Banbury Star Hardriders 23m TT - The Battle of Sunrising

On Sunday, 23rd October 1642, A bloody battle between the Royalist and the Parliamentarians was fought on the "ledge of Oxfordshire" known as Edgehill of which the western side is known as Sunrising.
On the Sunday, 4th March 2012, a new battle was fought on this same ground between cyclists and the elements and one which can be considered as equally as gruesome!

My battle begun at 7.45am after waking to the sound of rain falling heavily from the grim sky's above. I proceeded to run through my typical race morning routine of loading the car, preparing my bottles and downing my hearty breakfast, which of course was fit for a king!
I left my comfortable abode behind me as i set off for the race HQ Located 4 miles over the top of Sunrising Hill in the Village of Wroxton, a mile or 2 north of Banbury. After pulling up in the car park and stacking claim to my own personal space, I sat a pondered about what I was doing here and what the best course of action would be.

I stayed in the warmth of my car as much as possible, managing to change in the passenger seat in order to preserve as much heat as possible. With my armour adorned and my weapon primed, I headed out on to the field for a pre-battle warm up. I quickly realised how cold the air was as it pounded my face and slowly began to overwhelm my clothing. This would be a cold ride and suffering is something that every warrior would have to accept.

The course itself is amazingly simple, head out north bound down the A422 toward Ettington where a turn of 180 degrees directs you back down the same path to finish in the same place as you begun. The course, like is say is simple, the process of the completing the course however is a little more tricky. 4 miles for the start/finish is the the deadly bite, sting in the tail, the nail in the coffin  known as Sunrising hill. A lengthy, twisting slither of tarmac which pitches up to 16% for the duration. Dangerous coming down and painful going up, this is usually the main enemy of this event but today there was a third enemy, the weather and one which would shape the outcome of this battle for many.

After warming up and quickly returning to freezing point whilst lining up at the start, I began my personal assault on my powerful challengers and quickly realised i was fighting a loosing battle. My legs and lungs still recovering from training in the week, I didn't feel comfortable on my valiant steed and felt twitchy as I descended Sunrising. After arriving at the bottom I ploughed onwards towards the turning point only to be inflicted with my first war wounds; The cold. It had took over my entire body and forced my system to divert all blood flow to my core in an effort to keep it warm, this meant that hands, feet, face, arms, legs and shoulders all lost vital heat and quickly turned ice. One i had reached the turning point I could no longer change gear, move my arms or even blinc without feeling the debilitating effect of the cold. However, The most savage chapter in this battle was yet to come but closing in fast.

It had been snowing since i started my ride and it continued to fall as I approached the foot of the "ledge", I went to perform the simple task of dropping my chain in to the small ring but even this left me swaying all over the road as i battled with my non existent fingers to make the shift. Eventually it dropped down at which point I tried to rise from the saddle. This again was a task that should have been simple but with my arms and shoulders having some time off from general opportating duties, I could barley support my upper body and struggled to control the bike as it swayed with the action of my pedalling. Its the first time i have almost fallen off going up hill but to my relief, I had won the battle and made it to the crest of Sunrising Hill. However the war was still to be won and as I drove on the pedals I tried in vein to shift back in the the big ring. As more force is required for this task, i found myself using both of my near useless hands and swerving all of the road. I had to pull over, shift the gear and then get going again. Not the fastest technique but the only way of performing such a task.

With a tail wind blowing snow and rain in to my frozen back, I dragged my wounded carcass back along the A422 to the finish line, crossing in just over the hour in 7th place overall. Leaning my bike against the car i stumbled in to the HQ which now resembled a WW2 field hospital! Riders shivering violently as there bodies tried to vibrate muscles in an effort to generate heat, other helping one another to remove sodden gloves and helmets due to numb and useless extremities. We had all fought a vicious battle with two worthy adversaries but ultimately there was a winner and a worthy one at that; All of us!! Everyone who had ridden had finished and regardless of time and placing, we were all worthy warriors.

Severn RC 25 mile TT

Date - Sunday 26th February
Race Location - Farfeild
Start Time - 10:30am

Today is a special day, today marks the first race of my 2012 season and also the first race I will race under the name of Rapid Performance Coaching. The race that would have the honor of staking claim to these two personal feats is one which holds good memories for me in years gone by, the Severn RC 25m TT. In previous seasons i managed a 3rd and 2nd overall but those who know me may be surprised to learn that this race would also mark the end of a 2 year hiatus from Open Time Trials.

Time Trials were all i ever did in my first 2 "real" seasons and something which i had great success in during those early years. However, soon the thrill of road racing took over and gripped me in its excitement and tacaticalness. However, by coming from a TT background I developed a certain Road Racing style and even now, I still find that i am usually one of the strongest in small break away group, the success of which lie in a hard sustained effort to build and maintain a gap. I could ride at a high pace all day whilst my competitors gradually faded. Although I have lost a little TT ability having not ridden them for 2 years, a lot of my RR training is still focused around long intervals so I still have that concerntration and suffering ability.

 As with most British Time Trials, it was an early start and after loading up the car, walking and feeding the dog and downing some breakfast, I headed off on the 60 mile trip to the HQ. With a pretty brisk journey beind me I proceeded to sign on, grab my number and smile to myself after seeing Rapid Performance Coaching following my name on the start and results sheets!
I decided that I would jump back in the car and park further up the road in a lay by which was closer to the start and finish and also a lot quieter than warming up in the HQ car park. however, only after having performed the TT Ritual of making good use of the HQ Toilet, of which typically there was only one!!!

With my start time approaching I hooked the bike in the Turbo complete with my Powertap Wheel. I have a pretty regimental warm up routine which i use for any event which requires a fast start and I rely on my Powertap to make sure i am doing the warm properly and structured just how i like it. Back home when i was loading the car i remember it being quite chilly, but here, pedalling on the turbo in a lay by with the sun beaming down from a crystal clear sky, I was sweating something chronic.

Warm up done, I changed my wheels and my top, slipped on my new gloves and newly stickered helmet and headed up the road to the start. I arrived in perfect time and pulled up to the sound of the starter calling my number.

Generally i will always use a power meter when racing, not necessarily to pace my self but for the analysis afterwards. However, as i was using my carbon wheel and my Quarq was on my Road Bike, I had no PM for this race so instead i set my Garmin to show distance, speed and average speed. I knew from the previous years of racing this event that i was just under the hour, however the course has changed since then due to traffic lights which has made it slightly slower and a bit more technical.

After going through the infamous countdown which i haven't heard ring i my ears for 2 years, I was off and on my way. With a fast start i quickly got up to speed and settled in to my aerobars, a position i have only rode in a handful of times for the whole 2 year period. After a few mile on the main A road, the route swings left on to the smaller back roads which was where the more technical aspects of the course were. Swooping turns, short rises, roundabouts all made for speed reducing obstacles but I was feeling pretty good and maintaining good momentum through the corners. I decided to use a variable pacing strategy where by I pushed harder on the drags, climbs and headwind sections and then recovered somewhat on the downhills and corners. On reflexion i feel this was the best option and one which i knew would yield me the best time.

After completing the loop and being spat back out on to the main road, I would then have to complete the loop again before being spat out again, heading past the turning, staying on the main road and heading towards the main turning point. The whole race I had being battling my average speed and knew that if i was on course for a descent result I would have to crack the hour and maintain atleast 25mph on this slow, griding course. Hitting the roundabout a full speed, I slung shot myself back round and power out of the turn and in pursuit of the finish line which was 8 miles up the road. My average speed was showing 24.6mph so i knew i had some work to do. I began to wind it up, overtaking the 5th rider i had passed during my ride. Head down, shoulders in, knees scrapping the top tube, I made myself as small as possible to the ever present wind and slowly i watched my average speed creep up 0.1mph at a time.

With about 0.5 miles to go i switched to watching the clock which read 59.18. I knew it was going to be super close but soon the finish line board came in to view and with one last big lunge for the line i hit the lap button on my clock which stopped at 59.59. Now that what i call scrapping the barrel!!

I headed back to the car to cool down on my Turbo, down my rcovery drink and get changed. I got to the HQ to give my number and check my time; 59.51, that will do and one of only a handfull of times which was under the hours. My overall placing in the event was 11th, in comparison to the previous years where i finished 3rd and 2nd, this seems not so good. However, those other results came when the field was only 20 riders big and no well know names riding. Today the field was much bigger and welcomed some of the bigger names in British Time Trialling. Also, something that was quite pleasing was that The Chap who came 12th was the same rider who piped me in to 2nd spot back in 2009! So on reflection im pretty happy. The winner Rob Pears who monstered round the course in 54.04!!! Awesome ride. the 2nd pace time juped up to 57.06 and from him back to me the times were very close, to the point where if I had gone just a little faster I would have been mixing it up in the 5th-10 place positions.

Looking back at the race I feel that I rode well, paced it to perfection and couldent really have done any more. One thing that I can note is that I didnt feel as though I had access to my real top end turbo boost, something which is only really opended up after a few weeks of V02 max training and something which i have yet to start.

Next week will see me ride in the Banbury Star Hardriders TT. Again a 25 mile TT but this time local to my house and one which is famous for including the 25% monster which is Sunrising Hill. Should be fun.

Training camp day 2 - A painful ending

The alarm went off a precisely 4 minutes past 8 and we awoke after another night of interesting noises ( from the beds not from us) and I was glad to wake up at all after dodging certain death when I tried to get out of my bunk bed to to too the loo at night, a scary experience!!

Our breakfast was a mix of Muesli, Chocolate Wheetabix, Cornflakes, Hot cross buns and Bagels, not each but as a group thankfully. After much debate about what to wear we were soon changed and ready to head out of the door, we had to take all of our stuff as we were not allowed back in the rooms once we had left so we loaded up the cars and headed down to hope to start the 2^nd day of riding.

Setting off once again in the near freezing conditions I was amazed at how much better my left felt and heading up the first climb I had high hopes that today’s ride would be much more pleasant than than the previous day. We headed from Hope, through the Hope Valley up to Fox House and then descended down the A625 to begin the second climb of the day. The climb of Froggott is a fairly gradual climb and a couple of kilometres in length. Apparently there is a challenge associated with this climb; Ride from the top to the bottom in a total of 15 minutes whilst stopping at each of the 2 pubs on the ascent and downing a pint. We opted out of this challenge and just decided to ride the climb as it was, although to be honest hanging on to Tony’s rear wheel was challenging enough!

Things began to get really interesting when we headed through Chatsworth National Park and had lots of fun dodging both cars and wild cattle which was everywhere and proving pretty dangerous. After this we headed on towards the next climb of the day which was somewhat off the beaten track, It was at this point during a “natural break” that Karl announced that he was feeling pretty tired after his 7 hrs yesterday and found our pace to much, funny that!! He decided that he would head back on his own and do a bit of a ride at his own pace. The 3 of us continued onwards an upwards up the narrow twisting climb and on to the flat plains at the top which shared a great resemblance to the plain that I came across last year in the Pyrenees, this was pretty cool and brought back some great memories and sparked some interesting conversation. Soon however, we found our selves heading back towards Bakewell which meant along stint on the main road. We thought it best if we single out and share a bit of the work which me and Tony were happy to do, Mike however didn’t want to play and sat on the wheels the whole time. The cheeky bugger!

Once in Bakewell we then proceeded towards Buxton and began the next climb, the climb of Longhill. As the name suggests it was quite long but thankfully pretty steady which was a good thing due to the fact that we were all beginning to feel the tiredness of the hard riding and cold weather. Longhill may ring a few bells with people as this was used last year for the National Hill Climb albeit in the opposite direction. Soon we found our selves on the last climb of the day and heading back towards the Hope. The descent off of this climb brought us, not hope but chocolaty delight as Mike had thoughtfully brought a bag of mini eggs which we all digged in to which gave us that final boost to finish the ride. We had one more descent to do before we entered Chapel En-Le Frith, the notorious and feared Winnats Pass. This 25% monster is known as one of the hardest climbs in the UK and we soon found it is was also one of the sketchiest descents in the UK too! Riding down this bad boy and dodging frozen puddles and icy patches was not fun but made for an epic feeling finish.

Back at the cars we cleaned down, got changed, slinged the bikes in the back and headed back in to the village for a coffee Crawl, just like a pub crawl only with....erm....coffee instead! Walking down the road I felt some sharp pains in my stomach but took it as nothing more that I sign that I needed the loo, which I did but after relieving myself the cramps would not disperse. It was in the 2^nd coffee shop just after finished my custard covered coffee cake that things took a turn for the worse and soon I was double on the floor of the café in extreme pain. I lay on my stomach for a while hoping the pain would subside but it didn’t and as I rose to my knees after a good 10 minutes on the cod concrete I felt somewhat queasy. About 2 seconds later I was running to the loo and throwing my £5.00 cake and coffee back up and in to the toilet. What a waste. Even after being sick I was still in pain and it was only about an hour in the journey home after some painkillers and ibuprofen that I felt normal. Not the kind of end to the weekend that I had hoped for but nonetheless I still came away with some great riding in my very tired legs and some grand memories of our first team training camp. We are all ready planning for the next one.

Team Training Weekend Day 1

The following post is written by team secretary & rider Dan Bill

Building our Bond

I think that its fair to say that the months have gone by pretty briskly and 4 months or base training has almost come to end. However, with just one more weekend of my last block to go I wanted to end it with a bang and what better way to do that than a training weekend in the Peak District with your team mates.

I have only ridden i the peaks once before but can remember it being pretty spectacular so thanks to the organisation skill of Mike and Tony I would be able to enjoy the roads one again. We had arranged to stay in Edale which is just up the road from Hope and would be staying in a youth Hostel which was located off the beaten track up a very steep and narrow drive way. Mike had driven up earlier with good Friend and race season rival Karl Hine from Cadence RT. The peaks used to me Mike and Karl's old stomping ground so they would be our tour guides for the weekend. Me and Tony when up together a little bit latter after i had finished work. It should take about 2 hours at the very most to get up there but little did we know of the misfortune we were about to encounter.

Nightmare Dive.

There we were cruising along up the motorway and next thing we are stationary trying to decide to turn on to the back roads or sit it out. A crash on the motorway had caused all the lanes to be closed and we were going no where. We took the punt and turned off but unfortunately for us, the diversion we took was also subject to a crash so we were stuck in just as much traffic as on the motorway. After 4.5hrs we finally approached the Fox House pub where we had arranged to have some grub and as we were driving up we realised that winter was here and there was snow on the ground. As we got higher the snow got deeper and after arriving at the pub with no sight of the others, the landlord told us that we wouldn't be able to eat as the Chef was going home due to the snow....Talk about a cop out.

The problem was we didn't have a signal so we couldn't find out where the others were or what they were doing. We decided to push on to the Hostel and agreed that we would most likely see them coming the other way but we didn't! After arriving at the Hostel we got our key and headed to the room to find a not under the door form mike telling us they had gone to the Fox House pub, booked a table for 8pm and would meet us there. With the time now 8.15pm we decided to stay put and for our dinner we had a bowl of cereal and a Bagel and then played table tennis for the next 3 hours. It was only when the other got back did we find out that they had got served dinner and had a massive slap up feast. Annoying but at least we were all together and ready for the days head.

Comouth the Ice and the Snow!

Waking up on Saturday morning after a some what noisy and creaky sleep in my bunk bed, we drew back the curtains to find Ice and lots of it. Typically we had timed our training weekend to coincide with the arrival of the big freeze, good job we all packed for it. We decided to drive down the back road from the Hostel to Hope due to the ice and set off from there. It was around 0 degrees when we took the first pedal strokes and it also was also the point where i realised just how bad i felt. Apart from the fact i had a slight cold coming, the cumulative effects of 4 months of solid and consistent training had made there mark on my body and i felt pretty fatigued, although its only what i expected and ultimately its all part of the bigger plan.

The planned route today would take us around the one popular Tour of the Peaks Elite Road Race which used to grace this part of the country with its presence up until 2005 which saw the races lat edition. After putting my of my wardrobe on i soon realised after the first climb that i was much too over dressed but thankfully i had my awesome Orlieb Saddle back which meant i could strip of some layers and store them in there, Karl also had the same idea and i ended up storing everyone else's crap as well!!!

As the ride went on I slowly began to feel even more fatigued and it was only the fact that i was riding with my mates in an amazing part of the world which kept me plugging away. After about 2.5 hrs we deviated from the race route in order to tackle Holme Moss, a Continental style climb which begins at Woodhead and takes you over the peak ending in Holmefirth. This was an amazing climb with even more amazing views of the snow covered caps and frozen reservoir. If i had been blindfolded and taken to the top of this climb it would be easy to thin that you were in the middle of the Alps. Unfortunately i couldn't enjoy it as much as id hoped due to suffering so much. I was soon plodding up on my own struggling to maintain 250 watts which i would typically be able to ride at for 2 hours or so. Tony was flying and leaving us all for dead and Karl and Mike were always in hot pursuit.



Holme Moss



Descending back down along the same route and back on the the course we began to head towards the next main climb, the infamous and well know Snake Pass. I had never done this climb but heard alot about it, we were very lucky to be able to ride it as only a few hours before our arrival the pass had been closed due to the whether. As we pulling in to a petrol station so Mike could grab a can of coke an amazing thing happened; I started to feel like i had some legs!!!



A snowy Snakes Pass



Riding up Snake Pass was great, i felt fresh and was able to actually ride with the others. there was still a lot of snow at the peak of the climb but the descent was pretty clear. From here we headed back towards Hope to where the cars were parked and i was almost sad that the ride was ending, what a difference to when i first set off. I decided to ride back to Hostel up the road which we had to drive down and meet the others there, Karl decided he wanted to do more as well and he headed off towards Sheffield to put in other 2 hours on top of the 5 we had already done. I was keen to keep riding but not that keen.



Dinner Time



Back at the hostel the rest of us were showered and warm and we decided to get dinner started. Karl finally decided to show up just in time for some grub and its fair to say we had  pretty hearty feast of pasta, chicken and every type of veg you could think of. After this we headed down to hope for some more food at a local pub and then hit the sack around 11pm ready for some more riding tomorrow. I just hoped that i felt better than i did today!!



2012 - The Year of The Team!

The start of 2012 marks the start of the second year for Rapid Performance Coaching and although the business side of things are coming along nicely we don't intend to rest on our lurels as this year will see us realise a dream that we never thought would come about so soon.

Over the past couple of months a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes of RPC and after hundreds of phone calls and thousands of emails we can final announce that RPC will enter in to the 2012 season with an official and fully affiliated cycling team, Rapid Performance Coaching - RT.

A cycling team is something that has always been in the plans for the company and half way through the 2011 season we decided that instead of waiting for some premonition or sigh telling us when the right moment would be, we decided to take things in to our own hands and just do its now instead!
The first thing we would have to do is put together a blue print for the team and the biggest questions that we needed to answer were how big should the team be and what would be it primary goals. In the end we decided to compose a squad of 6 highly discliplined and highly motivated cyclists that were all based in and around the Cotswold's where the RPC headquarters are located. The goals for the team would be simple; to race as a well oiled and highly tuned team competing as one for the glory of the all, we will be competing in  regional, national, and even international events throughout 2012 with the aim of exposing the RPC name and building a reputation for ourselves which will help see us in to the 2013 season with much bigger plans.

So who's on the Team?
We firstly the team will be made up of the support from 2 companies, the first being the title sponsor, RPC, which is no big surprise. However, the team will also be supported by a new company, one which is conceived around the same time as RPC and has similar business ambitions. SUB ZERO BIKE CO is a new online performance cycle retailer which specialises in importing niche, high quality and classy Italian bike components, many of which have never been seen in the uk until now. The range of products vary from ceramic jockywheels and titanium chain ring bolts to full carbon framesets and deep section wheels. Check out the website and keep checking back as new products are always coming in, http://www.subzerobikesco.co.uk/

So the first 2 riders who will make up the team are non other than the owner and head coach of Rapid Performance Coaching, Jamie McCabe and yours truly, Dan Bill. Jamie will take on the role of Director Sportif for the team during bigger races and will also represent the team in Regional and National TT's.

I will make up one of the riders of the road team and will look to compete in Regional and National road races, Time Trials, Cylocross and maybe the occasional Hill Climb depending on how dead my legs are come October.
The 2nd and 3rd riders who will make up the road team share more than just the same ambitions, they also share the same last name!! Tony and Mike Kiss are brother in arms when it comes to road racing and both have been competing from many years. Tony has came to fruition over the last 2 years by making a name for himself on the UK road racing circuit by going from 4th to 2nd cat in the space of a year and building an impressive palmares through his attacking racing style.
Mike started arcing before his younger brother and in his teen years discovered he had a talent for this cycling lark, in fact he had so much talent he was drafted in to a Continental team before he finished a a Junior and lived as a pro racing for a domestic pro squad in southern France. After a few year he decided that he wanted a break and headed back to the UK and never did any major racing until a year ago. It hasn't taken long for him t get back in to the swing of things and has already won some high calibre races, these brother are defiantly a pair to watch in 2012.

The last 2 riders to make up the 5 man road team are a pair of riders who i have been team mates with before a few years ago when we all rode for Echelon Cycles based in Pershore. Joe page completed his first season as a senior in 2011 and has been improving from the day i first met him. He is a supremely talented young rider who is string in every area whether it be a time trial, a hill climb or a Sprint, you can bet that Joe will be there and mixing it up with the best. I'm really glad that Joe is on the squad for this year as hopefully with the experience of the riders he will have around him, he will win some big races this and continue to grow in to a fine rider.
Finally, Adrian Bird completes the line up. As the veteran of them, Ady has races some of the UKs biggest races included various premier calendars and held an elite licence for many years. He has races stage races abroad, competed against world renowned riders and even set up his own team in the past. Oh it doesn't stop these, you know SubZeroBikesCo who are sponsoring the team this year? Well Adrian is the man behind the company and set the business up from scratch with no prior experience all on his own. Basically he has done it all and is a huge asset to this well streamlined team.

As well move through January, all the hard work is begging to pay of as all the bit and pieces begin to merge together to form the team. One of the biggest things that we had to get sorted was the team kit but thanks to the amazing work of Ken, Chris and Bill at Bio-Racer we have signed of a kit design which looks ace. If you ever decided to set up a team or just want some custom clothing then these are the guys to go with, they are superb. There is still lots to sort out and we are even in deep discussions with a certain company who sound very interested in our team, but i want give too much away just yet.

So, keep checking back to see what happening and I'm sure that you will see us at a race near you when the racing season starts.

Ride Safe, Ride Smart

Dan

Three’s a Crowd……And Lots of Fun

Ride Day 4 – Ride through Gorge de Nesque to Sault

Distance – 70 miles

Conditions – Glorious sunshine, no wind and hot

Yesterday I ended up doing a ride on my own as the weather wasn't too good, Mike was having a rest after a long day yesterday and we swapped the days around slightly to sink with the weather forecast. I didn't really have a plan as such so I simply whipped out the map and pointed to a village somewhere that looked like would make for a descent ride out, the village that I found was Grignan and somewhere out to the north. I set out in full wet gear as I saw it was spitting and the skies looked threatening but as it was, after 3 miles in to the ride I had to pull over to remove most of my kit as the weather had made a sharp turn or the better and this carried on or the rest of the ride.

All the way to Grignan I was treated to a glorious tailwind which made for a consistent ride but was then faced with a stiff headwind all the way back. To cut a long story short, the ride was a lot further than I thought, the headwind made it take longer than I had estimated and in the last 9km I could barely turn the pedals anymore. A lack of food and constant grovelling saw me bonk like I have never bonked before and I literally had to roil the last 5km before arriving at the front door. Not a nice experience but I have only myself to blame.

A New Day

There is only one thing that makes cycling more enjoyable than cycling alone and that's cycling with friends, family or both at the same time. This is what we did on Wednesday which would be my 4^th day if riding and the mid-way point through the holiday, we woke to clear skis and headed out on the bikes with spring kit on in order to keep the early morning chill at bay. The rout e we had planned would be a spectacular one and would see us ride out along the renowned Gorges de Nesque which links Villes Sur Auzon to Sault via 28km of asphalt draped heaven with views to match.

We were extremely lucky with our location as the road starts literally out of our village and climb's at a stead 3-4% for almost 20km, passes through tunnels cut in to the mountain side and swoops rounds many edgeless hair pins with sheer drops to the side. Amazing.

For the 90 minutes that it took to ride along this road we never saw another sole except for one of two opportunists taking snaps of the rock formations that sat across the gorge. We soon began our descent in to the market town of Sault which is where the 3^rd and easiest ascent of Mt Ventoux begins. The climb from side is the longest of all 3 at 26km but most of it is at a comfortable gradient of 5% or less, it's only when the climb meets up with the road from Bedoin at Chalet Reynard that it kicks up as it used the same last 6km as the most well-known ascent which the tour uses. As we began the climb I decided to ride at my own pace up until Reynard, once I reached the Restaurant I descended back to meet Dad and Mike and ride back to it with them.

It is at this point where we began our assault on the last 6km; I took a picture off of the first corner and mike pushed on with a spring in his step. I saw this as an opportunity to push the legs a little and I set off in hot pursuit. As it turns out, Mike, who was fresh from a day of rest and fully fuelled on heaps of pasta, was setting a furious pace and I took me what felt like an age to catch up with him. When I did I sat on his wheel just trying to hold the pace of this man possessed, we finished the climb side by side and was treated to spectacular views across the plain of Provence, with the Alps to the north and the coast to the south, these views have to be seen to be believed and seem all the better after you have pedalled your way to the top.

After a short break taking in the views and waiting for the old man, who did a great ride up the climb, we togged ourselves up in our extra layers and began our descent down the north side which would take us in to the town of Malucene.

We knew that the descent would be cold but god, not this cold. It was like being hit in the face with a frozen sledge hammer and I had to adopt the system of descending one handed in order to use my spare hand as a face shield to stop it freezing. After reaching the bottom safely we made our way back homewards via the Col de Madalene, no not that one but a smaller version which links Malucene and Bedoin and is a piece of road that has become well known by me and my dad as we had to ride it every time we wanted to ride the mountain when we were staying in the other village in years gone by.

Soon we were on the home stretch and had 9km to go when dad began to feel the effects of a hard ride in his legs, it is at this point where me and mike hit the front and tried to shelter him whilst keeping the pace up in order to get him home. Well, this is how the plan started out but soon it began to turn in to a 2 up team trial as me and mike drilled the front and I took the chance to practise my Fabian Cancellara style invisible aero bar position. Dad hung on for as long as possible and enjoying the pain, he dropped off the train with about 1km to go but we all rolled to house together which completed what was a stunning and memorable ride for us all.

Rain, Wind and more Rain and Wind

Ride Day Two - Ascent up Ventoux and back along the northern road
Conditions - Dull, Raining and extreamly windy
Distance - 83 miles
Total time - 5.34 hrs
TSS - 301

 Waking up at a 9.30, again the longest lie in i have had for about 10 years, I checked the weather from the bedroom window and was pleased to see the sun and dry ground, although the wind was blowing an absolute gail. But considering the forcast the previous day said heavy rain I was quite pleased with what we had been given.
The aim of todays ride was to do another 5 hrs or so and rack up a total of 300 TSS which would see us with a great training stimulas and some quality base miles. As for the route, I had planned to ride out to Malaucene and complete the ascent of Ventoux which starts in the town, we would then descent from the summit  down in to Sault and take a right which would see us head west along the back of Ventoux on the D942, D74 and the D40 which will bring us to Entrechaux. From here it would be a ride back south through Bedoin and home again which should give us a good 5 hrs on the clock.


As we headed out of the village we soon realized how windy it actually was and when Ventoux finally came in to view we cringed at what we saw; Big black clouds whirling around around the summit and sitting so low that you couldent even see the white stone that has made the mountain famous, it was a like a scene from a Count Dracular movie where you get the first glimpse of his Castle with clouds circling above. We agreed that we would ascend as far as it was sensible and if we had to the we would head back down and change the route.


We hit the climb after about and hours worth of riding and was thankful that the mountain side was sheltering us from the wind. After a couple of kms we meet a mountain biker who was holiday from his home of St Tropez, he asked if we minded if he stuck with us for as long as he could which was fine by us. We had a nice chat for a while which made the miles tick by but it didnt hide the fact that the air was getting colder and the summit was still looking pretty horrid. I told Mike that i would plough onwards to Mont Serein and see what the conditions were like and whether it was worth carrying on to the Summit. I accelerated off and let Mike keep the french man entertained, It suddenly became very hard work with the hardest section of 2 km at 11% infected with a super strong headwind, it didt make the ascent any easier. When i did eventually reach Mont Serein I was literally blown over and very close to being blown off the side, I quickly whipped my awseome Gortex coat out and descended back down to meet Mike. I told him that it was a pointless task trying to reach the summit and it would only end with us in trouble if we did get to the top, at this point we turned around and began the descend bact to the town during which we almost had a Tour de France moment when 2 stray dogs were running around on the road and we only just manahed to get past with out a massive accident.


Up on finishing the descent, we changed the route plan and decided to ride the otherway round to sault on the same road but simply doing it backwards. Mike however had had enough and decided that he would head home as he was feeling pretty tired. We shook hands and went our seperate ways, although i have to admit i was a bit unsure about leaving him to find his own way back as he is known as the James May of Stratford CC as his sense of direction is pretty bad! Sorry Mike. I kept to the plan and headed towards to D40 which would take me to Sault and soon it was clear that it would be a tough ride, the Wind was easily blowing at 45-50km and it was directly against me and would be for the next 40 miles. I settled in, had some more food and just dug away. The wind was draining the life out of me and no matter how much I ate or drank i was slowly getting more and more fatigued and things only got worse when the hevans opened up with 10km to Sault. Thankfully i had my handy Gortex rain coat which i have to say is one of the best peices of kit i have ever brought.


Finally i reached Sault and was completely drained, 2 hours in to the head wind had proved hard work and i was greatfull that i was changing dirction and heading west back over the Col de Les Abeilles which desends straight in to my Village. With the rain still falling i got going immediatly and felt a bit better than i did earlier on and started the climb with a spring in my step but soon enough the wind was back in my face and i was back to crawlng speed and being robbed of my last reserves. Over the top of the climb I didnt have far to go but my body had decided it wanted to finish now and i was soon treated to the feelings of the dreaded bonk; Tingly fingers, numb legs, tunnel vision and dizzy spells. I pulled over to compose my self and down my last bit of sustinence; a CNP Cola flavoured gel, boy did it hit the spot. It gave me the enough fuel to get over the last few rises which finally saw me start the descent, one of the scariest descents i have ever done. The road isnt steep or technical, the complete opposite in fact, it was due to being battered from the left by a hurricane force wind and having my front wheel lifted off of the floor whist doing 50 mph, Pretty fucking scary.


Finally i pulled up outside our residence and have rearly been happier or more releaved to be home. The first thing i did was sit down and gulp a recovery drink, closley followed by a cup of tea, cosley followed by a bowl of cereal, closely followed by anothet cup of tea. The shower fely like a dream and the 3rd cup of tea after it tasted just as good as the first. Well, i ended up doing what i planned; 5.5 hrs on the clock and just over 300 TSS, job done. Oh and remeber Mike who headed home as he decided he didnt want to do a long ride? well it turns out he did end up getting lost and arrived only 5 minutes before me with 75 milles on the clock! Hard core.