Travels....

The training is going fine, 181, 193, 200 and 151 miles for the past 4 weeks, this last week punctuated by a necessary trip to Wembley to watch Everton dispose of Manchester United in a penalty shoot-out..... (see below Phil Jagielka about to take the 5th penaly that put us through to the FA Cup final on 30th May 2009). The chart right shows the bike miles since December 08, this doesn't include cross training sessions, usually 1 or 2 per week x 10K / 44mins.

Good to get out in spring / summer clothing. The new club kit that we will be using for the Etape and other prep events arrived this week, so it's been out this last week plenty of times, well impressed...... see below.

Mentioned the possibility of travelling overseas several updates ago, now it's all happening, I'm leaving to the US on 5th May 2009 for a few weeks, looking forward to exploring Oregon, supposed to be beautiful countryside.

Unfortunately I get to miss the Etape du Dales but business brings me back to the UK early June so I get to do the Wicklow 200 and the Dragon Ride on consecutive weekends, should be interesting..... My Etape du Dales entry is up for grabs, I don't want the £30 but I would like a similar amount in the form of a cheque payable to Macmillan Cancer Care, first come first served...

Had a follow-up consultation with the Orthopaedic Surgeon 10 days ago, he's agreed to undertake a steroid injection and manipulation under a general anesthetic on the 1st May 2009, I have high hopes this will allow me to run again, fingers crossed.

The tail of the Cheshire Cat....

The weather forecast early in the week was grim for Sunday but remarkably it improved, it was going to be blue sky with max 7 degrees. So we agreed to meet at 07:00 (06:00 in real time having lost an hours sleep due to the clock adjustment).

So it was up at 05:45 and straight into the tin of rice pudding. Well it went down.... eventually aided by a cup of coffee and Thomo and Gaz turned up and we were off. We got to Knutsford in good time, sun still shining, signed-on, fitted the number, the timing chip, kitted up and joined the start queue.

Pete Starkey had been ill all week previous but was still intending to do the 60m route option, we met him at the start but didn't see him again.

At 08:15 the fog dropped and we were all freezing, troubled by those nagging doubts, had we too many layers or too few ? Anyway, it was about 08:45 when our wave started heading out to the west for 50 miles of flat, fast-paced riding. It remained freezing for the first hour, fingers numb and painful but soon after the fog burned-off it warmed-up and sensation returned. Met Karen (http://giantonabike.blogspot.com/) just after the start suffering from the same problems, but lost touch after the first feed station. This first section was relatively fast at about 19mph and I'd lost touch with Thomo and Gaz by the first feed station (28 miles) having stopped to use the bushes I was unsure if they had continued on. So another 25 miles to the next feed station, all very pleasant, the terrain starting to undulate a little by now. The first 50 was in the bag at 5 minutes under 3 hours.
Pulled out of the second checkpoint, got chatting to a bloke about cycling in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore (he was from London Dynamo) and then suddenly the road kicked-up, yes it was the Mow Cop killer mile. The first pitch was steep but then it allowed you to re-gather yourself before the ridiculous 25% pitch at the top. I got up with my triple crank alongside a chap on a compact 36 / 27, I seriously doubt I'd have made it on a 34 / 27 but maybe I'm doing myself an injustice. Lots of support on the hill, it was good to get to the top ! Here's a couple of pics on the steep bit..... http://www.robcrayton.fotopic.net/p57194281.html and http://www.robcrayton.fotopic.net/p57194501.html

Last time I did this event was the first time it had been ran, in 2007. I recall 100 miles of flat riding with one killer climb. I knew this year's was going to be tougher but I hadn't paid too much attention to just how much ! If I'd paid attention I'd have noticed the total ascent at nearly 2,000m, in 2007 it was half of this !

We descended off Mow Cop and soon kicked back up onto Biddulph Moor, then Barlow Hill before the 3rd checkpoint. A quick check of the route profile with a fellow rider and this confirmed we still had Macclesfield Forest and Lamaload Reservoir to encounter. All the time wondering how close to 6h I could complete the event. The average speed had dropped to 17 mph with the advent of the hills. A sobering thought.... it is at this stage with about the same ascent in your legs that the Ventoux climb starts in July... oh dear !!

Macclesfield Forest was tough, the road was congested with Sunday cars paying no attention to the hundreds of cyclists toiling up the 17% gradient. If you got stopped on the up slope there was nowhere to restart... other than the top ! I was lucky I got through, again the triple came in useful. It was longer and tougher than Mow Cop without a doubt, reminiscent of 8 very similar climbs on the Etape du Dales. After the summit there were 2 further tops which were taking their toll at this stage and the average speed had dropped to 16.1 mph, but it was almost all downhill from here to coin the phrase.

Got into a reasonably sized group on the pull through from Adlington to Alderley Edge and then Swiss Hill. Nearly everyone I was with gave it a miss but I fancied a shot at the cobbles. The first pitch was OK, slipping a bit, the surface was very rough, it levelled-off some then half way up the second pitch I felt like I was going to fall off so I stopped and walked about 80m. Disappointing, but at least I completed the full route. The final haul into Knutsford was fast again, passing many of the riders on the shorter 60m route.

The GPS reached the published distance of 102m at the same time as passing a road sign saying Knutsford 3m ! It was just short of 106m on the Garmin 705 by the time I crossed the line at 6h 49m elapsed time, with a ride time average speed of 16.1 mph. See the detail of the ride at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2836352

I didn't 'bonk', drank too little during the event, probably only 2.5 litres, survived on 2 bananas, 1 jam doughnut, 1 small swiss roll, but I was looking forward to a good feed, putting some of the 7,000+ calories back in the system !!

I handed-in the chip etc, looked around for Thomo and Gaz but they weren't back. Thomo came in 20 min later at 7h 09m with a ride time average of 15 mph and Gaz about 30 minutes later cursing the hills. Excellent performances all round considering various colds and flu bugs that we've each been suffering with.

All things considered it was a good benchmark ride early in the season, much tougher than my previous Cheshire Cat memories, this one had a real sting in the tail ! A big field, excellent weather and the right hip held up, in fact I think the left leg suffered in compensation and that's something I need to look at.

Well done to the Kilotogo organisers, they've certainly come a long way since 2007, just sort the brew making kit out for the end and you've cracked it !

So back to everyday matters, routine training, better weather, more soon....... although the spin class booked for Monday night is looking doubtful, maybe a day off is on the cards ?

Spring is in the air

Getting back into training after the holiday was not too bad, aided by the extra time at my disposal due to the downturn in work activity. Started to build the base miles progressively with rides of 50, 60 and 70 miles in the last 2 weeks. Overall feeling good and ready for the first 100+ miler being the Cheshire Cat on the 29th Match 2009. See Garmin Connect route details of the 70 miler from this morning: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2541018.

Had a road rage incident this morning with a chubby 30 year old gentleman who had a problem with us riding 2 abreast along a wide, straight country lane at 09:00 on a Sunday morning, rode past Thomo with about 6" clearance. He wasn't too impressed with the expletives from us so stopped and offered to take all 3 of us on... but after the face-off (complete with much verbal exchange) got back into his 'R' registered Ford Escort with large stereo and burned out his clutch setting off in such a hurry. Not content with making such a fool of himself, and probably something to do with him having flame red hair, he then came after us a couple of miles up the road so his registration was duly recorded, more verbal exchange. What is wrong with these people... in France cyclists receive so much courtesy, here the exact opposite, just abuse. The Highway Code should be re-written to give absolute, unequivocal priority to cyclists wherever they are riding. Can't wait to retire to France.....

Still plenty of core strength work at the gym working on the big muscles, not doing the core stability much good though ! Physio reckons I need the steroid injection and manipulation into the hip since the range of movement is still very restricted. Been back onto the Doctor for a referral back to the Consultant.

Whilst all this is happening, still can't run of course so David Lloyd Leisure are still extracting £70+ per month from me.

The new bike is fantastic, only been for a short 30 miler so far, don't want to get it dirty ! Need to do some work on the set-up, seat post and seat position adjustments mainly. Need to sort the insurance so I can remove it from the bedroom, my wife is not too impressed with the new arrival ! The gears are SRAM Red, the quality is without doubt but the double-click system takes some getting used to, 1 lever, 1 click to drop a gear and 2 clicks to rise a gear and successive single clicks keeps rising..... confused, you should try it. I've already near castrated myself of a roundabout ! See the pic left (note the new 3 piece in the background.... this bike did prove very expensive !!). It came with Bontrager Aeolus wheels which are of course not suitable for everyday use so http://www.buyabikedirect.co.uk/ (from whom I purchased the bike) did me a great deal on these mavic Ksyrium SL's. All-up it weighs 7 Kg so all I need to do now is lose about 4 Kg of my 86 Kg and I should fly up hills, well maybe not 'fly' ?

Matters on the work front are due for some change in these coming weeks, could end-up working overseas, possibly Far East, got an interview in the USA this coming week so away from Tuesday AM through Sat AM for 2 days in Oregon. I could swing for those bankers, life was OK for many people including us, then suddenly everything has to change. I realise I am very fortunate to have options, plenty of people are not nearly as lucky but it's going to be tough being away from the family. The family will eventually move with me but only at a suitable juncture in our children's education and the earliest of these is +2 years.

It's my eldest son's 16th birthday today and, taking a lead from Simon's blog (see side bar) bought him a Flip Mino video camera with a bike mount. I feel sure he will let me borrow it for the odd video clip for the blog, so watch this space.

Next update after the Cheshire Cat.....

Sod the cycling... I'm off diving....

Don't know why but since the Cumbrian Xmas Cracker I've been struggling for motivation on the bike. The weekend after the event did 38m on the Saturday then, and this is quite amazing, I got the MBX out on the Sunday and went up on Winter Hill to watch the Winter Hill Fell Race in the snow. We had about 10 from Chorley Harriers running and about 15 in support, here's the motley crew on the left !

So the days passed with various gym visits to the diving holiday to the Red Sea coast, Egypt. This was an all inclusive deal with Thomas Cook, specially for people 5'6" and under judging by the legroom on the 25 year old airplane ! My headphones didn't work on either flight, I should buy a lottery ticket this weekend judging by the response from the sharp tongued air hostess who said this was very rare and I was the only case she could recall where the IES (inflight entertainment system..... apparently?) hadn't worked, when I explained it was on both flights she quickly changed the subject and asked me to stop shouting. I think my ears were still not 100% after the diving.

The resort was the Tulip Resort Hotel at Marsa Alam, well to be precise, Marsa Alam was 60km south of the resort but hey, minor detail. The all inclusive actually means almost all inclusive, if you want espresso coffee €2 extra, if you want fruit juice €2 extra and so on. Had a pool side bar melee with a bunch of Italian staff who stole 3 burgers off the griddle ear-marked for ourselves and this nearly developed into an international incident had our 6'6" Drayman from Castleford not interjected. Still he praised me for standing up for the Brits and my reputation thereafter preceded me, with bar staff falling over backwards to oblige !

So to the point, the diving..... We (my mate Simon, my son Ciaran and I) did a PADI deep dive speciality course, this involved dives to 40.0m, where everything creaks.... a lot ! the dive instructor had us counting off a slate to 15 against a stop watch to see if the nitrogen narcosis had affected performance (this is where being narky comes from). My times were the same, my son was faster at 40m that on the surface which leads me to the conclusion he is better off living on the bottom of the ocean. Simon lost the plot and took double the time !

My 12 year old daughter, Katy did her Open Water Course, she can now dive to 18m with us. This is a 4 - 5 day course and quite tough, she struggled with the sea dive off a boat in 12m of water but cracked it the following day with 2 fine shore dives.

We swam with giant turtles, a dugong (a sea cow), see above, this was about 2.2m long and the locals called it Dennis ! The highlight of the trip was a dive called Elphinstone a reef about 6km offshore. We were looking for oceanic sharks or reef sharks. So, coincidentally, the film Open Water was on the hotel TV the night before so my son and I were really psyched-up for the dive. We were sat on a Zodiac bobbing around in the Red Sea wondering what the hell we were playing at when the dive guide said OK let's go and we fell backwards into the sea. Well the reef was amazing, some 300m long and 200m high and about 20m wide, the current moved you along at the correct speed to see this amazing feat of nature unfold before your very eyes. We did 2 dives to 25m for 45 minutes and were disappointed not to see the sharks but did have an encounter with a family of dolphins ! Here's my son Ciaran on the Zodiac between Elphinstone dives with Nino our guide. So after 6 days in the water it was time to endure the trip home but not before an excursion to Hurgarda, an Egyptian city about 230km north of where we were staying. It was some drive on empty roads. Hurgarda was a large enough city of resort hotels, typically Arabic. Katy got herself sunburned whilst we were out at Elphinstone so struggled with the car journeys. We went downtown in the city and were pestered by locals trying to sell us all manner of things legal and not so legal ! The trip back to the hotel was interesting, a 230km taxi journey for €70. Stopped at 2 roadblocks due to the terrorist actions in Cairo that evening.

Back home, restarting the training has been OK, a spin class on Tuesday and a 53m ride today, Thursday with Thomo, my goodness the legs are sore ! Planning some miles over the weekend and yes the new bike has arrived, just need to pick it up, oh and pay for it !!

Till next time......

Cumbrian Christmas Cracker - 1st Feb 09

Well, as the title suggests today was the deferred Cumbrian Christmas Cracker from last December, 60 miles from Grassmere south to Flookborough.

Just got the Garmin 705 in the week after breaking my Polar CS200 when I threw the bike in the car after the chain snapping escapade. Its obviously a very capable tool but I have to say the instructions are pretty basic.... it's on the web for help from the community.

It was up at 05:00 stuffing cold rice pudding into the system... nice ! load up the gear, the bike and then off to pick up Gaz and Pete, we were on our way at 06:20. Arrived at the start at 07:30 for registration. After the shock of the car park fee £6 we settled down to getting ready. The weather was cold but clear once it came light.

The route took us out of Grassmere straight up Red Bank at 25%, bit of a shock when we hit the ice on the up slope, so it was off the bike, restarting on the slope was interesting ! The descent was not too icy. Thereafter, every time we crossed any run-off from adjacent fields they were frozen so great care was required. The route took us to Consiton, down the east side of the lake along the route of the Coniston 14 running race and then on to Haverthwaite, across the A590 to Cark then past Bigland Estate to Flookborough into a fierce headwind. We stayed together mainly but I have to confess to getting on the back of a 3 man breakaway group for the 6 mile run into Flookborough, it was fast.

The food stop was excellent, clearly the organisers had catered for about 300 riders but less than half has shown, this probably due to the deferral process deadline of 19th December 2008. Didn't really need to stop but what the hell, it was a social ride. Stopped for about 30 minutes

The stop was at the low point of the elevation profile above. Straight out of the food stop we were faced with a 25% 'wall' that nobody had mentioned ! Then it was the climb over Bigland, across the A590 and north through Grizedale Forest, Salterthwaite, Outgate, outskirts of Ambleside, Rydal Water and home.

We came in 88th / 89th and 90th out of a field of 140with an elapsed time of 4h 35m and a ride time of 3h 58m.... maybe we shouldn't have stopped !! We did well to avoid the snow which came in later that afternoon.

This is Gaz just coming into the finish, still smiling ! The christmas pudding and custard went down very well. So the stats..... The Garmin advised 56.5 miles but further investigation reveals that the Garmin reads about 4% low on a bike this is due to the 'fix' rate, about every 100m so the curves don't get measured. In a very rural setting this can be quite a loss. The ride is quoted at 58.5 miles consistent with this shortfall. Calories burned 4041, average speed 14.4 (slowed due to the ice - my excuse and I'm sticking to it), total ascent 4,350ft or 1,326m, reasonable for the time of year.

Till next time.....

Seasonal Affected Dissorder !

I keep saying going out in these temperatures is character building. It certainly is, won't it be so good to lose all these layers and just go out in a pair of bib shorts and a short sleeved top.

The sustained frozen roads over the Christmas break put paid to many miles between the 28th December and 1st Jan 09, but back out on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Jan 09 for 33, 29 and 51 miles respectively. With various gym visits in between, spin classes, X-trainers, pool running and various other weights and resistance work, it all seems to be going reasonably well.

The 6th Jan 09 saw the entries for the Etape du Dales... amazing !! Entries opened at 12:00 and it was sold out, 777 places by 14:30 ish. I got in, as did Thomo, Duncan and Pete so pleased about that, as I've said previously, what a fantastic route, May 17th will come quick enough.

The weekend of the weekend of the 10th and 11th Jan 09 saw rides of 33 and 67 miles, the latter fighting a 20 mph headwind for 2/3rds of the route along the Lancashire coast towards Liverpool, but it was good once we turned for home.

Work is very quiet, in fact almost non-existent at the moment so went out on Wednesday with Gaz for a leisurely 40m. About 14m in my chain broke, it must have only done 600m. I got my chain splicing tool out, pleased with myself having carried it for literally thousands of miles over many years to find the pin that pushes the chain pins is missing... not impressed, it's heavy and useless. Fortunately Gaz had one by Crank Brothers, very good. So we spliced the chain, bortered in oil, one we went. 10m later it snapped again in a different place. So we spliced it again and decided to turn for home. The 3rd time it snapped, it got hurled into a field !! and my wife came to the rescue. The shop put me on a new £40 chain with no questions FOC, complete with a lecture on how to maintain a chain.

Friday 16th Jan came down with a sore throat, this turned into a head cold and then moved to the breathing apparatus, just coming out the other end, a little fed-up to say the least but should be OK for the coming weekend.

Just signed-up to Lance's Twitter account, it's quite interesting, for example, this from a couple of days ago.....

Tidbit - we got up to 102 kms/hr today on a fast downhill. That's 63 mph. You don't want to hit the pavement @ that speed! 2:06 AM yesterday from TwitterBerry

Sign-up to Lance's twitter on: https://twitter.com/lancearmstrong?page=1

Just signed-up to the Dragon Ride, South Wales 14th June 2009, 185km / 3,000m, did this in 2007, good ride, it'll be the last big one before the Etape.

So, till next time.....

Festive exploits

The post Christmas period of sales and throwing away out-of-date food and wishing you hadn't eaten so much is upon us. From a training perspective it has been a good period, the weekend of the 13th / 14th December 79 miles and the weekend prior to Christmas started a cumulative ride distance of 191 miles in 1 week with various other training sessions like my first post-op run of 8 miles on the fells on Christmas Eve, running in a 1.2m deep swimming pool - 1 mile sessions at about 32 minutes.

The Christmas Eve run was followed by coffee, brandy, whiskey and mince pies back at the cars, well worthwhile and fantastic weather, the views from the top of Great Hill were getting up towards 40 miles. I blame Thomo for this festive excess, it was all his idea. See pic, top right at recent Leverhulme Park XC in November 08.

The 2 long rides of note in this period were 53m on 23rd Dec: Chorley - Darwen - Horden Rake - Lower Darwen - Shadsworth - Grane Road - Haslingden - Belmont - Rivington (Cafe !) - Coppul - Eccleston - Leyland, very hilly, estimate around 1200m in the 53m. Then 59m on the 27th Dec: Chorley - Preston - Grimsargh - Longridge - Chipping (Cafe - to thaw out my 15 year old son who was in the early stages of hypothermia !) - Great Mitton - Whalley - York - Blackburn - Pleasington - Wheelton - Chorley. Cliff (Brown - trains with us but not doing the Etape) came off on a patch of diesel on a roundabout, no real damage done apart from pride and a new pair of long cycling pants. Thomo has just had his chainset changed to a 50/34 compact, which is excactly what I'm using, or will be when I sort the new bike in the new year. Regarding my son, Ciaran (15), he does quite well all things considered, staying with us for nearly 60 miles at an average speed of over 15 mph.

The good news from the Etape party is that Yvonne is joining us for the event, assuming we can add her to the party. Yvonne Russell (36) experienced Ironman Triathlete, is warmly welcomed to our small group and will in all seriousness probably show us testosterone junkies how it should be done.

All in all, the post operation recovery has been fantastic so far, just hope I can carry on, sustain this training effort till March then pick it up.

Christmas brought me various cycling related bits like Assos clothing, so nicely presented I don't want to take them out of their boxes ! oh, and a lightweight folding aluminium work stand.

The cyclefilm.com Etape recon DVD arrived just before Christmas so we had a Ventoux evening on the 27th to terrify ourselves as to the enormity of our undertaking. There were some worried faces, particularly on the Ventoux ascent. It'll be tough but for me at least this will be my third Etape and I have never trained through the winter before so I hope this will have a massive payback come the big day. On a lighter note, the Cotes des Ventoux red wine is excellent and the Cyclefilms DVD is really well done, they get better each year, well worth the money.

Rehab

Published 15th December (started on the 6th.... oops!)

It's been a difficult couple of weeks following the hip op. My wife's mother, Mary (80), passed away quite unexpectedly leaving a large void in my wife's day to day, we all expected her to be around for many years to come. She is missed by all of us, the long process of adjustment to life without someone now begins.......

Did my first post-op turbo trainer session at 11 days, only 15 minutes light resistance. Then did a 35 minute session during a spin class, keeping the resistance low. Had a private physio session to try to correct the pelvic alignment issue caused by the injury. The NHS came through with their 'URGENT' physio appointment nearly 3 weeks post op !

Done 2 consecutive 30 minute turbo sessions now and am going to try to up this towards 45 minutes over the next weeks. All seems well on the hip so far.

Having entered the Cumbrian Christmas Cracker and then passed my entry to Gaz because of the hip op, texts and e-mails came through on Saturday 6th Dec to advise it has been cancelled due to ice and snow on the route. Shame, the 5 or 6 people from the club who had entered were looking forward to it. But as Thomo found out last Wednesday having just returned from Tenerife, cycling on icy roads is not a good idea. I think he was in Tenerife training with Lance but he's not admitting to it !

Picked up the new winter bike last weekend and wend out Saturday and Sunday 13th / 14th December 2008 on the flat mostly 25 on Sat and 30 on Sun, about 1300 Kcal burned, just about kept the weight static thruogh the operation period. Might add a hill or 2 this next weekend. I have to say it was cold on Sunday, lost all feeling in the feet for an hour after getting back but the bike was excellent.

Just getting the etape forms ready for submission with the various Doctor's signatures. There's a major inconsistency here, some Doctors are seeking to profit to the tune of £100 or so for the taxing task of signing a form to say someone can take part in competitive cycling. Others, like mine are glad that we do keep very fit and consequently don't spend our time in their surgery whingeing (apart from the odd hip injury !). Sportstours advise the sooner the forms are returned the higher up the start order we will be, hence the quick turn-around.

Oh, the Cumbrian Christmas Cracker people have decided to reschedule the event to 1st February 2009 and carry-over the start list. So, we'll be there !

Well, the excitement for this week is the Etape recon DVD is due to arrive, can't wait. Till next time, seasons greetings to anyone reading this post.....

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.....

Hip Hop

Didn't post last weekend, been under the weather for the past 2 weeks with this bug, tried to get back into training twice but just comes back with a vengeance. Cycled Sat and Sun last weekend, with my son on Sat about 40 miles with plenty of hills av. speed 16.0mph and in a group on Sun a good bit slower for many reasons: group speed / bug / wind. One thing I do know is that the bike is getting trashed, it's a Trek Madone 5.5 and needs to be put away in cotton wool till the Cheshire Cat 29th March 2009. So the search is on for a winter bike because my son now rides my older bike a Ribble triple.

So aside from the weekend rides, been doing the 45 min spin classes at the Next Generation Gym each Monday, these are good and shouldn't be entertained when you have a bug because all that happens is the bug spreads but that's probably where it came from despite copious quantities of Vit C to boost the immune system.

Regarding the Etape, was doing some research for next years sportives and went on the Etape Du Dales website and was knocked sideways to learn that the organiser of many previous years Stuart Holdsworth had been killed in the Yorkshire Dales in an accident with a car / caravan. Only knew him in the context of the event but was one great guy. I can see from the press releases he has left a wife and children and I would extend to them my sympathy.

The Etape du Dales is a must-do preparation event to be held next year on 17th May, opens for entries on 6th Jan 2009 06:00 and will fill up within 5 hours for 800 riders see http://www.etapedudales.co.uk/

It was following a trail from the Etape du Dales website that led me to discover that the French authorities have decided that a BCF Racing Licence is no longer acceptable and that overseas riders must have a Doctor sign-off the entry form. This is a bit of a blow because some doctors can be a bit uppity about signing such forms, mine is a star, he signs each year, no questions but others in the group are going to struggle. All this is aside from the fact that Peter Starkey has already paid £60 for his BCF Silver Licence !!! Seems I owe him one ! See http://www.cyclosport.org/article.aspx?id=953 for much more information.

So that's it for Sat 15th November 2008, off to a Cancer Research Charity Dinner Dance tonight. Cheers !
The Cumbrian Christmas Cracker was mentioned in a previous post but I note is now full, that's probably partly because Chorley Harriers have about 12 riders entered. From my point of view it loks like I can't do the event, this last week, after about 12 weeks of waiting, I received a phone call from the NHS offering me a cancellation for a hip operation, the operation date is now 20th November 2008 and I'm so relieved, I was worried this would extend into next year.

The operation is called a hip arthroscopy, quite a leading edge procedure, the consultant enters the hip joint with a camera and very small tools and tidies up various issues including a torn labrum (the gristly bit around the socket), some bit of bone referred to as a bone 'cam' etc etc. This will put me out of action for a number of weeks, I'm told it'll be 2 weeks before I can get on a turbo trainer then build up from there, probably 6 weeks before I can resume running.

So, aside from being elated at the news, this is going to be a somewhat sedentary period. Just been to the Red Rose XC meeting in Bolton, my son ran and I took photos (can't swell the joint before surgery). We are due out in the morning for 3 hours on the bikes, not sure what the weather will be doing, sometimes the surprise is better than the bad news !

Runing, cycling, research and the credit crunch

So, aside from coming to terms with the much discussed credit crunch, it's time to do some event planning for the coming months. Most cycle events are not taking entries for 09 as yet. The only event we have entered is the Cumbrian Christmas Cracker....... http://www.epicevents.org/section.php?xSec=17&jssCart=32c14882bb4a55955fc291216cf222da

This is a 60 miler in the Lakes on 7th December 2008, the fastest times from the 07 event were just under 4 hours, so a good social event. We've managed to talk plenty from Chorley Harriers into the event so should be a good day.


This weekend there was no opportunity for a group ride, I had a match at 12:45 Saturday (Everton v Fulham... yes an Evertonian and season ticket holder, likewise Tommo and Gaz are Liverpool season ticket holders, Frosty is a MUFC season ticket holder) so ended up going out at 07:45 Saturday, with the mercury reading -4 degrees, it was going to be cold but not raining. The road surfaces were lethal, some not gritted in my 2 hour / 35 mile circuit from Chorley via Brindle, Darwen, Tockholes, Belmont, Rivington, Horwich, Adlington, Coppul. It warmed up soon enough. Sunday AM along with 350 others had entered the Through the Villages Race from Wheelton, 8.45 miles of up / down, no flats. A bit of a challenge with the hip, particularly on the downhills, but got round in 1:06:50.

We are trying to fit in cycling with the cross country timetable at present, the next 2 Saturdays see XC events so the long rides will be Sunday AM. So another week looms to see if we can stay in business (Civil Engineer - construction - dire at present). On the upside there is a still a demand in the Middle East and there is a strong road club in Dubai. More next weekend......

Etape 09 route announced....hmmm!

Well, the route was announced 10 days ago and the excitement surrounding the possibility of riding the stage where Tom Simpson passed on seems to suggest it will be a sell out. The previous 2 years haven't sold out probably due to the severity of the routes, particularly 2007 (more later).

Photo right, Etape du Dales May 2008 - fantastic ride 175k / 3750m Yorkshire Dales, under 8 hours.

Sportstours UK, the tour operator has 1,000 places, 100 sold entry-only within 3 hours of going on sale, it was going to be a rush for places. Lobbied mates at our running club for interest, 6 positives, amazing. So it was to be Sunday night, midnight the packages came on sale. Numbers had dropped to 4 plus myself, still not bad for such a commitment, more on the team members later: frosty / tommo / pete starkey and gazbmw. We had selected our package (based at Bollene / Orange) fixed centre package, 3 nights just over £700. The application went off within minutes of them coming available, it was done, now it was a case of wait and see.

It was Tuesday 28th October before I received confirmation, we were in on our selected package, now the hard work would start. I've been doing long rides thruoghout the summer: Etape du Dales / Wicklow 200 (IRL) / TDF Etape Pau - Hautacam / Holiday on the Tourmalet / Spud Riley Memorial and the secret is to keep up the miles thruoghout the winter.... I keep telling myself. The rest of the group have been coming on Sat / Sun rides for the past 2 months up to 50 miles, all athletes (team photo to follow):

tommo (52): running with Chorley Harriers for over 20 years - fells / XC / road (numerous marathons - too many to mention !) / duathlons, road biking (regular Manchester > Blackpool)

pete starkey (54): running with Chorley Harriers for many years - prefers the fells / XC / mountainbiker until recently

gazbmw(40): running with Chorley Harriers for about 3 years - road / tri's and road biking - New York and London Marathons 07 / 08

frosty (48): mountain biker - convert to roads about 3 years ago - veteran of 4 x Wicklow 200's, 2 x TDF Etapes 07/08, Etape du dales 08, Dragon Ride 07, various kilotogo 100 - 125m sportives, running GNRun every year

The team regularly raise monies for their chosen charities by doing these events, most recently at my 50th birthday party which raised over £1,000 for Macmillan and Cancer Research.

So a 35m ride due in the morning, it's going to be cold and a 8.5m road race on Sunday - going to be painful with the hip injury, more on that later.