Entry Sorted

Well, there's no backing out now - my entry only place has been paid for.

I have managed to find some accommodation as well. We'll be hiring a studio flat on a campsite in Montelimar, just a few kms from the start. I have no idea what it will be like, all I am promised is a bed and a bathroom, but that is fine for us as I hope that we'll spend most of our time cycling, getting sorted for the day or walking about Montelimar. We'll be using the money we save on our entry to take the whole family away to Provence earlier in the year to get a little bit of Ventoux practice in. The whole area looks absolutely beautiful and the excitement is definitely starting to build. I'm beginning the whole process of going to bed, closing my eyes and imagining myself on the start line again. My visualisation extends to actually cycling in the race as well (I never got that far last time - in thought or deed).

What I really need to crack now is the weight - I am just too damn heavy for that mountain!

Always ill?

I feel like I'm getting old. It seems that there is always something wrong with me - for weeks now, I have been waking up with an itchy nose and an irritating dry cough. It felt as though I was about to come down with a cold and so my training has been quite light - only about 4-5 hours a week and a good chunk of that on my rollers. On Monday I went to see the nurse and she told me that she thought it might be an allergy to dust (with possibility of asthma as well!). I'm taking a nasal steroid for a few weeks to see if it has an effect.
The Doctor who referred me about my heart and knew all about my cycling said that in light of it being an allergy, I should be absolutely fine to train. So, I threw caution to the wind and went on a fantastic ride in the peak district on Wednesday - over 3 hours and over 3000ft of climbing through some absolutely beautiful countryside. The weather was a bit crap - very poor visibility on the peaks and drizzly lower down. It was a new route and some of the hills were amazingly steep - my rollers practice came into good use on a 25% section where I completely lost momentum and had to track stand, roared out to the sheep "come ooooooonnnnnn!!!!" and some how managed to turn the pedals and crawl to the top.


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Well, after all that excitement I definitely do have a cold now! I'm dosing up with paracetamol, echinacea, as much colourful fruit and veg as I can eat. I have to get well by next Friday as I'm going back to meet up with Joe Beer and the Cycling Plus guys for our second testing day.

Exmoor Beast

Having eagerly filled my 2008 calendar with lots of juicy looking sportives and then spent the season crossing them off, one by one, I was determined to fit at least one in before the end of the year - The Exmoor Beast.
When I originally booked our accommodation, I thought that it might have been possible to cycle to the start but it was easy to see that this would have been a disasterous move - Exmoor is very lumpy. So, at 6am I took the car off to the start and left Colin with the kids and the attractions of Minehead.
Twenty miles into the drive and I realised that I'd forgotten my computer. It was impossible to turn back as I would have been late for the start - I was just going to have to ride without it and that all important HR data. I arrived in darkness and it was already really busy with riders getting their bikes set up. It took me a little longer than I expected to get myself ready for off - fiddling for ages with my rear wheel, deciding on layers, gloves etc. By 7.30 I was ready. I stood for a short while ready to go and then without much fanfare, we were off.
The climbs started fairly early on and riders were spread out way into the distance. I found that I was overtaken a lot in those first few miles, and overtook only a few. It was a bit lonely to be riding without Colin - I do it every week in training but we've always done these events together. It made me think about what we would do in the Etape - will we stick together or ride our own races? Still not sure about what we'll do.
After a long exhilarating descent to Minehead we were soon climbing again and wow, what climbs they were. The first real test was a longish stretch at what must have been over 20%. There was a cattle grid in the middle of it and I saw many losing traction and toppling over onto it - I played it safe and walked over; taking the opportunity to have a drink and some Go bar while I was stopped. I saw plenty more hitting the grid while I was there just for those few minutes. Setting off again on that steep climb was interesting and I went across the road rather than directly up - I managed it, and stayed on right to the top, overtaking many pedestrians on my way up. Now I was starting to feel good - I was doing it. That hill would have beaten me only a few months ago and here I was, overtaking people on it.
Another nice descent to a ford - not wanting to risk planting my wheel in those big cobbles, I got off an walked around it. They were the only two occasions where I walked and I was really pleased with that.
More undulating terrain followed - I was able to maintain a good speed, even on the short ascents and was on a real high on this point. A huge 25% descent followed into Lynmouth - my lack of computer confused me a little, as I thought we were already at the 50 mile mark and was doing really well. When I found out that we were in fact only just over the 30 mile mark, my confidence was shaken. A huge climb over the moor followed next and that really sapped my energy; it went on and on and on. The temperature dropped and those were some hard miles. I kept at it and was eventually rewarded by a nice descent into the best food stop ever. Hot leek and potato soup; bacon rolls; buttery flapjack - it was just great. I met with Paul from Cycling Plus and we had a chat and we agreed to cycle back to the end together. Thank God for Paul! I really struggled on those last 20 miles. There were some really nice fast descents but there was a lot of really slow, painful, climbing as well. After just over 7 and a half hours, I made it back completely f***ed!!!!
As I stood just past the finish line, glass tankard in hand, semi-delirious, I saw Joe Beer straight ahead of me. It was fantastic to see our Coach - he came over and gave me a huge hug, which was just what I needed at that moment. He told me I was well and truly BACK!
On reflection of the event in our weekly call, it was apparent that there are a few areas where I can immediately cut out wasted time: eating and drinking whilst riding. During the beast, I had to stop to eat, take off huge gloves, struggle to get my food out of rear pockets etc etc. At one stop, I took my hat off and then spent 5 minutes pulling chunks of hair out as it was trapped in my bobble. I'm going to get a tri-bag and cut my go bars into bite sized chunks so that I can easily get my hands on food without having to lose touch with the rest of the field.
All in all, it was a superb event, really well organised, spectacular scenery with climbs that seemed very similar in length and gradient to those I experienced in France earlier this year. I would definitely do it again in 2009. Joe told me to be proud of my achievement and I have to say that I am.

Etape Preview Clip

I'm still beavering away on the logistics of our Etape trip and was actually getting to the stage where I wondered if we would be entering at all. Then I saw this short video clip and knew that there is no way I'm going to miss it this time......... Ventoux!


L'ETAPE '09 - RECON DVD TRAILER from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.