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:

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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:


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