Its been a while, so I thought I would remind you all what I look like. In fact its been so long I'm not sure where to start. 'The beginning' would be too far back. 'The present' would miss a lot of recent going's on and 'a long long time ago in a galaxy far away' has been used before. I started this blog to keep track of my cycling activities so that seems like as good a place to start as any. 2009 has seen me out on the bike a LOT. More than 3000km on the clock since March with even more planned over the next three months. All in I have ridden more this year than at any point since 1994 when I was much younger and surely less wise. Why all the riding? Well I entered the Marmotte did'nt I? I hasten to add 'entering a marmotte' is not beastiality, although its most definitely painful. The Marmotte is a one day ride in the French Alps, 174 km and 5000 meters of climbing. Col du Glandon, Col du Telegraph, Col du Galibier with a finish on Alpe D'Huez - yowsers! Naming the event after a cute furry mammal is (I think) a French attempt at humour, or perhaps the name refers to the creatures which pick at the corpses of fallen riders. To help motivate me to do the necessary training I prefer to think of the ride in the words of Dr Langley, he calls it 'the circle of death'. We will see come July.
So this year has been all about riding. Whilst I am still not confident that I will have a good ride in the Marmotte I can say I have come a long way in fitness since March. My training was given a big hand up early in the year since I was made redundant by TomTom. Bit of a shock at the time but as they say every cloud ... So I was in the fortunate position of being able to fit in four or five rides a week whilst looking for work, which helped lay the base for the bigger stuff I am doing right now. I also landed a job with Nikon as Senior Product Manager so it worked out very nicely. The training has gone well thanks in part to my decision to heed the advice of the coaching books and ride slower than I would (could) normally ride. Surprise surprise after a few weeks of riding within myself the efforts became a lot easier and I was covering the ground a lot faster. The unexpected benefit of the slow and steady start was I actually started looking forward to going out to ride as I knew every pedal stroke was not going to be a lactic loaded suffer fest. I even started using the indoor trainer for specific workouts! It looks like I AM wiser than I was in '94.
The trainer. A necessary evil.
The view from the trainer. Looks like '89 Tour, a necessary distraction.
Along the way I have been to the US with the bike twice. France once where I rode up Ventoux from Bedoin and broke a spoke on the descent down to Sault (I had a score to settle from 2006 but it seems I was not supposed to settle it on that trip).
The bike travelled with me, happily it too arrived safely.
The Blue Ridge Parkway - Virginia in March. Four hours, 110k, 1100m, 4 cars! Who said America is the land of the automobile?
Ventoux in April, Col Ferme. Cold, windy, miserable and steep but I loved every moment of the ride up. I forgot just how steep and narrow the climb is through the forest.
Broken spokes and descents do not mix.
The second trip to the US in 2009. Robinson Canyon, Carmel Valley CA. A beautiful May morning to be riding in the hills.
I have also completed four UK based sportives so far this year, last weekend I was in Wales and caught up with Nigel who despite saying he has not been riding much was flying. He finished 5th overall in the 130k ride putting a good 25 minutes into me. I was pretty happy with my ride which I took quite conservatively. I took a beating two weeks ago over a slightly longer (but equally hilly) sportive so caution was the watch word. I was travelling up the hills quickly (no doubt thanks to the 6 or so kg I have dropped since Feb) and I was sure to pay a lot more attention to drinking and eating. Good lessons for the Marmotte.
Chiltern Hilly May 31st - 160k / 2500 m. Appearances can be deceptive, I was in the pain cave for 5 hours on this one - it almost killed me.
Am I in good enough shape for the Marmotte? Not sure, it's a big day and my biggest day so far this year has been 160k and 2500 meters climbing. I have a sportive lined up this weekend which is 160k and 3800m, if I can knock that one over and live to tell the tale I can be cautiously optimistic for the Marmotte.
Ham sorry for the delay, thanks to all for checking in its great to know you are out there reading. Until next time.
3 comments:
Good grief - Kev lives! Seriously, great to read of your season thus far, and of the small furry challenge you've signed up for. Ah yes, the loop of death! Wish i could be there to join in the suffering. By the sounds, you are travelling really well - excellent job Kev. Keep it up, and remember not to go too hard on the Glandon. I'm sure you'll knock it over and be smiling at the end...over a beer at the end. Remember to go hard early and often!
much love,
Dave
Hi Kev,
Good to see you are still breathing and living the dream. We are all very envious of your cycling exploits.
I'm glad you settle the Ventoux score from '06.
Good luck with the Marmotte. Keep the rubber side down.
Kev,
is that a new bike or is it the white one you had in the garage in 2006 you are travelling with. Details please.
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