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 100th 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 1st 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.
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