Re-energising and goals

I will be restarting this blog for the new training season which starts right at the end of December. I intend to make most posts YouTube video blog posts, if I can get all that gizmo stuff to work.

2008 Goals so far

La Scott 1000 Bosses (Cyclosportif)
La Marmotte (Cyclosportif)

Landis guilty

So we get the long awaited verdict, and as expected it’s guilty. Sometimes you can’t really see the wood from the trees in these doping cases. I’m not going to get into the malpractice of the lab (alleged), exogenous testosterone, elevated or not and all that stuff. Personally, I am sure Landis was doping, and some how or other he got caught, there was the usual bluffing and confusing white noise thrown over the whole case to try and get it thrown out. A lot of mud was slung, a fair bit stuck, but in the hand the panel voted 2-1 (one of the panels members is recommended by Landis I believe) to uphold the charge.

All I want is for the peloton to wake up to the fact that we don’t want them to dope, we want a clean race, otherwise we aren’t going to follow pro cycling any more, and you will all be out of a job.

Is the Tour clean? Part II

See I told you it wasn’t clean. And as for Contador and Discovery don’t get me started, or sued I guess. As the French TV put it to Johann Bruyneel, well that’s 8 wins out of 9 for you now, how do you do it? Yeah, how do you do it, when we know everyone has been doping left, right and centre, and would you believe it Discovery win the GC again, and get another rider on the podium to boot as well as best team.

People really say Cadel Evans is clean. I’d love to think he was.

Is the tour clean?

This was a question a non-cycling friend asked of me the other day. Of course not, I replied. Just because a few guys have admitted they were doping in the 90s and a few others have been caught here and there, plus the fact that one team finally has a sponsor lead clean-up (T-Mobile), it doesn’t change things overnight. And then there is the first positive test of the tour, Sinkewitz, ironically a T-Mobile rider, or perhaps not ironically, as they have really introduced strict tests on their riders. Cycling News actually described him as poor “Patrick Sinkewitz” as he had crashed into a dog one day and tested positive the next. What, do we feel sorry when riders get caught now? Well in a way, we should, it’s been endemic in the sport, I don’t believe the riders have had much choice over the years. Dope or find yourself another job.

As for this years’ supposed “clean tour”, well the old guard are right up there at the top, Rasmussen, Valverde, Klöden, Sastre, Evans, only Vinokourov has struggled, and that’s more to do with his earlier crash injuries. Do I think any of these riders are clean? Well honestly, I don’t. Valverde and Klöden, how do I put it, well rumours have flown on these two for a long time, and they were up there when the others we know were doping. Except, Mr.Armstrong, the guy who beat them all by a mile, when all around were doped up to their eyeballs. Unlikely.

It’s still fun to watch, and I am sure it is a “cleaner” tour, but it’s not a clean tour.

The Kitchen Scales

“Why are the kitchen scales on top of the radiator?” asks my wife.

“I was using them to weigh my 12-25 cassette.”

“Oh, really.” She looks either disinterested, disgusted or both.

“Yes, it weighs 212g, the 11-23 only weighs 182g.”

She has already left.

La Rallye Malmaison

I rode 110km on Saturday with the expats, it was quite hard, as we had some new guys so I was going for it on the hills, but I still wanted to ride this randonnée on Sunday. I couldn’t persuade any of the others to come along. It’s a bit annoying, they consider randos beneath them, just because old guys on bikes with mudguards and (god forbid) women ride them. They don’t seem to get it, that you ride them as fast as you want to. You get the route all mapped out for you, you get a snack on the way and a snack at the finish, and it’s a grand day out.

Anyway, I got up dead early (again), to ride up the hill to the start to meet Neil (who is the best expat rider I know, and thinks randos are great when he isn’t racing, so I know he has the right attitude). He was fairly late, and arrived with a tale of snapping his chain right outside his house and having to nip back for his spare back (as you do). It was a very popular ride, and all the route maps were gone, but no problem we would just follow the arrows.

We set off, saw an arrow and rode through the forest. We had agreed to ride the 75 (km) as I was knackered from the day before and it would be another 100+ day ride for me anyway. I knew the first of 2 stops would be at 25km so I felt good as we belted along, and even got in with a couple of riders from the Croissy club. Then they stopped at a ravataillement, but when we asked, they said it was for the randonnée de Marly (not our rando), not to worry, we pressed on, following the arrows. We were sure to hit Thoiry and our stop in a minute. 30 gone, no stop, 35km no stop, 40km no stop. And Neil says to me, “we are nowhere near Thoiry”. We then realised right from the start we had been following the wrong arrows! Fortunately, Neil knows these very pleasant, green and damn hilly parts and said he would find our way to Thoiry. Which he duly did about another 12km later.

We tucked in to our overdue cake and chocolate! It had been a fine ride to areas I had never seen before, even if it wasn’t the right way. The stop was the same stop for 50km, so we decided to head back from here. We got in a nice group of riders, and went up the stupidly steep climb at Mareil instead of Maule hill. Neil was easily first, I was 3rd up it, not bad on a tired set of legs. I got dropped to 4th a bit later on the second part of the climb, but we all came back together for the ride back to the start.

We had a good chat with these guys we had ridden the last part with, they worked for Citroën (Neil works for Peugeot), and they hoped to see us again on a rando. It would be good for my other expat friends to see that randos are for everyone. I rode home pretty tired to complete an 103km ride and a 215km weekend!

Cyclauto 78 – Gold or……. BUST!!!!

The last words I said to my wife when I left the house were, “it’s going to be a disaster”. And so it proved. I could give you reasons why, but to say it was all because my mother came to stay would sound a bit lame, but then you’ve never had my mother to stay.

I had a goodish start position, and when the flag went down I stayed with everyone in the first 5km to the first climb, and I made a good effort to just about be at the back of the lead group of 100 riders when we crested the hill. But God, the pace was hard, I hung on and hung, down to the back on the climbs, moving up a little when I could. An hour gone, and I was hanging in there, only another 3.5 hours to hang on for a gold. An hour and a half and it’s a real fast section and I am dying, there are two riders behind me, then one, then I am the last, the very last. I claw back up, get in, ride a little, try to eat something. What a mistake, my mouths full of food and I can’t breathe, bang! Shot out the back. 10 metres away from the last wheel. Shit, shit, shit – it’s all over.

100km still to go and now I am on my own.

I rode alone for a good 20 minutes waiting for the next group, and when they caught up I thought well at least they aren’t so fast. Well until we reached the first hill and Bang! Shot out the back, I’m gone. Fucking hell, this is terrible. That’s it.

I climb off after just 75km tear up my number and hide until everyone’s gone past. Then ride home, well at least the GPS is useful now, I can’t get lost. I am so angry, that was it, Gold award or bust, and hey it was bust. I actually found my way back to the route for the closing parts of the race. And I find the last ravataillement, where I sheepishly get out my torn number and ask if I could have a glass of coke and a slice of cake! They are very sympathetic, and I feel a whole lot better. I get to the finish (having ridden 115km instead of 165km) a good half hour before the leaders arrive, by which time it is pelting down with rain, so at least I missed all that. But it sure was embarrassing, I’ve never packed up before. Still I rode with the leaders for 90 minutes didn’t I? That’s got to be worth something.

Croissy rando

The weekend before last was the Croissy Sur Seine randonnée. Admittedly, you might think this a come down after a Cyclosportif like the 1000 Bosses, but randos are just for enjoyment and a generally easy ride. And seeing as the Croissy rando is my local I haven’t got an excuse. I dragged myself out of bed at 6.30am, met Neil at 7 and cycled all of 400m to the Croissy clubs clubhouse and signed on. It was a damn windy day, so even if we had at one time considered riding the 150km rando, we decided it would just be the 100 today.

For a rando it went a damn hilly way at the start, up the Bandido legendary Stray Cat Hill, a short hill the maxs out at 14%. Neil as usual went dancing off, being such a show-off, and this guy we had picked up on the way (in a cycling sense) set off in hot pursuit. He got 3/4 of the way up, then blew up completely, and I eventually caught him just as we crested the hill. He stayed with us for a while longer, until we eventually dropped him on a windy section about a 1/3 of the way round. The route took us into the Vexin, before the half way stop where we scoffed as much cake, chocolate and minty drink as we reasonably could. In fact this far it had been a very familiar route to me as it was one my own club often take.

If I was familiar with the route, the route back was even more so, we actually rode past Neil’s house! And then back the usual way we take to my house, past the radar station across to St.Gemme, through the forest and back through Marly instead of L’etang la Ville. So much for seeing new places on a rando. We got a good soaking on the way back for 15 minutes too.

We got back to the clubhouse and started chatting to a guy in French. At which point he says to us in English, “that’s not a French accent”. To which we admitted we were English as was he. He said where was I from and when I said “Southport”, he said he was as well! Small world. OK, Southport is not the greatest town in the world, but it was nice to meet a fellow Sandgrounder so far from home. He was impressed as we were the first back from the rando, we had done the short route after all, but he still proudly told his fellow clubmates that les Brittaniques sont les premiéres arrivants!

La Scott 1000 Bosses

Everything should have been perfect, I had a nice pasta in Lyon the night before, I wasn’t too late to bed, although sharing a room with Neil C. in the hotel, but he’s fine to share with. I was very nervous in the morning and did more or less skip breakfast having just a banana and a Grany bar, I know that’s not really advisable but I get like that before a race.

The cycle to the start is only 8km but involves a little climb, but we took it steady and we got there very early, around 8am for the 9am start. Gabriel was there too, already lining up in the first row behind the 200 riders with a priority start. I should have gone back a bit, but I was a bit too proud and lined up alongside Gabriel and stood around for the next hour.

The start was fast and as dangerous as I can remember, despite being uphill, at one point I hit a kerb on a roundabout and nearly lost control, it was a scary moment. I followed the lead group of a good 150 riders and soon my heart rate was way up, too high at around 187! I kept on as I could, but I soon realised it was beyond me, after 20 minutes at this pace I was going, and the lead group was away, and by 30 minutes I was shot to pieces. I had really overestimated my ability at the start and suddenly all these riders were passing me. I realised I had been stupid and had to get myself together, it probably took the next 30-40 minutes, I didn’t really recover till the early climbing was over at around the 38km. I did feel alright for a while and didn’t feel the need to stop at the ravataillement and I got myself in a good group for the second hour of the race. I followed the wheels and climbed with everyone and started to believe I could have a good ride.

Into the third hour and I was riding pretty well, my average speed was up over 30km/h and I thought maybe I could even pull off a gold! I was getting some bad stomach ache by now, probably as a result of skipping the breakfast, but I was coping. The second too last climb is the steepest but not too short and I rode that well, though my average speed did slip back under 30. I stopped for a drink at the ravataillement at the top and to swap my water bottles round. I was tired, my stomach was in bad shape but I was hoping to keep going. Into the last climb, which started with a very steep section at the bottom and suddenly I was gone. The climb is very gentle but I couldn’t take it, at first I could only just keep up with the others, and then they were passing me now and then. I felt really tired, and hungry, but I just couldn’t eat with the stomach ache. The ascent clicked by as my average speed dropped and dropped, I was losing way too much time here, it was disappointing but I just didn’t have the form in my legs. I the top and heaved a sigh of relief, only to find 2km further down the road a further 3km climb. I managed it ok, and set myself for the descent.

The last descent is long and fast, of course I am the worlds worst descender but I hung in there on the back of the group for a long, long time. We got to the flatter descent at the finish and the speed was still high, but only 5km to go. I had been hoping still to make 4h45 but that slipped by and with 1km to go I ran out of energy completely. It just went and quite a few riders passed me, I just couldn’t turn the legs and I cruised into the finish in a slightly disappointing time of 4h5017s.

I was pretty glad to finish, it had been a struggle at times, but I got through alright, slower than I wanted, but sometimes you ride a stupid race, and/or you just don’t have the form in your legs when you need it, and that was today. I was still second to finish of our expat crew, so not too bad.

Result: 373rd out of around 800 starters. Not sure of my position in my class. Another Brevet d’argent to add to the collection I am sure.

Pre-race feelings

I am getting together all my stuff to take with me to Lyon tomorrow for the cyclosportif I am riding on Sunday, La Scott 1000 Bosses. It’s a strange feeling I have, one of excitement and nerves, almost like waiting for an exam in that now I just want to get on the start line and get riding. The difference is I am hoping to enjoy myself out there. I have my routine worked out these days, I have some important information taped to my handlebars such as the climbs, their length plus the location of the ravataillements (feed stations). I have lots of food to eat, I aim to eat a bar every 45-60 minutes or more, I have 1 750ml bottle of energy drink and a spare smaller 500ml bottle just for water. I will stop at the ravataillement if I am running low on water, otherwise I won’t stop. Clothing will be shorts and short sleeve, no arm warmers, though I will wear a T-shirt and a sleeveless shirt underneath my cycle top, which is a bit warm, but should be better for the descents. Ah, the descents, now there is a problem, still no sign of any improvement in my descending ability, I could lose a lot of time there.

Strangely, though I am not so worried this time, I guess because my training has gone so well, and La 77 was such an enjoyable ride. I should be worried though, I haven’t ridden a cyclo with this much climbing (2900m) for 2 years, and last year when I rode Les Copains, I was in such a bad way because of the heat I only rode the 124km event. I’m still on my old bike, and I haven’t even changed to fast tyres. When I mentioned this to Neil, and said I was going to use the 270g tyres, he claimed the difference was “enormous”, there speaks a Weight Weenie!

I reckon I need to ride it in around 4hr 30 to get a gold award, I think that is at the limits of possibilities, if I have a perfect ride I might have a chance but no more than that. I think  4hrs 45 is a more realistic target. Still, I always tell myself that the main thing is to enjoy and a good time would be a bonus, and I really believe that. So if I ride well I’ll be happy.