Kernow &SW

This weekends ride for me is another long 600km audax through some of the lovely lanes in the SW of England. Starting in Exeter, the route heads west, then south before arriving in Penzance. From here it's back to Bude for a few hours kip before continuing into Dorset, eventually finishing with some hard climbing around the south Devon coast. I rode this event a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, so with the weather looking not too bad, I'm hoping to get round without too much trouble.

Kernow & SW route

Tour of Wessex 2013

I had been building up to this and finally I was taking the drive down to Somerton for the Tour of Wessex.  I had never done this much mileage before, and to be honest I didn't know for sure how this was all going to turn out.  I had secured a place in a local B&B just 0.5 miles from the event HQ, so registered the night before the event and then met Vero for some pasta in the local pub.

Day 1:
The weather was planned to be a sunny 17 degree day.  My heartrate was high on the line, must have been the nerves but we queued for 20 mins or so to start.  When we got going things were rolling along ok.  I had managed to ride with a few small groups, but found myself isolated from time to time and especially in the second half of the ride until with 8 miles of the 107 to go a rider pulled along side, and when I looked over my shoulder there must have been 30 riders, so I caught this bus home.  Stage 1 complete and still in one piece.


Day 2:
The weather was fantastic, sunny, and 21 degrees.  The warmest weather I had ridden in since last summer.  The longest of the days at 116 miles was a run to the south coast towards Lulworth, Corfe Castle and back up through the tank ranges and into the headwind north to Somerton.  I had a great tow to start with covering 11 miles in around 31 mins but these boys were moving a bit quick for me and I didn't want to blow too early.  The drag home took it's toll on me and I was feeling it at the end.  It was at this point that I realised that recovery wasn't a game anymore and I was going to follow a process of calorie and fluid consumption.  I did my best.



Day 3:
I knew it was too good to be true, I awoke with heavy legs and forced myself through breakfast.  The 0.5 mile to the start was harder than I wanted and I thought to myself this is going to be a long day.  At the start there was a warning from the ride organisers: 'It's a tough day today, the hardest yet, and we have a strong gusting wind.  If you are in any doubt about your ability, you need to ride the standard route (53 mile version).'  I wasn't in doubt until I heard this!!!  10 miles in and things were moving ok, and I really enjoyed Porlock toll road but the wind was brutal on the top of Exmoor National Park.  Having been fighting the wind in the morning and over Exmoor there was one good thing, a cross/tail wind home.  Once I was past the food station at 57 miles I knew I was riding back to my car and that was what I focused on.  I finished on my own without a rider insight infront or behind me.



Results:
828 Riders listed on the entry list
370 Riders finished the 3 long stages
Day 1: 5h 54m 53s - 76th - Bronze
Day 2: 6h 24m 32s - 67th - Silver
Day 3: 7h 04m 07s - 64th - Bronze
Overall: 19h 23m 32s - 61st - Bronze

 

 

I'd like to thank Vero for taking the time to meet each night, it's always good to talk about the day and plan the next.

 

Official highlights released, about 1m 30s in there is a SWRC shirt:

Tour of Wessex 2013

 

 



Getting the miles in

Now the weather has started to warm up the club runs are heading further south and there's no better time to get the miles in and head off to the coast. Here's the A group heading over the Downs , which was where I had to turn back, but I had my reporter on the ride which made it to Arundel where the group sat out in the sunshine. Meanwhile back in Mallorca a typical club run ends with a 3 course meal at a restaurant, very smart. So what's it likely to be in the future for the club. Packet of chips on the seafront with an ice cream to follow or a la Carte meal with fine china and napkins?

BCM the result

Leaving Menai bridge it was a 4hr ride south back to Kings youth hostel, (shown below) where we had been earlier in the day. I arrived there at 3:30am and sandwiched 2 hrs of sleep between a meal of pasta and rhubarb pie, and some cornflakes and beans on toast. I had ridden 400km and only had 200km to ride on Sunday.
I was away 7am straight up the biggest climb of the event at 350m as we straddled the Cambrian mountains. Sunday started a bit overcast but as the day wore on the temperate increased and layers began to be taken off. This turned out to be the hottest day in the 3 years I've ridden this event. Controls as ever were spaced around every 50 miles. The first one at Aberhafesp were I had another breakfast and relaxed for a bit (second photo). The route follows the border of England and Wales and on reaching Knighton, home to Offa's Dyke, I treated myself to an ice cream. Then a bit further down the road I fancied a proper cup of tea and stopped at a lovely tearoom in Pembridge. Last control at Weobley and there was a dozen cyclist sat around the green eating and chatting (last photo).No one in a rush to head off as there was only 50 miles to go and we were all well within the cut off time.

BCM. Half way

At Menai straits and half way round the 40hr max time limit event in 17hrs

BCM. Bike saddle fixed

I rode 1.5 hrs out of the saddle till reaching Builth Wells were Gareth from the LBC Cycle-Tec was able to fix my seat pin. Luckily I had retrieved the clamps from the road were it had broken and with some new bolts fitted I was ready to roll again. And all for a few quid. Thank you guys. Trans Wales organiser John Lloydd popped in and so I had a chat to him too and they also made me a tea with biscuits. Great.

BCM hick-up

Broken seat pin so having to ride out the saddle. Bike shop 25km further up the road so hopefully be able to sort it.

Bryan Chapman 600km

I'm here again, this year on my own, in Chepstow for the BCM 600km. 40 hrs or all weekend to get from here to Angelsea and back.

club trip ardennes classic week

a week in belgium , take in a couple of races , and ride bikes on some of the famous climbs ,
this was the plan hatched by roger jackerman and his mate neil , over a beer last year.

neil and his wife ann run a motorsport theamed hotel near Spa , and neil instructs riders
at the nearby Francorchamps racing circuit, he is quite usefull on a pedal bike as well.

so with bikes squeesed into the back of rogers car, roger , clive wilkins and myself,
set off for belgium.



Amstel gold

Neil and Ann took us over the border by car to Valkenburg in holland , for this race.
all the action would take place on the climb , which also featured in last years world
championships, we found a good spot on the hill to watch the race a have a picnic in
the sun

Flech Wallonne

again we made use of neils car to transport bikes to halfway , so we had time to watch
the racing.
we arrived at Huy to be told that we had just missed the cut-off time by 10 minutes to
have  go on the famous cobbled climb, as we rode back up the main road we met up
with Alan and nick, who were also here to watch the race and take part in the sportive.
we found a good place to watch both the womens and mens race and imagine what it
would be like to to do this climb 4 times over 200kms.

the rides

we were to spend the rest of the week , trying out some the climbs that would feature
in the Liege-bastogne-liege race over the next weekend, also fitting in many cafe stops
and visits to the WW2 armory , on display in the villages.

it was a great weeks holiday , helped by fantastic food and wine from Ann in the
evening, and trying some of the best traffic free roads in europe (think surrey hills without
potholes and cars) .
if its on again next year its well worth putting in your diary

Directions to follow for the May Flyer

STRAIGHT ON

NEXT RIGHT

'Pro cyclist' at Paul Smith Maglia Rosa jersey launch.

2 weeks ago I was fortunate enough to blag an invite to the Paul Smith launch of the Maglia Rosa jersey in Covent Garden. I rode from work and met a friend of mine who's wife works for Paul Smith. On display was Paul's personal collection of team jerseys, former winners Maglia Rosa jerseys, 4 Pinarello special edition Paul Smith bikes and a bike sculpture by the artist Charming Baker. The polished aluminium track bike is held on the plinth by a mouse and is titled 'Triumph In The Face of Absurdity'. It was an evening of Italian food and drink, hob nobbing with the cycling press and meeting the man himself. I felt flattered when a female photographer approached me and asked if she could take my picture 'draped' over one of the Pinarellos, to which I agreed (I must add that I was in full South Western kit). When she had taken a few shots she asked me what my name was and after telling her she then asked if I was a pro cyclist.  When I laughingly said that I wasn't she was surprised as she thought I was the same build as one! Flattered - absolutely!
 

new hi tech bike seen at fleche wallonne

A week in Belgium

Following Alan''s posts on our week in the Ardennes ,here are a few ,belated, miscellaneous thoughts on the week. There were 32 of us and we were a fairly international group,including 2 Aussies who ,both aged about 25 and having saved up enough to put a deposit down on a house decided a far better use of the funds would be to come over to Europe to ride their bikes and see some of the big pro races for 6 months ,culminating in riding the Cent Cols in June. Both good lads ,keen racing cyclists and living the dream. There were also 3 Germans, 2 Danes, 2 Belgians,one Basque but who was a friend of Phil  living in the Ardennes and the rest of us Brits. Many were ex or future Cent Cols riders and that combined with this being a Phil Deeker jolly meant lots of kms and lots of metres of ascent during the week were an inevitability. To give you an idea the overall mileage over the week for someone who did not have a day off ( as Alan and I did on Friday along with quite few others ) was 1200kms. this is Alan and me at the end of the Liege Bastogne Liege sportive run the day before the race. This was the culmination of the week. 274 kms and 4350m of ascent. We started together -parted at the first feed stop where I needed a pee- joined up again -parted again when I could not hold on to the group Alan was with -and I ended up finishing 2 minutes after Alan. As I rode up to him on the finish line he said,without any trace of irony, " Oh-I did not expect you to arrive for ages yet " .In fact on the last feedstop about 40 kms from the end at the bottom of the Redoute climb, he left just as I arrived  . In contrast to the UK, the overall event was not timed but 4 of the classic climbs, the event following the race route almost exactly , were timed . Because  we rode 12 kms to the start of the race route I did not have my garmin on for the whole ride but to give you an idea  we took about 10 hours 40 minutes.,only about 4 hours longer than the pros…….. It is a great event, lots of nationalities riding including about 6 from Dulwich Paragon and one from Dynamo . A brute of a head wind for the last 150kms coming back from Bastogne and a very cold day made it more of a test than it might have been but it was dry and sunny ( in contrast to the previous year when it was sleeting or raining throughout )  and so an enjoyable,though challenging day out.

The Battle of the Bulge was fought in the Ardennes and many towns and villages have memorials to the Allied troops.  Here in the town of Spa Alan is actually trying to track down the Club bike box for someone to take to Mallorca on the Club trip the following day. However improbable this sounds. His posture I cannot explain.

Just after the last feedstop on the thursday after we had eaten the quite superb flans that Alan pictured below.  A group of about 12 of us had set off while Phil was tracking down someone who had got lost  and the garmin tried to take us up a gravel track so we had to wait on this bridge for Phil to catch us up to lead us the last 60kms or so home. This was the best day of the week for me -as mentioned in Alan's last blog. 200kms on Phil's local roads. Not unlike  the Tour of the Surrey Hills Audax run out of Shere each year -but twice as long. It is the most superb cycling country-very few cars, pretty towns and villages but not too chocolate boxy -and the climbs go up to about 4-5kms with one of 7kms , i.e. longer than we have in Surrey  but not too dissimilar.

This is the bottom of what is known as the longest climb in Belgium as it goes up,then down ,then up again and then down and then up once more to the top. As you can see Maxi Monfort ,a local boy, has the record time. The photo below shows the start of the climb,as you turn off the high street in the town of Spa-BANG and you are straight into it ,even over cobbles for a while and very steep for at least a km and a lot longer to go after that but a beautiful climb ending in a forest .

Here we are at the top of the climb -the col de la Haussire.

A bit random ,apologies , but this is on the Mur de Huy in the Flèche Wallone. These guys are in perhaps the third or fourth group,by now people are starting to walk down the climb and they are just about to navigate the 30% bend about half way up with pedestrians forcing them to take the direct line ,not what they needed at this stage.  They looked absolutely shattered and are going slower up it than we did the day before . Well perhaps not quite that slow but you get the idea.

Second day , another tour of Phil's local roads ,of which there are so many ,it is not necessary to repeat your tracks over the week . Alan seen here with Ben who rode with us ,when I was here with Niall and Mark Packman two years ago He is a sponsored rider racing in California ,tho a Brit and who works for some of the time for Rapha. He is quite good……...

If you are a rather keen cyclist and you own a metal fabrication company and you have  a van then you can see what you can have made for the back of said van ,using said metal fabrication facility. Mike Simpson, Cent Cols veteran, top chap and very good rider -third in last year's Cyclo Cross Nationals in the 40s age group. Actually there were rather a lot of good riders who had not seen nearly enough winters ( or summers ) so staying with the front group during the week was ,for me ,for the vast majority of the week ,not an option but there were always plenty of other people to ride with and it all worked very well.

At one stage we rather tired of Phil ripping our legs off and making us go up yet another bloody hill, so we locked him behind a large fence so we could have a rest  , albeit with his wife Claire for company.  He was bleating so this chap asked him if needed help to escape.

An excellent week and highly recommended as a way of seeing 3 of the Classics and getting a load of riding in at the same time. Thanks Phil and Claire once again.

Nick A