Keyholes and crutches

Last Saturday's XC was interesting, Chorley Harriers only had 5 out so no team entry (6 needed). Thomo ran steady, I heckled here and there, then he suffered a muscle tear literally 50m from the finish. This looked bleak but he struggled home then, much to my surprise, he came out on the bike next morning for the 40miles. Sunday AM we had a good turnout, 7 of us: Nikki, Vicky, Gaz, Pete Starkey (see pic RHS), Thomo, Cliff and myself, I led the way and picked up all the hills from Chorley to Billinge, I peeled-off at about 32 miles to get to Goodison Park for the Middlesborough game (the most boring 90 mins I've seen for a long time!). The group did OK, reasonable training pace, the new riders are better on the hills than the flats because this is where the running fitness becomes apparent. Monday evening I did the spin class at the gym, lost about 4 pounds in sweat ! This was to be the last serious workout for a few weeks, biggest problem now was trying no to put on weight.

Thursday: I was in by 08:00, theatre at 09:00 (that feeling as the anaesthetic starts to take effect is amazing), 2 keyhole incisions, awake by 11:30 and home by 15:00, no pain, everything numb. Lots of goodwill texts which was nice. A set of basic exercises from the physio and a pair of crutches. Biggest issue seems to be keeping the weight off the joint whilst it heals but at the same time seems OK to walk on, no doubt I'll pay for this in the weeks to come.

Can't do the Cumbrian Christmas Cracker, so Gaz is taking my place since the event is full. Bought a new bike for winter use last weekend from Buy-a-Bike, Charnock Richard see http://www.buyabikedirect.co.uk/, an alloy Trek 1200 (I think?), it's got Ultegra rear and 105 triple front, carbon forks, in white, a smart looking bike, all for £600. Not collected it yet because of the op. This should save the carbon one getting trashed.

I've been running with a blind runner from our club these last few Thursdays and talking as we run, (it's quite tiring trying to speak and run at the same time). Mike Ogle is his name, he's run for years and years and a few people take him out during the week (mainly Thomo I think). He even did a Duathlon with us last May on a tandem, see pic, with Malc Christie. Mike was asking what it was like to climb a col for 2 hours ? My only reply was 'incredible' to apply such a sustained effort for so long, in the 2007 Etape there were 5 Cat 1 or HC cols and the 4th one; Col du Port du Bales just about blew most of the masses away. The side of the road resembled a war zone with brightly clad bodies strewn all over. This was the year that out of 8,500 entrants, only 4,600 finished inside the allotted 12h30m. Most of the non-finishers would be locals who seemingly don't need to go through the Doctor's certificate hoop.

There are no climbs remotely like the Alpine and Pyrenean climbs in the UK, we have steeper climbs but generally shorter (maybe I would exclude Scotland from this generality since I have never cycled in Scotland other than access cycling on a mountain bike). What distinguishes the TDF climbs is the relatively consistent gradients, although, they often aren't as consistent as books and DVDs would have you believe. By far the best and most comprehensive road climbing guides, in my opinion, are the Atlas Des Cols from www.altigraph.fr. These excellent books give a kilometer by kilometer breakdown of the route in terms of ascent and gradient. The one for Ventoux is 'Des Alpes One', sorry, but they are all in French just to get you into the spirit of things !

So, off for a tour of the lounge.... on the crutches, till next time.....