popped back to read the old blog again ... this is definately still on the list !
Monday, April 15, 2013
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Long commute home - variant 1
TdMB minus 54 days
Bike of choice : Kap ... bit pointless this line innit ?
Distance : 94Km
metres climbed : +1090m
It's been a threatening stormy day all day today but the plan was to slope off from work "early" at 5pm and put in the first long commute home of the year. This means riding past the start of the normal climb to Lans and heading West and round the side of the vercors in the direction of Valence.
The target was to ride up the Gorge des Ecouges, a fantastic scar in the west flank of the Vercors, then over the Col de Romayer down into the Gorge de la Bourne and then up to the plateau and hence Lans. It's the simplest long commute available ....
Did you spot the fact that the was, was in bold ?
So we headed off, Fred and I again, straight into a fierce headwind and assumed the 2-up formation taking 2Km turns .... absolutely HAMMERED the first 35Kms !
We were well warmed up by the time we got to the bottom of the climb, and then deflated as we rode past the sign telling us the climb was closed. Popped into the wee village and went to ask what was wrong at the Marie (toon hall) ... is it really closed or can we sneak past the edge of the roadworks with our bikes ?
Turns out there's been another massive rockfall up by the tunnel near the top. The road is completely blocked and as it's been cut into the rockface itself, sneaking round the side would require climbing gear that we don't have in our jersey pockets .... merde !!!! This is the 2nd time we've been spurned by this climb. Same thing happened at the same place 2 years ago. It's one of the harards of living on a limestone massif. Looks like it'll be closed all summer too as they don't even have a date for the surveyor to come and look at it.
Shame as it's a superb climb.
OK so we can jump on the tailwind and be back in Grenoble in jig time or head into that headwind for another 25Kms to Pont en Royans and salvage the ride by going all the way up the Bourne ... the other option is Nan - Malevas - Romayere - bourne but it's already too late for that one.
Headwind it is. By the time we actually started climbing we had over 60Kms of thrashing into a headwind on the flat in our legs, that's not something I do but I guess it's all good preparation.
The climb up the Gorge passes quickly even with a 10min phonecall stop along the way and before long the mental calculations are estimating a ride distance of 94ish Kms .... laps round the village are planned to bring it up to the metric ton.
With 10Km's to go the storm that has threatened all day unleashes itself and the importance of metric tons are rapidly washed away. 94 it is for the day :O)
Magic - oh yeah Fred ... he still had to ride down my regular commute to Grenoble, I offered him my car but we both knew that he was already as wet as he was going to get and it's just as fast on the bike.
Another great ride and more burny leg pain so it must have been useful
Bike of choice : Kap ... bit pointless this line innit ?
Distance : 94Km
metres climbed : +1090m
It's been a threatening stormy day all day today but the plan was to slope off from work "early" at 5pm and put in the first long commute home of the year. This means riding past the start of the normal climb to Lans and heading West and round the side of the vercors in the direction of Valence.
The target was to ride up the Gorge des Ecouges, a fantastic scar in the west flank of the Vercors, then over the Col de Romayer down into the Gorge de la Bourne and then up to the plateau and hence Lans. It's the simplest long commute available ....
Did you spot the fact that the was, was in bold ?
So we headed off, Fred and I again, straight into a fierce headwind and assumed the 2-up formation taking 2Km turns .... absolutely HAMMERED the first 35Kms !
We were well warmed up by the time we got to the bottom of the climb, and then deflated as we rode past the sign telling us the climb was closed. Popped into the wee village and went to ask what was wrong at the Marie (toon hall) ... is it really closed or can we sneak past the edge of the roadworks with our bikes ?
Turns out there's been another massive rockfall up by the tunnel near the top. The road is completely blocked and as it's been cut into the rockface itself, sneaking round the side would require climbing gear that we don't have in our jersey pockets .... merde !!!! This is the 2nd time we've been spurned by this climb. Same thing happened at the same place 2 years ago. It's one of the harards of living on a limestone massif. Looks like it'll be closed all summer too as they don't even have a date for the surveyor to come and look at it.
Shame as it's a superb climb.
OK so we can jump on the tailwind and be back in Grenoble in jig time or head into that headwind for another 25Kms to Pont en Royans and salvage the ride by going all the way up the Bourne ... the other option is Nan - Malevas - Romayere - bourne but it's already too late for that one.
Headwind it is. By the time we actually started climbing we had over 60Kms of thrashing into a headwind on the flat in our legs, that's not something I do but I guess it's all good preparation.
The climb up the Gorge passes quickly even with a 10min phonecall stop along the way and before long the mental calculations are estimating a ride distance of 94ish Kms .... laps round the village are planned to bring it up to the metric ton.
With 10Km's to go the storm that has threatened all day unleashes itself and the importance of metric tons are rapidly washed away. 94 it is for the day :O)
Magic - oh yeah Fred ... he still had to ride down my regular commute to Grenoble, I offered him my car but we both knew that he was already as wet as he was going to get and it's just as fast on the bike.
Another great ride and more burny leg pain so it must have been useful
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
a wee leg shaker
TdMB minus 55 days
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 27Km
metres climbed : +250m
Went out for a spin in the late evening sunshine to shake the stress out of the legs but ended up getting a bit carried away and thrashed it hard .... there was stuff in my head that needed removing. Descending hairpins in the fading sun sorted that out nicely. Damn it felt gooooooood :O)
TdMB confidence soared today - as reported earlier I've got Rob joining me from Martigny to the Col de Grand Saint-Bernard and now Sam from Bike Village and Ash of Trail Addiction / Trans-Provence fame have offered to join me for the closing climbs from Bourg over the cormet de Roseland and on to the finish in Les Saises, or did they say they plan to throw rotten tomatoes from the roadside ?
Whatever ... magical peeps they are, look them up if your ever wondering how to spend a holiday with your bike in the Alps.
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 27Km
metres climbed : +250m
Went out for a spin in the late evening sunshine to shake the stress out of the legs but ended up getting a bit carried away and thrashed it hard .... there was stuff in my head that needed removing. Descending hairpins in the fading sun sorted that out nicely. Damn it felt gooooooood :O)
TdMB confidence soared today - as reported earlier I've got Rob joining me from Martigny to the Col de Grand Saint-Bernard and now Sam from Bike Village and Ash of Trail Addiction / Trans-Provence fame have offered to join me for the closing climbs from Bourg over the cormet de Roseland and on to the finish in Les Saises, or did they say they plan to throw rotten tomatoes from the roadside ?
Whatever ... magical peeps they are, look them up if your ever wondering how to spend a holiday with your bike in the Alps.
Friends are ace and arrive with great ideas just when you need them ....
TdMB minus 54 days
With the dull ache of Sundays ride fading from my legs, I was just having a gander at the TdMB route to see how that ride compared to what is to come, pontificating how far round the lap I'd have been as I crossed the line in Autrans and wondering how much bigger the mental challenge is going to be.
There are only 80 entrants so far, a number that will obviously increase a bit but with 330Km's of road I expect we'll thin out very fast and after the first 60 - 100Km of "were in this together" spirit I sense we might find ourselves riding solo for the rest of the lap.
I was just pondering that prospect when a wee angel fluttered by and landed on my shoulder, a wee angel called Rob who proposed meeting me in Martigny and riding over the Col de Champex AND the Col du Grand Saint-Bernard as far as Aosta ... what a gold plated frocking superstar !!!!
Kate, who I've not met yet, shares that acolade as she's donating him for the day ...
Martigny IS the 100Km point ....
That just made my day, I'm barking from ear to ear I am
With the dull ache of Sundays ride fading from my legs, I was just having a gander at the TdMB route to see how that ride compared to what is to come, pontificating how far round the lap I'd have been as I crossed the line in Autrans and wondering how much bigger the mental challenge is going to be.
There are only 80 entrants so far, a number that will obviously increase a bit but with 330Km's of road I expect we'll thin out very fast and after the first 60 - 100Km of "were in this together" spirit I sense we might find ourselves riding solo for the rest of the lap.
I was just pondering that prospect when a wee angel fluttered by and landed on my shoulder, a wee angel called Rob who proposed meeting me in Martigny and riding over the Col de Champex AND the Col du Grand Saint-Bernard as far as Aosta ... what a gold plated frocking superstar !!!!
Kate, who I've not met yet, shares that acolade as she's donating him for the day ...
Martigny IS the 100Km point ....
That just made my day, I'm barking from ear to ear I am
Monday, May 24, 2010
Challenge Vercors - FBRROTY
TdMB minus 56 days
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 170Km
metres climbed : +3500m
It's the third time I've set out to ride the full lap of this event ( formerly the Challenge Dauphine) ... my local Sportif in the Vercors, it's almost rude not to as it always passes through the village I live in.
At the first attempt 3yrs ago it was lashing with rain, the target was really the 120Km loop and I was riding with Robin who had flown over for the weekend, didn't have much riding in his legs and was probably going to be pushed by the 120. In the end it was lashing with rain, Robin was mildly hypothermic on the descent from the Col de Herboilly and I was relieved to hear his ask if we could cut it short and just do the 75Km.
Next attempt with Ali and Wendy of the Chant the weather was with us but the travel gods were most definately not. Two different flights coming into two different airports both being diverted to a third and fourth meant we finished building their bikes at 2am and headed off to the startline 5hrs later.
We might still have been OK if Ali hand't punctured on the way up to Bois Barbu and lost an hour trying to sort it ... to cut a long story short we rode the 120Km that year.
So the jinx had to be broken, I was riding alone with no-one else to blame if I didn't get round and this time I had a very different head on. It's "only" 158Km so I might as well ride over the Croix Perrin to get to the start line (10Km and +250m warm-up ride) I arrived in Autrans with just enough time to scoff a croixant and some fruit before the hooter sounded and the mass of 800 riders in front of me started moving back over the Croix Perrin towards Lans. There were a surprising number of Brits in the pack some of whom keep coming back to ride this event. Hardly surprising really as it's such a gorgeous place.
Autrans - Croix Perrin - Lans - Villard - col de Herbouilly .... almost a standard ride for me so far but then first the 70Km and the 120Km riders peel off to go their seperate ways and without any though or hesitation we descent down the Grand Goulets through the new tunnel towards the Drome and St Jean en Royans.
The temperature has risen fast and although I knew I had started way at the back of the pack I was surprised to find that there was no-one else in sight. I seemed to be dangling out on my own between packs and it pretty much stayed like that all the way round.
After St Jean came the (speak in booming voice) COL DE LA MACHINE ! A fantastic climb which ends with one of those classic clifftop roads passing through natural tunnels and arches, a wee wall on the left seperates you from a 500m vertical drop to the valley below. There are more riders around me now all struggling in the heat, every now and again one of them blows up and starts slipping backwards (me too) then finds some reserves and crawls back. Over the col at the 80Km mark I note that this is just 1/4 distance on the TdMB .... there's no rest as we immediately continue the climb towards the Col de Lachaud.
There were 4 guys 500m ahead of me on the road, working together up the climb but I couldn't bridge that gap until we reached the col and then they all sat up to coast the descent so I freewheeled away from them down past the Musee de la resistance and into Vassieux for what would be my last refuelling stop.
100Km down - not even a third of the TdMB and I'm knackered.
Over the Col de Alexis it started raining, huge globules, a welcome relief from the heat just at the point where the long straight run back across the Vercors starts. I was spinning along at 45Km grinning from ear to ear when I passed the final refuelling station, no way was I stopping to get cold when I knew there were still 2 grinding climbs to come. On the long haul up to St Julien en Vercors the organisers has put up signs saying "dos d'ane" (donkey's back) .... it felt very apt as I grovelled my way up - it's not meant to be hurting like this !
Down the other side into the Gorge de la Bourne and up the final climb - again a climb I usually relish as it's cool and the gradiend is light but yesterday it was tough - the final sting in the tail came as we turned up the valley to Meadre and Autrans ... a stiff headwind for the last 10Km to sap the little energy that was left.
Zipped up and sprinted across the line though ;o)
I was too hot and dehydrated but at the same time pleased to dip under the 7hr mark, 6hr 30mins in the saddle plus a bit of stoppage time for eating for a 158Km +3250m lap, all I've got to do is double that, throw in a bit more climbing and I'm there. I think I might have to borrow a triple chainset though.
8wks to go !!!
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 170Km
metres climbed : +3500m
It's the third time I've set out to ride the full lap of this event ( formerly the Challenge Dauphine) ... my local Sportif in the Vercors, it's almost rude not to as it always passes through the village I live in.
At the first attempt 3yrs ago it was lashing with rain, the target was really the 120Km loop and I was riding with Robin who had flown over for the weekend, didn't have much riding in his legs and was probably going to be pushed by the 120. In the end it was lashing with rain, Robin was mildly hypothermic on the descent from the Col de Herboilly and I was relieved to hear his ask if we could cut it short and just do the 75Km.
Next attempt with Ali and Wendy of the Chant the weather was with us but the travel gods were most definately not. Two different flights coming into two different airports both being diverted to a third and fourth meant we finished building their bikes at 2am and headed off to the startline 5hrs later.
We might still have been OK if Ali hand't punctured on the way up to Bois Barbu and lost an hour trying to sort it ... to cut a long story short we rode the 120Km that year.
So the jinx had to be broken, I was riding alone with no-one else to blame if I didn't get round and this time I had a very different head on. It's "only" 158Km so I might as well ride over the Croix Perrin to get to the start line (10Km and +250m warm-up ride) I arrived in Autrans with just enough time to scoff a croixant and some fruit before the hooter sounded and the mass of 800 riders in front of me started moving back over the Croix Perrin towards Lans. There were a surprising number of Brits in the pack some of whom keep coming back to ride this event. Hardly surprising really as it's such a gorgeous place.
Autrans - Croix Perrin - Lans - Villard - col de Herbouilly .... almost a standard ride for me so far but then first the 70Km and the 120Km riders peel off to go their seperate ways and without any though or hesitation we descent down the Grand Goulets through the new tunnel towards the Drome and St Jean en Royans.
The temperature has risen fast and although I knew I had started way at the back of the pack I was surprised to find that there was no-one else in sight. I seemed to be dangling out on my own between packs and it pretty much stayed like that all the way round.
After St Jean came the (speak in booming voice) COL DE LA MACHINE ! A fantastic climb which ends with one of those classic clifftop roads passing through natural tunnels and arches, a wee wall on the left seperates you from a 500m vertical drop to the valley below. There are more riders around me now all struggling in the heat, every now and again one of them blows up and starts slipping backwards (me too) then finds some reserves and crawls back. Over the col at the 80Km mark I note that this is just 1/4 distance on the TdMB .... there's no rest as we immediately continue the climb towards the Col de Lachaud.
There were 4 guys 500m ahead of me on the road, working together up the climb but I couldn't bridge that gap until we reached the col and then they all sat up to coast the descent so I freewheeled away from them down past the Musee de la resistance and into Vassieux for what would be my last refuelling stop.
100Km down - not even a third of the TdMB and I'm knackered.
Over the Col de Alexis it started raining, huge globules, a welcome relief from the heat just at the point where the long straight run back across the Vercors starts. I was spinning along at 45Km grinning from ear to ear when I passed the final refuelling station, no way was I stopping to get cold when I knew there were still 2 grinding climbs to come. On the long haul up to St Julien en Vercors the organisers has put up signs saying "dos d'ane" (donkey's back) .... it felt very apt as I grovelled my way up - it's not meant to be hurting like this !
Down the other side into the Gorge de la Bourne and up the final climb - again a climb I usually relish as it's cool and the gradiend is light but yesterday it was tough - the final sting in the tail came as we turned up the valley to Meadre and Autrans ... a stiff headwind for the last 10Km to sap the little energy that was left.
Zipped up and sprinted across the line though ;o)
I was too hot and dehydrated but at the same time pleased to dip under the 7hr mark, 6hr 30mins in the saddle plus a bit of stoppage time for eating for a 158Km +3250m lap, all I've got to do is double that, throw in a bit more climbing and I'm there. I think I might have to borrow a triple chainset though.
8wks to go !!!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Another lunchtime col ... and a fair old bonk !
TdMB minus 59 days
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 40Km
metres climbed : +1090m
todays offering was the Col de la Charmette, 40Km round trip in a straight out, straight up, down and back sort of way. A climb of +1090m over 11Km in 39x23 was in the end just a wee bit too hurty for someone who hadn't eaten enough this morning ....
Fred, Ludovic and I took a little too long getting away from the office but were soon on the lower slopes of the climb and peeling off the layers as the sun was shining once again. All was going OK if a bit on the difficult side until we passed a sign indicating 6Km's to the top and I suddenly had the impression that the road had tilted hard in the upward direction ... unfortunately it hadn't and I bonked proper like with 3Km to go to the summit, no food and out of water - it was a very long 3Km and the other guys were just stating to worry about what had happened to me when I finally rolled up to the viewpoint. I don't remember the view.
It was 10 to 2 ... and I had a team mtg at 2pm .... ooops that's cancelled then.
The descent was terrifying, my vision went all blurry, I couldn't focus on the road and was having problems steering round the corners, lips were tingling too. Thankfully it's a quiet road as I don't think I was holding my line too well. Even when we got back to the flat it was bizarre - legs were fine, I could spin along the road tucked in behind the others but I could barely see them.
Back at the office it was straight to the cafe on site to buy all the sugary cakes that were left and some coke to washed them down.
Great climb though :O)
Will go back next week with some fuel in the tank.
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 40Km
metres climbed : +1090m
todays offering was the Col de la Charmette, 40Km round trip in a straight out, straight up, down and back sort of way. A climb of +1090m over 11Km in 39x23 was in the end just a wee bit too hurty for someone who hadn't eaten enough this morning ....
Fred, Ludovic and I took a little too long getting away from the office but were soon on the lower slopes of the climb and peeling off the layers as the sun was shining once again. All was going OK if a bit on the difficult side until we passed a sign indicating 6Km's to the top and I suddenly had the impression that the road had tilted hard in the upward direction ... unfortunately it hadn't and I bonked proper like with 3Km to go to the summit, no food and out of water - it was a very long 3Km and the other guys were just stating to worry about what had happened to me when I finally rolled up to the viewpoint. I don't remember the view.
It was 10 to 2 ... and I had a team mtg at 2pm .... ooops that's cancelled then.
The descent was terrifying, my vision went all blurry, I couldn't focus on the road and was having problems steering round the corners, lips were tingling too. Thankfully it's a quiet road as I don't think I was holding my line too well. Even when we got back to the flat it was bizarre - legs were fine, I could spin along the road tucked in behind the others but I could barely see them.
Back at the office it was straight to the cafe on site to buy all the sugary cakes that were left and some coke to washed them down.
Great climb though :O)
Will go back next week with some fuel in the tank.
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