July… 768 miles

 

Total mileage in July – 768 miles

Total ascent in July – 37,829ft

Total mileage in 2011 to-date – 4,441 miles

Total ascent in 2011 to-date – 168,430ft

 

 

The Other Fleet Moss Randonnée

Well bizarrely Anthony and I found ourselves at the start of the ride ready to go a whole 15 minutes early, which is unheard of.  We’d parked in a space allocated to the Blind Society, but reasoned that the chances of a blind person wanting to park there were slim to none.  We were that early we didn’t know what to do, so we had a cup of coffee and a chat to all the people we now know in the audax world, such as Peter, who tells me he is an avid reader of this blog*  Anyway, we set off at 8am and strangely for an audax we rode in a peloton for the first 40 miles or so, which meant we were averaging over 17mph at the time.  We had a good chat with Mike Wigley, the secretary of audax uk, who has some interesting plans for the future, and who gave me some good advice about 24 hour time trials.

7007ft of ascent

Anyway after passing through Skipton and Cracoe and other places we seem to frequent a lot these days, we decided to stop for some food before we hit the big climb of Fleet Moss, which gets 9/10 in the 100 climbs book – although we were doing the easier south side apparently.  We ate in a bistro (get us) and then set off towards Fleet Moss.  Some slight routing problems overcome we hit the slopes.  We actually started climbing some 12 miles before but Fleet Moss itself is about 3 miles long with a couple of 14-15% sections.  I’d taken sun lotion with me so of course the day was cloudy, but still very warm going up.  We went up with some senior riders, two of whom went past me on the climb and I couldn’t catch them again – amazing stuff!  Anyway, at the top I waited for Anthony and then we set off down the descent.  The first bit is a 20% drop and then it flattens a bit before dropping again.  So we crested the hill and my heart sank.  There was a Land Rover in the middle of the road, and a cyclist lay covered with a blanket in front of it, with some of the other addaxes stood around.  My first thought was that he had been hit by the car but apparently he had come off trying to avoid a sheep and the kind souls in the Land Rover had stopped to help.  Our fellow audaxers had phoned for an ambulance some 20 minutes earlier so Anthony rang again.  There was a doctor in the group who suspected broken ribs (and something else I can’t spell).  Anyway, with the ambulance reminded again we set off and hit the main descent.  Normally I would fly down these but I was slightly unnerved so I stayed on the brakes.  Even so I hit 51.3mph!  On the way up we passed two ambulances with blue lights flashing, which was good news.  It turns out the air ambulance also turned out and eventually took the chap to hospital – I do hope he is okay and not in too much pain.

In Hawes we stopped for a coffee and a chat with some people having a beer – which looked very inviting apart from the slight problem of some 70+ miles to go!  We left and headed south, straight into a long grinding climb and a stiff headwind.  It was horrible, really hard work but after about 7 miles we started going downhill again, through Settle and to Great Mitton where we stopped for a massive ice cream.

We then had to climb out of the hole in the ground that is Burnley valley from Burnley which took ages and was again quite unpleasant with a headwind, until we hit Todmorden (horrible memories of the Todmorden Loops audax!) and then headed downhill into Hebden Bridge.  There was a last sting in the tail which was a climb into Halifax before we finally finished.  This being a Chris Crossland audax there was plenty of great food at the end which was very welcome because for the 2nd week running I hadn’t eaten enough and was feeling it.

Overall, another great day with great company, and a really good event.  I hope the injured chap is not injured too badly and makes a quick recovery.

Ride stats : 125 miles in 7hrs 58m at 15.7mph average.  7007ft of climbing, average HR 133bpm, 5758kcals used.  Number of times Anthony mentioned my 12-27 cassette  - about a million*

*That’s a lie

Final Sponsorship Total?

So I guess this is the final total for my sponsorship.  If you include gift aid then The British Heart Foundation will receive £2,028.50 from your very generous donations and sponsorship.

At the last count (last week) I was told that collectively the groups riders had raised £39,562.60 which I think is a pretty good amount.

Thanks once again.

Brimham Rocks 200 Audax

Audax bikes outside the café

It’s becoming something of a regular occurrence that we arrive late at audaxes, and start in last place.  I won’t go into the reasons why because he knows who he is and to do so would just be churlish.  Anyway, we arrived at Fairburn near Leeds late, and we started in last place.  By we I mean me and Anthony.  There were no clouds in the sky and the sun was out but it was still pretty cold when we set out, and there was a crisp wind blowing from north to south.  And, obviously, we were heading north.  It was a fairly uneventful ride through Bramham, Boston Spa and Wetherby, and into Knaresborough where we stopped at the first control – the Riverside Café.  The line of bikes in the picture above was everyone else there before us (did I mention we started last) and we had very nice scrambled egg on toast and I met a retired black labrador guide dog called Raymond.  And his owner, obviously.  Our fame is obviously spreading as we chatted with fellow audaxers and compared battle-scars from previous rides.

We hit the first climb which would a be a mere aperitif for the main climb of the day.  And then we rode past Brimham Rocks, which are strange rock formations that look like Bedrock in the Flinstones.  But we just rode past and didn’t really see them unfortunately.

Through Pately Bridge we rode past a large reservoir and up to another café at How Stean Gorge.  A gorge is simply a large hole in the ground geology fans.  As there was another control not much further on we just had a cold drink.

Back the way we came we then had the big climbs of the day, which were pretty tough, but which were followed by a great descent into Otley and another café stop.

Anthony grinding it out

I wonder if there was an airshow on locally because just after the picture above was taken a WWII Halifax bomber flew over us at quite a low height – brilliant machine.

We got a bit lost down a cycle path which meant we rolled into Naburn Lock control behind a load of people we had been in front of, including 3 old chaps on some of the blingest bikes I’ve ever seen on an audax, including a Planet X and an Orbea with aero wheels!  After an ice lolly we set off for the final 20 miles and I was determined to catch them up so dragged poor Anthony along at 20+mph.  As we overtook the old boys they hooked onto the back and so we had a train all the way back to the HQ.  Anthony tried to get them to take a turn on the front but apparently over 65′s are exempt.  Fairplay to these chaps – I was giving it full gas at 21-22mph after 100 hilly miles and they stayed with us.  They all shook my hand afterwards thanking me for the tow, which was a really nice touch, and I got a great workout.

If you haven’t done an audax then you should – as you can see they are great fun and every one is different!

Ride stats : 123 miles in 7hrs 54m @ 15.6mph average.  5,687ft of ascent, 6,162kcals of energy and average HR of 140 bpm

Boy Racer by @MarkCavendish – Book Review

Whether you are a fan of cycling or more generally a fan of behind-the-scenes sports autobiographies you will enjoy this book.

It’s structured around his burst into prominence at the 2008 Tour de France, but also covers how he got into cycling as a lad, and his time at the British Cycling Federation academy.  Post 2008 TdF it also briefly includes his great victory at Milan-San Remo and his further success at the 2009 TdF.

In true Mark Cavendish style it comes across as sometimes blunt, from the heart and to the point.  I particularly like the way he puts the team first and foremost and suggests a lot of his success is not down to natural talent, but passion and an ability to suffer for his sport.  I already liked the guy but after reading this, I like him even more.

Highly recommended read for all cycling fans, but also for sports fans.

 

London to Brussels in 24 Hours – Part 2, Calais to Brussels

The upshot of getting the later ferry was that we walked down the ramp into the dark of Calais with little more than 12 hours in which to complete 155 miles or so.  We also had 5 scheduled stops to fit into that time so at best we would need to average around 16mph over 155 miles.  Straight away at the bottom of the ramp the group had a puncture.  Fixing that we set off out of the port, lights all blazing, and immediately took a wrong turn.  We were to meet the support vehicles a couple of miles away in order to fill bottles and formalise the groups.  Straight away riders were struggling with riding on the right hand side of the road, and especially left turns at roundabouts!

After regrouping we set off in the first group, with the ride leader James and other strong guys in the group setting a fast pace.  At this point I was happy to sit in the peloton and cruise along comfortably.  We whistled through deserted suburbs and towns outside Calais, barely seeing anybody, and on roads that put the UK to shame.  When we did see cars they were always respectful, giving lots of room and only overtaking when safe.  Through Oye-Plage and Gravelines we turned south-west and headed out into the countryside.  I have to say that night riding is fantastic.  The reflection of the lights off the road, simply watching the lights in front, no cars and relative silence as you just churn out the miles.  Brilliant.  We ate up the miles, breezing into and out of street-lit towns.  33 miles in and we’d reached Arneke where the support vehicles were waiting for us in a picnic area by a lake.  By this time people were tired – sleepy tired rather than fatigue tired.  Unfortunately there were no coffee facilities so I made do with a gel powder mixed with cold water.  And far too many jaffa cakes.  As we all mounted up ready to go one bike was still propped against a fence.  Then we saw a head-torch flickering in the distance across the other side of the lake.  I’m not sure why, but he made it back without ending up in the water and we set off again.

Billiard table - 2689ft of ascent

The profile above makes it look like there were some hills but really the scale makes that look worse than it was.  The route was pretty flat with at worst “rolling” roads.  The second night stage was a bit of a struggle.  Tiredness was kicking in now so one of the guys from La Squadra turned on his bike portable music player and we were riding along to heavy rock music.  Cassel, St-Sylvestre, Caestre, Strazeele, Estaire all came and went.  There was no aching in the legs, no fatigue, and my heart-rate was very low, but the tiredness came in waves now, and I found my concentration lapsing and zoning out more and more.  It had rained a bit too on this stage, but not so much that it was unpleasant.  The rest stop at Aubers couldn’t come quickly enough, and thankfully it was in a village hall so there was coffee, pasta and a sandwich.  Everybody was sat in a big circle looking very tired, but the two cups of coffee perked me up really well.

It was psychologically tough now.  Three more stages – one of 34 miles, one of 39 miles that was worrying many, and a final one of only 20 miles.  It was 4-10am when we left the rest stop, as the sun was starting to come up, meaning we had 93 miles to complete in less than 8 hours.  We pushed on, with the darkness receding.  A cockerel was crowing and we were encountering more and more cars now, all polite and respectful.  Somebody punctured on a long drag, with the peloton strung out.  We all watched the repair from different distances, many slumped over their bikes.  I felt worse when we stopped than I did when we were riding.  I tried to talk to one the La Squadra guys but I’ve no idea what about.  I looked up and saw a van driving down the road.  He’s on the wrong side of the road!  I looked the other way to see if there was a car coming and the inevitable accident before I snapped out of it and realised that we were in France and he was on the right side of the road.

We’d skirted south of Lille by this point and passed Orchies and Beuvry-la-Forêt and we entered St Amand football club where more food and coffee was available.  By now it was light and we rested for 20 minutes, leaving at 6-56am.

Five hours to cover 59 miles – this was looking like we could do it.  The rain briefly returned.  I had no idea relatively where we were and after an hour we reached a short, straight hill with a church at the top.  Several riders groaned and started to haul themselves up it but I felt good and moved towards the front.  At the top we stopped and waited.  I looked back and realised there was a line in the road, and I was looking at a small sign that said France.  I’d crossed the border into Belgium at a place called Bon Secours.  I took a turn on the front trying to keep a steady pace of 18mph as people were getting dropped now.  I managed maybe 5 miles before youthful exuberance saw some of the younger riders overtaking and pushing harder.  Belgium was much more like Britain in terms of the roads – quite bad potholes and poor repair, and the drivers were very fast and nowhere near as respectful as the French.  The roads were also becoming very long and boring – quite exposed and a bit more rolling.  It was taking its toll.  Group riding was also disintegrating now, with people often 2 or 3 abreast when it wasn’t safe, drifting across the road and generally losing concentration.

16.8mph average speed

We passed through Ath (Aat) and then hit a 10 mile straight and very boring road into Enghien, where we would take our last stop, and breakfast, before hitting Brussels.  It was 9-40am and we agreed to be on our way by 10-15am to cover the last 20 miles in about an hour and a half.

We naturally slowed down as the traffic got busier and busier on the route into Belgium.  Some of the riding also got more and more dangerous and I tried to hang back a bit, cringing at the way in which certain guys were oblivious to the cars around them.  We approached Brussels from the Anderlecht suburbs and with a shout of “Allez Philipe Gilbert!” from a bystander we entered the city.  A couple of riders nearly came off in the tram tracks but we weaved our way into Grand Place and rode across it to the bar where Action Challenge were waiting for us with beers, dodging the local police who were shouting at us that we couldn’t ride in Grand Place.  We didn’t care because we’d made it.  It was 11-43am GMT – 23 hours and 43 minutes since we’d started.

Dodging the police to finish in 23hrs 43m

Done!

In terms of the distance my legs and body felt good and I probably could have gone further.  However, the tiredness was a big problem and later that day I found myself falling asleep quite often!

Average HR of 115bpm

We had a celebratory dinner and a few beers (some more than others!) and then had a few hours the next day to look around Brussels before getting Eurostar back.  Overall the organisation was pretty good, and we got commemorative jerseys and medals from The BHF.

Chilling in Brussels

Overall it was a great experience.  I got to ride through the night, which was brilliant, and I got to ride in France and Belgium, which was equally enjoyable.  I rode further than I had before if you add the two legs together.  And, most importantly, I’ve raised £1,570 (£1,918 including gift-aid) for the British Heart Foundation.

Ride stats : 157.2 miles in 9 hrs 22m @ 16.8mph average.  2,689ft of climbing, 115bpm average HR and 5,151kcals energy used

Overall stats : 239.8 miles in 14hrs 29m @ 16.5mph average.  6,952ft of climbing, 125bpm average HR and 8,933 kcals used

London to Brussels in 24 Hours – Part 1, London to Dover

So after around 6 months of preparation I set off to drive to London on Thursday 14th.  A relatively uneventful 200 miles until I hit the outskirts of the city and then my satnav guided me closer than I wanted to the congestion charge zone.  I needn’t have worried as my Prius is apparently exempt – thanks to Steve for the hastily tweeted info – but traffic in London is obviously painful, and it was a slow drag through the Blackwall tunnel to my pre-booked parking at car park 1 at the O2 arena.  Which was closed.  I pulled up and phoned the helpline.

“Event?  What event?” came the response.  Great.  Logistics, or lack of planning, was my biggest worry.

I blagged my way into car park 2 and made my way with 2 rucksacks and a large bike bag to the taxi rank, worried about whether my car would still be there and if so, whether I’d get out.  The chirpy cockney cabbie (I’m being sarcastic – miserable git) took me to the Clarendon Hotel in Blackheath where I tried to relax and get an early night; something made more difficult by the usual noisiness in hotels.

At breakfast next morning I looked around the room.  Who looks like a cyclist?  Hard to say, but I forced some food down and wandered onto the heath outside to register.

We were given route cards, reflective armbands, a BHF jersey and instructions where to drop our bags.  The weather was really nice – warm and sunny.  Usually I jinx it by applying sun lotion but no, the sun stayed out.  A few brief chats with people and then we trooped back into the hotel for a last cup of coffee and the pre-ride briefing.  An introduction by The British Heart Foundation and then they handed over to the effective organisers, Action Challenge.  There were slightly less than the advertised 300 riders – erm, 31 – and we would have 3 ride leaders, a mechanic, a doctor and several other members of the team.  Average speeds on this side of the channel would be 15-17mph and on the other maybe 13-15mph.  The channel crossing was booked for 7-30pm.

Le Grand Depart - I'm near the back

A klaxon sounded and we were off, weaving through the traffic.  Maybe a mile in and the shout went up.

“Puncture!”  Little did he know at this point that unfortunately this would be the first of 4 punctures for John.

We waited whilst it was fixed and then set off.  Next problem was some emergency pipeworks that were blocking the traffic, the support vehicles, and us.  It was clear that the abilities of the group differed dramatically so we’d splintered into 3 groups now – a quicker group at the front, the group I was in, and some backmarkers.  Our group found a novel way of getting through by riding under the tape and through the cones, past the bemused workers.

“Is this for charity?” asked one bloke who clearly hadn’t seen salad in a long-time. I couldn’t help thinking he might need some of the pioneering research the BHF does in years to come.

“Don’t ride through the water,” said another.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s shit,” he said matter-of-factly.  Nice.

The first stop was planned at around 19 miles, simply to take on water and regroup after getting out of London.  As we hit the campsite at Meopham it was clear that the traffic and various incidents (puncture and one ride leader was clipped by a car) had delayed us.  We’d managed 13.2mph for the first 10 miles and had then picked up slightly as we passed the M25 and managed 14.8mph for the second 10 miles.  Not really good enough and we were already up against it.

Ridiculous number of stops getting from the start to the M25

The next leg was 32 miles to Charing and I decided to join the first group this time.  There were some lovely bikes on display.  A couple of Cervelo’s, a Trek Madone 6.2, a lovely titanium Sabbath and a mean Planet X speed machine with full Super Record and Cosmic Carbone wheels worth more than my entire bike.  I got chatting to some guys from a new Sheffield club – La Squadra – who were pushing the pace on the front, and had fantastic looking club kit of black with red detailing.  These guys, and ride leader James, didn’t appear to be really trying, but were going fast.  The splits for the next 30 miles were 18.2mph, 15.9mph and 18.3mph.  The group sub-divided into fast-fast and fast-medium, and the fast-fast guys were racing up climbs and I was just hanging on to the back as we pulled into Kerala Spices.  Bizarrely the hot food stop was at an Indian Restaurant and we were served curry, chicken and rothi/chapati.  John rolled in with his second puncture and a split tyre, which the mechanic patched up.  We waited for the rest to arrive.  And waited.  And waited.  People were struggling and we’d done 52 miles.  The Action Challenge guys clearly had a plan B and announced we’d get a ferry at 9pm instead.

The final leg to Dover took us over White Hill, through Wye, a wait at the world record longest level crossing, down to Folkestone, over Dover Hill and then a fast cruise into Dover, where hot food and the ferry awaited us.  I got shelled 50 yards off the back of the fast-fast group going up White Hill but we regrouped at the top and pushed on.  These boys were fast, and even though we’d been artificially held back at Charing we would still have made the 7-30pm ferry the pace we were going.  As it was the final climb up Dover Hill and descent into Dover meant we had time to eat our food and get our kit sorted for the next leg.

4264ft of ascent

Gradients

Average Speed - 16.1mph

Average HR 135bpm. Max HR 187bpm

Once kitted up we rode from the hotel on Marine Parade through some cycle paths and the operations manager picked up our tickets.  We were directed to lane 186 and we rode through what I can only describe as a customs shed.  The guy asked me if I’d packed my own rucksack.  I told him I had.  He asked what was in it and for a split second my mind went blank.  The first thing that came to mind was gels.  And clothes.  He seemed satisfied and waved us through.  There were lines of trucks and cars at lane 186 but we were directed straight onto the ferry.  A quick sprint up the ramp and we were onto the empty deck, which was fantastic.  Our bikes were stowed (that’s sailor-speak for “leant against”) on one side and we trooped up to the lounge.  As the public were finally allowed on they were greeted by 30-odd cyclists in various states of undress trying to get some sleep on chairs not designed for it.  The light on the harbour wall went green and we were off.  I couldn’t sleep because every time I closed my eyes I felt seasick, so I decided the best thing for that was a bag of crisps and some pepsi max.

Leaving Dover - aye, aye cap'n...

Ride Stats : 82.66miles in 5hrs and 7m @ 16.1mph average speed.  4,264ft of ascent, average HR 135bpm and 3782kcals energy used

Training’s Done

I’m now counting the days until London to Brussels – on Friday.  Sunday was my last training ride.  Overall my stats were

• 2597 miles in 7 days 2 hours 33 minutes
• Average speed – 15.7mph
• Total climb – 122,430ft
• Average HR – 138bpm
• Total calories used – 127,803

Sponsorship stands at £1,456 or £1,776 including gift-aid.

Thanks to everyone for your support so far.

Up and Down t’ West Riding #Audax

Another Sunday, another brilliant audax, and the end of my training for my London to Brussels ride.

The day didn’t start well.  Anthony was late picking me up, and then we drove past the HQ following the worst sat-nav in the world, which seemed to take us on ever increasing concentric circles away from where we needed to be.  Martin and Martina were both waiting for us, tapping imaginary watches as we pulled into the car park.

7,463ft of climbing

The route, of course, was hilly!  The first half, heading over from Denshaw towards Holmfirth, was really 4 or 5 longish drags followed by some great descents.  The halfway point was at Squires Tea Room in the Anglers Country Park, where we met members of Calder Clarion and Saddleworth Clarion, as well as a chap from Seamons RC.

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Suitably refreshed after some hot food, the return ride encompassed 6 big climbs, and they started getting a bit steeper, and building to a crescendo.  We rode past Emley TV tower and into the rain for a while.  There was an info control in Slaithwaite where Martin and I watched a canal barge going through a lock whilst Martina tried to buy the Co-op’s entire stock of flapjacks.  The climb out of Slaithwaite was pretty tough but that only led to a descent to the bottom of a hill known locally as Penny Hill.  This was really hard work.  The first quarter mile consisted of a 20-25% cobbled section that was wet and slippery.  The next quarter mile must have hit 30% before flattening to mere teens near the end.

The ride back to the HQ was a long, exposed moorland climb over Saddleworth which was okay once I got into a rhythm.

As per usual, great catering at the end from organiser Don Black and a good day had by all.

Ride Stats : 78 miles in 5hrs 48m at 13.4mph average.  7,463ft climbing, average HR 136bpm and 4,315kcals used

This time next week…

…I hope to be here

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/adehughes