Extract below from Day 7. If you are going to take the time to read all this then please read this before going any further.
“ This is HARD, really hard. This is INTENSE, really intense. It requires being totally and permanently focused – on the body, on the road and especially on the Mind. I would never be able to do this just as a personal challenge, not at this pace anyway. I feel confidant that I can do it purely because of M.A.G. and all of you. I didn’t think that your support and your donations to MAG would play such a vital role in this. But believe me, I have already often drunk from the ‘spiritual well’ of each and every one of your donations. And I will be drinking that well dry as I tackle the Pyrenees I reckon! I honestly believe that there are not many people who could do this – its time to drop any inherent sense of modesty and be honest - : ask anyone you know who cycles ‘seriously’. This is a MONSTER! So as I go on I will need more and more encouragement. Now some of you have already sent me well-wishing messages ( e-mail problems at present but at least I receive mails) but the ones that really count, that really boost me, are the ones that come from via Harriett at MAG. It is so simple to donate via the website and attach a message and it means so much to me. The success of this ride is just as much about the money I raise for the great work that MAG do as it about me being able to cycle up hills. Probably more! So if you are taking the time to read this then please also take a minute to send me a message via MAG, adding what you want – however little. Please also talk about this to people around you : Google ‘300 Cols’ is all they need do on the web.”
Day 1
185km. 2971m ascension 7 cols 9.5 hours in the saddle 3,177 calories
20 cyclists + local dignitaries send us on our way with a ceremony of presentations and speeches that went on 45 minutes. Very late start but such kindness and enthusiasm deserved total respect. We ambled off at tortoise pace chatting and admiring the fabulous place that Annecy is.
First proper col and more cyclists waiting for us at the top. More photos! And the first : “Putain, ils sont fous ces anglais”!!
Claudiu : you should go slowly on the first day. Me: I AM going slowly!!! My first impression that this thing is going to be too hard for him…
Col du Frene : overtook a guy going UP the Col on skis! ( Cheating though – he had rubber wheels on his skis. Pretty impressive!!) His girlfriend was trying to keep up on a bike)
Col Grand Cucheron : rode all the way up with lightning and thunder all around. Soaked and freezing at the top. Welcome to the Real World of cycling in the mountains!
Hard moment : the last 4 kms of the day up the first ½ of the Glandon. Getting hungry, had enough for the day : it was 8pm by then and a day of 9 ½ hours in the saddle to cover 180 km. It had been an emotive but drawn out day.
Problem : Claudiu – I had to wait for him very often. The intensity of this challenge has taken him by surprise. Not sure how this is going to work out…
Good moments : smiling to myself and then shouting out to the mountains and the trees with joy. Forget the pain, I WANTED this and at times it the magic of the moment felt totally overwhelming. Scenery has already been sublime.
Late to eat, late to bed. I know I won’t have enough sleep for the big day tomorrow.
Claire has done a fantastic day for us and each time I saw the red car waiting at the top I felt a wave of relief and joy.
Day 2
196km 4,522m ascension 9 cols 10.5 hours in the saddle 5,588 calories
Probably the hardest single day of the whole Tour.
Today was going to be tough whatever…
6am alarm goes off. Not enough sleep. Rain. Hard rain outside. Had told Claudiu that he had to be ready to go at 7am because we had one of the 2 hardest days to do today. But I was already very worried about him – there was no way he was going to be able to do this, and Claire and I didn’t really know what to do about it.
Meet the patron downstairs who tells me that he had wanted to climb the Glandon with me but he had to go into town and so couldn’t. I almost believed him too!
7am. No Claudiu. I start climbing. For one hour. Get to the top of the Glandon soaked and very cold. Sorry no photos – fingers too numb to get the camera out of the pocket. But trust me, I was there! Further on up to the Croix de Fer. Still no photo. Harder rain. Colder wind. Colder body. Then the descent… At the bottom rider and bike are shaking due to rider being frozen. Difficulty controlling the bike. So glad to get to the next climb and try and warm myself up. Rain stops eventually, but feet and hands are still numb. Get to the start of the climb to Telegraphe / Galibier – welcomed by the cheerful sign saying : Col de Galibier 34km UP! I’d forgotten it was THAT far.
Hands still blue with cold.
Find Claire + car waiting with Claudiu’s bike in the back : he had eventually turned up from having camped nearby to start the day at 9am….holding a can of beer which Claire judged to be his second for breakfast. Now I have nothing against people who drink beer for breakfast, just that they are not riding their bike with me! Claire drove him to the nearest station and gave him 100 euros for a train back to Annecy . So “Then there was ONE”. Claire and I both feel relieved although a bit sorry for this guy, whoever he really is… Right from the start I could see that in cycling terms Claudiu was still a boy and, excuse my lack of modesty here, this here thing I’m doing is definitely a Man’s game!!
Stonehenge Cycles : I can now thank you for having a decent spare bike!
Up to the top of the Galibier in a climbers’ trance and the day was almost won. Just the Izouard to do ( 2,360m high!) What a beautiful climb it is. Definitely the best so far. La Casse Deserte was magical in the sunlight. By this time the sun was drying me out and I was able to enjoy the thrill of descending for 15km at 60-70kph as every climber should without getting too cold. ( I had promised Claire I would not go fast on the descents, so I did my best to go slowly – pretty hard actually!)
I am not afraid of now doing this on my own since Nature here is SO beautiful : I never feel alone. And anyway, the red team car regularly draws up beside me handing me bits of orange, or whatever, with a BIG smile and I’m good again for the next…..50 metres! Even Lance never had Sheryl handing him drink bottles with a blown kiss!
So, The DAY WITH THE GIANTS is done and I feel OK, if a bit tired! Actually this evening it was a struggle to eat because I was so exhausted. I knew it was going to be one of the hardest days, but it’s built my confidance rather than broken it. I stayed in my ‘comfort zones’ all day despite all : in other words I never pushed my heart, lungs and legs into pain and never had any lactic acid build-up in the muscles. One part of my body though that was definitely way out of the comfort zone was my bum! The painful and inevitable process of shedding Man Skin and growing 2 patches of Crocodile skin in its place has begun. Thank you Sarah and Rupert for the cream and thank you Neals Yard for yours too as well as for your specially made vitamin pills – hope they speed up the croc skin process. ( Don’t know what’s in those pills, but I feel pretty good on them so far!!!!!)
Good bits : being accompanied up the Galibier by a procession of historic Rolls Royces – dozens of them. Magic. A brilliant distraction.
Bad bits : Croix de Fer in driving rain and freezing wind.
Trying to get more sleep. Easier day tomorrow – I need it!
DAY 3
138km 6 Cols 2,221 ascension 4,400 calories
After an overnight stay in Risoul with a superb view of the mountains around and 7 hours of good sleep, I felt ready again. We are trying to get ourselves organised in the evenings so we have less bags to carry up the stairs ( very hard on my legs!) and try to organise all there is to do – clothes and bottles to wash, bodies to wash, legs to massage, next day route to study….No wonder the Tour de France guys have a whole team around them! So evenings a bit stressful still, but we know what to do to change that so it should soon get better.
Weather dry and cool. Just right and we can definitely feel Provence approaching. Small roads, no Tour heroes names painted on these climbs, no cars, just me and Redcar and Claire smiling and taking pictures. A relaxing day after the intensity of yesterday. I talk constantly to the different parts of my body : it’s as if we are a team and I’m the leader. Well, the team are in good shape. Bum complained less today too!
Up at HQ ( my Mind) it’s really noisy though. My mind is buzzing with thoughts. I shut out those not related to today and that mostly leaves all of you who have replied to my sponsorship plea. You are ALL with me all the way and it’s something that I hadn’t thought about at all before starting. The cyclists at Annecy who gave me the send-off really knew what they were doing when they organised that for me, because it has given me enormous strength. When my legs complain a bit I tell them to think of the guys who stepped on a landmine and have no legs to feel anymore. That shuts them up pretty quick! Have I got an annoying song in my head yet? Well, I did sing a few times “ Take Me To The Next Col” to the tune of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River” but it’s such a good song that it hasn’t become annoying yet!
Finished in style today with a 35km gentle descent to Sisteron and checked in to the Hotel at about 3.30pm I think. Time to check the bike a bit and re-arrange the car and our luggage in an attempt to simplify our post-ride routine. Claire made her first bowl of excellent pasta and this evening we are even going to dip into the real world by having an evening with our great friends Eric and Melina and their girls who are coming here to eat with us.
Day 4
163km 9 cols 3,190m climbing 4,605 calories (max speed : 76kph)
An excellent moment with our friends last night and a great meal. When choosing I hesitated about the Sisteron lamb, but Eric soon sorted me out : he was surprised that I didn’t know that the lamb from Sisteron was the best in the world! Well he should know, after all he’s French! Thanks Eric anyway, it was delicious. The only drawback to this evening was that it meant that yet again I failed to get more than 7 hours sleep, so tonight, as our evening routine is starting to get organised, I’m going for a 9 hour-night : I can feel I need it.
5.13am : text message from Dave Thomas, oldest of my future co-riders later on, who was obviously so excited about just getting on the 4am ferry from Dover to drive down to the Pyrenees, that he felt he had to tell me about it!!
6am : Get up. Bowl of muesli and out on the road at 6.50am. 3km of flat then 21km of climbing. But guess what, we’ve just found Summer! At last some sun and blue sky. Our first since the morning in Annecy – which seems so long ago already!
A beautiful steady climb up the Col de Fontbelle but very cold up the top as that old enemy of mine, the Mistral, was just clearing it’s lungs for what looked like a busy day for it. ( I was right…) Down the other side and after 36km of typical smooth French tarmac I had seen 7 cars. 2 more than I had done last year when I did the same ride, but that was in March and now we’re July – hence the increase in traffic! 
Speeding down the valley I arrive at the N85. Woops, that means I’ve missed a Col. Did I think of turning back and looking for it?..... I have added a few extra Cols into my route in case this happens from time to time. I was a bit disappointed though, but then it was only a little one, not even with a ‘Col’ name ( Pas de Bonnet)
Found Claire waiting at a café at Digne and gobbled down a croissant, a brioche au chocolat and a hot cup of tea. Shut my eyes for a moment and soaked up the Midi sun thinking that I could spend all morning like this. “ Get behind me Satan!”
Anyway, the next col was Corobin which I had climbed several times last year and for some reason really like. A 9km climb with Tour heroes names on the road again and where you get first to the Pierre Bass ecol then look up to the real top. After 4km of the kind of hairpins that all cyclists fantasise about ( loads of them and not too steep) I’m at the top. So is the Mistral who obviously got out of bed the wrong side today!
Down the other side and Mistral is doing his best to throw me off or at least over to the other side of the road, which creates new sensations when travelling at 60kph on a light bike! Safely down anyway and this time I had down 19km with NO cars at all.
The scenery is stunning today and got better as the day went on.
Mistral tried to lull me into a false sense of security as he blew me along towards the Parc du Verdon and he even helped me get up the first Col in the Big Ring ( for non-cyclists this is the one you usually use for going fast on slight downhills!)
After a brief baguette stop, where our sticker-covered car and my bike caused some friendly chat with the locals, it was off again to find the last 3 cols of the day. After the 2nd one was in the bag, I happened to spot a sign for “Col du Buis 4km”. Aha! This was not on my list so here was my chance to make up for this morning. Also, this one had a proper Col name AND a proper Col green sign that says “OUVERT” in the summer. I waited for Claire ( I always go first downhill since I go faster!), and then set off for a quick 4km. Or not so quick actually. It turned out to be the steepest 4km I have probably ever ridden, certainly on this trip anyway! ‘Gently does it’ was still the rule of the game and I managed to keep calm. Now I usually always tackle my climbs face-on, believing that to weave across the road to lessen the gradient is a mild form of cheating. But near the top I was tempted to do a bit of weaving. No sooner had I turned the bars, Mistral saw me and threw all he had at me and before I had time to pull the brake levers he had whipped me round and sent me back off downhill! I managed to uncleat my shoe and stop after 10 meters and just laughed at Mistal and told him I wasn’t done yet. But I couldn’t get back on. I had to wait until he thought it was fair to let me get back on my bike to finish the climb. He did and I did finish but not before a fierce fight with him! Claire was waiting at the top pleading me to come and look at the view from the top of this grass bank/hill – I can see fine from here thanks- No come and see from here. So I climbed up yet more ( by foot, which is VERY hard for a cyclist) and yes it was worth it. The view was amazing. This whole trip so far has actually been a visual feast and the beauty alone has kept me going each day.
How are The Team doing? Well all members of the body are happy still since they are only being asked to work within their comfort zone, except perhaps a bit of tiredness in the Head Dept. ( More sleep should sort that out). But we do still have one rebel member : The Bum. I do accept that of all the Members he probably has the least enviable role, but I am going to have to get him to play the game soon somehow or he’s going to spoil it for everyone else! More cream. At least the Private Jewels Dept aren’t complaining – OK, I heard that shout of “Too Much Detail” from the back!
By the way, I heard yesterday that Claudiu is cycling back to Roumania! Poor guy…
Day 5
181km 22 cols 9.25 hrs riding 3,809m climbing 5,023 calories
Muesli at 5.45 am. On the road at 6.30am. Straight into a 9km climb up to Col St Raphael. Stunning silence as I watched the sun rise over the mountains and the first real day of heat and sun promised. Mr Wind has decided to leave me alone, as a matter of respect I would like to think. A game of shadow play all the way up : my shadow in the morning sun rode most of the way up the col beside me and I admired the relaxed riding position and the rhythmic pedalling style. Great rider!
Up the top and along a ridge for once with views to forever – paradise. ( The profile of the majority of the ride so far looks like a triangle, and I haven’t been riding along the bottom much!) Still a bit cold though this early in the morning but I know it’s going to be hot at last and I’m arms open ready for the heat.
The big climb of the day was the Col de Turini and for some reason I had expected this to be good without any specific reason why. Maybe the Italian name. 16km non-stop climbing. I will use this one to write an article called ‘The Zen Guide to Cycle-Climbing’ for Rapha magazine “Rouleur”. It was a Classic Ride for so many reasons and none of them to do with suffering, since that is a word I have so far not had to use, despite all. Let me just mention 2 magic moments that couldn’t be more contrasting : meeting a herd of bell-ringing cattle ambling up the road with their cow-herd, and slowly cycling through them ; arriving at the top and for once the Col is quite welcoming and invites riders to stop there for a while. Quite rare. Claire is excited because she has found a café here with wi-fi. So, at the top of the mountain pines, in almost total silence, I download 54 e-mails and send an update to you lot!! ( Actually, this bit will not be in my zen guide since it has little to do with cycling!)
Another good one today was the Col de la Madone, which was Lance’s regular training climb. Amazing views over to Menton and towards Monaco. Deep blue sea with trails of motor boats across the vast expanse. Met a couple of English riders at the top who immediately offer to donate to MAG when they hear what I’m doing. I think there will be quite a lot more of this.
First navigation problem today as the road we wanted to take was blocked due to collapsed tunnel. I stop a white-van man who was looking at the Redcar with a bemused smile and he gives us a ‘secret way’ of getting up to the Cols we are looking for. He shows me on my photocopy map and promises us it will get us up there. But he does say that he thinks my map is strangely 45 degrees round the wrong way. I say that I would have thought that since ½ the map consisted of the Med Sea coastline, it was pretty easy to see that it WAS correct. Not too confident therefore about his guidance. But he too was in awe of what we were doing, saying he used to race himself and hoping that he would see us on the TV later in the month!! So on that I decided to trust him. And he was right. I even bagged an extra Col on the way up.
Amazing views of Monaco made me feel I was gliding above it all in the silence as I could see an autoroute far below.
Fantastic fast descent down from Villefranche and Eze to Nice, which was not nice at all : roads full of cars.
A tiring last 5km up out of Nice to our stop here tonight. A long day 12 hours from start to finish because we stopped twice too long. I must try not to stop at all most days. So now its 11.30 pm and time to sleep.
Just a last word about the Body team though : Bum seems to have accepted his role here and maybe his sulking has been cured by some very liberal applications of cream ( I realised why I am suffering despite my training for this : when you spend so long climbing, you are sitting up a lot more than ‘usual’ riding. So I have even been kind to have tried to bring my back forward more from time to time.)
But now it’s the Knees Brothers who are asking for some attention. Right Knee started to wimper a bit yesterday actually, and today has been even more vocal. So I asked Left Knee if he wouldn’t mind pushing a bit more than his fair share to help his brother out. He has agreed and things seem to be OK. We’ll see tomorrow. ( HEY, IF YOU HAD SPENT NEARLY 10 HOURS ON A BIKE TALKING TO YOUR SELF, WHAT SORT OF RUBBISH DO YOU THINK WOULD COME OUT OF YOUR MIND???!!!)
Day 6
167km 8.10hrs in the saddle 4,775 Calories 3,045m climbing 11 Cols
11.45 to bed last night and 5.30am alarm. I know, I know but it’s so important for me to write this log and yesterday was a long , hard day – but popped 22 Cols in the bag so it was worth it! When it’s a long day, it really is a rush in the evening for both of us ( and Claire had done 11 hours of windy-road-driving so she was pretty exhausted too) : clean bodies plus ointment all over legs – Claire does a great back massage for me before sleeping- , clean bottles, wash clothes, download Garmin GPS computer with ride data, download photos, put cameras, phones, computers on charge, etc. There is very little time to relax, which I hadn’t imagined being the case.
Anyway, same morning routine : muesli, into kit and on saddle and guess what : straight into a 6km climb! ( have I not said that before?!) I thought the climb was taking us away from the Cote d’Azur which I far preferred seeing from a distance, but soon I was flying down a long descent into the industrial valley behind Nice. Eventually I took the road which led me back inland and into one of the big Cols of the day : Col de Vence. Back to the silence; the Big Skies; Monster views. And rhythmic pedalling. I felt good and ‘danced’ ( a cycling term meaning pedalling standing up) the whole of the last 4km of this steady 7% gradient. Great feeling.
But an hour or so later I hit my first ‘Coup de Blues’. It had to happen soon and was due either to a lack of sleep or a blood sugar drop maybe. Anyway, Mind Control was loosing it. In fact today has definitely been about Mind rather than the Body Team, who were all in pretty good form considering yesterday ( Recovery is the key to this thing and so far I’m doing OK.). I could hear the Body Team all sink with despair and mumble “ Uh-oh!” as Mind Control started to feel sorry for itself and couldn’t find Will Power anywhere. But then something happened that changed all that immediately. On the next Hard Slog I caught up a retired Dutch couple who were pedalling at about three times the cadence I was and going half as fast, but boy were their legs spinning : and they were both a little over 65. Turns out they were on one of their regular training rides and in September are doing the Paris-Dakar route ON BIKES!! Last year they did 12,000 miles from Cairo to Cape Town. Mind Control learnt its lesson and things were looking up. Kees, the husband, said that when people were amazed that he had pedalled so far he said that it’s not the 1,000’s of km that’s the problem it’s the 20cms between your left ear and your right one that’s the difficult part!!!!
So Mind Control immediately changed mood and Body Team all sighed an enormous sigh of relief. In fact Mind Control actually went off the rails in the other extreme a bit and the Whole Body felt better for it : Mind suddenly realised the strange correlation between climbing a Col and making love to a woman! ( Don’t worry, this is not going to get dirty!!!) Let me explain : todays climbs were all the same Hard Slog kind – not especially long (6-10km) but no hairpin bends, lots of long straights and barren scenery where you see for miles. So different to yesterday, where the Cols revealed themselves bend by bend, leading you along intimately and discreetly and only revealing their deepest secrets once right at the top! Whereas today’s were like a less charming woman with a very very short mini-skirt on and big straight legs spread in such a way as to leave no doubt about where you were being told to go and how long it was going to take to get there. Little element of surprise at the top and even less sense of achievement! I’ll stop this analogy there!
Hopefully you shouldn’t be haring too much more from Bum since I have changed the saddle. I brought three with me and started with the fast looking hard one but when I looked at how the little quantity of gel was on it had actually been pushed away from where it should have been padding me, I understood why Bum had been moaning! So the medium saddle is now on and I am sure there will be a big difference…
Finished at 4.30 this afternoon which makes so much difference, having gone through part of the Gorges du Verdon. Such impressive scenery but lots of tourists here : we’re not used to other people being around!
All set for the last day of this first chapter and I’m quite excited about a day off pedalling and driving over to the Mighty Pyrenees.
Day 7
191km 8.13 hrs in saddle Av speed 23kph 2,881 climbing 5,887 calories
I was looking forward to this day since it was going to take me through an area of Provence I know well and most of the days’ route I have ridden before.
6.30am I roll out again onto the tarmac and for once the day started with a 12km gentle downhill as I snaked my way out of the dramatic Gorges du Verdon. For the first time I wasn’t cold for the first hour of the day, but still had a gilet and armwarmers on even so. I could feel that today was going to be a day in Provence as it should be in July!
After Moustiers Ste Marie, the road to Ste Croix fights its way up onto the plateau : last year I did this and it got me gasping for breath. It’s a 2km staircase at and average 16% gradient with 4 ‘chevrons’ on the Michelin map! And there’s not even a Col at the top! Well today I ‘danced’ it most of the way and only broke into a sweat for the last few bends – hey, the Body Team are really settling in! The reward at the top was greater than any Col sign for me personally : to the right stood the great Mont Ventoux. Probably about 50 miles away, but even at this distance it stills dominates the whole area. It fascinates me since it is not particularly grandiose in outline but it sits there, a slightly crushed, spread-out pyramid, almighty in its latent power : you have to have been up it ( even in a car) to understand this. Looking at it like this will reveal none of its secrets. Climbing the Ventoux will be a very emotional day for me on the 26th July and will mark the definitive Beginning of the End of this journey. I am intrigued to see if, after all the other cols I will have ridden by the time I approach its slopes, it will still remain King. ( The Ventoux HAS to be masculine in my mind!!)
Flying along the plateau at 35kph above the Lac de Ste Croix the Provencal scenery is just so beautiful : the perfumes of pine trees and lavender fill the air and at this time ( 7.30am) the silence is total and magical. But just as I was enjoying the peacefulness the scene, I start to be aware of a few ‘pings’ on my helmet, and what look like flies, but bigger, flying across the road in front of me. Seconds later I gently stop the bike as I realise what’s going on : to my right 5 hectares of deep blue lavender ; to my left I eventually make out a long row of bee hives. In between the two : me and the road!! And these guys are VERY busy and do not want anyone in their way!. I gingerly take off my helmet and put on my cap thus trying to avoid bees getting stuck in my hair. For some reason I think that by ‘lying low’ on my bike I will be in their way less, so in this ‘descending’ position I gingerly pedal forward very slowly. Bees bounce off me and miraculously I get to the end the long straight without getting stung!
Back up to 34-35kph and I hold this speed amazingly for the next 2 hours on rolling smooth tarmac. Perfect cycling. The climbs come later in the day. Now I was enjoying the pure pleasure of speed on 2 wheels!
Since the Body Team could be left to themselves today, seemingly happy to get on with things on their own, Mind Control became totally focused on other things. This is the last day of the first section of the ride so there is a lot of reviewing to do :
This is HARD, really hard. This is INTENSE, really intense. It requires being totally and permanently focused – on the body, on the road and especially on the Mind. I would never be able to do this just as a personal challenge, not at this pace anyway. I feel confidant that I can do it purely because of MAG. and all of you. I didn’t think that your support and your donations to MAG would play such a vital role in this. But believe me, I have already often drunk from the ‘spiritual well’ of each and every one of your donations. And I will be drinking that well dry as I tackle the Pyrenees I reckon! I honestly believe that there are not many people who could do this – its time to drop any inherent sense of modesty and be honest - : ask anyone you know who cycles ‘seriously’. This is a MONSTER! So as I go on I will need more and more encouragement. Now some of you have already sent me well-wishing messages (e-mail problems at present but at least I receive mails) but the ones that really count, that really boost me, are the ones that come from via Harriett at MAG. It is so simple to donate via the website and attach a message and it means so much to me. The success of this ride is just as much about the money I raise for the great work that MAG do as it about me being able to cycle up hills. Probably more! So if you are taking the time to read this then please also take a minute to send me a message via MAG, adding what you want – however little. Please also talk about this to people around you : Google ‘300 Cols’ is all they need do on the web.
After a couple of hard climbs in real Provence weather : the cigalles are buzzing, so is my head, as the sun really kicks in and the temperature eases up over 30 degrees, I have a hard section of very slight downhill of 15km into Apt but on a main road and into a strong head-wind. Not ideal cycling. I start pumping the legs and as I fight the wind, Anger comes all over me from nowhere : angry at this stupid world with its stupid wars and their innocent victims ( look how much work MAG are still doing in Cambodia) ; angry at how often we want more when we already have so much. Blah, blah. My legs pump harder – I hold the bike between 33-36kph, really hammering – and I just get angrier all the time! What’s going on??! I eventually get to Apt, shattered and ready to punch someone! Fortunately, no one was in my way!
Bad news : it’s bloody hot and I had already done the total planned number of kms today but the sign says ‘Sault 28km’. Oh well, on we go. Or rather UP we go. The last climb of the day to the Col de la Liguiere was very hot and very hard. A Hard Slog type and endless. But once eventually over the top the stunning panorama of the deep blue-mauve lavender-clad valley of Sault at the foot of the Ventoux was so beautiful. I had arrived at one of the three ‘feet’of Ventoux and here we would leave the Alps. What a perfect place to do it. I had finished the first section!
Thanks and thanks and thanks to :
Rapha – your clothes are superb. Bum was moaning about the saddle, not about the shorts. ( What are CW doing only giving them 4/10??!) Most of me got wet and cold on the Croix de Fer, but not my core body, thank goodness, thanks to your 110% waterproof jacket. And so I could go on)
Torq – I drink 6-8 bottles of your energy drink per day; eat 3-4 energy bars, and drink a Recovery drink at the end of each ride and I still ENJOY your stuff! I don’t think there are many brands I could say that about! No digestive problems either. 11/10 !!
Stonehenge Cycles – the bike is riding like a dream so far. Thanks again so much for your help in the workshop and for you general advice.
I should also mention that all ride data is being recorded on a Garmin computer. I am using this on a ‘cadence/speed’ setting, rather than a GPS setting, since this actually proves that the bike wheels have been going round, and that I have not just been sitting in the car with the GPS on! (Believe it or not, I sometimes say to myself : what if people don’t believe I have actually done each of these 1000’s of kms?)
Day 9
12 Cols 9.42 hours in the saddle 193km 3,632m climbing 5,510 calories
Car-transfer day yesterday from Provence to the Pyrenees. Mechanical moment on the motorway – Redcar suddenly refused to go over 50mph and computer was saying ‘No’ to something. Pull in at next lay-by and ring Pete ( brother-in-law) for a quick word of advice. Claire
not too impressed that I had managed to never add to the ‘things to do’ list something to cover a breakdown abroad… Anyway, Redcar decides to give it another go and agrees to get us to our destination. Could have been tricky there… We stay the night at Cucugnan under the shadow of one of many Cathare castles : I thought I was tough doing this ride, but the guys who lived, and died, in these places were another species all together. Wild landscape. Arid, even this year. But somehow very mystical.
The ‘Tramontane’, Mistral’s neighbour to the West, added to the sense of the harsh existence that Nature had to offer Man here. All night long a drunken choir of scrubby cypress trees partied outside our window, spurred on by the incessant wind. Apparently I did sleep because Claire said that I snored along in tune with the mad choir outside! But I felt as if I hadn’t when the alarm clock rang! Up and ready to face a long day and a delirious headwind. I set off expecting the worst, and almost got it!
After struggling along in to the wind putting in as much power as when I was flying along in Provence at 35kph, here I was managing 17kph! At last I found shelter from the wind at the foot of the Big Hills and on the menu today for starters was the Col de Pailheres. I am glad that I will be doing this one again when we start the section in the Cevennes, because it looked to be another real Classic Climb. However today, I couldn’t concentrate on anything much else than keeping my head down and fighting the elements. As I climbed higher and higher, the rain got wetter, the wind got stronger and the air got colder. Claire had gone to a garage first to get Redcar checked out ( all seems OK), and eventually caught me up 2km from the top. Just in time to get some dry gloves, put on some over-shoes and my wind-gilet under my waterproof jacket. Then head off for the top. The rain was crashing down on the road, bouncing off and being whipped away by the swirling wind. Although pretty threatening, there is something very exciting too about Nature when it gets this extreme. The temperature gauge in the car read 2 degrees C! In 10 days time the Tour finishes a stage here. Today ghost voices called up at me from the tarmac as I read all the bike-hero names. Amazingly there were a few other cyclists up at the top, putting on everything they could for the descent. No friendly chatting going on up here! A dreary descent down the North side and fortunately, straight into a climb after 5 km. This time a small lane up to Pradel. A very intimate climb, highly recommended, and having come back down 400m from the 2,000m of Pailheres, the weather was much kinder. The rest of the day had a few more climbs and then a long roller-coaster stretch with fabulous views across the mountains ( Route des Corniches). But after 7 hours in the saddle, fighting the elements, I was wrecked and just coasted the last 2 hours or so, eating energy bars and drinking: trying to stop going into reserve tank. Tomorrow is another day, and surprise, surprise : it’s a tough one! Still, I’m going to going over my 100th Col somewhere soon along the route!!!
Day 10
15 Cols 168km 9.25hrs in saddle 4,345m climbing 4,831 calories burned
A different start to this day since I was joined by David Burchill, an English guy who had ‘landed’ here following a paid-off redundancy and who didn’t look too rushed to go anywhere else, especially England, to live! He too had transcended from the status of mere Man/Husband/Father to the much higher one of Bike Rider ( although he too had made the compromise of not having his bike in the bedroom in the interests of a sustained marriage). He had joined the local bike club and was revelling in the choice of great riding opportunities in this area. Recently he had ridden ‘L’Arriegois’ and had come in a respectable 834th out of 4,000-ish riders.
Good and obedient Bike-Widow had got up at 5am to make Bike Rider hot porridge, drive him to our starting point and of course would be back wherever and whenever Bike Rider chose to have himself picked up. Nah, just kidding : we’re not that macho, really! Well I can’t be – Claire is playing a greater and greater role as every day goes on : morale-boosting when necessary; preparing food and supplements; taking yet MORE photos of the same guy on the same bike going up yet another same-looking hill ; and last but certainly not least : map-reading. And thank you so much, Helen, for driving your hubby over so that I had some company for a morning!!
This morning us blokes thought we knew where we were going. Me because I had looked at the route before leaving; David because he had done this route before. Can’t understand how we managed it, but we missed THREE cols! Of course Claire is trying to find us and she is going the right way ( Isn’t it just SO annoying how often women are right?!). She called us cheats and said we had missed amazing views on the Col du Portel. Right. Better fix this. Luckily, going downhill the wrong way, we 
stumble across 2 signed Cols, so I prop up the bike and snap those. Just one more to find. This time I was ready to take on a proper Col since I wanted to test out David before he had to call Bike Widow to come and get him. Didn’t have to look far, surprise, surprise: Col de la Core – 13km with average 8% gradient said the plaque at the bottom. Brilliant climb and views. David had a good climb and was just glad that he was stopping after that for the day. Claire caught up with us ( “What are you doing up this Col – you’re on the wrong road again!”) just in time for more photos before the top.
After saying bye to David, it was back to serious business and more steep climbing. We opted to miss another one on purpose since the road was more track than road and said that I would do an extra one tomorrow to make up. Soon I was on the route of the Etape du Tour next week ( 8,000 riders will be testing themselves over 6 Cols and 180 kms.) and once I had got through a ‘low patch’ on a stretch of flat before starting the climb up the Col du Portet, the legs were pumping willingly. ( Bum, whose full name by the way is Bone E. Bum, is really settling in now which makes a big difference to the whole Team).
Coming down off the Portet I was enjoying another super-fast descent when I noticed big nasty looking concrete bollards at the roadside. Then I saw the beautiful but sobering memorial statue to Casartelli, a Real Bike Rider, who lost his life there and from that day on all Real Riders had to wear helmets when racing. He’d gone straight into one of the bollards head first…
On the Col de Mente I enjoyed letting Competitive Mind out of its box for a while and let him cut and slash all the Rational Thoughts as I pushed up the pace with each of the last few kms of the climb : I had another Bike Rider on my tail. I opened up the gap and waited for the ecstatic screaming crowds at the top. Maybe I had beaten the fans to the top too?! My challenger turned out to be editor of Hi-Fi magazine UK and we had a good old natter at the top, accompanied with each other’s Bike Widow. His office is just next to Cycling Weekly so he was going to put in a reminder to them to make sure they cover what I’m doing here. Thanks Paul! And good luck in the Etape!
As Paul descended from the summit, Redcar and I climbed up yet more. This time we HAD to take a forest track to get to 3 more cols, and I couldn’t afford to ‘loose’ 3 more. I was soon down to 5kph, weaving my way through stones and gravel and for the next 8km I was standing on the pedals, hands gripping the brakes and somehow managed to stay upright AND not get a puncture. Going downhill at 8kph is NOT funny though. Nor were the ‘Beware of the Bears’ signs…. We were VERY remote! Claire kept me in sight as she was worried that bears had littered the track with tacks and were waiting for me to puncture so that they could come out of the woods and eat me. ( Now just how would bears be able to get some carpet tacks, I ask you?!)
Views to die for again though. ((At our hotel that night the patronne explains that the helicopter we had seen in the afternoon had been looking for a rogue, flesh-eating bear –no kidding! It had had 2 sheep for supper the day before and had been seen near some houses, perhaps looking for something more tender for it’s next meal. So, Claire, thanks for looking after me!))
Anyway, much time lost due to off-roading and so a decision was made to get in the car for the last 20km to get to our hotel and that we would drive back to this spot tomorrow to. I had also spotted an extra Col for tomorrow to get back on tally. This first Col will also be my 100th, I think…
Day 11
134km 5.49 hours in saddle 4,000 calories 2,373m climbing 9 Cols
After breakfast with my wife, a very civilised but strange way to start the day, she drove me back to where I left off yesterday. She is not letting me cheat for a single km even if I wanted to! Popped up the Col des Ares first to grab back the Col de Saet we didn’t do yesterday and noticed that there had been a snowfall on the higher mountains overnight. No wonder I spent all day putting on and taking off my wind gilet. Summer is still just in a tiny little corner of the Cote d’Azur.
A comparatively easy day today in the rolling lower hills. Almost a day off! No big climbs, although the Palomieres got my climbing legs going again. The day finished though with two climbs that are worth noting for any other Bike Riders coming down here. The first was the climb out of Bagneres-de-Bigorre up to Labassere and the second was the climb up to Neuilh. Both more like English climbs : no switchbacks just HARD all the way for about 4 kms each. Good training climbs! Body Team can handle anything now though, it seems, although Mind Control is still keeping a close watch on all departments. A long way yet to Annecy.
Claire bought me a delicious apple pie to celebrate my 100th Col, although I think I gobbled most of it down on my 102nd…difficult to keep count. I’m eating a lot, all the time. I get hungry really quickly. In the morning, despite eating as much as I can force down me in the evening, I can whip down a GIANT size bowl of muesli no problem at 6am! I can’t be getting that light though because it’s still really hard walking up the hotel stairs in the evenings!
The stress of the first week has cooled off now and our end-of-day routine is pretty organised. Claire has most of the work to do. She is just as tired as I am. Today she stopped to buy some cheese from a farm and the farmers turned out to be Belgians too so she had spent a while there. Got invited in for lunch, but told me her conscience pulled her back to Redcar, as she imagined me collapsing of thirst and hunger at the top of the next hill. Anyway, all the kids and their friends were rounded up to listen to our story as the parents thought it really important for them to hear what we were doing. All the cheese was given to us so that what we should have paid will be donated to MAG. This is what travelling is all about, isn’t it?!
Followed the D26 almost all day today which helped on the map reading but unfortunately the local road maintenance dept. had also decided to make their job easy and just stick to one road at a time too. Result : sticky tarmac patches with fine gravel sprinkled all over them. I was regularly having to rub my right hand along the tyres, front and back, to rub off the sticky gravel as I went along. Interesting descending too as I swerved to avoid more patches, the odd car, the odd dog and also still take the right line into the corners. ( Kept the speed below 50kph, and “Yes John M. I DO wear my helmet downhill!!!”).
Cycled silently, downwind, for about 100 metres behind a fox walking in the middle of the road as an eagle ( I think) circled high above me in the air. That’s how wild things are up here.
Day 12
7 Cols 183km 8.33 hours in the saddle 3,316 m climbing 5,445 calories
After the excitement last night of being connected to the ‘net and reading all your messages, I felt a bit tired today. It was nearly midnight when Justin S. stopped our e-dialogue by telling me, in such a touching motherly way, to shut up and go to bed! But your support gives me such a boost!
5 ½ hours later. Alarm goes. One hour after that I cycle about 400 metres on the flat in Argeles-Gazost, and then do 20km very much uphill! The Knee Bros. got a real brutal wake up call with very little time to get them in the mood for another day of very repetitive movement. But at the top of the Col de Curaduque, the world already looked a wonderful place to be in again. ( This was an extra Col, one of two extras today because I thought they looked too good to miss.) The weather was going to spoil us today at last, I could feel it in the air.
Having got to the top, I was rather worried by the fact that it looked to be a dead end. Bit of a shame to have to go all the way down again and almost back to where I had started. Fortunately there was a young sort of scout guy, sharpening a bit of wood or something, sitting in front of a refuge. He told me that to get to my next Col ( Spandelles) I could take that track there and after 4km it became my old friend Tarmac. OK, here we go again. Poor bike. Its thin wheels, its stiff frame, its price : none of them were made for wiggling my way through stones and pot-holes. But it was magic. Silence except for the odd cow-bell. The sun was bathing the mountain tops and the light was so pure. The track went down and down and down. But eventually Tarmac did come to my rescue. Turn left and….up and up and up. Came face to face with a group of VERY BIG mountain horses seemingly just out for a stroll. The biggest one in front sniffs me out ( early in the day, so I guess the smell wasn’t too bad!), and then signals to the rest that I seemed harmless. They move out my way and I get out of theirs as quick as I can. Col de Spandelles – what a stunningly remote place. A superb fast descent and even at 7.30am the first Bike Riders were starting to climb up as I sped down. A stunning start to the day, but pretty hard too.
On the valley floor below I picked up a non-conversational Frenchie wheel-sucker behind me, so Competitive Mind took over : I picked up the pace to 37kph and gave it all I had on the first ‘bump’, pumping in the Big Ring. Lost him no problem! What an idiot I was…the day was still young.
The other extra Col I gave myself today was the Ichere (south side). A tough climb – 6 km at average 9% gradient, but again quite magical in the sunlight that by now was doing a fine job of drying out the freshly mown hay all around. No cars of course.
After a picnic stop with Claire, (who said she almost felt on holiday. A bit of a shock, that one, since I thought we are supposed to be suffering every second of the day! Truth is that although the second half of each day is a real battle, the mornings do have their great moments), I hit the next climb straight away ( Col de Lie). Very hard right after lunch. A short 3km but most of it at 10% and a real leg number of a climb.
At the bottom of the descent from this one I nearly had my first Skin-Fight with Tarmac. A stupid dog ran out right in front of me to try and bite off the front wheel of a van coming the other way and only a super-fast flick of the handle bar avoided a bloody mess. A few words about descending here:
This ride is as much about being able to descend as it is being able to climb. Requirements : total confidence in your bike; being able to pick your cornering line so you brake as little as possible; knowing just how much brake pressure to apply to each wheel; ability to shift body weight quickly and push down just as quickly on the outer foot as you lean into the bend; be ready at all times for a pot-hole(rare here fortunately), gravel patch, a car in opposite direction ( also rare), a bend that turns out sharper and longer than you had thought, and so on…. I love it even though each time I know that, despite 100% concentration and not taking intentional risks, I am in the Arms of Destiny. With total concentration I believe I am playing it safe. Claire has tried to keep up with me a few times on these descents and says that I look as if I am in control. Well, if I wasn’t I would have gone into a few ditches, or worse, by now.
Next a long stretch of rolling road, first through the Bois de Bager ( a little like Forest of Dean without the traffic), then through a rolling valley going as far west as this ride was going to take us. I held the bike at 30-33kph most of the way for about 1 ½ hours. I was almost in a time-trial mode and really enjoying it. But by the time I hit the last few ‘bumps’ of the day, I was cooked. The last climb looked bad before I had even seen it : when there is a sign warning motorists that there will be an extra lane for slow vehicles, it don’t smell good! Straight into bottom gear ( again!) and grind, and grind and grind. Knees Bros had been asking for the hotel bed about 25kms ago, so they were NOT happy. At the top there was even a name plaque, but it didn’t begin with the magic word ‘Col’. Didn’t they know about this one?! I took a photo and will dispute it’s case.
I laughed out loud at the top anyway because before me opened up another panorama of mountains again : I had been in the hills of the Basque Country most of the day. Tomorrow we would be going through the higher part of this beautiful area and would be going EAST – on our way back!! A very tough two days ahead before our rest day on the 15th that marks HALF WAY !
Big scare tonight as my Garmin bike computer suddenly ‘died’ as I was downloading the ride data. This is such a vital tool for this ride, recording all the details of each days’ ride. A phone call to U.S.A. Help!line ( thanks to the timezone difference they were still in office hours) got it sorted – I will spare you the boring electro-tekkie details.
No e-frivolity tonight : I’m going for a full 6 hours sleep! ( Although I am actually riding 8-9 hours on average, each days’ riding actually seems to take 2 hours more than this from hotel to hotel : Col photos, drink top ups, two food stops – since we have now relaxed a bit and I actually stop to eat- , map reading checking the route, the occasional chat with someone met along the way. All these add a lot of time onto the riding day.
Long, hard, intense, extraordinary, unforgettable, beautiful days…
Day 13
22 Cols 153km 9.05 hours in the saddle 4,526m climbing 4,156 cal (I reckon a lot more in reality!!)
Definitely the hardest day yet, but also some ultimate moments of Bike Rider Bliss.
‘Have to Suffer to Enjoy’ is definitely the name of this game.
Out on the road at 6.40am. Thick fog as I made my way out of St Jean Pied de Port. Luckily I was wearing my White Stripe kit from Rapha so I must have been slightly visible to motorists. (Rapha have been exploring all the possibilities of the ‘colour’ black for the last few years in their clothing range. Recently they must have been through a bit of a Zen (yin-yang) thing though, since they are now chartering the mystical waters of that other non-colour: white! Well that’s OK with me anyway.)
I can feel the sun getting ready to melt away this cold fog and sure enough as soon as I gain a bit of altitude the temperature seems to jump about 10 degrees. I knew I was in for serious climbing today, and sure enough, the first Col-profile panel at the roadside confirms that: Col d’Iraty – 17km first km 10%. For the next SIX km the gradient marked on the panels was painfully similar, staying in between 10.5 and 12% all the way. I was up and ‘dancing’ (remember that term – nothing to do with Stupid Scissor Sisters – standing on the pedals ‘cos you can’t turn them round sitting down without bursting your kneecaps straight through your skin!) all the way for 6kms. What was I going to do for the next TEN? The gradient actually mercifully cooled off but guess who turned up again next? Wild Angry BIG WIND. Out of some woods and round a corner and the 6% gradient I was now being served up may as well been 16%. Where the hell did this come from? The landscape was bleak and open and I was steering the bike diagonally across the road in order to go straight. No kidding. A couple of cows looked at me with total indifference. Alright for them : their weight would anchor them against any wind. But little flyweight me…. ( Apparently this Col is notorious for the almost year-round windy conditions.)
The climbs up to Col Iraty/Bagargiak and then the next ones to Erroymendi and Port de Larrau were the hardest I have done yet. A combination of relentless steep gradient and the very angry wind.
Half way up the Erroymendi I thought that finally my legs had begun a Final Meltdown in disgust. What actually happened was that I had met some more road repair work and what looked like nice new smooth tarmac was actually so new that it was still just gooey and I was making a nice bike-tyre pattern in the road they were trying to get ready for the Tour de France’s passage here in 10 days time. A 100 ton roller coming straight at me was going to sort my artistic patterns out quick, and would have sorted me out too if I hadn’t moved out it’s way – straight into some even fresher black stuff. Result : beautiful bike tyres covered in a very sticky layer of very fresh tarmac. Just got out of this without falling off and then had to get across a stretch of loose gravel that sticky tarmac just LOVES to collect up! The resulting noise to a Bike Rider is just as painful as when a Normal Person grinds sand in between their teeth when eating a sandwich on the beach on a windy day! Amazingly I succumbed not to a puncture and cleaned the tyres off best I could once the road had cleaned itself up a bit too.
Later on, going up the mighty Col de Pierre St Martin, I had a similar situation to deal with : more road care. (All this road repair is a mad rush to get the roads into shape for the Real Bike Riders coming through in 10 days time. As Claire said : “ Next time we do this AFTER the Tour de France has been through!” You are all now witnesses – she said Next Time!!!!!) There was just a 50 cm strip of non-sticky stuff in the middle of the road. Despite loads of traffic ( I found out why…) I decided to cycle up the middle of the road – a slow process when the gradient is again over 10%. Cars in both directions wove round me and NO ONE gave me a big “ Get out the *****ing way” blast on their car-horn. They could see my problem and had total respect for Bike Rider.
So why was there suddenly CARS on a mountain road anyway? When I eventually got to the top of this Monster Climb I could see TV vans, parked camper vans and dozens of cars. So, word had got out!! I was Famous Bike Rider at last! I picked up the pace, zipped up the Rapha jersey and got ready for the applause…..
No one batted an eyelid as I topped the Col.
They were all boozing in a very noisy marquee installed at the Col top. As I searched for the Col plaque for the photo, I saw a bizarre thing : a rugby goal post set in 2 enormous blocks of concrete just dumped in the car park. I could see a plaque there so I thought that would do the job for my Col photo. Then I read it : this was the highest rugby goal post in the world, the sign boasted, at 1,760m, and was put here to celebrate France holding the rugby World Cup in 2007. It was placed here on 13th July 2007…..which was today. Aaaah ha, I see. Funny people, Rugby Players, especially French ones.
Superb wide road for descending and soon I was down into the valley. Just had one thing in the way before the day’s end : Col de Marie Blanque, up the steep side. 5km of 11-13% and back up dancing again, very painfully. Now that is quite an impressive way to end a days ride! Soon forgotten though by the best descent of this Tour so far : 11km at 60-70 kph on a wide, perfectly surfaced swerving road all the way down to Bielle and our Hotel.
Great day. Hard day.
