Category: Alps

The whole thing hinges on this!

Posted on by lola1331 in Alps, Challenges, training

So with the band together and in full rehearsal I have to step away and become dare I say kind of selfish. You see I can’t make the others train, I can’t help them with their health problems, though it troubles me and obviously I care hugely about how they are dealing with them! I have to ensure that I get my 56 year old frame back, into some sort of shape and that I don’t let the others down plus add to that I am on the same bicycle as my 23 year old Son for “Summit Or Nothing Part 1”.

Well to find out just where my body and Mitchell’s is at this stage Mitch and I headed to Chew Valley for the opening round of the Bristol South Cycling Club 8.5 Mile TT. This is a tough little TT course that has a sharp climb and long uphill drag on a heavy road hence its 8.5 mile not the standard 10 mile TT.

As I nervously sat in the front seat of Florence and the starter counted us down it suddenly dawned on me that if we sucked in this event our challenge on Flo would be in jeopardy, fact! Even though this is a flat out sprint event it would test the three of us to our limits and find out how far we have come through the winter months as TT events are know as the “race of truth” for good reason.

“3,2,1 GO” shouts the starter and we are away smoothly, quickly and are pushing the start gear properly even though we have gone away for the first time in the big ring on the front. Mitch shouts for me to drop a ring on the back I shift Flo and again we spin the gear very quickly and the speed builds.

Mitch then shouts for me to “dump the block” which means for me to shift over two or three gears in one go and hit top gear! I do this, Flo shifts beautifully, we push the gear with no problem and now we are really moving! The worry now is will we have gone to hard to soon and blow up! I feel great my breathing is hard but regulated and my legs are pushing evenly with Mitch as I can’t feel him pushing through my feet.

To my amazement and slight embarrassment we catch our minute man in under a quarter of the course. As we pass the young female solo rider I have to shout, “on your right” to warn we are coming through as the road hits a bit of a pinch point. This is also the next shift point as the course is climbing and we are losing cadence. I come up only one ring and we can run the gear again.

Quickly the course falls then turns sharp left and up the one big sharp climb, the plan is I drop the front ring carefully so as not to have the drive chain come off, make the turn and smash it up the hill. Simple…….well no you see Florence has down tube shifters that don’t index each gear. I have to feel when they are in and she will only shift the front rings when the power is knocked off! So we start to free wheel into the corner I shift the front mec we glass pedal and……. nothing happens!! I look back to the chain rings under Mitchell’s feet and then Mitch screams break, break, clip the speed off! It’s truly terrifying on the back he has no brakes just a blank set of drop handle bars all the controls are down to me. I snap back into reality and hit the brakes which are very old school and poor, but the speed comes off. I make the turn perfectly and hear plus feel a click, the chain has shifted and we are hard on the pedals up the climb.

My reaction is relief and pride in the Old Girl and I quickly tell her “well done” before my lungs and legs start screaming in pain, as we hit the 3/4 point of the climb. I start encouraging Mitch as we crest the climb and I know it’s the best we have ever climbed it! Then down we go Flo goes back into the big ring after a little protest but allows me to dump the block perfectly.

The next section is fast and flat and all feels good, then all to quickly we are onto what for us is the toughest part of the course! You see unlike the other modern tandems in the event and the custom made solo TT bikes we aren’t aerodynamic in any way really other than getting as low as we can in the drops and when you consider its 80% of your pedal effort just to push the bike and rider through the air we really are at a huge disadvantage, on a long steady slight uphill gradient.

We are both now breathing and working really hard but recover very well on the next decent. We pass through a small village and turn left onto the main road for a short sharp climb, then a lovely flat out drop down onto the Lakes. All is going well until I make the turn onto the main road. Mitch shouts “it’s clear” from the rear seat as he can see way up the road from there. I make the turn and a car is parked on the other side of the road, which is fine except the driver starts it and reverses without looking across the road and right at us!! I shout and brake like mad, we very nearly hit a wall and come to a stop!! The idiot driver then pulls away and turns off the main road!!!

We are furious my heart sinks as our lap time is dying there and then, we have no forward momentum to get us up and over the next kick in the road but we quickly get our heads together and push on in silence just our heavy breathing as a sound track. The next call I get from the back is “2 minute man” at first due to me thinking all is lost I think that our minute man is coming up on us for a pass, but I look ahead down the road to see a solo TT bike in the distance and we are making good ground on it! Mitch normally would tell me to stay calm and not chase it, as we could blow up and they may have paced to sprint in but there is nothing from my stoker other than Power! We power past the solo rider a minute or so later and empty the tanks to cross the line!

I stop my race computer as we cross the line and we slowly warm down with a gentle spin up the road a little, then return to the start area. I feel totally shot but pleased with the way I felt we had raced. Mitch is gutted about the car and thinks it’s ruined our run. One of the other Tandem crews come over, who we are very close to most weeks in terms of times and tell us they have set a PB at 20.30 mins and have knocked off 30 seconds from their previous best time! I look down for the first time at my computer whilst explaining our altercation with the car, I can’t believe it we have a time of 20.08 mins!! We have smashed it!! There is no doubt we would have dipped under 20 mins without the dam car but it doesn’t matter as you see Flo, Mitch and I are on it, so dam on it!!

I can now say with confidence that the blood sweat and tears of the winter months are paying off!!!

Nick Felling Really Great, Over and Out for now. 

We are all booked for the Alps

Posted on by elliebees in Alps, Challenges, News, Planning

So we are all booked for our Alpine challenge. Transport, ferries and accommodation all sorted.

A massive thanks to Hannah for sorting out our transport options. Flo was being a pain and wanted a lot of space in the van, as she has refused to go down hill in the Alps and wants to be transported in style.

Once we had our transport options sorted, we could book the ferry crossings. Its going to be a early start from Bristol (or really late depending on how you look at it) and our total travel time is going to 16 – 17 hours down to our starting point in the French Alps .

There are plenty of companies that offer Alpine cycling tours but since we are self funded keeping costs down is important to us. By designing the challenge and booking the separate elements ourselves and taking our own support we have probably saved about 40 – 50% on an organised tour.

Check out the other posts about planning our Alpine challenge.

Update from Flo

Posted on by lola1331 in Alps, Challenges, training

Well well would you believe it those two twits have asked if I would carry them up mountains in the Alps now!!

They must be joking I am 33 years Old in Human years so that’s like well …… really old in Tandem years!! I have refused out right to go down hill and have laid down the law that they put my triplet chain rings back on so as they don’t break my cranks!!

Apparently it’s all going to done to support the “Teenage Cancer Trust” so that’s why I agreed to do it.

The pair of them also have plans to make me faster for time trialling again this year, I don’t have a problem with this as I enjoy showing up those modern Aero you pup Tandems!!

Apparently my 8 speed Italian Campagnolo gears no longer exist so Nick is going to build a new rear cassette from the newer (20 year old) 9 speed system. This should go some way to adding to my down hill and flat speed as those two twits Mitch and Nick kept spinning out!! This should work as long as Nick finally works out that changing my gears needs to be done gently or I’ll throw my chain off in protest for no apparent reason as I know this leaves him flabbergasted LOL

The last time we all raced together Mitch and Nick got really nervous at the start of their first open TT , so just for a laugh I dropped my gear chain which I have never done before!! It was so funny they really got in a tiz, then got really angry, which worked as they pushed my pedals so hard it got the three of us on the podium. I have done faster times back in the day with my original crew on-board of course but don’t let those two know that!!

Its three weeks until my wheels return to the local TT course on a Wednesday night so those two better be training hard or I might just get a puncture as far away as I can from the start LOL!!

Take care humans give me a wave if you see me out training trying to get those two idiots to go faster!! 

Love Florence xx

The Band is back together!!

Posted on by lola1331 in Alps, Challenges, News

Well getting the band back together was a total success. I have even managed to add a couple of new band members!!

I am so chuffed to have recruited John Grounds, who is without doubt the tallest cyclist I have ever had the pleasure of riding with and Anthony Rollinson (Munch) who is well just bonkers, in an amazing infectious way!

You will hear more about these lovely humans going forward, once our second cycling challenge is announced.

So the first challenge is now out there and it’s big one!! Brad Cole, Jason Cole, Harry Cole and Craig Llewellin are going to be taking on the biggest most famous uncategorised Climbs of The Tour De France in the Alps, via a circular route on their solo road bikes! Each will pick to either support The British Lung Foundation or The Teenage Cancer Trust.

As for Mitch and I, well what can I say we will join the guys but with a rather large twist! You see we have decided to do all the mountain accents on our 33 year old grumpy tandem Florence! There are many issues with trying to climb on Flo! Simply put, you can’t stand up (or the three of us will hit the floor!) there is little or no room for the stoker (Mitch) and simply peddling a tandem up any lengthy climb is basically hell on earth!!

Having checked the record books as best we can no one has every done what we are going to attempt! Several tandem crews have done several of the Alpine mountains, but swap out for a new stoker or captain after 1 or 2 accents. We will do all the climbs together and several each day thankfully with the other Mile Monkeys for company.

“Why?” I hear you ask “are you nuts!?” Well yes we are nuts! but nuts for a very important and personal reason.

Mitch’s partner is called Abi. She is a happy, funny, beautiful young lady who had become one of my own when the pair of them so obviously fell in love with each other.

Sadly Abi fell rather ill 6 months ago and was diagnosed as having cancer!

I couldn’t tell Abi or my son everything would be alright, as to be frank that might not have been the case! I feel and felt useless, but on talking with Abi as her health turned an important corner, I asked if us Monkeys could represent a body that was important to her and her treatment? Her reply was instantaneous “The Teenage Cancer Trust!” who support young people suffering with cancer from the age of 13 to 25 (Abi is 23)

So Mitch came up with the idea that we would try and get Florence up and around the Alps! and that our pain in doing so would be nothing to that of young cancer sufferers and their families!

However don’t for one moment think that this adventure will be one of seriousness sadness and rubbish like that!! We aim to make you laugh, smile and all the other positive reactions your body can make LOL.

There will be a second challenge that will take place close to home in the UK so as our supporters, friends and family’s can join in.

Training is in full swing now for both Mitch and I but the weather hasn’t let up enough yet to get some valuable miles on Flo. However both of us are far further forward with our cycling fitness than we would normally be at this time of year so all is good. 

Catch you all again soon Monkey Nick Out.

More planning for our tour of the Alps

Posted on by elliebees in Alps, News, Planning

So with our 6 cycling stages roughly planned, it was time to sort out, transport and accommodation.

Our current plan is to drive from Bristol down to Dover to catch a ferry over to France. The best way seems to be to hire a van for the bikes and a people carrier or minibus for, well for the people.

Small issue. Brexit. Currently no one can tell us if we can take a hire vehicle over to France this summer. So we have put the transport issue to one side for now.

Accommodation was a slightly easier task. Online hotel booking tools are so much help with this. Hannah and Eloise sat down on Sunday and booked almost all our overnight stays. There was a bit of juggling involved when a place couldn’t be found in exactly the right town. It was important to check what difference it would make to our planned routes. It might only be 3 miles from the town we want to stay, but its no good if its 3 miles off route.

The biggest issue we found was trying to find accommodation in L’Alpe d’Huez. It is one of the bigger places we wanted to stay. It wasn’t until we received a helpful email from one of the chalets we had contacted about availability that we found out that it is Alpe d’Huzes Dutch Charity week . This a major Dutch charity event that happens every year, competitors either compete as individuals or in teams with the aim of cycling up the 21 Bends at least 6 times in one day.

We are now currently planning a bit of a re-route so that we don’t need to stay in L’Alpe d’Huez overnight.

Our first challenge of 2019

Posted on by bristolmilemonkeys in Alps, Challenges, News

This years first challenge is to conquer as many of the famous alpine climbs as we can in 6 days.

Where is the challenge taking place?

This year we are basing our challenge in the French Alps. We will be doing a clockwise circular tour taking as many of the climbs as we can. Due to logistics we will be doing the whole route on our bikes rather than getting a mini bus between the climbs.

On average we will be doing about 65 miles a day and about 10,000 ft of climbing.

Some of the climbs we will be tackling are Col d’Iseran, Col du TĂ©lĂ©graphe, Col du Galibier, Alpe d’Huez, Lacets de Montvernier , Col de la Croix de Fer, Col de la Madeleine.

When is the Challenge?

We are planning to do this at the beginning of June, hopefully the conditions will be good and all the snow will have melted.

Who is taking part?

We currently have 6 riders taking part, some from our previous mountain challenge and some new faces.

Route Planning

Posted on by elliebees in Alps, Challenges, News, Planning

One of our first steps in planning is our routes.   We need to work out where we will be stopping each night so we can book our accommodation.  We also need to make sure that the distances and climbing each day is achievable.  There is a difference between challenging ourselves and being broken on the second day.  Its not just the riders we have to consider but also our support crew.  Their day doesn’t stop once the cyclists have finished, so we need to make sure the days aren’t too long for them as well.

So this week we sat down with the Strava website to create our routes.  We have now 6 days of routes planned with some amazing and iconic climbs.   Most of the days will be about 65 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing.  We will be doing some of the classic cols such as Col du Galibier, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Telegraphe, Alpe d’Huez, Lacet de Montvernier, Col de la Maderleine.

Next step will be planning on how we get to ourselves and all the bikes over to the Alps.