Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Etape Du Tour Preview Video
Came across this video via Bikeradar - four french cyclists riding the course. French voice-over (good for those of us wanting a bit of practice).
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Entry & getting there - take 2
Guaranteed Entry with Accommodation Package
There are a number of ways to enter and I've tried a couple of them. In my first year, I didn't feel confident enough to manage the logistics of my first European sportive and I bought a three day package with http://www.cyclomundo.com/. The package included Etape entry and 3 nights accommodation - 2 nights at an apartment near to the start village with the final night in a hotel nearer to finish. We were responsible for our own transport to France. I found Cyclomundo to be excellent and really felt I received a very personal service - the owner was in touch with me and offered me a lovely alternative day out when I found I couldn't take part. If this is your first European sportive and you want someone else to take care of all the logistics, this is a good way to go about it - a number of ASO's official agents offer packages:
http://www.cyclomundo.com/ - good personal experience of this company
http://www.ronanpensectravel.com/etape-du-tour/18th-edition-etape-du-tour.htm
http://www.frenchcyclingholidays.com/sport/etape/index.html
http://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/cycling/?c=Etape-du-Tour - always get mixed reviews but haven't tried them myself
http://www.lafuga.cc/tours/_tape_entry_plus
Other Etape Packages
Thank you to the reader who corrected me on this the first time I posted.
There are a further group of companies who offer Etape packages. However, as these companies are not official agents of ASO, they will not be able to guarantee your entry into L'Etape. They may offer you assistance in getting a place, via the entry forms in Velo magazine, or they may request that you secure your own place with one of the official partners.
www.veloventoux.com- always get amazing reviews and I'm hoping to go out and do the Ventoux sportive with them next year. They're based near to Ventoux so I'm no sure if they're doing an Etape package - definitely worth asking though.
http://www.gpm10.com/ - recommended on bikeradar forum
http://www.pyractif.com/cycling-packages/road-etape2010.html - also recommended on bikeradar
There may be other companies offering these kind of packages but these are the ones I have seen recommended. Happy to add to this list if you have a recommendation.
With all packages, what you get for your money will vary - you may find accommodation, transfers to start village, collection at finish village, transport for registration, transportation of your luggage while you are riding included but you will need to check the details. I think I am right in saying that all packages do not include your travel to France.
Entry Only
Second time around, I entered via Cyclomundo again - managing to get an "entry only" package this time. Obviously, Entry-only gets you just that - all other arrangements managed & paid for by yourself. It's not difficult to organise (only marginally more tricky than entering a UK sportive) and can be much less expensive than a package. Entry-only places get snapped up quickly so if you haven't got one yet, start contacting the above mentioned companies now.
Once I'd secured my entry, I started looking for accommodation around the start village. My plan was to take advantage of the shuttle service, dropping my car off at the finish village the day before and then taking the "shuttle bus" back to our bikes. We would then cycle to the start on the big day. Unfortunately, as soon as the route was announced, start village hotels were immediately booked up. I managed to find a campsite with studio apartments about 3 miles from the start - unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be too great - but otherwise, managing your own entry is easy. Start looking for accommodation but don't panic if you don't find something immediately - I suspect the tour companies book everything up and unwanted rooms get released nearer to the time (I managed to book a hotel whilst out there so that I didn't have to spend 3 nights in that smelly studio).
If you're finding your own accommodation, these sites may be of use to you:
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/
http://www.chambresdhotesfrance.com/ - these two sites are for B&B type accommodation
http://www.chambres-hotes-france.org/ - see above
http://www.booking.com/http://www.booking.com/ - hotel booking website
http://www.campanile.com/en/default.aspx - reasonable hotels, reasonable prices
In 2010 I have an entry only package with Ron http://www.etape.org.uk/ - again, I feel I've had great service so far. This is going to be our family holiday and I've booked a converted barn for 2 weeks - we should be able to catch a couple of stages whilst we're out there - sounds good doesn't it? After last years experience, quality of accommodation took priority over proximity to the start village and we're about an hours drive from the start, on the outskirts of Tarbes. As the start and finish are some distance apart, we're going to need two cars - one to get us to the start, one to get us back from the finish. We will have our own car there to get to the start and we are planning to hire a car or van to leave at the finish village the day before.
Another way to enter is via a form printed in Velo magazine around Jan/Feb - for this you need a French address for correspondence. If I understand correctly, there is a draw to determine those who will get a place. It's a much cheaper way to enter but the draw introduces a risk that you won't get an entry. I've not tried this so unfortunately, can't tell you much more than that.
Travel
In 2008, we drove to Pau - We set off from Cheshire at around 5pm, drove for most of the night, stopping at a service station for a few hours sleep in the car on the way, two of us sharing the driving. We finally arrived at around 3pm in the afternoon the following day. We were tired and a bit out of it by then. Driving home was better as we started at 6am (day after Etape) and made it home around 10pm. It can definitely be done, especially if you're sharing the driving with 2 or more, and it's great to have the convenience of your car whilst you're out there - but it is tiring.
In 2009, I said we wouldn't do that again so we drove to Ashford and took the Eurostar to Avignon. It was a fantastic way to travel and we covered lots of ground quickly and in comfort. We were able to take on Bike Box Alan, massive hard cased bike boxes, one each, as part of our luggage - no problems. Returning on TGV was just as good - the trains are so clean and roomy. It makes you wonder why our trains can't be as good as that. I've read that this is a good website for sorting your train travel in France - http://www.seat61.com/Europe.htm I used the Eurostar website to make all my bookings last year.
Having said that, in 2010, we'll be driving again - this time with the kids. We're not going to do it in one go - we'll have a stop in Le Mans or somewhere around that region. While the train was fantastic, we had a fair bit of faffing around on both legs of the journey: on the way out, sorting our hire car took about 2 hours and on our return journey, a station change in Paris, involving a taxi ride across the city (if we'd changed in Lille, it would have just been a platform change) meant that we didn't really save much time travelling via train and didn't arrive quite as relaxed as we thought we'd be. We have used the channel tunnel a few times now and on each occasion, it has been well organised and pain free. Plus, if you save up your Tesco vouchers, you can trade them in for Eurotunnel vouchers and cut out the cost of this part of your trip - I've used my vouchers and literally only had to pay a few pounds each time I've travelled.
There are airports at Pau, Lourdes & Toulouse - so there is always the option on flying in. Jet2, Ryanair, Easyjet and BMIBaby run flights to these airports. This is obviously a very quick way to get there but my fear of flying and fear of losing my bike would always make me look for other options. If you're looking for a hard-case bike box to take on a plane - Bike Box Alan boxes are great. We hired ours for £30.
More Help?
I think the UKs Etape expert is Ron at www.etape.org.uk (who is sorting out my entry this year). There is a wealth of Etape information on his website - read some of his "stories" from previous years and watch for his monthly training hints.
Or drop me a comment on here and I might be able to help :-)
There are a number of ways to enter and I've tried a couple of them. In my first year, I didn't feel confident enough to manage the logistics of my first European sportive and I bought a three day package with http://www.cyclomundo.com/. The package included Etape entry and 3 nights accommodation - 2 nights at an apartment near to the start village with the final night in a hotel nearer to finish. We were responsible for our own transport to France. I found Cyclomundo to be excellent and really felt I received a very personal service - the owner was in touch with me and offered me a lovely alternative day out when I found I couldn't take part. If this is your first European sportive and you want someone else to take care of all the logistics, this is a good way to go about it - a number of ASO's official agents offer packages:
http://www.cyclomundo.com/ - good personal experience of this company
http://www.ronanpensectravel.com/etape-du-tour/18th-edition-etape-du-tour.htm
http://www.frenchcyclingholidays.com/sport/etape/index.html
http://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/cycling/?c=Etape-du-Tour - always get mixed reviews but haven't tried them myself
http://www.lafuga.cc/tours/_tape_entry_plus
Other Etape Packages
Thank you to the reader who corrected me on this the first time I posted.
There are a further group of companies who offer Etape packages. However, as these companies are not official agents of ASO, they will not be able to guarantee your entry into L'Etape. They may offer you assistance in getting a place, via the entry forms in Velo magazine, or they may request that you secure your own place with one of the official partners.
www.veloventoux.com- always get amazing reviews and I'm hoping to go out and do the Ventoux sportive with them next year. They're based near to Ventoux so I'm no sure if they're doing an Etape package - definitely worth asking though.
http://www.gpm10.com/ - recommended on bikeradar forum
http://www.pyractif.com/cycling-packages/road-etape2010.html - also recommended on bikeradar
There may be other companies offering these kind of packages but these are the ones I have seen recommended. Happy to add to this list if you have a recommendation.
With all packages, what you get for your money will vary - you may find accommodation, transfers to start village, collection at finish village, transport for registration, transportation of your luggage while you are riding included but you will need to check the details. I think I am right in saying that all packages do not include your travel to France.
Entry Only
Second time around, I entered via Cyclomundo again - managing to get an "entry only" package this time. Obviously, Entry-only gets you just that - all other arrangements managed & paid for by yourself. It's not difficult to organise (only marginally more tricky than entering a UK sportive) and can be much less expensive than a package. Entry-only places get snapped up quickly so if you haven't got one yet, start contacting the above mentioned companies now.
Once I'd secured my entry, I started looking for accommodation around the start village. My plan was to take advantage of the shuttle service, dropping my car off at the finish village the day before and then taking the "shuttle bus" back to our bikes. We would then cycle to the start on the big day. Unfortunately, as soon as the route was announced, start village hotels were immediately booked up. I managed to find a campsite with studio apartments about 3 miles from the start - unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be too great - but otherwise, managing your own entry is easy. Start looking for accommodation but don't panic if you don't find something immediately - I suspect the tour companies book everything up and unwanted rooms get released nearer to the time (I managed to book a hotel whilst out there so that I didn't have to spend 3 nights in that smelly studio).
If you're finding your own accommodation, these sites may be of use to you:
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/
http://www.chambresdhotesfrance.com/ - these two sites are for B&B type accommodation
http://www.chambres-hotes-france.org/ - see above
http://www.booking.com/http://www.booking.com/ - hotel booking website
http://www.campanile.com/en/default.aspx - reasonable hotels, reasonable prices
In 2010 I have an entry only package with Ron http://www.etape.org.uk/ - again, I feel I've had great service so far. This is going to be our family holiday and I've booked a converted barn for 2 weeks - we should be able to catch a couple of stages whilst we're out there - sounds good doesn't it? After last years experience, quality of accommodation took priority over proximity to the start village and we're about an hours drive from the start, on the outskirts of Tarbes. As the start and finish are some distance apart, we're going to need two cars - one to get us to the start, one to get us back from the finish. We will have our own car there to get to the start and we are planning to hire a car or van to leave at the finish village the day before.
Another way to enter is via a form printed in Velo magazine around Jan/Feb - for this you need a French address for correspondence. If I understand correctly, there is a draw to determine those who will get a place. It's a much cheaper way to enter but the draw introduces a risk that you won't get an entry. I've not tried this so unfortunately, can't tell you much more than that.
Travel
In 2008, we drove to Pau - We set off from Cheshire at around 5pm, drove for most of the night, stopping at a service station for a few hours sleep in the car on the way, two of us sharing the driving. We finally arrived at around 3pm in the afternoon the following day. We were tired and a bit out of it by then. Driving home was better as we started at 6am (day after Etape) and made it home around 10pm. It can definitely be done, especially if you're sharing the driving with 2 or more, and it's great to have the convenience of your car whilst you're out there - but it is tiring.
In 2009, I said we wouldn't do that again so we drove to Ashford and took the Eurostar to Avignon. It was a fantastic way to travel and we covered lots of ground quickly and in comfort. We were able to take on Bike Box Alan, massive hard cased bike boxes, one each, as part of our luggage - no problems. Returning on TGV was just as good - the trains are so clean and roomy. It makes you wonder why our trains can't be as good as that. I've read that this is a good website for sorting your train travel in France - http://www.seat61.com/Europe.htm I used the Eurostar website to make all my bookings last year.
Having said that, in 2010, we'll be driving again - this time with the kids. We're not going to do it in one go - we'll have a stop in Le Mans or somewhere around that region. While the train was fantastic, we had a fair bit of faffing around on both legs of the journey: on the way out, sorting our hire car took about 2 hours and on our return journey, a station change in Paris, involving a taxi ride across the city (if we'd changed in Lille, it would have just been a platform change) meant that we didn't really save much time travelling via train and didn't arrive quite as relaxed as we thought we'd be. We have used the channel tunnel a few times now and on each occasion, it has been well organised and pain free. Plus, if you save up your Tesco vouchers, you can trade them in for Eurotunnel vouchers and cut out the cost of this part of your trip - I've used my vouchers and literally only had to pay a few pounds each time I've travelled.
There are airports at Pau, Lourdes & Toulouse - so there is always the option on flying in. Jet2, Ryanair, Easyjet and BMIBaby run flights to these airports. This is obviously a very quick way to get there but my fear of flying and fear of losing my bike would always make me look for other options. If you're looking for a hard-case bike box to take on a plane - Bike Box Alan boxes are great. We hired ours for £30.
More Help?
I think the UKs Etape expert is Ron at www.etape.org.uk (who is sorting out my entry this year). There is a wealth of Etape information on his website - read some of his "stories" from previous years and watch for his monthly training hints.
Or drop me a comment on here and I might be able to help :-)
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Riding The Exmoor Beast
With a forecast of 50mph gales and heavy rain, it was with some trepidation that I drove down to Minehead on Saturday afternoon. 220 miles is a fairly long way to go for a 60 mile sportive, but I enjoyed the event last year and I was really keen to see how much I'd (hopefully) improved after a year of training.
In 2008, my family had a pretty miserable day; killing time in a cold and wet Minehead. This year, I decided to drive down on my own and my first stop was Butlins; the events new HQ. What a fantastic improvement on last years muddy field at Wimbleball Lake - there was a massage area, bike clothing stalls , lots of cheery faces to direct me through the registration process plus all the attractions of Butlins. The abundant signs, flags and people milling around clutching brown envelopes started to build my excitement for the coming day. I had a quick look around the inside of Butlins huge Skyline "big white tent" and regretted not bringing the children - they would have had a brilliant time.
Following a pleasant dinner at Butlin's Pizza hut, I retired to bed early with my alarm set for 5:45am.
True to forecast, the wind picked up overnight and I was woken many times as it blew the rain hard against my window and played a percussive tune on my bathroom extractor fan. After a hearty breakfast, I braved the elements and ran to the car. The rain at that stage wasn't particularly heavy but the wind was strong and the roads were strewn with leaves and branches.
Organisation at the event was slick - I was directed into a car park and rode 200metres to the start point. I became aware, by some sort of osmosis of rumour and mutterings (soon to be confirmed by event management's announcement), that the race had been delayed by an hour and there wouldn't be a 100 mile ride option. I parked my bike and met up with Howie in the big white tent. The new Butlins location really came into its own - it easily housed hundreds of cyclists and our bikes, and kept us warm and dry until the ride eventually started at 8. I dread to think what it would have been like if we had last years HQ facilities. While waiting, Howie came up with a very interesting theory that heavier riders are actually fitter/better athletes than our skinnier friends as we have to carry around all those extra kilos!
Finally, out onto the road and immediately soaked - the wind just whipped the rain and made conditions pretty uncomfortable. The route rolled out of Minehead and through meandering roads, full of debris, to the start of the first significant climb of the day: Dunkery Beacon. It's a fairly steep climb with an awkward cattle grid right in the middle of it - I saw a guy hit the deck ahead of me and decided not to risk it. I climbed off, walked round and waited for a gap to have a stab at getting go again on a 15-20% hill. I was soon on my way and slogged my way up - lungs burning all the way. A careful descent on leafy roads down to the next danger point - the ford. This year, it wasn't quite so fearful - it was pretty much dry and I managed to make it over without planting wheel into the horribly uneven cobbles. On the climb up away from the valley floor, we were sheltered by high hedges but the enormous power of the wind could be heard in the tall trees above and I started to wonder what it would be like when we were finally exposed to it on the moors. I soon found out - it was unbelievable. I've never cycled in winds like it - well, why would you? The rain was horizontal, travelling at speed, right into my eyes - viscous pins slicing my skin. I was on the drops, hunched, eyes screwed up, gurning, swearing.....I have never contemplated quitting so often as I did on that ride. Head wind made progress painfully slow, even going downhill; more dangerous were the cross-winds, blowing me clean across to the other side of the road.
A descent to Lynmouth (not as scary as I remembered it) and a gentle wooded climb out recovered my spirits but we were soon above the trees and onto exposed moorland once again. We were buffeted by exceptionally strong winds and rain but the thought of the oasis at feed stop 1 spurred me on. Last year, this was a food stop of the "if Carlsberg made food stops" variety - freshly made hot bacon rolls, home made leek and potato soup & home made flapjack. I indulged for a little too long last year and prior to the ride, I mentally restricted myself to just 10 minutes this time around. It wasn't necessary- this years stop wasn't quite in the same league. That's not to say it was a bad food stop at all - far from it; provisions were excellent with soup, cakes, dried fruit. However, last years was just so amazing, that it was a tough act to follow.
More rolling miles followed in improving conditions - towards the end, the miracle of blue skies and sun could be seen. But the wind stayed strong and took me by surprise on a few more occasions. As I struggled to get my HR up into the 130s it occurred to me that my usual feeding regime of one gel per hour was perhaps not enough to replenish what I'd lost in fighting the wind on the moors. I knew that if I could get to somewhere around the 56 mile mark, I'd have a long descent back into Minehead. Eventually, I was down to the village of Dunster, a cruel final ramp and then out onto the road back to Minehead - a wonderful tail wind blew me up over the small rises at over 28mph! That was probably the most enjoyable part of the whole day - great to be able to put in some effort and see it reflected on the speedo. I was soon back at Butlins to applause from the waiting crowd of supporters - wonderful:-)
I parked the bike & was delighted to be awarded a silver classification (although on looking at times today, I see that I may have missed that by a minute). I saw Howie again - he'd retired at Lynmouth and was waiting for his bike to be returned to HQ. My face was aching from all the grimacing and Howie confirmed that I looked haggard! I had a strong wish to be home by then - and so after a quick change in the car park and a detour to McDonalds, I was on my way. 8 sets of 50mph average speed check roadworks and many middle lane hoggers added to the days endurance test but I was soon home to a wonderful welcome from Colin and the children (shepherds pie & a hot bath).
A few people deserve special mention: the guy riding single-speed, zig-zagging up some whopping gradients; the farmer riding his fat-tyred mountain bike, keeping up with the skinny whippets (and not so skinny me) - this is the only event he does every year and he doesn't train (was he having me on?) and also a mention to the guy with the biggest calves I've ever seen in my life........seriously......mesmerising......
I think the organisers did a good job on what was a challenging day - communication was clear and frequent, signs and marshals abundant, good food stops and the Butlins start location was a fantastic improvement in terms of facilities for riders and supporters and also it's position on the course (ie. food stop nearer to the half-way mark, descent to finish). If you're looking for a big challenge later on in the season, the Exmoor Beast could be just the ticket. .
Having said all that, I don't think I'll be back next year. For a start, I've already ridden it twice and after a season of sportives, I've found that by October, I'm tired and ready for a bit of rest and recovery. It's a couple of days on and I still feel very tired.
So, how did I do? Did the training pay off? Well YES! The route was slightly longer last year due to the different start point, but with a finishing time of 5:26:56, I was a whole 2 hours 10 minutes quicker! I thought about quitting, but just kept going by setting myself small milestones along the way. One thought that kept me going was the knowledge that once I'd finished, I would feel really good about being up to the challenge. I was right - it feels good now that it's over :-)
Beast tamed for second year running, but I've got the bite marks to show it was a savage brute!
In 2008, my family had a pretty miserable day; killing time in a cold and wet Minehead. This year, I decided to drive down on my own and my first stop was Butlins; the events new HQ. What a fantastic improvement on last years muddy field at Wimbleball Lake - there was a massage area, bike clothing stalls , lots of cheery faces to direct me through the registration process plus all the attractions of Butlins. The abundant signs, flags and people milling around clutching brown envelopes started to build my excitement for the coming day. I had a quick look around the inside of Butlins huge Skyline "big white tent" and regretted not bringing the children - they would have had a brilliant time.
Following a pleasant dinner at Butlin's Pizza hut, I retired to bed early with my alarm set for 5:45am.
True to forecast, the wind picked up overnight and I was woken many times as it blew the rain hard against my window and played a percussive tune on my bathroom extractor fan. After a hearty breakfast, I braved the elements and ran to the car. The rain at that stage wasn't particularly heavy but the wind was strong and the roads were strewn with leaves and branches.
Organisation at the event was slick - I was directed into a car park and rode 200metres to the start point. I became aware, by some sort of osmosis of rumour and mutterings (soon to be confirmed by event management's announcement), that the race had been delayed by an hour and there wouldn't be a 100 mile ride option. I parked my bike and met up with Howie in the big white tent. The new Butlins location really came into its own - it easily housed hundreds of cyclists and our bikes, and kept us warm and dry until the ride eventually started at 8. I dread to think what it would have been like if we had last years HQ facilities. While waiting, Howie came up with a very interesting theory that heavier riders are actually fitter/better athletes than our skinnier friends as we have to carry around all those extra kilos!
Finally, out onto the road and immediately soaked - the wind just whipped the rain and made conditions pretty uncomfortable. The route rolled out of Minehead and through meandering roads, full of debris, to the start of the first significant climb of the day: Dunkery Beacon. It's a fairly steep climb with an awkward cattle grid right in the middle of it - I saw a guy hit the deck ahead of me and decided not to risk it. I climbed off, walked round and waited for a gap to have a stab at getting go again on a 15-20% hill. I was soon on my way and slogged my way up - lungs burning all the way. A careful descent on leafy roads down to the next danger point - the ford. This year, it wasn't quite so fearful - it was pretty much dry and I managed to make it over without planting wheel into the horribly uneven cobbles. On the climb up away from the valley floor, we were sheltered by high hedges but the enormous power of the wind could be heard in the tall trees above and I started to wonder what it would be like when we were finally exposed to it on the moors. I soon found out - it was unbelievable. I've never cycled in winds like it - well, why would you? The rain was horizontal, travelling at speed, right into my eyes - viscous pins slicing my skin. I was on the drops, hunched, eyes screwed up, gurning, swearing.....I have never contemplated quitting so often as I did on that ride. Head wind made progress painfully slow, even going downhill; more dangerous were the cross-winds, blowing me clean across to the other side of the road.
A descent to Lynmouth (not as scary as I remembered it) and a gentle wooded climb out recovered my spirits but we were soon above the trees and onto exposed moorland once again. We were buffeted by exceptionally strong winds and rain but the thought of the oasis at feed stop 1 spurred me on. Last year, this was a food stop of the "if Carlsberg made food stops" variety - freshly made hot bacon rolls, home made leek and potato soup & home made flapjack. I indulged for a little too long last year and prior to the ride, I mentally restricted myself to just 10 minutes this time around. It wasn't necessary- this years stop wasn't quite in the same league. That's not to say it was a bad food stop at all - far from it; provisions were excellent with soup, cakes, dried fruit. However, last years was just so amazing, that it was a tough act to follow.
More rolling miles followed in improving conditions - towards the end, the miracle of blue skies and sun could be seen. But the wind stayed strong and took me by surprise on a few more occasions. As I struggled to get my HR up into the 130s it occurred to me that my usual feeding regime of one gel per hour was perhaps not enough to replenish what I'd lost in fighting the wind on the moors. I knew that if I could get to somewhere around the 56 mile mark, I'd have a long descent back into Minehead. Eventually, I was down to the village of Dunster, a cruel final ramp and then out onto the road back to Minehead - a wonderful tail wind blew me up over the small rises at over 28mph! That was probably the most enjoyable part of the whole day - great to be able to put in some effort and see it reflected on the speedo. I was soon back at Butlins to applause from the waiting crowd of supporters - wonderful:-)
I parked the bike & was delighted to be awarded a silver classification (although on looking at times today, I see that I may have missed that by a minute). I saw Howie again - he'd retired at Lynmouth and was waiting for his bike to be returned to HQ. My face was aching from all the grimacing and Howie confirmed that I looked haggard! I had a strong wish to be home by then - and so after a quick change in the car park and a detour to McDonalds, I was on my way. 8 sets of 50mph average speed check roadworks and many middle lane hoggers added to the days endurance test but I was soon home to a wonderful welcome from Colin and the children (shepherds pie & a hot bath).
A few people deserve special mention: the guy riding single-speed, zig-zagging up some whopping gradients; the farmer riding his fat-tyred mountain bike, keeping up with the skinny whippets (and not so skinny me) - this is the only event he does every year and he doesn't train (was he having me on?) and also a mention to the guy with the biggest calves I've ever seen in my life........seriously......mesmerising......
I think the organisers did a good job on what was a challenging day - communication was clear and frequent, signs and marshals abundant, good food stops and the Butlins start location was a fantastic improvement in terms of facilities for riders and supporters and also it's position on the course (ie. food stop nearer to the half-way mark, descent to finish). If you're looking for a big challenge later on in the season, the Exmoor Beast could be just the ticket. .
Having said all that, I don't think I'll be back next year. For a start, I've already ridden it twice and after a season of sportives, I've found that by October, I'm tired and ready for a bit of rest and recovery. It's a couple of days on and I still feel very tired.
So, how did I do? Did the training pay off? Well YES! The route was slightly longer last year due to the different start point, but with a finishing time of 5:26:56, I was a whole 2 hours 10 minutes quicker! I thought about quitting, but just kept going by setting myself small milestones along the way. One thought that kept me going was the knowledge that once I'd finished, I would feel really good about being up to the challenge. I was right - it feels good now that it's over :-)
Beast tamed for second year running, but I've got the bite marks to show it was a savage brute!
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Coaching my husband
In 2008, Colin's preparation was not perfect. His longest ride before the big one was probably the 60 mile Cheshire Cat ride that we did in the March. He squeezed in quite a few hilly short rides and he even rode up Alpe D'Huez 3 times (see photo) but I was concerned that he just didn't have the long rides under his belt to see him through. I nagged him quite a lot in the months running up to L'Etape; I remember trying to scare him into training by reading him snippets of epic Etape stories. I'm not sure that he was listening. On the day, he rode as far as the foot of Hautacam but missed the cut off by about 10 minutes. Considering his training, I thought this was an amazing achievement and was so proud of him - to get over Tourmalet and make it to 93 miles was pretty awesome. On the day, I think he was quite relieved to miss out the climb to Hautacam - he was exhausted by then.
The following year, we both entered Montelimar to Ventoux. This time round, he was the one with all the experience - what could I possibly tell him about riding L'Etape; he'd seen the challenge first hand and knew what he'd need to do to prepare. I entered him into some sportives and gave him the occasional prod but I pretty much left him to it. Unfortunately, he only managed about 400 miles of training prior to the day and a few weeks before, he decided that he wasn't going to start the race - he realised that he hadn't done enough. He had a go on Ventoux while we were over there but retired after an hour.
This year is going to be different. Of the two approaches, nagging was the more successful in getting him out on his bike. However, there must be a better way - who wants to nag/be nagged? I think that I'm going to have to act as his coach, setting him targets and goals, getting him on the scales etc. Mark has recommended The Time Crunched Cyclist and I think that could be a good start for him. He doesn't need to go mad; if he can manage just a couple of rides a week at this stage, that will be a huge improvement on the previous couple of years training. Weight loss is going to be critical - I know from my own experience that it makes a huge difference (and I'm planning to get lower than last year by a couple of kgs or so). He must be about 110kg at the moment so if he can get closer to the 100kg mark, that's going to have a huge effect on his riding.
We were talking about it last night and he said he was going to try to get out for a ride on Friday and that I had to make him do it. So, here it is written - he's going out on Friday! And if he doesn't manage it, I'm going to edit this post to say so.
EDIT: He did it! Starting off with a short but rolling route - he managed an hour of cycling. He felt rubbish - on the scale of 0-100, 0 being bad, 100 being tip top fitness, he said he felt about 5.
I'm really pleased that he overcame the "I don't want to do this" feeling and got on with it - a great start.
Next week's challenge will be two rides - one of those to be the 20 mile Lymm loop from our house.
We'll do our first weigh in on Monday morning (gulp).
Monday, 26 October 2009
Last edition of Team C+ 08/09
If you buy Cycling Plus and turn to p100, you will see a big picture of me(!)in what I presume to be, our last article in the magazine. I'm really grateful to C+ as it's been a fantastic couple of years - but the project had to come to an end at some point. I met a really cracking group of guys - we'll definitely keep in touch and we've talked about doing a sportive together every year.
Now that it's over, Joe Beer will no longer be my coach for 2010. Joe has been brilliant and his absence is going to be a big change for me - since April 2008, we have had a weekly call, email contact and I've kept an online diary so that he could monitor all my rides/weight/moods etc. I think the biggest lessons I learned from Joe were how to ride smart in a sportive - how to streamline my feeding/drinking so that I wasn't wasting time but was taking enough on to avoid bonking - eating right before the event - when to conserve energy in the pack and when to go for it etc. When I think back to last years Exmoor Beast - I lost so much time, faffing about with my hair bobble, stopping every time I needed to eat (partly because I had the biggest ever pair of lobster gloves on), I must have spent half an hour chatting at the glorious feed stop. I'm hoping that in this years event on Sunday, which I'll be riding with Howie, I'm going to knock a huge chunk of time of my rubbish time from last year - over 7hrs 30 mins for 69 miles.
I'll keep in touch with Joe and he has very kindly offered to respond to email queries, should there be any. But for the most part, I'll be flying solo.
My plan is to refer heavily to last years diary. Looking back to last Oct/Nov/Dec - these were not big riding months - 24/13/11 hours respectively. I won't need to do much to stay ahead of those benchmarks. The main factor in that will be keeping healthy. October has been a very light month so far - in fact I haven't cycled at all for the last two weeks. Partly because I felt it was time to recharge the batteries with a break and partly because I've had sinus pain and headaches. I'm feeling much better now though so will be gradually building up again and started off with a 30 minute rollers ride this morning.
I'm also going to be looking at this book as a guide to structuring my riding over the coming months.
The break has been really beneficial - I'm really excited about starting my winter training.
Now that it's over, Joe Beer will no longer be my coach for 2010. Joe has been brilliant and his absence is going to be a big change for me - since April 2008, we have had a weekly call, email contact and I've kept an online diary so that he could monitor all my rides/weight/moods etc. I think the biggest lessons I learned from Joe were how to ride smart in a sportive - how to streamline my feeding/drinking so that I wasn't wasting time but was taking enough on to avoid bonking - eating right before the event - when to conserve energy in the pack and when to go for it etc. When I think back to last years Exmoor Beast - I lost so much time, faffing about with my hair bobble, stopping every time I needed to eat (partly because I had the biggest ever pair of lobster gloves on), I must have spent half an hour chatting at the glorious feed stop. I'm hoping that in this years event on Sunday, which I'll be riding with Howie, I'm going to knock a huge chunk of time of my rubbish time from last year - over 7hrs 30 mins for 69 miles.
I'll keep in touch with Joe and he has very kindly offered to respond to email queries, should there be any. But for the most part, I'll be flying solo.
My plan is to refer heavily to last years diary. Looking back to last Oct/Nov/Dec - these were not big riding months - 24/13/11 hours respectively. I won't need to do much to stay ahead of those benchmarks. The main factor in that will be keeping healthy. October has been a very light month so far - in fact I haven't cycled at all for the last two weeks. Partly because I felt it was time to recharge the batteries with a break and partly because I've had sinus pain and headaches. I'm feeling much better now though so will be gradually building up again and started off with a 30 minute rollers ride this morning.
I'm also going to be looking at this book as a guide to structuring my riding over the coming months.
The break has been really beneficial - I'm really excited about starting my winter training.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Cycling Weekly Review of L'Etape 2010 Route
I just came across this review of the 2010 L'Etape route on Cycling Weekly's website - amazing that they have ridden the route already!
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/blog/427335/riding-the-2010-etape-du-tour-route.html
It seems that any report I read on climbing these mountains involves some interaction with the local wild animals - A BULL - FFS!
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/blog/427335/riding-the-2010-etape-du-tour-route.html
It seems that any report I read on climbing these mountains involves some interaction with the local wild animals - A BULL - FFS!
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Off bike stuff
In a few weeks time I'll be returning to work after 3 years off, looking after the family. It's going to be a shock to the system but the extra cash is certainly going to help with that Litespeed I've got my eye on. It's going to mean a change in the way I train as well - my long rides will move from Wednesday to the weekend. My weekday riding will be, over the dark winter months, mainly indoors once again. Double boo.
I've been a little under the weather (and haven't been on my bike for 9 days) so instead of riding today, I decided to get out my old Giant and get it ready for my winter turbo riding. The bike has been in the kids playhouse for a year and was in a right state. A few months ago, I bought a tacx spider professional work stand and until today, it remained in its box in the garage. At the weekend, I did an Intensive Mechanics course at the Edinburgh Bike Coop so there were no more excuses - the stand was coming out. It was really easy to set up and is really sturdy - no wobble at all - and I'm glad I followed the recommendation on Wiggle. The bike was soon up and I started cleaning - what a mess it was. Quite a bit of rust on the chain and 1 year old muck on the moving parts. I'm now stuck because one of the screws that holds the rear mudguard on is completely locked - the hole where the allan key goes is rounded off and I can't make it budge with pliers. I've posted on the forum and been advised to soak in WD40 overnight and then have a go tomorrow with some Mole Grips (had to google mole grips). So, we'll see how that goes - maybe Colin will have more success this evening.
Once it's all cleaned up, I have to find somewhere to park the turbo. I'm thinking Garage but it's already bursting at the seams and it's going to be a real squeeze to get it in there. I've got a tacx imagic so I'll need to put a pc in there too and as I do all my washing in the garage, I'm not sure that is going to be a good combination. I must be getting old - not only do I drool over motor homes (not mobile homes as I wrote originally - I knew it didn't sound right), I now have big-garage envy.
I've been a little under the weather (and haven't been on my bike for 9 days) so instead of riding today, I decided to get out my old Giant and get it ready for my winter turbo riding. The bike has been in the kids playhouse for a year and was in a right state. A few months ago, I bought a tacx spider professional work stand and until today, it remained in its box in the garage. At the weekend, I did an Intensive Mechanics course at the Edinburgh Bike Coop so there were no more excuses - the stand was coming out. It was really easy to set up and is really sturdy - no wobble at all - and I'm glad I followed the recommendation on Wiggle. The bike was soon up and I started cleaning - what a mess it was. Quite a bit of rust on the chain and 1 year old muck on the moving parts. I'm now stuck because one of the screws that holds the rear mudguard on is completely locked - the hole where the allan key goes is rounded off and I can't make it budge with pliers. I've posted on the forum and been advised to soak in WD40 overnight and then have a go tomorrow with some Mole Grips (had to google mole grips). So, we'll see how that goes - maybe Colin will have more success this evening.
Once it's all cleaned up, I have to find somewhere to park the turbo. I'm thinking Garage but it's already bursting at the seams and it's going to be a real squeeze to get it in there. I've got a tacx imagic so I'll need to put a pc in there too and as I do all my washing in the garage, I'm not sure that is going to be a good combination. I must be getting old - not only do I drool over motor homes (not mobile homes as I wrote originally - I knew it didn't sound right), I now have big-garage envy.
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