So we are back and all in one piece. A few aches and pains and some interesting tan lines.
Here is a quick summary.
Due to snow we weren’t able to complete all the climbs we wanted. The Col d’Iseran was under a serious amount of snow, so with help from the wonderful Peter & Judith we drove to the Col du Glandon and did that one instead. Our second closure was the Col du Galibier, they hadn’t finished clearing the pass because of a burst water main. We were however able to do the Col du Telegraphe which leads into the Col du Galibier from the north.
We were really lucky with the weather, the week before we left, it had been snowing and this week they have massive storms. We had sun everyday, some of the temperatures did reach 35C, but it was slightly cooler at altitude. We did start day 5 in the cloud and damp, making the ride to the Col de la Croix de Fer very cold. Mitch and Harry suffered the most that day.
Flo held up well, she did have us worried after Alpe d’Huez and the Col d’Ornon. The support crew however were able quickly find a bike shop in Bourg d’Oisans able to replace the spoke and true up her rear wheel. It was like she knew that the climb to the Croix de Fer would also include some descents.
Check back for some more details about each stage, and don’t forget this is our first event this year, stay tuned for the Everesting challenge.
Three things happened this week that showed Mitch and are on the same page and a very tight two piece for the madness of “Summit Or Nothing Part 1” on Florence.
Firstly our TT outing this week, which was somewhat kind of strange. I felt we sucked for the first few miles and almost sacked off the run! I said nothing from the front seat of Flo and pushed on, my breathing was all over the place but I felt if we got over the first climb properly maybe we could pull the run back together. Well as I found out when we warmed down after our run, Mitch on the back seat explained without any knowledge of my feelings that he like me in his words wanted to “sack off the run” but held on in there to see how the climb went! We pulled ourselves together at exactly the same time in exactly the same way and posted a very decent time.
Then came a run up Cheddar Gorge on a training run latter in the week on our solo bikes. I pushed myself to get a quick run up the Gorge but we where out with a couple of the guys and I just pushed the first half on the front on my own, just when I needed someone to take the front and break the air for me Mitch comes by shouting “jump on”. I duly get a couple of centimetres off his back wheel and we steam off to the top of the Gorge, resulting in the quickest I have ever ascended it and more importantly with total trust in following Mitch very closely in front of me so as to grab the aero tow, we were totally in sync!
Lastly comes the most important of our unity. Abi (Mitchell’s partner) finished her long road of treatment for Cancer and got to ring the bell in the BRI’s Cancer Unit to signify this. I told Mitch that I was fine with all the social media pictures of this and was obviously elated by them! But that the video of her ringing the bell just hit me and got me in a rather emotional state LOL his reply was to agree and say that his reactions mirrored mine to this.
So to summarise = One Love, Unity, On It, So Tight As A Pair!!!
So we have heard
from the cyclists on how their training is going. I thought I would give you an insight as what
goes into the preparation for the support crew.
The first trip I
did, I had no involvement in planning the routes or the accommodation
bookings. I finally managed to get the
routes about a week before and copied them onto a road atlas with a highlighter
pen. I knew what towns we were stopping
in, but I didn’t have addresses (other members of the crew did).
The second year
Hannah produced a lovely book with the detailed directions and google maps,
along with a highlighted road atlas and the list of campsites and their
addresses. Absolutely brilliant if you
had a navigator but I didn’t.
So last time I
stepped up the preparation, more for me than anyone else. I knew I wasn’t going to have a full time
navigator, so I wanted to know as much about our route as I could.
This is where Google Maps & Streetview are your friend. Since the cycling routes have been created electronically in Strava, they can also be imported into a Google Map. Its just then a process of dropping the little man every 10 miles or so along the route and seeing on Streeview if there is somewhere to stop for the support vehicles. This also has the added benefit of being able to confirm that our routes are on paved roads, rather than gravel tracks.
It was then a matter of listing all the potential stopping points, the nearest village name and the distance from the start. This gave me a cue card so I could navigate using the road signs or a standard Sat Nav using each of the villages as a waypoint. All printed on an A4 sheet so it would be quick and easy to read.
Based on the
feedback from the cyclists on previous trips,
it has been requested to try and not stop half way up or down a climb or
decent. So I also noted where these
waypoints were on the elevation profile.
What I ended up with was a “Day Card”
Day 3 of our 2017 ride across the Pyrenees
Each evening we would look at next day and make decisions on where the stops and meeting points with the support vehicles would be. These decisions were only made the day before to take into account how the riders were feeling and the weather conditions. (it is also rare that we manage to get the whole crew together before our trip starts) Since I had marked stops about every 10 miles we could also make changes during the day. The support crew could also use them as rendezvous points when they had to split up, (we referred to places by number rather than mispronounce the place names).
Each support vehicle got a copy and the cyclists each got a pocket size version with everyone’s mobile numbers on the back. This could also be used as a backup if their cycling Sat Nav failed. It also stopped some of the questions on how much further somewhere was.
This year it is proving slightly easier, as I have found that “Ride with GPS” cycle mapping website will let you go into Google Streetview straight from the app rather than switching between Strava and Google Maps. However I think this year we might need to plan some of our stops in advance this year to accommodate Flo’s refusal to go downhill.
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!!!
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.
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!!
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.
