VecchioJo's blog

*Ping*

E-mail from friend, usual suspects in the cc. Want to do this? Pedal to the Lewes Wanderers Reliability Ride that starts about 25 miles away, do that, ride home, stop for some cake somewhere in the middle, should be about 80 miles all in all.

Sounds just like a Sunday ride then, but a little bit different, a good day out.

Yes.

This is the Ride Bunny.
Say hello to the Ride Bunny.

The Ride Bunny sits patiently by the front door, waiting.

Every time I go for a ride I feed the Ride Bunny some money. Hungry Ride Bunny.
On the way out the door I nourish him with some loose change, £1, £1.50, maybe a £2 coin if the Ride Bunny’s been good.  A small snack of money that goes mostly unnoticed but over the months builds to quite a full tummy for the Ride Bunny.

I still have my first pair of ‘proper’ cycling shorts, they’ve not been worn for decades, literally, there’s a big old hole in them and the stitching is perished and unravelled, but I simply can’t bring myself to throw them out. Every time I rummage in the shorts pile they’ll emerge like spent ordnance from a long forgotten battle in a ploughed field, smiled at and returned to the mess.

A different lifetime ago, when we were young and full of immortality, we’d high-tail it from the coast after work following signs up the A1 to The North and batter ourselves until we were two packets of custard-cream crackered from ticking off as many proper hills as we could find in a Whitby weekend.

 It’s been a couple of weeks since the Haute Route ended and the burst of that little cycling reverie but there are still very tangible reminders of those 750kms; the cycling tan is still shocking, and a certain mark of pride, when I walk up stairs I can still feel the tiny pressure points of my road cleats like a stigmata from the day-on-day cycling, and I’m trying to hold onto the half a stone of weight loss that the week blessed upon me.

The final day of the Haute Route begins with a freewheel down the hill from Auron to the official start in St-Etienne-de-Tinée, and the beginning of an odd day. Of the riding total of 140 kms only about half will be timed, the first 32kms and last 23kms are neutralized, and there’s an odd 15km in there where we’re unmarshalled on public roads, it sounds confusing and bitty, it is.

Things appear to be winding down on the Haute Route as the penultimate day is a simple one, a trifling 78 km from Pra Loup to Auron, up a hill, down a hill, then an insignificant bump up to the finish. Unfortunately that one hill happens to be the Cime de la Bonette, which at 2802 metres is the highest paved road in Europe, and there’s about 20km of climbing to get to the top. Ah.

The fifth day of the Haute Route starts with a universally light-hearted mood among the riders. We’ve broken the back of the event in surviving the epic Madeleine - Télégraphe - Galibier triple whammy stage, all had a good rest after yesterday’s time-trial that only meant a short hour in the saddle and we’ve stayed in the same place for two nights running meaning less stress packing and unpacking stuff, which all helps a bit to stall the perpetual wearing down process.

Thankfully after the excesses of yesterday Day 4 is an easy day, although as this is the Haute Route an easy day means a 12km time-trial, uphill, to the top of the 2413 metre high Col Du Granon, a mere 1100 metres of climbing from the start in Serre Chevalier. Ah.

You know when you get up at 4.30 in the morning and put cycling clothes straight on it’s going to be a big day. Day Three of the Haute Route has been oft mentioned as being The Big One, the longest stage of the week at 169kms, with three mountains in the way offering a knee-trembling 4000 metres of climbing via the Madeleine, Télégraphe and the Galibier, tough enough on it’s own, but even tougher when inflicted on legs that have already suffered two hard days riding.