Cycling trip blog

Going for old school approach and writing a short blog post on my recent cycling trip to the Vosges mountains. It was clear from the pretty limited number of cyclists I saw plus the tiny number of club mates and friends on the strava segments that this part of world is not well known. Which is crazy because its an amazing area for riding and a great alternative to the Alps (and arguably its better than the Alps). Logistics. Its about 5.5-6 hour drive from Calais depending on where you go to. I opted for getting a ~7pm Eurotunnel on a Friday evening, so I could leave London late afternoon. I drove around 2.5 hours Friday night from Calais to Reims staying in a super-budget hotel (F1/Ibis etc), leaving 3.5 hours to drive Saturday morning. This worked quite well, arriving at lunchtime leaving plenty of time for a medium length arrival day ride. For the return I left at lunchtime (after a modest departure day ride) and did the drive in one day catching a Friday evening ferry. I went for the ferry back because it was significantly (~£100) cheaper and didn't need the flexibility that Eurotunnel give you - driving in France on uncongested roads you have far more certainty on driving time compared to a UK journey. Slower crossing meant more of a break before the drive home from Dover, and arriving home at around 11pm instead of 10pm was fine. Yes you can get to quite a lot of places in 9-10 hours door-to-door travelling time from London, but simplicity of putting bike in own car and not having hassle of putting bike in case, stress of whether airline will lose or damage it etc. is easily worth several hours of travel time, and meant I did decent arrival day and departure day rides. And driving long distances in France on toll roads is easy driving albeit often a bit boring. Location I chose Gérardmer. Mainly based on recommendations in the comments section of a 9 year old blog post about La Planche des Belle Filles https://inrng.com/2013/10/planche-des-belle-filles-climb-tour-de-france/. Being next to the lake was nice for alternatives to cycling, swimming, SUP, kayak etc. If you want to ride La Planche des Belle Filles (and you should) then you don't want to be any further north than Gérardmer, unless more than 140km and 2,800m vertical ride is no problem for you. The riding The area is 'medium' mountains, with the highest peak (Grand Balloon) about 1,400m and +950m climbing. This means lots of 5-8km climbs with only a handful of long (10km+ ) climbs. Typical gradients are 5-8%, but no sustained 10%+ climbing. The big advantage over the Alps is the wide choice of roads. Also many of the climbs are well shaded which was nice in the hot sunny weather. My riding (my strava account is set to request to follow but these rides are posted as viewable to everyone) Schlucht and Lacets de Bramont https://www.strava.com/activities/7670281944 Ballon d'Alsace https://www.strava.com/activities/7676362236 Col d'Oderen and Lacets de Bramont https://www.strava.com/activities/7676362236 Super Planches des belles filles https://www.strava.com/activities/7686460374 Grand and Petit Ballon https://www.strava.com/activities/7698193946 Col d'Oderen loop reverse https://www.strava.com/activities/7702146743 With hindsight I would have explored west of Cornimont a bit more. Also would have been good to try the Col de Brabant to reduce the number of times riding the relatively dull (and touch busy) road from Cornimont to La Bresse. But overall very happy with my route choices

Canyon Aeroad – first rides

Canyon Aeroad – first rides

Firstly brief introduction.  This is written as a review by an owner, trying to be informative as there do not seem to be many substantive Canyon Aeroad reviews around on the internet (and its hard to take seriously the ‘first ride review’ on Bike Radar when you see the picture of the reviewer riding the bike…).  And a disclaimer.  I am an experienced 1^st cat road racer who has been cycling for many years and have reasonable idea of what I like and think is good, but I am not a cycling equipment expert and also not ridden lots of different bikes.  And also while I can try to be objective, there’s not many people who could admit the new bike they’ve just spend a lot of money on is not good.

Firstly some practical details.  As will be aware if done any research on an Aeroad it comes with an Acros headset which has a significant (~18mm) stack height and should allow for this when considering the geometry (although I assume relatively straightforward to fit standard headset if you wanted).  Aeroad’s have shorter headtubes than Canyon Ultimates so should not be problem for most riders.  Also the frame comes with relatively short fork steerer giving max ~15mm spacers between headset and stem, so unlikely to be suitable for riders who /need a relatively upright position (unless angled stem – ugh!). 

Building the bike was all straightforward, and nothing unusual.  Running Campag meant needed to get LBS to fit the press-fit BB cups otherwise no need for LBS.  I was quite careful and methodical with cutting the internal cable liners as first bike for me with internal cables but all seemed pretty easy (as mentioned in previous post, frame came with all the internal liners inserted and ends neatly taped to ensure ends accessible). 

Fairly plain vanilla build – 2011 Chorus, plus Deda stem/bars (not using the Ritchey stem than comes with bike – Canyon did not have 130mm stem available) and Specialized saddle.  And using Mavic Cosmic SLRs with Conti GP4000s tyres. 

Okay, enough procrastination first rides… 

First impression was that bike immediately felt right.  But fair part of that probably due to careful setup to make sure saddle and bars position exactly as per my old race bike, and frame geometry of Aeroad quite similar to my old race bike anyway (a 2004 Giant TCR – note current Giant geometry is bit different (mainly slacker seat angle, so shorter reach)).  Next impression is it is a lot stiffer than my current 2004 Giant that I’ve raced on at start of this season, and way more comfortable.  This of course is hardly surprising given 2004 Giant had relatively modest bottom bracket area and chain stays but still chunky (by current standards) seat stays.  I get onto the more relevant comparison is the team bike 2010 Giant TCR (with Ultegra and same bars/stem/saddle/wheels) that I rode for most of last year shortly.

The handling of the Aeroad feels very good to me.  Probably best way to describe to describe it was very straightforward.  Zipping round a few bumpy corners on the roads near my house there were no surprises, I looked where I wanted to go and the bike went there.  The bike did not give me immediate feeling ‘on this bike I’ll be able to take x corner y km/h faster’ but so far only ridden to/from/around Richmond Park which does not involve any tricky corners.  That said one lady with pushchair did jump out in front of me when swung round corner on Wandsworth one-way system while doing ~50km/h and all felt pretty stable when braked then swerved and then had to swerve other way when she finally saw me and jumped back. 

It is a little tricky to honestly compare a bike now to a bike that I last rode in Oct 2010, but compared to 2010 Giant I think the rear end stiffness is fairly similar, maybe little better but without doubt the Giant was a far harsher ride.  My recollection is the handling of the Giant was bit more planted/solid feeling, that you could really bash through bumps on corners no problem.  The first time I rode Crystal Palace on the 2010 Giant last year I really remember thinking this is so much better than my old Giant, and definitely taking the hairpin few k faster.  I think now my expectations may have been raised, whereas last year I was really blown away by how much same make/model of frame had improved in only 5-6 years.  Of course it would be surprising if front end of Canyon Aeroad was not less stiff that Giant, given super chunky head/top/down tubes on the Giant.  But as say, to me the handling of the Canyon Aeroad feels really good and definitely not left with feeling that have made significant compromise here. 

The Aeroad has the adjustable rake featured and frame was supplied in the ‘agile’ setting.  I did try swapping to the ‘stable’ setting for one ride but to be honest I am not sure I could really tell the difference.  Maybe would have been more noticeable if I’d changed during a ride rather than comparing an ‘agile’ and a ‘stable’ ride on different days.  Expect I will leave on ‘agile’, maybe changing if take bike to the alps or ever ride something like the Rutland. 

Will not say too much on components because there are lots of groupset reviews around, and most people have their own fairly set views anyway.  The latest Campag brakes are very good (I was plenty happy with older Campag brakes) – not sure how much skeleton brakes and how much the new brake compound, but whatever definitely very nice.  It looks like Campag have beefed up the chainrings compared to a few years ago, and chainset does seem a bit more rigid.  But even a Campag fan like me will happily admit that Shimano hollowtech chainsets are simply significantly stiffer laterally (and probably torsionally as well but that’s much harder to judge).  Whether it is the stiffer front mech and/or new XPSS chainrings, front changes are definitely significantly snappier that used to be a few years ago. 

Overall so far very happy with my Canyon, and looking forward to first race on it in coming days.  Lots of other cyclists have said nice things about it – and think most of them genuinely like rather than just being nice to my feelings.  The matt black finish to the frame combined with black 2011 Chorus, gives the bike a fairly distinctive stealth look. 

What negatives can I think of?  Honestly not many (lets quickly forget about the rubbish name).  Obviously there is a modest weight penalty (+180g compared to Canyon Ultimate SLX – and more compared to some of the super light (and super expensive) bikes around at moment).  And there is little information – aside from the much quoted ‘20% less frontal area’ – apart what the aerodynamic advantage might be.  Canyon got fair bit of criticism on various forums for saying not conducted any wind tunnel testing.  But then every manufacturer claims their testing shows their bike is the stiffest/most aero and no-one believes them anyway.  Dealing direct with Canyon – rather than through a bike shop – some people might find as a negative but I found it fine. 

Will post some further thoughts in a few weeks once I’ve done a few longer rides and races on it. 

Canyon Aeroad - first impressions

I am probably one of the first people in UK to have a Canyon Aeroad frame, which arrived this afternoon.  I ordered it back in November last year and was originally due calendar week 12 (i.e. March) but issues with start of mass production meant 6-7 weeks delay.

The delivery process quite straightforward - got two emails (in German!) first advising order ready and will be transferred to UPS within 48 hours and then later that day another email with tracking number, and the UPS tracking is quite detailed which is good for knowing which day to stay at home.

Opening the box and you immediately get real impression of attention to details.  All the internal cable liners were inserted in the frame and neatly taped up keep then in the right place.  The Aeroad has a deep fork crown and neatly taped in place was a extra long allen key bolt.  In the box is a basic but functional allen key with torque indicator, to use on the stem and seat clamp bolts.  Rubber protectors to go on cables to prevent head tube wear are included.  The chain stay has a normal clear frame protector neatly stuck on, but also on the chainstay when the small chainrings pass is small possibly metal plate stuck on, providing more substantial protection in area that would get damaged if dropped chain.

The frame looks like on the Canyon website, except that the website does not really convey how matt the finish is.  Its stealth bomber matt.  Also the Canyon logos are more subtle that shown on the website.  I like understated generally, but from more than ~2 metres away you can barely see them.  I have not weighed the frame but being German I would be very surprised if the quoted weight is not spot on.  The seat post seemed heavier than expecting so weighed that and 260g is above average (Deda blackstick - i.e. nothing fancy - on my 2004 Giant is much less) - think is the very solid looking and highly adjustable seat clamp.

The seat post (and seat tube) is a gentle oval, which although assumed this was not totally clear from any of the pictures I saw or reviews I read.  Obviously the key feature of this frame is supposed aerodynamic advantages.  There are plenty of people (on various cycling forums) who seem to think they can judge the aerodynamics of a frame simply by looking at the pictures, but I am not one of them and there's a lot more to aerodynamics that simply what 'looks' aero.  But there is no doubt that this is a very neat and tidy frame and there is a lot of attention to detail to try to improve the aerodynamics.  The Acros headset is super easy to adjust and to me seems a great idea, with the only drawback being its relatively high stack height, but headtubes on Aeroad shorter than on Ultimates and for me one small spacer and standard 82 deg stem puts bars at exactly the height I need.  (The geometry of the Aeroad - quite long and low - suiting my average legs and super long torso perfectly, was a major selling point for me).

The frame came with a Ritchey WCS stem (noticeable lighter than a Deda Newton, so I weighed and 35g lighter) but they could only supply with default 110mm now or two weeks wait for 120mm, whereas I need 130mm so will be putting Deda Newton on for now and the Ritchey on eBay.  The Aeroad has standard 1 1/8" steerer (at top) so Canyon's general inflexibility regarding stem lengths less of issue than for Ultimate with 1 1/4" with limited manufacturers making.

Little more to say now until I build the thing (2011 Chorus, Mavic Cosmic SLRs, probably Deda stem/bars and Specialized Toupe or Romin saddle...and maybe white bar tape).  But currently waiting the arrival of Campag press fit BB86 bottom bracket cups, and getting them fitted.  And off fishing with my dad tomorrow anyway

Pro cyclists' mistakes...

Very exciting Tour of Flanders yesterday, and lots of good write-ups in the cycling press.  But found it interesting how worlds best professional cyclists all made seemingly very basic mistakes.  Not judgement call like whether Chavanel should have ridden with Cancellara, but more basic stuff. 

Boonen’s attack (0:31 in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buaUpLCr5Dc).  Why did Boonen launch with Cancellara virtually on his wheel at the time (just before Boonen is 5^th wheel with Cancellara right behind, Boonen then moves up pretty unsubtly on the right and briefly Ballan is between them).  There was fair way to go, and surely plenty of time to choose much better opportunity.  With radios then do not even need to look round to check who’s on your wheel, and surely Wilfred Peters should have been screaming ‘not now, Fabian on you wheel, wait Tommeke wait…’ 

Cancellara catching Chavanel too quickly.  Pretty obvious that Chavanel was going to sit on Cancellara, so little benefit in Cancellara getting to Chavenel sooner that he needed to.  Catching Chavenel 6-7k later just before next climb would have been far more logical.  Although to be fair I think Chavanel rode to manage when Cancellara caught him, and make sure he got to ride Valkenburg at tempo. 

Gilbert’s attack up Bosberg.  I am massive fan of Gilbert and it made great tv but surely nailing it from the very bottom was not the best way to try and get race winning gap.  The result was others rode up the Bosberg at their limit, and quickly recovered to chase and catch Gilbert.  Race winning gaps are rarely about simply outpowering others up a fairly short climb – its when other riders overextend themselves that gaps really grow.

Large pro teams in UK cycle races...

Reading reports and results from UK cycle races over the weekend.  Team Raleigh full 8 riders in Evesham Vale and finish 1-2-3-4 http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/20110321-Report--Evesham-Vale-RR-0 and Motorpoint finish 1-2-3-4-5 in the Peter Young memorial http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/38022/Hounslow-Peter-Young-Memorial-Road-Race.  While both of these are decent National B events, they are still essentially grass roots races albeit for the slightly better or more ambitious rider.  While such complete domination by the pros is impressive I can't be the only one who thinks this is little sad.  If there's no big races on over a weekend then of course pros should be doing Nat B races - and its one of attractions of cycling that anyone can race against much better riders and that a guy like me has 'raced' against Cavendish, Backstedt, Elliot and Olympic gold medallists etc etc over the years - but do they really need to put whole team in just one race?  Four Raleighs and four Motorpoint in each race would have surely been much better.  A smaller team like Twenty3c-Orbea was happy enough to sensibly split their riders between the Peter Young and the Wally Gimber road races.

Tenerife cycling

Tenerife
This year the unofficial London Dynamo training camp went to Tenerife and I thought I would do a short write-up that maybe helpful for anyone who’s thinking of heading there for cycling training.

We flew out on a Monarch scheduled flight from Gatwick. Not particularly cheap once pay the sports equipment charges, but was all fine with 13 bikes so can’t complain. We stayed in Médano a small town only a few km from the airport so only short journey which was nice after 4 hour flight (Tenerife is fair bit further flight than south of Spain).

Médano had various advantage and disadvantages as a cycling base in Tenerife. It is a nice relaxed town which has everything need for a cycling trip (and also happens to have decent bike rental shop just in case – and came in handy for one of our group). It was nice to come back from rides and look out from terraces to the beach and watch all the windsurfers, and couple of days also went for a swim in the sea.

The main disadvantage with Medano was the relatively limited choice of routes from Medano. The first day we headed out west along the coast and it is quite messy navigating way through Playa de las Américas and getting to the TF-47 coast road. However several of us also came out this way on the penultimate day and plodding through the suburban sprawl not too bad once know way and not stopping at junctions needing to check directions. The other two main options from Medano are north towards Vilaflor and Teide, or along the inland road up the east coast through Arico/Fasnia.

Before arriving in Tenerife we were expecting we head up Teide at least once and possible twice. In the end ending up doing Teide four times, and another two days going to Vilaflor (1400m), and only one day that completely avoided Teide/Vilaflor. We were pretty lucky with the weather. The first day was around 27 deg C and sunny, and it was probably still around 18-19 deg C up at 2,300m altitude. This lulled us into a little complacency. On fifth day leaving Medano it was about 19 deg C sun/cloud and took thin arm warmers and a gilet. At Vilaflor cold misty cloud rolled in and temperature plunged to an estimated 5 deg C. It was relatively okay whilst climbing up from Vilaflor, but the descent was grim. Spent most of it braking and pedalling hard at same time trying to keep slightly warmer. Towards Vilaflor saw an Astana pro coming up in full legwarmers and balaclava and he must been surprised to see these frozen muppets descending in shorts. But this day aside we had good weather, but if weather less favourable then certainly would not want to go up Teide four times in a week and that would limit the riding somewhat.

In Tenerife generally the vast majority of the roads are either up or down, and that means options for easy rides are quite limited. And that also means more difficult to accommodate group riding with differing abilities or aims for the week, and meant fair bit of week was riding in sub-groups rather than everyone together.

Tenerife is very windy, however it only seemed to be windy at low altitude and as soon as headed into the hills the wind was rarely very noticeable. The only times wind was significant was the 5km coast road from Medano to El Abrigo, which meant a lazy 50+ km/h start to the day and/or 25 km/h grovel finish to the day. And the descents home from San Miguel or Grandilla (especially Grandilla) when it would be horrible blustery strong cross wind, while descending exposed bumpy roads with lots of traffic zooming past – I would definitely preferred not to have my deep section wheels on (currently only have Cosmic SLR race wheels or heavy Aksium training wheels).

On subject of traffic Tenerife drivers are impatient and quite aggressive (read somewhere that they are polite and considerate to cyclists – nope). They will overtake a group of cyclists immediately pretty much no matter what. Most of time its relatively okay as roads wide enough for cars to squeeze by cyclists two-a-breast but one guy nearly got taken out as he moved left a little approaching a sharp right hand bend only almost into path of guy overtaking just 10-20 metres before the bend.

Will not describe every ride we did but just to mention few comments/highlights:

- climbing Teide from the east is the least interesting direction, long stretches of bland straight road, and the section of road 1km before the TF-38/TF-21 junction is a total mess and unpleasant to ride over. The descent down to Vilaflor is quite nice though, with sweeping bends and gets little steeper and faster as approach Vilaflor (in general none of descents in Tenerife are super fast compare to Alps – lots of 60-70km/h rather than 70-80+km/h)

- the climb direct from San Miguel to Vilaflor on an unclassified road is nice, no traffic and much steeper (especially last 300m) than all other climbs to Vilaflor

- the climb up Teido from Arafo is really nice but continues climbing much more from the TF-523/TF-24 junction that you expect, and its quite a long way, rolling up and down, across the Teide plateau (scenary is stunning)

- the climb from Masca (northwest of Santiago del Teide) is brutal (4km at 11% with lots of 15-16% on very poor road surface) but is great scenary (both spectacular and quite different to rest of the island)

Staying so close the airport meant we did not bother with hire cars but would have been useful for a couple of days to be able to have a bit more variety of routes. That said depends how much bothered about doing some roads a few times in a week – sometimes doing the same road with nice scenery in warm sunshine in a week away from work is a high class problem really.

Overall I liked Tenerife a lot, although probably would not go back there again for a training camp mainly because just too climbing orientated, and somewhere like Callosa (near Calpe) was better training camp riding (although weather in south east Spain when we were in Tenerife was really bad).

Testing twitterfeed

Can't always express myself in 160 characters so trying linking my old blog with my twitter

Two in a week

(Pic courtesy of www.londoncyclesport.com)

After over two years without a win (excuses including broken collarbone and becoming a dad for first time) ended up winning at Crystal Palace on Tuesday and the Surrey League handicap at South Nutfield last night.



LondonCycleSport reports: http://www.londoncyclesport.com/Results/Road_Racing/Crystal_Palace_Circuits_09_9.html
http://www.londoncyclesport.com/Results/All_Results/Surrey_League_Handicap_Series_7_1830.html

It was interesting attacking race on Tuesday. Bryan Taylor (VC Londres) went off in early laps and shortly joined by Kevin Knox (Dulwich Paragon) and teammate Guy Powdrill. Later in the race Dan Santoni (Pearsons), Adam Cotterall (InGear) and Sam Humpherson (London Dynamo) bridged and was reasonably clear this break would stay clear. Around 14 laps to go teammate Tom Hemmant attacked from bunch to start to bridge solo, and I followed a lap later and joined by Chris Ansell (Corridori) and Mike Ladbrook (Norwood Paragon). It took us a long time to bridge, because although Tom was working hard my contributions were more measured given teammates up front, making contact with just 5 laps to go when Tom immediately attacks but is brought back setting things up perfectly for me to counter. Was little off-putting to see the lap board for me go 4-4-3 'you showed me 4 twice!' but then bell and enough time to zip up jersey and for touch cheesy victory salute (no I do not know what I was trying to do with my left hand - normally I opt for plain vanilla two arms in air and in experimenting with one arm-one finger Virenque style the redundant hand ended up on stomach - oh well...). The legs weren't great and win was more due to tired legs in rest of break and lack of willingness to chase given teammates there, but fair bit of road racing is about taking the initiative when opportunity pans out rather than necessarily being stronger than competitors. I understand Santoni crashed on final lap after clipping pedal, presumably also bringing down/delaying Chris Ansell as he's not in top-10 results (little unfortunate as Chris worked hardest when we were bridging).



On Thursday the main threat was always going to be elite vet Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport), and as the scratch group worked to catch the groups ahead he was clearly the strongest. With a 3 laps to go, by which time we had caught all but the very front group, Dodd pushed hard over the motorway bridge and I reacted jumping away solo establishing a reasonable ~15 sec gap but opted not to fully commit to the effort and was caught just over a lap later. All together on the final lap and few miles to go and Micheal Staines (Corridori) jumps away and nobody reacts and gap grows as Dodd and I and others at front (including Staines teammate Chris Ansell) amble along watching each other. I roll towards front of bunch and then suddenly realise than I, inexplicably, have been allowed to drift 15-20 metres off front and need no further invitation to kick hard and set off in pursuit of the Corridori guy. I catch him around a mile before the finish and then after couple of turns we reach bottom of the short rise before finish with a small but sufficient lead, and I am able to comfortably take the sprint (South Nutfield possibly the only circuit in south/south-east with a downhill finishing straight?). Reverted to plain vanilla two arms this time. Amusingly this victory was an almost carbon copy of win on this circuit three years ago when I bridged solo to Gary Dodd and took the downhill sprint (and that was also two days after winning at that week's Crystal Palace...).



Being honest neither result is really any indication of any form (was probably going better back in April in the Easter 3-day) and more about getting tactics spot on, but always good feeling crossing line first and builds confidence.

Windsor half marathon

Made my half marathon debut today at Windsor. Did a respectable 1:41:16 although bit outside of my target of 1:38 and had really been expecting to get inside 1:40. The course was reasonably hilly in places (although apparantly less hilly that previous years' courses) so my 1:41 probably does equate to sub-1:40 on a flat city centre course. But I had not really done enough training (cycle racing fitness helps not cross-over only goes so far, and averaging 5k once a week is far below even the most basic training schedule), so probably unrealistic to expect much better.

Mile split
1 00:07:45
2 00:07:31
3 00:07:34
4 00:07:53
5 00:07:34
6 00:07:53
7 00:07:41
8 00:07:39
9 00:08:01
10 00:08:05
11 00:08:01
12 00:07:53
13 00:07:04
13.1 00:00:42
Average 7:44 per mile

The slow splits for miles 4 & 6 due to hills, and started to slow up at miles 9-11 (also included couple of hills). Managed to lift it fair bit for the last mile (essentially the whole of the finishing straight) but target time prospects had gone few miles back.
If I get in next years London marathon then think I will get in some proper training.

Guildford town centre cycle race 9 July 2008

Click picture for few more flickr photos. Also see:
http://photos.tobinators.com/gallery/5370947_
KahHH#329150445_XLFhy-O-LB

First did this race two years ago and got a real kicking, missed last year with broken collar bone, so back this year for this unique race.

Not sure whether I was feeling dedicated or just plain stupid at the sign on given the pretty miserable weather. Not too surprisingly there weren't many EOLs and plenty of DNSs so only about 25 riders on the start line for the E12 race.

The rain meant the normally high speed quite intimidating left turn onto market street, was much slower and almost easier than in dry. But the left turn onto the damp cobbles on the high street was different story...

First lap was delayed by couple of riders coming down on left turn onto high street, but just about managed to grovel way back up to bunch. After initial fairly fast start things settled down a bit and I was relatively comfortable, albeit unable to move up from last or near last man.

About one-third of way into race one AW cycles guy dived inside me going very quickly into market street and I was not too suprised when he crashed coming onto the high street, but I still piled into him (more of a 'step off the bike coming to a halt' rather than a true crash for me, but still qualifies for a lap out as far as I was concerned).

I settled into my last man routine of regularly getting gapped by 20-30m up the high street and then steadily closing this on back of circuit just in time to repeat approx 1 minute later...and repeat...

Plenty of other riders hitting the deck on the left turn onto the high street (you desperately wanted to get the power down as soon as possible to hold the wheel in front up but it was just so slippery) including former teammate and winner in 2005 and 2006 Warrick Spence (who decided to jump back on his bike and spend 8-10 laps chasing rather than take lap out...).

About 10 laps to go I was off the back as last man plus 1 and last man plus 2 could not hold wheels up the high street anymore. Was steadily closing the gap and after a few laps I was almost there but overcooked it on the turn on to the high street - few oooh and aaahs from the appreciative crowd. Picked myself up (wet cobbles means bruises rather than road rash) and had another lap out before rolling round, just getting lapped by the leading duo on final lap.

Not many guys left at the end so hoping may have sneaked into top 10, but probably just outside. [Update: 12th, so my best town centre crit result]

Prix André Delrue

Headed over with London Dynamo clubmates Gordon Kennaway, Gavin Ryan, Martin Garratt and Paul Delahunty to Brimeux near Calais to experience some French cycle racing - http://www.ccbrimeux.com/Brimeux-Prix-Andre-Delrue-Edition.html. Ended up cutting it a little fine arriving in Brimeux after we stopped a bit long for a coffee on the way, and found out that whilst race start was 14:30 the neutralised roll out was 15 mins before that. Anyway we paid our €5.50 (mmm why do British races cost £12-£15...?) got our numbers (Gordon helpfully coming prepared with lots of pins knowing that organisors do not give them out in France) and rolled out from Brimeux.

Initial impressions of the approx 60 rider field was not too intimidating, there were too many riders who 'looked' fast. Immediately from the start there were plenty of attacks but it was altogether as we swung right onto the climb. The first bit of the climb was definitely steeper than the official course description of "500m of 4%", and front riders hammered up it. Onto the top section of the climb (course description of 9.5% probably about right) and there were big gaps appearing and I made big effort of the top of the climb and the start of the descent to join the front group of probably 22-23 riders. After the 75-80 km/h descent it was a right turn into a pretty strong headwind, and the gap to the bunch opened rapidly. By the end of the first 14km lap it was clear this was the day's break, and was therefore expected pace to settle down for a while...

But no, on lap 2 the riders were already attacking the break and lots of jumping to close gaps required. Second time up the climb was not too bad with one rider away (clearly not bothered about riding solo into a 30 km/h headwind with 22 rider break behind him and 90+ km to go). But third time up the climb was different story as riders attacked full-on right from the bottom of the climb and a group of about 12 riders went away. I over extended myself trying to limit/close gap and the 4-5 riders on my wheel jumped me over the top. But with swift descent and hard chase with one other guy managed to rejoin front group few km later.

Fourth lap was more of the same with stream of attacks. And the style of racing seems to be that there is never any through-and-off chasing of attacks. Attack goes, and then rest of riders jump across in 1s and 2s, and then its altogether and repeat. Fourth time up the climb and I was in trouble and dropped along with few other riders. Again hammered down descent and closed to within maybe 50 metres but never made it. From then it essentially a long ride to the finish. One guy punctured from the break and had slow change and I tagged onto him until he rode away from me 5th time up the climb. Later I was caught - and as 'second wind' never happened - and dropped by other riders who had been in break. And on the penultimate lap I was caught (and again dropped) by a group of 5 riders including Paul - all that was left from the 'bunch'. So it was a lonely final lap to be the last finisher (probably ~30th place).

Disappointing not to have form/fitness to compete properly but a good experience. The race was probably only a French 'chipper' (although it did have team from Flanders and think deceptive because lots of average bikes/wheels - guess its a London/SE thing to see 4th cats with their Cervelos and Lightweight wheels etc.) but it still had near enough closed roads. Although there was practically no traffic (saw maybe one car the whole) there were still marshalls (maybe 40+ in total?) at every little side turning to stop traffic/tractors turning onto the course.

Falling tree

Bit close...
During a cycling race today a tree fell down across the road only just in front of the group I was in. Whilst weather was pretty grim - temperature around 6 deg C and heavy bursts of sleet, hail and snow - it was not that windy so was quite surreal seeing tree fall and slowly brain registering was was going on.

Letter in FT

Got letter published in the FT (letter only slightly edited by FT, but the snappy title FT's not mine) :
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae89a41c-e03e-11dc-b0d7-0000779fd2ac.html
Do not normally spend time writing to newspapers but found the attitude of the author of the original letter very irritating and arrogant. Anyone who does not know me reading the letter might think am left wing...

Offshore wind farm

On site visit for construction of offshore wind farm. These are the gravity based foundations being built at Ostende. Essentially they are big concrete shells (weighing 3,000 tonnes) will be placed on the seabed and then filled with sand.
Big from outside, feel even bigger when go inside them.

2008 London team cyclo-cross championships

Warm spring like weather in mid-Feb for the London team cyclo cross championships at Hainault forest country park. Finished 3rd team - report on LCS:
http://www.londoncyclesport.com/news/article/mps/UAN/3881/v/1/sp/

2007 Guildford town centre criterium

Collar bone beginning to heal but certainly no way near well enough to even consider riding at Guildford crit with the course up the cobbled highstreet.
So chance to be a spectator and photographer. Ended up with reasonable number of decent pictures - this one of Warrick probably being my favourite with the chain bouncing all over the place - although did take hundreds.

Tour de France prologue

Watched the prologue for the Tour de France in London. Took lots of pictures. Whilst fairly happy with some of the ones of the riders, then see the professionals pictures (obviously with advantage of expensive cameras - sports photography and cycling in particular good test of equipment - and also not stuck behind 3-4 deep crowd) which make mine look very mediocre and amateurish.
So quite pleased to come up with a few original shots like this "meercats" one which although poor technically captured the spirit of the day quite well

Crystal Palace - 5th June

Breaking collarbone on Sunday equals abrupt halt to cycle racing season as competitor. So usual Tuesday evening racing replaced with bit of one handed photography at Crystal Palace. Quickly realising that even with reasonable dSLR (Pentax K10d) is still quite tricky getting decent photographs at cycle races.

Winning at Crystal Palace

Won at Crystal Palace making - for a while - the headline story on British Cycling website

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/EventReports2007/20070501_Cyrstal_Palace.asp

Nike RunLondon 10k

Run London 10km Hyde Park

Was maybe rather hopefully aiming to get sub-40. Not fair off pace early on despite little congestion and feeling I was running within myself, but clear from km 4 that was not on. Really slowed up after 7km but managed to dig in well at the end to still manage to scrape a PB with 41:41.

km split pulse
1 0:04:05 179
2 0:04:05 186
3 0:04:11 188
4 0:04:12 187
5 0:04:06 189
6 0:04:13 188
7 0:04:16 190
8 0:04:30 186
9 0:04:04 189
10 0:04:00 193

FBD Insurance Rás 2005 - part 2

Finished...

Stage 4 (100 miles):
given the first three days I was not expected today to be incident free and I was not disappointed. Just 500 metres into the stage a rider managed to put his pedal into my back wheel breaking several spokes. Wheel change from neutral service was extremely slow and to make things worse they gave me the wrong type (shimano instead of campagnolo) of wheel so the chain kept jumping. Four/five miles later my team car managed to beg/borrow/steal a campagnolo wheel from another team and change wheels again. By now the peloton is literally out of sight so I spend 10 miles being paced my team car (i.e. ride at 35 mph 5 cm behind the bumper - you need to have a lot of confidence in the car driver) up to back of the race cavalcade. (If you hold onto a car you will be disqualified from the race but being paced after a mechanical problem is unofficially allowed). Then spend another 10 miles working my way up through the race cavalcade until finally regain the bunch. Cope reasonably well with the hills and crosswinds later on the stage and start thinking will managed first bunch finish of race…then puncture with 8-9 miles to go. Even with very quick change never any realistic chance of regaining bunch so later in the stage when speed is very high, so roll in a couple of minutes down

Stage 5 (90 miles):
Finally a day without any mishap. As expected the race split up over the a long steep climb 25 miles from the finish. I wasn’t able to stay with the top guys but rode fairly strongly to come in at the front the second group for a respectable 57th place on the stage

Stage 6 (100 miles):
a little more drama on this stage but nothing too serious. Within a few miles of the start am down on the tarmac for the third time in five days, but no injuries to body of bike and everyone quickly rejoins the peloton within a couple of miles. Feeling quite strong and get in various breakaway attempts but race is being well controlled the team of the race leader. Around 40 miles to go I suffer another puncture but with swift change I’m back in the peloton within a mile or two, and end up reasonably comfortable finish in the middle of the bunch

Stage 7 (85 miles):
although relatively short this was the hardest stage of the race with 7 climbs in the Dublin-Wicklow mountains. The stage was a battle of attrition. The bunch was down to less than 100 riders (from ~160 left in race) within the first hour. By the time the race headed towards the difficult climbs of sally gap and luggala there were around 50 riders left. I was dropped with 8 others on the early part of sally gap. We did briefly pass the yellow jersey (the overall leader) when he punctured. He then got a wheel from a team mate and flew past us back up to the front group with ridiculous ease. On the middle part of the climb I was dropped from my little group, but rode strongly on the final section to catch and pass 4 riders before the summit. I caught the other 4 shortly after summit and with advantage of knowing the roads quickly left them behind on the long 50-55 mph descent. Rode alone up the final climb of luggala and caught the next small group on the descent. Eventually finished 42nd on the stage only 4 mins behind the winner, and ahead of some professionals, two former winners of the Rás and most of the Irish national team. I think having Roz out watching on the course helped motivate me a lot.

Stage 8 (30 miles)
This circuit race around Dublin’s picturesque Phoenix Park is fast but being completely flat is easy to just sit in the bunch and get round which is exactly what I did.

FBD Insurance Rás 2005 - part 1

Rás so far

Short story is not having a whole lot of luck so far...

Stage 1 (82 miles):
as usual race starts off very fast (you'd think the race was 7 miles long not 700 miles long). and after about 8 miles there was big crash with around 25 riders going down, including one team mate taken to hospital with a knee injury. avoided the crash but then punctured about 3 miles later. normally puncture is not a major drama - get a quick wheel change and on your way in 10-15 seconds and relatively easy to catch up the peloton. but because all the team cars were helping people at the crash I had to wait couple of minutes for a wheel. so had long ride - in persistent torrential rain and hailstorms - to finish in small group some 30 mins down.

Stage 2 (100 miles):
legs not too great this day. Got dropped on the biggest climb, but regained the peloton on the descent. Got dropped again on the next climb but again struggled back. Then hammer went down with 30 miles to go and got dropped again, probably for good. But managed to latch onto the back of a Czech professional who was chasing back after a puncture. On verge of making it making to the peloton when a team car tries to overtake on a narrow road and clips the Czech guy knocking him and another guy off, and clattered into a wall trying to avoid both. No serious injury to me or bike, and eventually roll in 10 mins down

Stage 3 (100 miles):
had good legs and all going fine. Early part of stage on big wide flat roads making it a relaxed day sitting in the middle of the bunch. Turning onto narrower roads approaching the climb situated at 8 miles to go, meant lots of riders trying to move up to the front and about 1 mile before the start of the climb I came down in big crash involving around 40 riders (including all 4 of our remaining team riders). Only 33 riders out of 200 rider field weren't involved in or delayed by the mayhem. Took a while to untangle my bike and find a replacement to my damaged rear wheel, eventually crossing the line 6 mins after the winner. 1 kilometre from the finish our team car broke down. Add to add insult to injury the tow truck taking it to the garage also broke down...

okay blog started
exciting stuff surely to follow...

Climbing Tingchenkhang in Sikkim

Off to Sikkim to climb Tingchenkhang
[stub entry]

Climbing Mont Blanc

In September 2002 I headed off with three friends to Chamonix to climb Mont Blanc. We discussed amongst ourselves as to whether we should hire a guide for the climb. Eventually we decided not to and, for us, I believe it was definitely the correct decision. The Gouter route presents little technical difficulty and is largely a physical challenge. It was certainly more satisfying to complete the climb independently and there was no time on the climb when we were wishing we had a guide. Our experience consisted of a week-long winter mountaineering course in Scotland, a week in Chamonix the previous year plus various summer hill walking/scrambling.

We spent the early part of the week re-familiarise ourselves with alpine skills and acclimatisation with walks up the Mer de Glace and around the Talefre glacier. Note that we went the first week in September and whilst we had the benefit of the climbs being a little quieter than in the peak months of July/August we found there were several cable cars that stopped running on 31 August and this did limit where we could easily go. Later in the week we climbed Mont Blanc du Tacul (4248m) starting from the Cosmiques hut. Tacul is very nice enjoyable one-day climb with great views, and is an ideal warm-up for Mont Blanc itself.

Despite leaving it late (a few weeks before leaving for Chamonix) we had managed to book space in the Gouter hut for the Sunday night, which was the final night of trip. Fortunately we were also lucky with the weather so on Sunday morning we drove along the valley to Les Houches to catch the cable car and tramway (TMB). Note that the ticket you buy at Les Houches is only for the cable car – you have to buy a separate ticket for the TMB, and this should be done immediately to ensure getting on the train as it is packed with tourists who have caught it from the bottom.

From the Nid d’Aigle station (the final stop) we headed up the track that winds up towards the Tete Rousse hut. There had been very little snow during the winter and was not until just before the hut that we reached the snow line. Soon after passing the hut we reached the edge of the infamous Grand Couloir. Unlike all the pictures we had seen the almost the whole couloir was devoid of snow and the steel safety cable was metres in the air. There turned out to be minimal stone fall in the couloir and the crossing was pleasantly anti-climatic. We then began the rocky scramble up the cliff to the Gouter hut. I have read widely varying accounts of this section – some people really enjoyed it while others really disliked it. I did like the lower sections but found the upper sections niggling. There were many short patches of compacted snow or ice that were not long enough to really justify putting on crampons but were sometimes a little tricky. In the end I must have put on and taken off my crampons at least three times, and I also made prudent use of the fixed steel cables near the top section. It was a nice feeling to reach the hut.

The hut was very full (although apparently less busy than the Friday and Saturday nights before). When the warden only read out three bunk spaces for us I naively said, “mais, nous somme quatres” the reply was “we are very full tonight”. So after eating dinner, we enjoyed the fantastic sunset from the hut balcony, prepared our kit for the following day and went to bed. In such overcrowded dormitories proper sleep is near impossible for most. Some, however, snored annoyingly loudly. The normal wake-up call at the Gouter is 2 a.m. At around 1 a.m. one of my friends asked (completely needlessly) “are you awake?”. We decided it was pointless lying awake waiting for 2 a.m. and so quietly the three of us (one friend suffering from the altitude deciding to stay at the hut) made our preparations. A little after 2 a.m. we were on our way up onto the ridge (past a handful of tents) and heading southwards.

We were amongst the very first people to leave the hut and after 45 minutes we could look back on the line of flickering head torches emerging onto ridge. Fairly soon we were onto the slopes of the Dome du Gouter and the going became much harder, both from the increase in gradient but also having to break trail in the snow. Navigation on the featureless slopes of the Dome should have been straightforward following a compass bearing. However in the darkness had managed to veer too far south-westwards. In the end this diversion probably only cost us 20 minutes or so, but it was amusing to spot our tracks when returning later in daylight. Over the top of the Dome and a welcome short decent to the Col du Dme. We were no much more exposed to the strengthening north-easterly wind. Past the Vallot hut make a careful mental note of its location (and also wondering where the doors to the hut are – found out later that apparently you enter the hut from underneath the floor…).

Immediately after the hut the gradient steepens significantly on reached the start of the Bosses ridge, and also the altitude starts becoming much more noticeable. Progress begins to be 5-10 steps, short rest, 5-10 steps, short rest…Dawn starts breaking and begin to take notice of the developing views on Italy to the right hand side and France to the left. The ridge is exposed on both sides and is fairly narrow in places, but not as bad as I was expecting from some accounts (certainly far more comfortable than the ridge out of the ice tunnel from the Aiguille de Midi cable car). The ascent of the ridge steadily becomes more and more tiring and soon am left longing for the summit. Eventually go past a rocky outcrop (at the time remember reading there was some significance to these rocks but can’t place exactly what…). A few hundred metres past ‘la Tournette’ rocks the summit arrives. Despite being forewarned still surprised at the anti-climax of reaching it. Not quite sure why – the views are very good and it is a satisfying feeling. On stopping the cold, the wind, the lack of sleep, the altitude and the effects of the previous 4½ hours exertion seem to catch up rapidly. Spend no more than 5-6 minutes at the summit taking a few photos and eating some food before heading back.

Descend the Bosses ridge very rapidly, at times almost jogging down, only slowing to pass the endless stream of people still labouring up (our early start now strongly vindicated). Stop for a proper rest near the Vallot hut out of the wind. Then back down the Dome du Gouter and to the hut. The descent of the rocky cliff down from the Gouter hut is slightly more niggling annoying than the ascent. Huge variations in speed of descent – some people happily bounding down without crampons not using any of the fixed cables, whilst others inched down slowly being short-roped by their guide. Reach the southern edge of the Grand Coulouir. Despite being much earlier in the day than yesterday there is now significant stone/rock fall in the couloir. Manage to cross uneventfully during a short lull. A couple of people behind us have a much less comfortable crossing having to duck swiftly a couple of times. Then a large fist sized rock rolls down the couloir and then bounces abruptly almost perpendicular to the couloir coming very close to us. Quickly decide no to linger at the edge of the couloir any longer. Brisk plod down the track to the TMB. Enjoy an hour or so sun bathing before the next tram arrives. Tram and cable car down to the car in Les Houches, quick change and then up the motorway to Geneva airport. Back at Heathrow at 9.30 p.m. just under 15 hours after being on the summit of western Europe’s highest mountain. A slightly surreal feeling.
__________

Selected Mont Blanc links:

British Mountaineering Council – excellent factsheet on Mont Blanc
www.thebmc.co.uk
Good general description of the Mont Blanc routes
www.terragalleria.com/mountain/info/chamonix/mb-easy.html
A diary of some novice climbers being guided to the summit
www.guidinglight.org.uk/chamdiary.html
A description of a couple’s guided ascent (several good photographs)
www.pardoes.com/climbing/blanc.htm
A good general information page about Mont Blanc, including some useful maps
lynx.uio.no/jon/mbmap.html