New Metric Century Challenge

Id like to add my thanks to
Id like to add my thanks to the hoards of norwegian and dutch fans who cheered me (and countless others) all the way up the last 6km past la mongie and left me almost deaf when I passed two guys in team sky kit! Hello to the chippenham wheelers duo that set up there viewing spot 2 corners from the top as well.

i managed a 130km loop up to
i managed a 130km loop up to St Brivals-Tintern-Trelech and back to brizzle..fun but no Tormalet i’m afraid. 🙁

i had a nice pootle out to
i had a nice pootle out to wales on friday to go to a stag do in ystradgynlais (don’t ask). lanes to the old severn bridge, then over to usk and abergavenny for tea and cakes at a friend’s house. round the back of the brecons on the lanes then over to sennybridge and up over the crai pass. managed to stay up fairly late afterwards, too 🙂

Today’s ton was one of the
Today’s ton was one of the most enjoyable yet. I joined the Brighton Mitre social ride, which split in two – fast & slow (although we were assured the fast wouldn’t be all that fast and the slow wouldn’t be all that slow). I chose the quicker group, still feeling slightly cocky after my LEJOG.

We set off at a brisk pace and it seemed to keep getting brisker – to the point where ‘brisk’ no longer seemed to quite do it justice. It was more ‘quick’ really.

Now I’m back on the beer there was none of the clarity of mind and body that I’ve been enjoying for the past few months. I was mildly hungover and a bit tired following a late, boozy night on Thursday followed by an ill-advised bout of late afternoon lager drinking at my kids’ school summer picnic yesterday.

So the hills were hurting and the sweat was toxic, but I clung on and the grimace on my face slowly turned into a smile as the miles slipped by. The group thinned out near the end – particularly when the decision was taken to ‘do Bostal’ – Bostal Road near Steyning is a notorious local hill over the Downs that sensible people don’t generally go anywhere near on bicycles, particularly when they’ve just cycled 50 miles.

Bostal was a sweaty grunt and I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but the ride from Sompting back along the coast road to Brighton was an absolute blast. We were trucking along at 27-28mph in single file with the breeze behind us and big grins plastered across our faces (well, I had one on mine anyway – I suspect the serious Mitre riders probably just looked deadpan and effortless).

I was on the edge of my capabilities several times during the ride but could never quite bring myself to give up. By the time I got home I was knackered and aching a bit, but happier than I’ve been since I got to the top of Helmsdale a couple of weeks back. Ah, the recuperative powers of cycling 🙂

dave_atkinson wrote:DaSy –

dave_atkinson wrote:

DaSy – sounds like you’ve been living the dream :-)

Yeah, I kind of have.

A few weeks ago I was in Provence to complete the Club de Cingles, and then after being back for only a week, I was made redundant from my job, and so as a way of consoling me, my missus pretty much insisted that I go on a trip with my mates to the Alps that I had rejected earlier in the year in favour of Ventoux!

The Alps trip was a joy, we stopped to watch the TdF on the way down (stage 5), which was great (although my mate caught a Euskatel bidon and I got nothing!).

We had three great days of riding in the high mountains, and some superb descents, plus lots of good coffee of course.

Now to find a job I suppose….

Peter S is back off his
Peter S is back off his holidays.

You get your name on the roll
You get your name on the roll of honour on the website, and I think you may get a medal, if my very poor French translation skills are correct!

I have to send off my stamped up brevet card to Mr Pic in France, then I get my medal (I think), and hopefully the card back, although I have photograped it just in case.

It is a good day in the saddle, thoroughly recommended.

The weather is always the major unknown in it all, I had to endure insane wind that was actually blowing people off their bikes at the top. There was at one point, two guys blown off onto the ground by the summit, and hanging onto their bikes like brollies, as they waved out in front of them. I also saw one guy lying ontop of his bike to stop him and it blowing away!

It made each trip to the summit a fairly daunting experience, but I somehow got away with it…three times!

Wednesdays ride was a bit
Wednesdays ride was a bit different…

95 miles and around 4700m of ascent that saw me climb Mont Ventoux from all three sides in a day.

All went well, and recorded some pretty reasonable times; Bedoin climb in 1hr 30, Maulacene in 1hr 40 and finally Sault in 1hr 30.

Also got to record my first ever 100km/h descent on both Maulacene and Bedoin. My wife even managed a picture of me in front of the car with the car speedo showing 58mph.

I am now an official member of the Club des Cingles du Mont Ventoux…happy days.