick mist (apparently it was a scorching day back home down south) and one on descent in particular I was bought to a dead standstill by one blast, unable to make any progress in my lowest gear even on a reasonably steep down slope.

The only other people out and about were people doing the Oxfam Pennine way challenge – a 100km walk over 30 hours- they were looking pretty bedraggled… (though the picture here of the Ribble Viaduct not quite doing justice to the conditions).

So it was a pretty long and “interesting” day weatherwise. The views from the tops of the moors would have been stunning had you been able to see more than 2 metres or had you been able to look around without getting blown off your bike and I would certainly have been quicker than 12.5 hours had I not spend about 4 hours basically going, well, nowhere, each pedal forward being met by a blast of headwind, I was doing about 8km / hr on the flat, around ¼ of my normal cruising speed.

But, that bruising encounter with the weather aside it was gods own country for cycling, barely a car all day. You know you are in proper wilderness when you find the following on your route:

Sunday June 5th – Etape Du Dale, 170km, 3,700m of climb.

When in Rome, etc...

I stumbled by chance on the Etape Du Dale route on one of the cycling forums, it started just down the road from my Saturday ride and went an almost entirely different route, so it seemed rude not to give it a go. Had I been doing the ride on the official race day I would have been “DFL” by a long long way, my poor body and mind somewhat reluctant to co-operate for the first couple of hours with every brief stop being met by five minutes of uncontrolled shivers as the body said “stop being nasty to me”. The weather wasn’t helping once again, thankfully less windy but now being replaced by torrential rain. It had been forecast to be 18 degrees, it was actually 8 degrees – or, as one local put it in their best Yorkshire accent in a pub “it’s brassic out there…”

The ride went up to the Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in Britain, the one that was famously cut off last winter for a week. When you climb up there it’s easy to see why, there is literally nothing around for a 10km radius – pretty daunting even on a wet and windy June day, downright scary in the middle of winter. They served me the cheapest drink I’ve had in decades – a pint of lime and soda I wanted – 25 pence the price!.

Interesting I just checked the results page from the 2011 Etape du Dale, I took a rather leisurely 12 hours to get round though this did include a full breakfast, elevenses and lunch stop in cafes / pubs. My on bike time was 9.5 hours – the winner did it in 6 hours 19, that’s really truly astonishing, an average of 27km / hr is what many people are happy with on the flat, let alone over some pretty tough hills.

That’s all from me for now, more follows in August following a weekend in the Welsh mountains.